Four days later, Yul was a nervous wreck. He was pacing Yoona’s hospital room back and forth raking his hands through his hair every so often. Tiffany had taken her down to one of the conversation rooms to hold a press conference… her first public appearance since the accident. She couldn’t walk because of her cast, so Tiffany had wheeled her down. Yoona’s father had offered to do it, but she’d been adamant that none of her family be in the spotlight. And although he was a public figure anyway, Yul wheeling her down had not been an option because the press was still unaware of their marriage. Or that they even knew each other. Quite frankly, he didn’t give a what the press found out at this point, but he knew that Yoona did, and she had enough on her plate without being flooded with those kinds of questions. Once the press found out about their marriage, they’d be doing back flips to get pictures of the Kwons. If they even were the Kwons by the time this whole thing was over.

Yoona’s press conference was only part of the reason that he was nervous. He knew that she was progressing well, and every day was one day closer to her being released. He knew he was on borrowed time and he wasn’t sure what would happen when she was released. He’d like to think that Yoona would still see him, but he couldn’t be sure. He looked up at the television again and finally saw a banner flash across the bottom of the screen with Yoona’s name on it. He walked over and turned the volume up, then took a step back. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood there watching…waiting.

Tiffany came on the screen, announcing that Yoona would be out in just a minute and that she would be taking questions for no longer than fifteen minutes and that she, Tiffany, would be choosing who would go next with their inquiries. If it got too chaotic, Yoona would be removed from the room, not answering any more questions. Then he saw one of the security guards wheeling Yoona into the room. Flashes from several cameras went off simultaneously, and Yul swallowed nervously, thinking that this was too much too soon for her. Damnmitt! He thought. She should be resting.

They started firing off questions one after the other, and Yoona answered them as imprecisely as possible. It was painfully obvious that she wasn’t enjoying the spotlight, and Yul could tell that it was exhausting her more as each moment passed. “Miss Kwon,” one of the reporters yelled.

“Mrs,” Yul reminded the television set snappily.

“Who was the man you were with at the restaurant?” he asked impatiently. Yul straightened at this, as he, too had been curious about the man she was meeting with.

“He’s a friend of mine,” she said, not elaborating. Her eyes didn’t meet the camera, and Yul knew immediately that this man wasn’t a friend. What was he then? Was Yoona dating? He wondered.

Tiffany called on the next reporter who fired off with, “Miss Kwon, sources say you have an unnamed man in your room who’s not left your side since the accident occurred. Any comment to that?”

Yul watched as Yoona shook her head and shifted uncomfortably. “No,” she said, smiling weakly. “All of the men who have been in my room, are, in fact, named,” she teased. “All of the people who have been by my side are friends or family, and there’s no secret about that,” she said.

“Miss Kwon, are you dating anyone right now?” a female reporter asked.

 He saw Yoona swallow nervously. “No,” she said unsteadily. Yul watched her as she looked up pleadingly at Tiffany.

“Miss Kwon is the man you were meeting with in fact a friend… or is there a possibility that you’re romantically linked to him?” a reporter yelled out from the crowd.

“Leave her alone,” Yul growled at the set as he saw Yoona start to panic.

Tiffany sprang into action and leaned over Yoona’s shoulder. “That will be all. Mrs Kwon is tired,” Tiffany said.

Mrs? Yul thought.

Tiffany pushed Yoona’s wheelchair into the elevator and pushed the button for the door to close immediately to avoid anyone else getting in with them. Yoona was breathing heavily. “Tiffany, what’s wrong with me?” she asked, in alarm.

Tiffany rubbed her friends shoulder. “Nothing is wrong with you, Yoona,” she said softly. “You were in an accident and you’re still recovering. It’s a lot to take.”

“But cameras don’t make me nervous,” Yoona said. “I’ve never had stage fright like that before.”

“That’s because on stage you’re someone else. Today you had to be Yoona ‘Im’ Kwon. For the public. Sometimes that can be scary.”

Yoona took a deep breath. “Fany?” she asked gently.

“Yeah?”

“Do you realize what you called me back there?”

Tiffany thought for a second and then her face was overcome with an expression of disbelief. “!” she said.

When the elevator doors opened, Yul was there pacing. When he saw Yoona, he practically pounced on her. “Are you okay?” he asked worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said unconvincingly.

“Liar,” he said, scooping her up out of the wheelchair and into his arms.

“Yul, what are you doing?” she asked.

“Bringing you to your room,” he said, striding down the hall.

“I can…”

“What? Walk?” he asked, amused.

Yoona frowned. “Okay, well, I could have wheeled myself down,” she insisted.

“No need,” he said, walking into her room and gently placing her on the bed. He got her settled and then sat down next to her. “Are you okay?” he asked, looking deep into her eyes as if he were trying to figure out if she was going to lie to him.

Her eyes welled up with tears and she bit her bottom lip, shaking her head. Yul stood up and walked over to the door to her room, closing it. He returned to her side immediately and sat down next to her.

“Yoong?” he asked, brushing a stray lock of hair away from her face.

“I don’t want it anymore, Yul.”

“Oh, baby. Don’t want what?” he asked tenderly.

“Any of it,” she said brokenly. “I just wanna go home.”

Yul pulled her into his arms and let her sob into his shoulder. She wept for a while, and when she was finally relaxed, Yul pulled away a little bit but kept his arms looped around her. He looked down at her tear streaked face and was overcome with a fierce need to protect her. He lifted his hands to her face and started rubbing her tears away with his thumbs. As she looked up at him, all the reasons he’d loved this woman… all the reason he’d refused to give thought to for the last four and half years flooded his mind. He couldn’t help it… he leaned down and softly placed his lips on hers. She tried to pull away, but he held her in place, and it was only a few seconds before he felt her arms timidly wrap around his neck. It was Yoona who deepened the kiss. Yoona who ran her tongue over the seam of his lips. He’d wanted it to be sweet and gentle, but he’d always had a hard time keeping control when Yoona was around… and this was no exception. His mouth opened immediately and as soon as Yul felt her tongue against his, he groaned. He soothingly tightened his hold on her and pulled her slowly closer to him. It had been so long since she’d been in his arms… it was like he was kissing her for the first time all over again. They heard the door open, and Yoona tried to pull away, but again, Yul wouldn’t let her. He didn’t care who was in the room, he wasn’t ready to be done kissing her yet. When he was content with their kiss, he pulled away, only to lean down and place another quick one on her lips, knowing that his satisfaction was only for the moment.

“This is a hospital, not a brothel,” they heard Rosie say from the doorway, the delight obvious on her voice. It was apparent that the woman was rooting for Yul.

Yul grinned down at Yoona. “It’s not?” he said, feigning surprise. “Then we probably shouldn’t have down what we did last night,” he teased, causing Yoona’s cheeks to redden like flames.

Rosie laughed as she walked further into the room and placed a tray of food on the stand next to Yoona’s bed. “You make sure she eats every bite!” she told yul.

Yul gave her a mock salute. “Sure thing, Rosie,” he said to her back as she left the room.

Yoona looked away nervously, and Yul decided to give her a reprieve. He stood up and walked over to the stand on the other side of her bed. He lifted up the top of one of the trays and frowned. It didn’t look very good, but Yoona needed to eat.

Yoona’s parents left the next morning for Texas. Yoona’s sister, Yoonhee was due to give birth any day now, and she desperately wanted her mother to be there with her when she did. But after everything that had happened with Yoona, Yoonhee decided that her sister needed their parents much more. Yoona disagreed. She knew what it was like to give birth, and would have loved to have had her mother there with her. Maybe not in the room, but she’d loved to have seen her mother immediately afterwards. So after a hefty phone argument with Yoonhee, Yoona had hung up. She’d won the argument, but Yoonhee didn’t know it yet. She had made her parents pack up and leave, and after the doctors assured them that Yoona was, in fact, progressing wonderfully, they’d left. It occurred to Yul that not one of Yoona’s brothers or sisters had flown out to be by her side or even called to talk to her, which made him angry. They’d never been there for her enough, if you asked him. He knew her parents were keeping them updated, but he couldn’t understand why they’d been willing to settle for that. If it had been Jesse, Yul would have been by his brother’s side the entire time. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised. Hell… Yoonhee had been the only one who had even met Yul Jr. at least his parents… as dysfunctional as they were… had been there for the birth of their grandson. Yeah, his family had their faults… in fact, he could spend all day listing them… but when it really counted, they were always there. Yoonhee, he could understand, because she was eight and a half months pregnant and certainly in no condition to drive or fly that distance, but the rest of them had absolutely no excuse and Yul knew if he ever saw them again, he’d tell them so.