Monday, April 2, 2018

Early in the morning

It all started like any other typical Monday for Seungwan. Nothing too special, just going to work and eating, yes, of course eating. Everything, apart from the typical work, was fine until later that afternoon when she feeling uneasy and something wrong. 

She was very quickly losing herself to despair when the ringing of her phone brought her back to reality.

Briefly looking at the caller ID, she saw that it was a number from Seoul City Hospital, she knew this due to a couple of interviews, and hurriedly answered. "Son Seungwan speaking."

"Ms. Son, this is Doctor Junho from Seoul City Hospital speaking. I am sorry to inform you that your fiance's was involved in a road accident. She is currently in surgery, but it would be best for you to arrive as fast as you can." Her heart stopped for a moment.

Seungwan rushed into the hospital, quickly making her way to the waiting room by the ER. While she was sitting there, it hit her that she hadn't told her sister Taeyeon any of this yet and as far as she could tell, the news hadn't broken the story yet, either.

"Hey, Wan." Upon hearing her sister's voice, Seungwan finally realized how close she was to breaking down.

"Joohyun was involved in a road accident," she choked out, on the verge of breaking down. "I am waiting for her at the hospital."

The other end of the line went silent for a moment, until Seungwan finally heard her sister's voice, "I will be there in ten minutes, Wan. Just hold on until I get there."

Monday, April 2, 2018

Approximately 11:00 AM

Taeyeon made her way to the hospital as fast as she could, well aware that she was breaking numerous laws to do so. But she didn't care. Seungwan needed her help. 

Arriving at the hospital less than nine minutes later, she rushed up into the waiting room looking for Seungwan, whom she finally spotted in a corner. Rushing over to her baby sister, she pulled Seungwan into a tight embrace, as soon as her arms were wrapped around her, Seungwan broke down.

Taeyeon could feel Seungwan's entire body shaking as guttural sobs escaped her. So she just sat there and held her, letting her baby sister cry.

After almost half an hour, the sobs finally began to ebb, and Seungwan finally spoke.

"I can't lose her. She is the love of my life" she choked out. 

"Shh," Taeyeon hushed her. "Now get some rest, you must be exhausted. I'll still be here when you wake up."

Sometime later, she didn't know how much later, Seungwan felt herself being shaken awake.

"Five more minutes," she mumbled, not initially recalling the events of the day.

"Wan," she heard her sister's voice. "You have to wake up."

It was then that the memories came rushing back and Seungwan shot up with a start.

"What's wrong? Is," Seungwan hesitated a little before continuing, "Is Joohyun okay?" Seungwan starts spewing out questions to her sister, hoping she knew more, until Taeyeon finally stopped her and pointed to the doctor that was patiently waiting by the door.

The doctor, now seeing that she had her attention, just said, "Ms. Son, if you could please follow me. We have an update on Ms. Bae's condition."

All Seungwan could do in response was nod as she made her way to her feet, along with Taeyeon, to follow the doctor.

"I am sorry," the doctor states, "but for now, only Ms. Son is allowed to see Ms. Bae."

Seungwan stops at this and looks to Taeyeon who simply nods.

"Go," she says. "I'll be fine here. I need to call my subordinates anyways to see if we have more information on today's events."

Seungwan smiles and gives her sister a quick hug before turning to follow the doctor to a small room farther into the ER, leaving Taeyeon to call the her subordinates.

"Ms. Son, the two glass fragments from car windows that were inside Ms. Bae have been successfully removed," the doctor, who had introduced herself as Dr. Yoona, begins. "However, the trauma to her body has been very severe. The first round perforated her liver while the second one lodged itself in between her L1 and L2 vertebrae," the entire time pointing at x-rays of Joohyun.

"So when can I speak to her?" Seungwan asks.

"I am sorry Ms. Son," Dr. Yoona replies. "While you can see her now, we have had to put her into a medically induced coma. It is a miracle that she is even alive." 

"So when will she wake up?" Seungwan asks as Dr. Yoona leads her to Joohyun's room.

"That entirely depends on the rate of Ms. Bae's recovery," Dr. Yoona says. "We expect to be able to wake her up in a week, but proper recovery will take years. This leads me to my next point, Ms. Son. Due to the nature of Ms. Bae's injuries, it is very probable that she will never be able to walk again."

This took Seungwan by surprise. "But I thought you said that she would make a full recovery after a few years," Seungwan questioned.

"I said a proper recovery, Ms. Son." Dr. Yoona had now stopped in front of a door and was looking at Seungwan. "Please understand that we will do everything we can to help her walk again; I just want you to be aware of the chances. Do you have any questions that you want me to answer before I let you in?"

She shakes her head no to this and Dr. Yoona simply nods, holding the door open for her as she stepped inside.

Nothing could prepare her, however, for the state of her fiance's. Joohyun looked absolutely terrible. She couldn't even breathe on her own, which was apparent from the tube going down . Not to mention all of the machines that were connected to her in one way or another. She was so taken aback by the sight of Joohyun that she didn't even notice Dr. Yoona leave as she pulled up a seat next to her fiance's.

"I am so, so sorry, love," Seungwan whispered as she took her fiance's hand in her own. Even though she knew that she couldn't do anything else to help, that little bit of contact did wonders to calm her down.

Seungwan was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly flew through the ceiling when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. When she looked over to see who it was, she saw a woman who was clearly a nurse, but with a big Bae-Corp logo on the left shoulder of her scrubs.

"I am sorry to disturb you, Ms. Son," the nurse began, "but I am Nurse Seohyun. I am one of the nurses who was appointed by Bae-Corp to see that Ms. Bae is well taken care of. Also, the other people currently allowed to visit Ms. Bae, other than yourself, of course, are Miss Son Taeyeon, Miss Kang Seulgi, Miss Kim Yeri and Miss Joy. Is there anything that I can do for you right now, Ms. Son?"

Seungwan shook her head no, saying that she was fine and just wanted to be left alone at the moment.

"Very well, Ms. Son," Nurse Seohyun said. "I just want you to know that Ms. Joy will be stopping by later to discuss some matters with you." With that statement, Nurse Seohyun slipped out of the room, once again leaving Seungwan to her thoughts.

Seungwan didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but it was well into the evening when Joy finally showed up.

Hearing a knock at the door, Seungwan looked up just as Joy slipped into the room.

"Ms. Son…" Joy was stopped short at the sight of Joohyun, at a loss for words.

"I know she looks bad, Joy, but the doctors are doing everything they can to ensure Joohyun will make a full recovery," Seungwan said this, more in an attempt to convince herself, rather than Joy. "Also, please call me Seungwan. We see each other more than enough."

"I am sorry, Ms. Son," Joy said with a small shake of her head, "but I don't think that is appropriate given the circumstances, especially since you have been Ms. Bae's fiance for quite some time."

This took Seungwan quite by surprise, "What do you mean? You know?".

"Ms. Son, you and Ms. Bae have been very discreet about everything. But facts like that don't come past me, but, Ms. Bae also talked to me about your relationship with her, so that I knew of the plan."

"Which plan?" Seungwan asked, Joohyun had never talked to her about a plan… or the fact that Joy knows about them.

"For you to take over her companies in times like these, Ms. Son," Joy replied, "If ever Ms. Bae was unable to run her companies, I was to give you this." She pulled a spiral-bound stack of papers out of her bag and presented it to Seungwan.

After a moment of confusion, Seungwan took the papers from Joy and looked at the cover. She froze when she saw the title; 'How to be the CEO of Bae-Corp and Yang Enterprise' Taking a few more moments to gather herself, she finally looked to Joy for confirmation.

"I am sorry to drop this on you so suddenly, Ms. Son," Joy told her, "but this can't wait. Bae-Corp and Yang Enterprise need a CEO, and they can't wait for Ms. Bae to recover. Lawyers will be coming by tomorrow for you to sign some paperwork, but in the meantime, I highly advise that you read this."

Seungwan just nods, still not fully comprehending what was going on.

"Will you be staying here tonight, Ms. Son?" Joy asked her. "Because if that is the case, I can have the nurse bring in another bed for you."

"Thank you, Joy," Seungwan said. "That would be wonderful."

Joy nodded at this and slipped out of the room, and not five minutes later Nurse Seohyun arrived with another bed for her.

"Please don't hesitate to ask for anything, Ms. Son," Nurse Seohyun said. "Also, if Ms. Bae's condition changes, call me immediately." With that, Nurse Seohyun left almost as quickly as she arrived, leaving Seungwan to go over the papers in her lap.

Opening up to the first page, Seungwan begins reading the perfectly written words that Joohyun wrote. 'I'm so sorry, my darling, Seungwan. But, if you are reading this it means something is wrong with me. And due to that fact I am no longer able to run Bae-Corp or Yang Enterprise. Most likely, I am in the hospital after another assassination attempt.

Seungwan frowned, Joohyun had really planned for this. Curious, she read further, 'I know you don't want our relationship to be exposed to the public because you know you will be targeted by the enemy to hurt and bring me down. On my first day at Yang Enterprise, the company I bought for you, I asked you to sign some papers, those papers were the foundation of my plan. Because they were consensual relationship agreement forms, which means on paper we were in a relationship and you are my legal heir.'

Seungwan looked up at Joohyun, chuckling lightly, Joohyun had been quite smart with how she handled this all. 'Darling, I might have trapped you in something that you don't want, and I am sorry for that, but I did this so that my companies will fall in the hands of somebody good: You.'

"Love," Seungwan whispered, "You could just have asked me, I would have accepted."

'I know this might be a lot to take in, but darling, I know you can do it. I know you can take over Yang Enterprise without a hitch, since you have learned it all from the best of the best: Kim Sejeong. But I completely trust you with Bae-Corp too. You are a marvelous woman and you also spread hope due to your optimism.'

Seungwan smiled a little, even through written words Joohyun could flatter her. 'Bae-Corp might be a little difficult for you in the beginning, but Seulgi will be here as soon as she can. She will help you in any way she can as your CFO. I know things will be difficult and maybe someday you need to yell for respect. But you can do it.'

'Good luck, my Seungwan. I will see you when I wake up. I know you won't disappoint me. I know you won't let my work go to waste, even though I might never be awake again. Once again, good luck, my darling Seungwan.'

As she came to the end of that page, all she was able to do was slowly look from the book to Joohyun, a little shocked.

"You really do think of everything, don't you, Love?" Seungwan whispered to her fiance's.