The EMTs wheeled Choi Seung Hyun’s body into the ER with a frantic energy. These trained professionals have seen gunshot wounds, pregnant nine year olds crying in agony, and es glued to anything mobile. A famous rapper/producer/ex-boy band member didn’t impress them. At all. Not even a little. Everyone bleeds, and the reaper didn’t care how many zero’s you saw on your check. 

However, these EMTs knew that time was a huge factor in whether or not Choi Seung Hyun lived or died. And no mater how unimpressed they were with his titles, if this famous rapper/producer/ex-boy band member died on their shift, it was a guarantee that an investigation would occur and someone would lose their jobs.

As the surgeons mended Choi Seung Hyun’s bones, and stuffed his organs back in their correct positions they kept this in mind as well. No matter how miraculous their previous surgeries might have been in the past, this surgery would define their career. So when Seung Hyun went into cardiac arrest on the table, the usually calm surgeon’s hands twitched a few times as he second guessed his decisions. The team in the surgery room all held their breath as their fearful leader clamped this and snipped that.

When Seung Hyun moved out of intensive care to a suite reserved for those who either have lots of money, are extremely famous, or both it was now up to the nursing staff and around the clock security detail to bear the burden of his fate. Especially the bodyguards. Reporters tried everything from throwing cash at them to trying to sleep with them, all so they could get the first glimpse of their beloved celebrity. The guards, in turn, became increasingly jaded. The man who was on duty now, slept with his fair share of hot gossip rag writers only to reroute them to the tough as nails charge nurse who would sooner cut off her own s then give these bags what they wanted. 

When the guard saw Mary come off the elevator he knew that this would be one of those nights. Mary painted her thin lips a seductive shade of red. She straightened out her top to make sure she created a respectable amount of cleavage. Mary even went so far as to tie her hair up so her slender neck and collarbone was on display like dinosaur bones at a museum. The guard drank in all that Mary had to offer and the emergency condemn that was in his pocket; yes, indeed it was going to be one of those nights.

Mary took deliberate and confident steps to the guard, and with an air of entitlement said, “ I would like to see my fiancé.”

Dear lord, it was not going to be one of those nights. The guard took his fingers out of his pocket and instead reached for his radio. Mary’s bony fingers wrapped around his hand before he could call for back up.

The guard sighed. Why did she have to have such soft hands? “ Miss. You have the wrong floor. Clearly.”

Mary read the name on the door. “Choi. Seung. Hyun. That’s his room right?”

The guard nodded.

“Then I have the right room. He’s my fiancé.”

“What paper do you work for? You don’t have to lie about this, I can help you out.” The guard rubbed a circle on the back of her hand and gave his best bedroom eyes.

Mary took her hand away, completely disgusted. “I don’t work for a paper. I’m a model.”

“ I can believe that. More then you being that man’s fiancé.”

“Why exactly is it so hard to believe that a man like Seung Hyun would have a fiancée like me?”

Is she that stupid, the guard wondered? A delusional fan maybe? No. Mary’s eyes shined with a passion that could rival a music company trainee hungry for fame and fortune. “I don’t believe you, “ the guard said slowly, “ because Mrs. Choi Seung Hyun is in there with her husband right now.”

Mary gasped for air like a fish, waiting for a witty retort to form. It was obvious, now that it was pointed out to her, that she hadn’t thought this completely through. Choi Seung Hyun said he was going to leave his wife. Not that he left his wife. God how could she be so stupid. She’d have to play it off.

“Ok, so you aren’t falling for that.” Mary gave a nervous giggle, “The truth is, I’m a friend of the family. I know that in moments like this only family is suppose to visit and I thought that if I told you who I really was you wouldn’t let me in.”

The guard eyeballed her slowly. “Well there is a list. But I know you aren’t on it. I’ve got four male names, the name of his parents, and the name of his wife.”

“Oh! Well, the four male names belong to his group mates. I’m sure if one of them is in there; they can vouch…”Mary tried to walk past the guard and into the room. The guard placed his palm on her stomach and pushed her back.

“You’ll have to call them then. From outside. Then if they walk you up here they can vouch for you.”

“I traveled so far to get her.”

“So call them, and I’m sure you trip won’t be wasted.”

Mary and the guard stared each other down. Each blink, each breath seemed to happen at half the speed. The ding of the elevator and the squeak of occupant’s sneakers hitting the linoleum floor as they inched closer almost echoed in the silence. ‘

“Look here,” Mary spoke first, her voice screeching higher with each word “ I was the one to find him. I was the one that was with him and saw him as blood gushed from every hole in his head. He means more to me then he every could to that sitting in there with him right now—“

Mary felt herself being pulled away from the guard. The shock of being manhandled into an empty room across the hall from the suit Choi Seung Hyung occupied all but rendered her voice box unusable. The door shut as the last wisp of her hair cleared the doorframe. The man whirled her around so her back hit the wall next to the door hard. Mary’s voice box started working again, and the first thing she did was scream. The man covered with his hand.

There was a knock on the door. The guard spoke on the other side, his face pressed up to the glass to see if he could figure out what was going on in the very room he ed over achieving reporters.

“Is everything ok in there?”

“Yes sir.” The man said, “Just go back to your post and I’ll handle this.”

The guard breathed on the door, leaving a print of his face, before slowly walking back to his post. The man turned his attention back to Mary.

“If I take my hand off your mouth, you have to promise not to scream.”

Mary nodded, and the man took his hand away. Mary took in a deep breath of air, but she didn’t dare scream. She didn’t even move. The man reached over and flipped a switch. The lights flickered shaking off the sleep they were forced into for a few months before flooding the room with florescent light.

“Do you know who I am?”

Mary took in the man’s face. Dear lord, fluorescents didn’t flatter anyone. The man had dark bags under his eyes, and normally slender face looked all the more gaunt. His slouchy hat sagged just like the rest of him. Though the man needed a hot shower and a good nights sleep, she recognized his face.

“Jiyong.” Was the only word she said.

“And I know who you are.” It was the only phrase that Jiyong needed to say.

“It’s Mary.”

“We both know that’s not your real name. But I can’t say that I care.”

Jiyong backed up from Mary, and leaned against the footboard of the empty hospital bed a few steps behind them.

“Look, Mary,” Jiyong started, “ I thank you for getting my friend here. But I think you and I both know that you shouldn’t be here now.”

“And why shouldn’t I? You know who I am, so you know he loved me.”

“Don’t talk about him like he’s dead.”

“Fine,” Mary corrected, “You know he loves me.”

“He doesn’t love you, so much as he just hated his wife.” Jiyong said slowly, and then paused so the words could sink into Mary’s head. “ There is a huge difference.”

“You are right, he said he is leaving his wife. He said he was going to marry me. After their fight he came to me. After all of their fights he came to me. It should be me in there. It should be me worrying over him.”

“Seung Hyun might very well be leaving his wife. For all I know he might have already gotten the divorce papers. Hell, she might have already gotten divorce papers. But under this current situation, none of that really matters.”

“But. I’m his –“

“You are his good time girl, Mary. That’s it. Life just got serious. No one, I mean no one, gives a about you and who you possibly could be.” Jiyong gripped her shoulders and said with as much sincerity as he could muster, “ You are not factor in this equation.”

Mary shrugged off Jiyong’s hands and reached for the door. “ I might not be a factor now. But I will be. I’ll be a factor very, very, very soon.”

Mary turned the doorknob and walked out of the room, passed the guard, and down the hall to the elevator. Her nose was in the air, and her steps reeked of a woman scorned.

She let Choi Seung Hyun use her body. She let him come to her at all hours of the night and listened to his ridiculous problems. She let him own pieces of her two to three times a week because his wife wouldn’t be bothered enough to just work through their problems. She sacrificed the most. She sacrificed her dignity and self-respect. She sacrificed her right to a decent lover. Why? Because she knew that eventually she’d earn back her investment. She earned the last name Choi. She earned the house that the current Mrs. Choi didn’t want to take care of. She earned the right to have Seung Hyun’s baby and cinch her place by his side for the rest of his life.

As the elevator doors opened she looked back at the hospital door and the two men that stopped her from seeing her investment. Mary bit the inside of her cheek, the pain stopping her from running back and making a further fool of herself.

She’d come back for her investment.

It might not be in the next month.

It might not be in the next year.

But she’d be back. And her payday would follow.

Mary stepped in the elevator, and the doors closed behind her with a false sense of finality.