Stirring, Yoon Hee pulled the blanket closer around her and Soo Jin. She lifted her head and looked around the hospital room until her eyes landed on Joon sleeping awkwardly in the small chair near the window. Anger and resentment bubbled instantly, but she tamped down on it as she remembered how he carefully held her daughter, hailing a taxi and rushing them to the hospital. Gratitude replaced the anger. Although she hated the fact that she had allowed herself to rely on another person for help she was still grateful for what he had done.

Carefully untangling herself from around her daughter she edged off the bed and padded over to stare down at Joon. She had to admit to herself, because she was far from blind, that Lee Joon was an amazing handsome man and her lips curled into a small smile as she studied his face, so child-like in sleep. Her gaze shifted from the dark smudges of his lashes against his smooth cheeks to the fullness of his sleep pouty lips, following along to his strong jaw and muscular neck where she could see the steady pulse of his heart lying just below his ear.

When his eyes fluttered Yoon Hee wrenched her gaze away and stared out the window as Joon stirred to life, his bones creaking and snapping as he stretched out the kinks in his body. She kept her eyes averted as he stood and took a place beside her to gaze out at the early winter morning. Yoon Hee felt his closeness, felt the warmth that radiated from him as he shifted a little closer. Her body began aching in a way that she had never experienced, an ache that was comforting and yet frightening all at the same time.

He could sense the tension in her body and he smiled knowing that he was most likely the cause. It gave him a sense of satisfaction knowing that he could affect her, could breach that icy wall that she had erected around herself. So, he thought to himself, she has a heart after all. But then, he remembered the night before when she had been near panic when Soo Jin had continued to cry and scream as her fever rose. A person without a heart wouldn’t have cared at all for the little girl’s discomfort. Joon also knew there was a big difference between the love of a woman for a man and that of a mother’s love for her child.

To that conclusion Yoon Hee was still a mystery to him. He wanted to know how badly she had been hurt to had encased her heart in so much ice. He also wondered who could have caused her that pain, but he suspected that it was probably Soo Jin’s father that was the cause for it. However, as much as he wished to ask her these questions he knew that it was really none of his business and if she wished for him to know then she would tell him in her own time.

He glanced behind him and saw the tiny lump on the hospital bed. Soo Jin seemed so small for a child of six. For a moment he had flashes of Leo, Dayoung and Lauren, the three wonderful children that he and the other members of MBLAQ had cared for during their season of Hello Baby. They had all been five and quite a bit bigger than the pixie-like child he held in his arms the night before.

Again it made Joon wonder why Yoon Hee and her daughter had such a hard life. Surely there were other jobs she could have taken and then there was childcare. Joon felt thankful for his time on Hello Baby because he had learned a lot about the trials and troubles of raising a child and he felt respect that Yoon Hee had done as much as she had on her own, but something in him had been stirred to life after meeting Soo Jin and he wanted to help the little girl.

His mind took him back to the night before in that dismal little room that Yoon Hee called an apartment. He remembered the paper-thin looking walls, the taped up, grimy window with the tattered curtains. He had felt the cold draft of air that had seeped beneath the ugly green tape and he felt his flesh shiver as he remembered that draft pushing through his coat and touching his body with its icy touch. How could she live in such a place? Wasn’t there any kind of assistance that could help her? Then again she probably wouldn’t accept any form of help from the way she guarded herself and the simple fact that she had a daughter to care for.

He sighed as he glanced back to Yoon Hee who was still steadily ignoring him as she continued to stare dazedly out the window. He gave a mental shrug and moved away from her to sit on the edge of the hospital bed. He soothed Soo Jin’s hair away from her face and was relieved to notice that her fever seemed to have gone down during the night.

“What are you doing?”

Glancing up he noticed that Yoon Hee had moved to stand beside the bed, her arms crossed and her glare back in place. “I was checking on Soo Jin.”

Yoon Hee eyed him curiously. Why would he care about a child that had nothing at all to do with him? Why was this man being so incredibly kind to them when he had no reason to be? “Why?”

“Why else? She’s sick and I don’t happen to care for when kids get sick. I like them happy and healthy.”

What was it about this man that had her on her guard with just a few words? She could feel her heart thawing and she didn’t want that. Yoon Hee didn’t want to let anyone near her or Soo Jin, didn’t think she could take the hurt if she allowed herself to fall in love again, to allow someone near Soo Jin only for them to abandoned her and her daughter. After Soo Jin’s father left her alone and pregnant she had had to pick up the pieces of her heart and erect a wall around herself just so that she could function and care for Soo Jin when she was born.

Joon watched as she lost herself in her thoughts. He wondered what she was thinking about as her eyes glazed over and she disappeared into her mind. He absentmindedly Soo Jin’s soft cheek and smiled when he felt the child grasp one of his fingers on his other hand and held on. He curled his hand around her tiny one and memories of his time with Leo and the girls flickered in his mind as he remembered holding their smaller hands in his. Even though it had been hard raising the three multicultural children Joon had found that he had really enjoyed his time on the show. It was something that he felt like he would enjoy doing again if given the chance.

“Why are you being so nice to us? What’s your reason?” Joon glanced at her again just as she closed her eyes and sighed. “What do you want from me?”

His heart ached for the distrust he heard in Yoon Hee’s voice. He wanted her to trust him, to lean on him just a little and even though he didn’t know why he felt that way it was the way it was. “Yoon Hee I don’t want anything from you. All I want to do is help you and Soo Jin. Is that so hard to believe?”

“For me it is.”

“Why?”

Why? His question caught her off guard and she snapped closed to keep herself from spilling the truth of her life to a man who was practically a stranger, even if the entire nation of South Korea knew every last detail about him. Yoon Hee didn’t want to know him more than she already did, didn’t want to let him into her life or her daughter’s. If she was honest with herself it was because she was too afraid to do so.

She studied Joon as he patiently waited for an answer. She sighed deeply. “Just because it is.”

He figured that she wouldn’t answer him truthfully, but he let the subject go as he felt a tug on his hand. He smiled down at the little girl whose big brown eyes stared up at him sleepily. “Hello Soo Jin. My name is Lee Joon.”

Soo Jin smiled a little smile that had Joon’s heart melting at the sight of. “Are you my mommy’s friend?”

Joon looked over at Yoon Hee and saw that she was biting her lip. When she didn’t put forth an answer he turned his eyes back to the little girl who gave his hand a little squeeze to get his attention. “Yes, I’m a friend of your mommy’s.”

She gave him another tiny smile and a short nod of her head. “I’m happy my mommy has a friend.”

“Are you?”

Soo Jin nodded her head. “Yes. Mommy needs to have friends other than me and Miss Eun Mi.”

Again he glanced at Yoon Hee and noticed that her eyes glistened with tears as she stared at her daughter. He could see the tender, raw emotions in her eyes that she always kept hidden behind her wall of cold. In the face of her child even a person who seemed as cold as Yoon Hee could soften and feel warmth.

“Soo Jin would you like me to come and visit you and your mommy?”

The little girl nodded happily at the same time that Yoon Hee snapped out of her daze and yanked his other arm. He stood and followed her lead out into the hallway. After she closed the door to Soo Jin’s room she rounded on him, anger sparking in her eyes like a freshly born wildfire.

“Don’t make any promises to Soo Jin that you don’t intend to keep.”

He tilted his head in question before he nodded. “Alright, but I fully intend to visit you and Soo Jin. I wouldn’t have asked her if she would like that if I hadn’t intended on actually doing it. I’m not that kind of person Yoon Hee.”

She crossed her arms over her chest to fight the urge to hit him. How dare he decide to push himself into their lives! They didn’t need him. “How do you intend to do that when you have your work during the day and,” she lowered her voice to a whisper as a nurse passed. “Your dancing at the club at night?”

“Yoon Hee I may be an idol, but I’m not always busy. We do get free time, more so than you would think. Plus there’s also several hours between the end of my daily schedules and the time I go into the club. There’s more than enough time for me to come over and visit.”

Yoon Hee knew she wasn’t going to be able to argue because she didn’t know if what he said was true or not, but he had already pretty much promised Soo Jin that he would visit and she was apt to have to believe him for her daughter’s sake. She only hoped that he would keep that promise.

“Just don’t break her heart Joon. I won’t stand for it.”

She left him standing in the hallway with those words and Joon watched her through the open door as she sat on the bed beside her daughter. He vowed then and there that he would show these two people a warmer side of life.