“What????”  Billy Monahan blasted into the phone.

“What’s wrong honey?  Your face is all red,” fussed the latest leggy blond piece of eye-candy he called his secretary.  He shooed her out of his office.

On the other end of the line, a nervous David Coty tried to calm Noelle’s father down.  “Well … seriously, she’s all right.  Just a broken arm and a few scratches that’s all.”

“How the HELL did this happen? Who the HELL was with her and what the HELL are you doing about the IDIOT who did this??” roared the owner and president of Monahan Entertainment as he headed to the liquor cabinet to pour himself a glass of scotch.

“Everything is being handled.  Don’t worry about it.  We’ll take care of her and get her back to LA safely.”

“You get her home yesterday do you HEAR me?? No, forget that I’ll send someone to get her!” Billy slammed the phone down into its cradle and downed the scotch in one shot.

“What was all that about?” came a voice from his office doorway.

“Your sister is in the hospital.”

“Is the golden child dying?”  Courtney Monahan strolled lazily into her father’s office and threw herself into a plush leather armchair.

Billy glared at her.

“Kidding! Geez …” she examined her perfectly manicured fingernails.  “Can’t take a joke …”

“Apparently she was in an accident in a club in Seoul.  I need to send someone to bring her home.”

Courtney perked up.  “I’ll get her,” she offered.

Billy raised an eyebrow skeptically.  “And … why?”

Courtney smiled sweetly.  “It will give us a chance to spend quality time together.  And besides, wouldn’t she rather have family with her at a time like this?”  Not to mention she’d heard the shopping in Seoul was to die for.

Billy considered it for a moment.  “All right, tell Candy to make reservations for you.”

“It’s Mandy Dad.”

“What the hell ever.”

Noelle was asleep.  Seung-Hyun quietly sat the bag containing the warm soup he’d picked up on way over atop the small table next to her bed.

Sighing, he sat down and gazed.  Her face was finally beginning to show more color; her cheeks glowed with a faint rosy blush and her lips were a soft, silky pink. With the tip of a finger, he carefully brushed back a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.  He watched as the rhythm of her breathing raised the blanket gently.  He remembered his mother telling him once that when he was a baby she would sometimes watch him breathe as he slept for fear he might stop.  He suddenly understood what she’d felt.

One of Noelle’s fingers twitched slightly.  She wore a single braided golden band around her thumb.  He wondered if there was some meaning behind it. The other hand was mostly obscured by the white cast that reached up to her elbow.  He chuckled as he saw the signatures and cute drawings Minzy and Bom had done. Wait .. was that Ji-Yong’s writing?  Leaning further he made out Seungri’s also.  His eyebrow shot up.  He looked around for a pen.

The room really wasn’t meant to hold so many people.  David ran his fingers over his moustache nervously.  Yang Hyun-Suk was glaring at him.  The 3 men standing behind him didn’t look to happy either.  David cleared his throat and moved to lean over the bed.

“Hey No-Lin,” he said with the warmest smile he could muster. “How you feeling honey?”

She was grinning goofily at one of the 3 men.

“A lot better,” Noelle replied turning her head to him. “Doesn’t look like I’ll make Tokyo though; tell the guys I’m so sorry.”

“Ahh, don’t worry about that kiddo,” he assured her.  “I talked to your dad this morning.  He’s sending someone to get you.”

She looked surprised.  “Really? He didn’t need to do that,” she scowled.

David shrugged.  “You know your Dad.”

“Yeah, never there when you need him and right in your face when you don’t want him.”

“Don’t be too hard on him,” David said.  “He means well.”

Noelle pursed her lips and took a deep breath.  Her face wandered back to one of the guys near the door.  She picked up a pen from the bedside table.

“Choi Dong-Wook?” she whispered shyly as if not sure of the pronunciation. “Would you sign my cast?”

A handsome man stepped forward from the group.  His dark expression turned soft as he took the pin with a smile. 

The young man sitting next to Noelle’s bed scowled and mumbled something under his breath.  Noelle turned to him and giggled.

“I’ll get Minzy to take a picture of it for me,” she told him, pleased with herself.

“O.K.!” announced Bom.  “It’s time to educate you on the most important part of Korean culture.”

Noelle nodded solemnly.

Minzy chuckled and shook her head.

Dara blinked.

CL blew a bubble with her gum then cracked it.

Bom maneuvered the laptop’s cursor over the play button and tapped it.  The opening scene of “Boys Before Flowers” flashed onto the screen.

“Don’t we get snacks?” Chae-rin asked.

“Oh .. ya.  I almost forgot.”  Bom reached into her bag and pulled out a package of cookies.

“Oooo gemme gemme,” Dara pleaded.

Noelle kept her eyes glued to the screen in order to follow the subtitles.

Dara sighed, “Gu Jun- Pyo is so handsome.”

“Aisshh!” Bom threatened to throw a cookie at her. “Hey! … you stop bragging about your boyfriend.”

“Fiancé,” Dara corrected with a wink.

Out In the hallway, Kwon Ji-Yong’s hand froze on the door handle.

“Fiancé?” he whispered to himself under his breath.

“What’s wrong,” Daesung asked. “Why aren’t you going in?”

“Oh.” Ji-Yong pulled his face into a friendly smile.  As he opened the door his eyes zeroed in on the ring glinting on Dara’s finger.

His hand subconsciously rose to cradle his stomach.  He felt ill.