http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TtOGLJo7pU

Mi-Young grabbed a banana from the kitchen. Doojoon sleepily entered the room whilst rubbing his eyes as protection from the bright morning light shining in through the blinds.

"Where are you going so early?" Doojoon drowsily asked. In a rush, Mi-Young kissed him on the lips.

"To the orphanage. Ji-Hoon called me in. He wants to talk to me."

"And he couldn't have done that over the phone?"

Mi-Young gave him a look. "Doojoon, he's my boss." She skipped off towards the front door.

"You're doing work for free! You're your own boss!" He called from the kitchen.

"I'll see you later. Love you!" An echo replied back.

---------------

"I called you in early because after another absence from Jaejoong again yesterday, I think it's best you begin interviewing a new person to help me with the budgets. It's just a shame they won't volunteer, we'd have to pay them a considerate wage." Mi-Young noticed the tiredness and stress in Ji-Hoon's eyes.

"I'll do my best to make sure I don't hire one like the last person." Mi-Young answered, referring to Jaejoong.

She could tell Ji-Hoon was finding it hard to accept letting Jaejoong go, because even Mi-Young had to admit, Jaejoong was a good worked and the kids loved him. "I've got so much to do so I'm leaving everything to you. Thanks Mi-Young. I hope you know how much I appreciate this, and you. And if we can't find someone, I'm afraid we'll have to talk about shutting the orphanage down and sending the orphans to one of the rural orphanages." Ji-Hoon smiled sadly, almost as if he were giving up. "Anyway, I must get on with my rounds."

As Ji-Hoon got up to leave the office a familiar figure walked through the door.

"Jaejoong." muttered Mi-Young under her breath.

He looked terrible. His face was gaunt and he had heavy bags under his eyes. His hair wasn't perfectly styled like usual and his usually pristine pressed shirt had creases showing under his suit jacket.

Jaejoong straightened up and bowed his head to Ji-Hoon. He turned his gaze towards Mi-Young, who was staring at at him in disbelief. *How dare he just waltz in like nothing's happened.*

"Are you back for good?" Ji-Hoon asked calmly.

"I am, yes, Sir. I apologize for my absence but I will explain in due course."

"Good, man. Glad to have you back." Ji-Hoon shook Jaejoong's hand. "You can forget about what I just asked you to do, Mi-Young." He left the room to continue his rounds with a relieved smile.

Jaejoong reluctantly approached Mi-Young and sat at the desk opposite her. She wouldn't even look at him. She was furious. Jaejoong didn't understand how much stress he had put them under.

Every second he would look over at Mi-Young to try and make eye contact but she was busily typing on the computer. Jaejoong picked up his pen and began tapping it as fast and hard as he could on the wooden desk in front of him.

*Will this guy just quit and leave me alone?*

With still no reaction from Mi-Young, Jaejoong whistled as loud as he could along with the pen tapping and clearing his throat. Mi-Young had had enough.

"Could you be anymore annoying!? What do you want?" She snapped to him across the desks.

A sly smile appeared on Jaejoong's face. "Oh. So, I'm not completely invisible to you then?"

"Jaejoong, I'm tired and I have a lot of work to do so please, stop distracting me. If I wanted to talk to you, I would do but seeing as you've been AWOL for nearly a month, I have nothing to say to you."

Jaejoong's face dropped. "Mi-Young..."

"I have a lot of emails to write so I'd appreciate it if you either stopped talking or left the office."

"If I could tell you why I've been absent I would but you'll just have to trust me when I say I can't right now."

Mi-Young got up and pushed her chair away from the desk. She began storming over towards the door incase she ended up punching Jaejoong out of fury and frustration.

A tight, strong grip grasped her hand tightly and spun her round.

"Can you not just leave like that? I was hoping to talk to you about Hana and why she wasn't adopted along with her brother."

Mi-Young frowned and tried to figure the guy out in front of her. "Do you even realise how much stress you've put us under? Ji-Hoon even thought about having to shut down the orphanage!"

"Please take my word for it when I say that there's a reason why I've been gone. I just need to tell you in my own time."

"Then you can take my word for it when I tell you that you're no longer needed here. You're fired."

Jaejoong's face dropped with dismay. "Mi-Young..."

"You can pack up your stuff and leave your contract on my desk on the way out." Mi-Young sternly said and left the office.

Jaejoong hated secrets more than anyone and seeing the disappointment on Mi-Young's face killed him but this one secret of his, he couldn't bear telling anyone. He knew he had to fight for this job of his, which meant everything to him.

"Mi-Young, wait!" Jaejoong shouted after her. He ran out of the office and hurried after Mi-Young. He gripped the top of the arm and spun her round. "I said 'wait'!"

"If you would just listen to me for one moment in your life!"

"I thought you were intelligent, Jaejoong, but you're as stupid as hell."

Jaejoong's look intensified.

"As you walked through the office door earlier, a part of me was happy to see you and relieved that you would come in with a good enough excuse as to why you haven't shown up in what feels like forever!" Mi-Young was 4 inches away from Jaejoong's face and every second longer she stood in front of him, she felt more and more angry. She turned around and walked away.

"I'm sick."

Upon hearing Jaejoong's tragic confession, Mi-Young slowly turned back around and saw the sorrow in his expression. Tears filled his eyes. To Mi-Young, he looked lost, lonely and worried and for the first time since she's known him, he looked scared.

"W-what?" Mi-Young stuttered.

Jaejoong closed his eyes and a tear fell down the surface of his perfect cheekbones. "I have lung cancer."

Mi-Young couldn't believe what she was hearing. *Cancer. Jaejoong has cancer.* "Please let this be some sort of sick joke, Jaejoong. I swear to god if you're lying I'll-" threatened Mi-Young, hiding her sadness.

"I wish I was lying, but...-"

Mi-Young sadly nodded her head, "...-but you're not." She shifted towards Jaejoong's body and reached up and touched his cheek and wiped his tears away.

Jaejoong and Mi-Young sat across from each other in a local cafe with hot cocoa in front of them.

"Forgive me." Mi-Young's hand met Jaejoong's across the table.

"Forgive you for what?"

"For being the that I am. If I'd known you were busy I would've said take as long as you like off."

"I'm not angry at you, Mi-Young. I could never be angry at you. I felt so bad for letting you guys down but there was no way I could tell you yet."

"I understand. Where have you been for the past months then?"

Jaejoong dropped his head. "At the hospital. They've been doing tests."

"I wish you would've told me. I would've let your absence slip. It wouldn't matter to me."

"But hearing you sound so angry on your voicemails and messages, I knew I'd let you down."

Mi-Young his hand as she looked at him with sadness engulfing her eyes. "Please don't even worry about that. It's the past."

"I just want to go back to normal. Volunteering at the orphanage and seeing you." Jaejoong's comment made Mi-Young blush in shyness.

"How long have you known?" She sobbed.

"A week before I started at the orphanage."

"You've known that long? Why would you waste your precious time at an orphanage?" Mi-Young was shocked.

"When I found out, I quit my job. I use to be an accountant but when I found out about the cancer, I knew I didn't want to spend my remaining days doing something as dull as that." Jaejoong chuckled lightly but Mi-Young couldn't even crack a smile at a time like this.

*That explains why he has so much money.*

"Whose been with you this whole time?"

Jaejoong took a while to think. "No-one."

"What about your mum?"

"My mother doesn't know."

"Jaejoong, you need to tell her."

"No. I can't. She would blame herself. She's one of those women who blames everything on herself. When my father died, she couldn't cope. She sent me to my aunty's for a few months."

"How do you think she'll feel when she finds out you've known this whole time and haven't told her?"

"You just have to promise me one thing, Mi-Young." Jaejoong waited for her approval. Mi-Young slowly nodded in hesitation.

"You have to promise me you won't tell anyone. Definitely not my mum or even Ji-Hoon."

"-but Jae-"

"I mean it, Mi-Young. You're the only one that knows and I expect you to keep this promise." sternly threatened Jaejoong.

"I promise." She mumbled almost silently. "What did the hospital say?"

"They say, without the treatment I have a maximum of 6 months to live."

*How can he stay silent about all of this? He's dying, does that not mean anything to him? His mum would die if she found out.* "But there is treatment right? Some treatment and everything will be cured?" When Jaejoong's expression softened, Mi-Young knew she was going to hear what she didn't want to hear.

"It's too late. The treatment wouldn't do anything because of the stage I'm at."

"It's not too late!" Mi-Young protested and refused to except the fact that there was no treatment. "Why are you giving up?" She raised her voice.

Jajeoong smiled in acceptance and nodded to himself. "I shouldn't have smoked since I was 16. If i were you, I'd tell anyone you know who smokes to quit because it's only the people you leave behind that you hurt once you've died."

Mi-Young frowned in thought. *Doojoon Smokes.*

She stormed out of the cafe and along the street with the cold, icy air hitting her face.

Jaejoong rushed after her and gripped her wrist from behind to spin her around so she was facing him.

"Where are you going?" He seriously questioned.

"To the hospital! I'm getting you the treatment! Come on, let's go! There's still time!" Mi-Young shouted back at Jaejoong and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him along the street but Jaejoong wouldn't move.

"There's no point." He returned, loudly.

"Why not!?" Tear fell down Mi-Young's icy cheeks.

"Because I know I'm going to die! I don't want to live on medication for the next number of years whilst my body fights this disease!" Jaejoong shouted back. Walkers by in the street looked at them.

"I'm going home."

"I'll take you-" Jaejoong took hold of Mi-Young's frozen hand but she rejected his attempt.

"No. I can go alone."

"Mi-Young!" He called after her. She slowly turned around with red bloodshot eyes, sadness escaping. Grief coursed down her face, mingling with her freezing cold breath. Jaejoong carefully approached her and embraced her in his arms.

Mi-Young sobbed into Jaejoong's chest as his arms held her tightly. "Please, don't die."