Chapter 33: The Call

Heechul and Youngmi met with Haera at the venue where their engagement party was going to be held; the rain had stopped but the clouds were still gloomy and so was Heechul's mood but his fiancee obviously tried to ignore the gloomy weather signals that he had sent her.

After everything was done and talked about, Haera left while Heechul had requested for them to eat there since he had explained that he had not eaten lunch yet. Youngmi agreed and so there they were, sitting across each other in silence. Heechul kept poking his food and upon noticing this, Youngmi let out a sigh and looked at him setting down her chopsticks

“Alright, what's your problem, really? You've been acting like that since I canceled my trip”

Heechul sarcastically laughed and looked at her

“You really are naive, aren't you? I'm upset about you canceling that trip just for that girl!”

Good thing that there were no other people around, it was just them and the staffs of the restaurant. Even so, Youngmi asked him to keep his voice down.

“Would you keep it down? And besides, it was my choice, I'm still a doctor and doctors save lives, I'm not throwing that away just because she's your ex-girlfriend or because she tried to ruin this wedding”

she grabbed a piece of meat and put it on , chewing angrily.

“Well couldn't you just let other doctors do it?”

He hissed, Youngmi glared at him

“Why would I give it to someone else when I'm there? Geez!”

Heechul fell quiet for a moment; he proceeded to eating his food and the next minutes were silent between the couple.

“Her operation is the day after tomorrow, after that I'll transfer her to Dr. Geum”

Youngmi mumbled after calming down. Heechul let out a sigh and looked at her.

“Promise?”

Youngmi nodded her head and looked at him, now with a calm expression.

“Promise...”

-

Hyunjung entered the room and heard the monitor's beeping; she saw the broken Hye Rin lying unconciously on the bed and couldn't help but feel a suffocating feeling.

'How could someone be so reckless just because of a guy?'

She thought to herself, approaching the bed. She was startled when she heard the door open, a nurse appeared and greeted her.

“Are you Ms. Ban's relative?”

The nurse asked her; Hyunjung glanced at Hye Rin then turned back to the nurse who adjusted the flow of the dextrose.

“A-Ani... just a friend”

the nurse nodded her head in understanding.

“Ms. Ban's in critical condition at the moment, her schedule for surgery isn't final yet; no one can give the go signal since we have no contacts of her relatives whatsoever”

Hyunjung turned to the nurse, setting her bag down on the foot of Hye Rin's bed.

“What happens if no one gives a go signal for surgery?”

she asked, the nurse lets out a quiet sigh and looks at the patient's body.

“Only the doctors know but from what I've experienced, some are left to have the final hours of their life, bed ridden but Ms. Ban's lucky”

the nurse smiles at Hyunjung

“Why?”

then she explains

“Dr. Nam's paying for all her hospital fees, she must be a person that Dr. Nam is grateful towards seeing as how she does all these things for her, I wonder what she did for Dr. Nam to do all of these for her without asking for anything back”

Hyunjung's lips quiver, she bit her lower lip and turned to Hye Rin. The nurse excused herself then left. She felt much more horrible than she already was.

'Youngmi... I'm so sorry'

-

The following day, the day before Hye Rin's surgery, there was still no reported relatives; Youngmi was already stressing, she needed to give Dr. Yang a call by the end of the day if the surgery was going to go on tomorrow or not.

“Dr. Nam?”

She frantically lifted her head as her secretary came in through the door. She was hoping that someone called for Hye Rin but unfortunately, that wasn't it. Her secretary placed a paper bag infront of her table with a lovey dovey smile before leaving. Youngmi sighed and opened the paper bag, finding a cup of warm milk and cookies inside then something was scribbled behind the paper bag.

Youngmi quietly read.

Do great today! I'll support you, should I visit today? I haven't made up my mind, ah well, I'll see you when I see you!

- Heechul

Then ofcourse, there was his silly drawing on the side. It made Youngmi smile, for some temporary and few minutes she had managed to relax.

She took out the cup of milk and munched on the cookies for the time, she had not noticed that lunch was already approaching but nevertheless, it's not like she planned to go out for lunch. She didn't want to leave the hospital without a given answer to Dr. Yang.

Youngmi leaned back on her chair and puffed out a heavy sigh, she took another bite of the cookie.

'Wait...'

she placed the cookie down and reached for the phone; someone who had a connection with Hye Rin needs to make the decision if ever her relatives don't show up or call or communicate, that's all that Youngmi needed.

Someone with a connect, any connection, with her.

And as much as it hurts her pride to admit it, she needed him to make the decision. Heechul was connected to Hye Rin.

The phone rang for some seconds then someone picked up; it was Yesung.

“Yeoboseyo?”

“Yesung-ssi, it's Youngmi”

“Ah! Doctor-noona, you called”

“Deh, I need to talk to Heechul, is he there?”

“Ani, hyung went out... I think he's going there, he did mention visiting someone at the hospital”

Okay, so Heechul was going to the hospital. Atleast then they could talk personally.

“Ah, I see. I'll hang up now Yesung-ssi, do great today!”

“Kamsahamnida noona, annyeong”

she placed the phone down and reached for her cellphone inside her bag then called Heechul from there; he said he was already entering the hospital, Youngmi told him that she'd go down to meet up with him and Heechul agreed. The doctor walked out of her office and ran down, just in the nick of time that Heechul entered and she immediately saw him.

“Whoa, what are you so worked up about?”

he said sarcastically; the couple went up to Hye Rin's room.

“So, are you going to stand alongside in the surgery tomorrow?”

he asked, Youngmi turned the knob and opened the door as the two of them then entered. Youngmi shook her head/

“Ani, Dr. Yang's bringing an assistant doctor so there's no need for me to be there”

Heechul nodded his head whilst puffing up his cheeks.

“Heechul...”

he turned to Youngmi

“I need to ask you a big favor... do it for me, will you?'

He shrugged his shoulders and the two of them turned to look at Hye Rin's body lying on the bed. The doctor bit her lips and gripped the steel bar at the foot of her bed.

“If you're gonna ask me to marry her instead of you then I can just walk out of both of your lives”

Youngmi smiled

“A bigger favor than that one, oppa”

Heechul was beginning get agitated

“Just get straight to the point Youngmi”

he stuck his hands inside his jacket's pockets; his fiancee turned to look at him seriously.

“Make the call for Hye Rin”

Heechul raised a brow at her, he didn't get what she was trying to say.

“What do you mean, make the call for her?”

“I mean, give me the no go or go signal for the operation tomorrow, make the call”

-

Heechul didn't give his answer right away; he said that he'd think about it but promised by the end of the day that he'd give a word to her; he had a schedule after his visit to the hospital so here he was, getting ready to film Strong Heart with his fellow members. He was going to be telling a story today to battle with his fellow members yet he didn't know what story title to give yet.

He was pondering while getting his hair done.

“Hey, what's with you?”

Leeteuk asked, reaching out a hand to tap his shoulder. Heechul looked at him through the mirror.

“I'm thinking of what to tell...”

“You have lots of stories, surely there must be one”

Leeteuk assured him but it wasn't helping. He was too bothered by the favor that Youngmi asked him and he was beginning to feel afraid that he might daze out into the open at the show later.

“Ah, hyung I don't want to daze out into the open later!”

He yielded, Leeteuk tsked and looked back at him through the mirror

“Look, just let it all go and once you do, keep it flying”

Leeteuk got done with his hair and got out of the chair as Ryeowook switched next. Heechul puffed out a sigh and the eternal maknae -who overheard his hyungs' conversation- turned to him and said

“Hyung, just tell a story about what's bothering you”

Heechul looked at Ryeowook for a few minutes then turned to look at himself in the mirror. He was... right.

A life in my hands

“Ah, Heechul-ssi, you have quite a dramatic thing written on you board today”

The MC said, the camera focused on Heechul for a few moments;

“I didn't know what to talk about today but I hate losing so I thought I should talk about something that's bothering me at the moment”

Heechul stated; Shindong turned to him

“Hyung, you're not thinking about canceling your wedding right?”

there was a series of 'ohhh's after Shindong had said that, Heechul laughed sarcastically and sternly looked at him saying

“Yah, it's my turn to say the story, you listen”

laughter followed after that; Heechul then began to relay the story that he had

“Earlier today, I went to the hospital to see my fiancee”

“How is she?”

The MC asked, Heechul quickly answered with a 'she's okay' and the MC laughed at his quickness to answer. The MC said that he sounded like he was trying to say she's okay when she's not.

“Oh, I saw her once”

Kim Hyojin announces, the camera turns to her and the MC asks

“Really? Is she pretty?”

“Deh, she looks very young too”

Heechul raises his hand and asks if he could continue with his story and this received laughter from the guests and audience.

“Anyway... she asked me for a very big favor, no not canceling the wedding!”

He turned to Kyuhyun who was about to ask the very question but then sunk in his seat with a smile and a nod of the head making the audience laugh.

“Anyway, aish so many interruptions, where was I? Right, she asked me to make a call but it was not the call wherein we use our cellphones, it was different and it was a very big call”

Heechul cleared his throat for a moment then continued

“She has this one patient that got into a car accident and in order for this patient to live, an operation is needed because according to my fiancee, the patient has broken ribs and her heart is at risk of being stabbed by the broken bones so earlier when I came there, she asked me to make the call because the patient had no relative or family, the patient lived alone”

by this time, the other members got curious about his story

“They couldn't do the operation without someone giving the go-signal and for a confidential reason she asked me to give a no or a go signal. I didn't answer her right away because for me, it was such a big responsibility and the operation couldn't guarantee a 100% chance of survival, how do I answer? I thought that I should think about it because really, I don't want to be held responsible for anything or anyone”

Leeteuk was looking at him now, listening intently

“At the drive going here, I was like...”

Heechul puffs out a groggy and stressed sigh

“Agh, what do I do? I honestly don't know what to do. So I thought and I thought and thought then I called my umma and talked to her about it and she said”

Heechul then imitates his mother's voice

“Heechul-yah, imagine if it were to be Youngmi, you would do what you think is right”

he then switches back to his voice; he was acting out his conversation on the phone with his mother, holding an imaginary cellphone to his ear

“But I don't want to be responsible with anyone!”

he switches to his mother's voice

“Aigo ~ you're getting married, once you're married you are responsible for someone and that's Youngmi... if she were that patient on the bed, you would do what you think is best right?”

he clears his throat and speaks normally

“So then at the last minutes before going out here, I texted Youngmi my answer”

“What did you say?”

the MC asks;

“I told her to go on with the operation, I trust her, if she were me I know that she would've said the same thing and I know that she has faith in the doctors doing the operation so I pray that the patient will survive; Youngmi put that life in my hands and I only now realize just how much she trusts and has faith in me”

“Do you know the patient?”

the co-host asks; Heechul hesitated to answer at first but then spoke after awhile

“The patient was my ex-girlfriend and my fiancee is her doctor”

In the end, Heechul didn't win but it felt good to get those words out of his chest; after the taping, he received a call from Youngmi.

“Oppa”

“Did you receive my text earlier?”

“Deh, I did... the operation will take place at 5 AM tomorrow, surgery will probably take 5 to 7 hours”

“I see... that really stressed me out, you know”

he whined; he could feel Youngmi smile on the other line

“I don't know why you want to help her so much”

“Every life counts, oppa”

Heechul puffs out a sigh and walks to the dressing room, he faced the mirror and fixed his hair.

“By the way... what's this thing Siwon tells me about a pastor judge?”

she gulped.