Jieun had a stop to go to before she could even think about going to see her dear friend Hyosung. She had forgotten the last time she had visited the wretched hospital. The place where everything seemed to go wrong. Jieun had witnessed too much there. Daehyun's brother's untimely death. The death of Daehyun's adoptive mother. The suicide of Bang Yong Guk's mother. The place was cursed to say the least. Maybe it wasn't the hospital, but people around her. Sometimes Jieun thought the one who was cursed was her. She slowly walked down the corridors of the hospital. It was getting late, but she had special circumstances as she was a full time student. Was being the operative word. 

Footsteps echoed through the eerie place in synchronisation with the sound of rain battering off of every window in sight. Jieun didn't wait in the empty waiting room, she just marched into the room, knowing that a patient would not be there instead.

"Jieun-ssi?" The doctor said in disbelief. "You missed your last appointment with us. I didn't expect you to be here, especially at this time." Jieun nodded, slipping in an apology when she saw fit.

"Is the father not with us today?" The jolly doctor asked, trying to break the ice between her and Jieun. Jieun shook her head at the question, trying hard not to show an expression similar to brooding.

The doctor did not question Jieun further, instead she motioned for her to sit at the chair beside her. Once seated, the doctor explained some of the things she would expect through the end of her second trimester and throughout the third until the delivery. The doctor then asked her to roll up a sleeve so she could check the blood pressure. Jieun winced as the torture device constricted around her skinny arm. "Jieun. It seems your blood pressure is quite dangerously high. Are you experiencing some stress right now?"

"Not that I know of. I've just dropped out of school, if that could be the cause of anything."

"Jieun this is a serious matter. High blood pressure for an expecting mother can be dangerous towards the baby. It could develop complications during the birth of your child, or even have some effect on it when he or she grows up."

Jieun again nodded like a puppet when she saw fit, not quite socially attached to the conversation.

"It could cause some psychological damage on the child's developing brain. On that note, is there any history of mental illness in your family?"

Jieun shook her head.

"What about your boyfriend's family."

"No." Jieun hissed, eliciting a gasp of surprise from the doctor who was alarmed by her bluntness. The doctor was going to press on with the matter but saw that it didn't seem like the best plan of action. Instead, she led Jieun to the ultrasound.

Laying her down on hospital bed, Jieun was to lift up her shirt and expose the developing baby bump, the size of at least five months. She hissed when the cold gel came into contact with her skin.

The doctor stayed silent for a while after the scan started. "Well, that's your baby." She said, her voice a little strained and forced.

Jieun ignored her completely, staring at the image on the screen in awe. She could see her baby, a product of both her and Yong Guk's love. Or so she'd like to think.

The doctor continued. "It's a little small for the age, but I'm sure that he or she will develop pretty well over the next four months and you two will be blessed with a healthy baby."

A tear rolled down Jieun's eyes. But the moment was shortlived. A midwife stumbled into the room clumsily.

"Doctor. The patient from before isn't coping well with the news of her baby having to be born with a deformity."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I was planning on contacting Dr. Bang Yong Guk about it."

Jieun butted it accidently, half shouting. "Don't!" Both the doctor and midwife stared at Jieun. "Bang Yong Guk is my boyfriend...the father. He's not at work today..he's visiting family."

The midwife nodded and walked out. "Sorry for the interruption Jieun-ssi. I was about to ask you if you wanted to know ithe gender of your baby." Jieun's eyes began to flood again, remembering she was carrying another life. "Oh and Jieun?" The doctor added. "The hospitals in Seoul are pretty close knit. We know that Bang Yong Guk doesn't have any family."