Note:

1 Whatsapp Messenger: an instant messaging application for smartphones ie. iPhone, Samsung, Blackberry, etc. Similar to Kakao Talk (Korean version).

 

“You’re going home?”   Hyun Ah has been lying on her bed to have a sleep, but upon hearing her brother bidding her goodbye, she leans up on her elbow, an alarmed expression on her face. She has just remembered something.   “What’s wrong?” Sung Yeol asks, approaching her bed closer.   “You have to take Amber and Paris out of the house! Appa came back this morning!”   Chills roll up his spine upon hearing his father’s news. When he arrived in Korea, his father had welcomed him back with warm arms. He was glad his son has returned and could stay around to look after his daughter. Sung Yeol said nothing of his whereabouts in the past years, in case Amber and Paris’ lives are endangered, and was there when Myung Soo cancelled the wedding prior to the consequent fight the man had with his father. Likewise, he showed no interest, which angered his father even more. However, his father left the country a week ago to see Dr Elizabeth Freeman, the specialist in Wilms’ Tumour in Chicago. It took him a while to meet her given her busy schedule and it humours Sung Yeol with the fact that his father now has to wait for others to get what he wants. In the past years, it has always been others who wait for the great man.   If his father has returned to Korea, that would only mean a bad omen if he discovers that Amber and Paris are here.   “You’ve got to call Oppa to not take them home,” Hyun Ah emphasises the danger of the situation and promptly sends him out.   Sung Yeol immediately takes out his phone with the intention to call Amber, but realises that Amber’s phone cannot receive calls or text messages because she doesn’t have a Korean SIM card; she has been relying on the hospital and their house’s wi-fi to communicate through Whatsapp1. He instantly makes a call to Myung Soo, only to be cut off before he could start talking.   “Sung Yeol, come out now! I was on the other side of the parking lot and I saw a group of men taking Amber and Paris into a white van!” Myung Soo yells into the phone in apprehension.   “Okay, okay, I’m coming!” he reassures him and hangs up the phone to tell Hyun Ah the situation. She quickly tells him an address of a place where their father usually takes people to before letting him leave her behind to save Amber and Paris.   Following his leave, Hyun Ah grabs her phone from the desk next to her bed and makes a phone call.   “Krystal, where are you now?”   “Literally just turned the corner away from the hospital. Why?” She has sensed Hyun Ah’s anxiety through the phone and is starting to panic.   “You’re with Hyun Joong right?”   “No. I came with my own car, so I told him to go straight home. Is everything okay?”   “Amber and Paris are kidnapped,” Hyun Ah hears Krystal gasp and carries on, “Come back to the hospital and take me to this place I know my dad will be taking them.”   “Are you crazy?” Krystal screeches. “Just give me the address and I’ll go with Hyun Joong! You cannot leave the hospital, Hyun Ah! Your condition—”   “I don’t eff-ing care. You come now or I’m taking a taxi!”   With that, she hangs up the phone and gets changed into casual clothing to allow for successful escape from the hospital.

 

∞

 

Sung Yeol literally jumps into Myung Soo’s car as soon as it arrives at the entrance of the hospital building. Myung Soo throws his phone at Sung Yeol and told him to call Hyun Joong and Jae Joong for help. He does not forget to tell the two brothers of the address and hopes they would be able to get there in time.   Myung Soo nods, his eyes still on the road. A moment later, he looks around the crowded road frantically and curses. “I lost them!”   “Don’t worry! Hyun Ah has given me an address. She said my dad should be taking them there,” Sung Yeol reassures him, and himself. He is scared to death something would happen, but he tries to stay calm and keep his mind clear.   Myung Soo steps on the break just as the light turns red. He turns to Sung Yeol in disbelief. “Hyun Ah? She gave you an address? Are you sure she is leading us to the right place?” Anger rises in him at the possibility of Hyun Ah misleading them. He would never forgive her for this if something happens to Amber or Paris. He cannot afford the consequences, or live through those ten years again.   “This is the only thing we have. We just have to believe, I guess.”   “Don’t ing give me that, Sung Yeol!” the younger man snaps. “I may look like I’ve forgiven her for lying to me all this time, but I would never forgive her if anything happens to Amber and Paris.”   Sung Yeol acknowledges his fear and takes out Amber’s phone, remembering that he felt a vibration when he sprints out of the hospital. There is a message from Yuri:   What’s your decision?   Sung Yeol scrolls up the conversation see a long message from Yuri received last night, to which Amber never write back.   I don’t know what you’re running away from, Amber. Is it something you want or something that you’re afraid you want? I can’t make the decision for you, I know that. But think about it carefully. Myung Soo also has the right to know. Let me know your decision.   “It seems that Yuri already knew about Amber’s pregnancy.” Sung Yeol turns to face Myung Soo, who is staring straight ahead at the road. Ruffling his hair, he groans, “This is so complicated! Why the hell did you have to get her pregnant?!”   He has not even developed a bond with Paris yet and now, if Amber had not terminated the pregnancy, he would be having his second child. Furthermore, with Hyun Ah's condition. One matter has not finished, another comes. Sung Yeol wonders what kind of joke God is playing on them now.   “How the hell would I know?” Myung Soo retorts. “It’s not like we plan it every time.”   Sung Yeol shakes his head and distracts himself with Myung Soo’s GPS device, hoping this place’s location can be identified sooner.   “Do you want the baby?”
“What kind of question is that, Sung Yeol?” he questions sharply, but immediately regrets yelling at an innocent person. He takes a deep, calming breath and says, “I do want the baby, but if Amber doesn’t want it… I’ll live with it.”   Sung Yeol shakes his head. “So for you, Amber is more important than the baby?”   Myung Soo stops short, startled by the query. “I-I didn’t say that, b-but… she is the one carrying the baby, I can’t force her to have-”   “Green light!” he informs Myung Soo, who promptly starts the engine again. Sung Yeol decides to drop the subject because he does not to face the confusion he feels towards the situation, if he is in Myung Soo’s shoes. “I think I know this place, but I went there ages ago before I moved to Paris. Have you heard of this place?” He reads out the address and looks expectantly at Myung Soo.   Myung Soo’s lips thin into a grave line. He shakes his head. “No idea.”   Great. This will take a while.

 

∞

 

“Where the is it, Sung Yeol?”   “I don’t know!” Sung Yeol snaps back at the frenzied Myung Soo,