The Plot

Mai saw Ji drive up, waved at him and immediately reported to her husband over the phone. “They’re already here.”

“Good” Teddy answered “Are you sure you’re going to be alright on your own?”

“Of course I am” she answered “Dara needs someone to look after her and as much as I would love it that Ji Yong be that person, we can’t let them both be too carried away can we?”

Her husband laughed and she could just imagine that if he was there, he’d be pinching her nose. “Call me if you need anything ok?”

“I surely will” she replied “Ji has just parked, I’ll talk to you later Daddy. Bye.”

“I love you Mommy.”

“I love you too” she quickly whispered and pocketed her phone. She walked towards Ji.

“Noona!” he greeted in surprise.

“Mrs. Lee is in Busan for a conference and she’ll be returning tomorrow morning. I told her I’ll look after Dara as she was really worried.”

“But how about Taisho? Hasn’t he arrived from camp yet?”

“That young man won’t be arriving from camp until the day after tomorrow so it’s ok. Rather than being alone at home, I’ll be glad to look after Dara. Your hyung is on night shift anyway so I have no one I need to think about except for this woman right here.”

“Are you sure noona?”

Mai smiled at the obvious reluctance on Ji’s face. “Of course I am. Now, why hasn’t she gotten down yet?”

“Oh… uhmmm… I think she fell asleep during the drive.”

“Well… let her sleep then. Can you carry her to her room?” Mai slowly opened the door of his car and reached for Dara’s bag “I’ve had her bed prepared about 30 minutes ago.”

Ji seemed unsure whether he should really carry Dara but Mai didn’t give him a choice by instantly leading the way for him to follow.

“What took you guys so long?” she asked casually, opening the front door and going up the stairs.

“She was trying to prolong leaving” Ji answered, gently cradling the Head Nurse in his arms and worriedly glanced at Mai “Her temperature is spiking up, noona. I think I should bring her back to the hospital.”

“Are you sure?” Mai asked him, without pausing as they climbed up the stairs “Dara wouldn’t really like being admitted to the clinic and I’m sure she’d say that we should have observed first whether it was really something she needed to go to the hospital for. I know a nasty flu is going around but hers might not be as bad as that, right?”

Ji could easily imagine Dara doing just as Mai had mentioned. It was ironic really how people in the medical field were actually more reluctant to have themselves admitted in a clinic than other people – most especially if it was in a clinic where they work.

“We’ll observe then how she fares for this day” he answered “If she gets any worse, please call any of us up and we’ll admit her.”

Mai nodded. “Here we are” she announced as they stopped in front of a door at the end of the corridor. A window at the wall facing the sea told Ji that Dara’s room would most probably have a view of the beach.Mai opened the door and knew Ji would be in for quite a surprise.

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

Chained but still fighting

Despite the wide wide window that indeed faced the beach as he predicted, it was the colors of the room’s walls - a very vivid mix of red and yellow – colors so dynamic that the room seemed to be shouting and dancing that caught Ji’s attention.Dara was tough but still quite delicate and it was easy to imagine her in pinky frills and laces and a room with flowers all over – not a room that seemed to belong to someone like Daesung.

His noona signaled towards the bed, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand, and as carefully as he can, he laid Dara down.

She was by all means light as a feather and that note also got him concerned.

Mai immediately worked towards removing her shoes.

“It’s a good thing you’re here noona.”

“Well… Seunghyun called up Mrs. Lee about Dara and she was quite worried” she began to explain “She called me and asked if it would be alright for me to look after her niece. I said yes, of course.”

“You seem really familiar with the house.”

“During my pregnancy, Mrs. Lee was kind enough to have me stay here whenever Teddy had to be called for conferences out of the country. That often happened during my first trimester and I’ve always been thankful to these girls – Dara and Chaerin – for always looking out for me then.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Mrs. Lee is a wonderful wonderful friend to her teachers and I’ve become very close to them as well.”

“Oh yeah. You teach with Mrs. Lee” he suddenly remembered.

Mai smiled. “Well… I just have to dress up Dara. Will it be ok if I ask you to go check on the crab soup I’m cooking downstairs? You don’t need to do anything but check whether it’s boiling now.”

He nodded as he was in no hurry to go back to the clinic. Seunghyun had covered for him when he gave the condition that he was going to order Dara to go home if Ji Yong was the one to take her.

He walked down the stairs now and looked for the kitchen and unintentionally paused when he saw picture frames lined up on top of a grand piano in the living room.

These were pictures of Dara and Chaerin as they grew up through the years. There was one of Dara and Chaerin with their grandfather, Principal Park, all smiles as they both were hanging on the old man. There was one of Dara, he presumed it must have been taken when they were in high school because that was how he remembered her then, and she was caught in the picture laughing while running after a rabbit.

“She had always been a toughie” he thought to himself as things about Dara fell into place inside his head “but she had been bullied and dragged around back then that’s why she kept herself in a shell when we were in high school.”

The last picture was one of Dara and Chaerin – forehead to forehead – sharing Chaerin’s veil during her wedding with tears in both of their eyes. It was quite a cinematic and stunning shot and Ji couldn’t help but feel the happiness and sadness captured in that one moment.

It was a moment of love fulfilled and love yet to be fulfilled.

It unnerved him and he finally decided to check out the crab soup. As Mai seemed to know, the pot was indeed boiling and Ji didn’t know whether he was going to turn the heat off or not. He went back up and knocked before entering Dara’s room again.

“The soup’s boiling now” Ji told the older woman.

“Oh good!” Mai commented and stood up from the side of Dara’s bed. The Head Nurse had been stripped off her uniform and was now in pajamas. “I’ll just finish that off. Can you press this towel on her face and forehead just to cool her off?”

Ji nodded and replaced Mai by Dara’s side.

He saw that his noona had placed meds on the bedside table and he was sure that after having Dara eat, she would most probably have her wash these down.