*IF YOU HAVEN'T, PLEASE GO BACK AND READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WHICH IS NO LONGER MY HIATUS ANNOUNCEMENT!*

       When Soohyun returns to Marina’s room, Jacob’s nowhere in sight. He stops before he enters, just watching as Rose sits in her sister’s lap, slowly reading her a story as Sarah sits close by to help her with new words. She glances up and gives Soohyun a smile, beckoning him in. Rose is too busy concentrating on her book to notice as he quietly settles in his usual chair.
 

   Marina suddenly turns her head, tentatively reaching out a hand which he quickly takes, surprised. Soohyun remains silent until Rose finishes the last page.

“The end,” she announces proudly, looking up at her big sister. “Did you like the story? I chose it myself when we went to the library today.”

“It was a very good story, thank you. You read so well,” Marina replies, smiling and kissing her head. “Soon Mom won’t have to read your bedtime stories for you. You’ll be able to read them all by yourself.”

“Speaking of bedtime, it’s almost time to get you home,” Sarah tells Rose, looking at her watch.

“Just a little longer, please!” Rose begs. Picking up another book from the small pile at her feet, she asks, “One more story?”

“I’m not tired, Mom,” Marina adds.

Chuckling, Sarah nods.

Grinning triumphantly, Rose looks over at Soohyun and holds out the book. “Can you read it to us, oppa?”

“Of course,” he smiles, taking it and adjusting his chair so she can see the pictures while he keeps his hand in Marina’s.

    Marina smiles and closes her eyes, holding Rose closer as Soohyun’s soothing voice rises and falls, quirking when he does silly character voices. As the story winds down, Sarah leaves to get Marina more water, giving Rose the opportunity to wheedle the beginning of another story out of Soohyun. Sarah lets him finish after she gets back, the story ending along with the last of the sun’s light.

“All right, munchkin. That’s it. You’ve got to behave, ok?” Marina tells Rose as Soohyun closes the book. “You can come tomorrow after school to read to me again.”


“Okay,” the little girl sighs.

“Now what do you say to Soohyun for reading you two stories?”

“Thank you, Soohyun oppa.”

“You’re very welcome,” Soohyun chuckles, standing up to collect the books and put them in the bag Sarah holds out.

“Say goodbye to your sister until tomorrow,” she tells Rose, slinging the bag over her shoulder and leaning down to kiss Marina on the cheek. “Sleep well, sweetie. I’ll be back in the morning after I check on the shop.”

Marina nods, turning towards Soohyun. “Do you have to go too?”

“I can stay for a little longer. I’ll help your mom with the bags and be right back, okay?”

“OK,” she replies quietly, smiling a little when he kisses the back of her hand before letting it go.

“Be right back,” he assures her again, taking Rose’s bookbag and swinging the minuscule looking bag over his shoulder.

“You really don’t have to,” Sarah protests as he scoops up a yawning Rose on his way out the door. “I can manage.”

“It’s all right.”

    She smiles softly and grabs the bag of Marina’s dirty clothes before following him. As they walk down the wait for the elevator, Soohyun feels Rose snuggle into his shoulder and is sure she’s asleep or almost so by the time they reach Sarah’s car in the parking garage.

With her little ears closed, he clears his throat. “Sarah?”

“Yes?” she asks, her attention on her purse as she fiddles inside for her keys.

“About when you have to go to America...”

She looks up in surprise. “How did you know?”

“I overheard Jacob and Marina talking about it,” he reveals. Taking a deep breath, Soohyun continues, “Because you’d have to leave her all by herself here, I thought she could come live with me. I’m due for some time off since I have a musical coming up so I can totally devote myself to taking care of Marina while you’re gone. That way someone’s always with her and you won’t have to worry about more hospital bills. No one except the members, my company, and my family knows where I live so she’ll be completely safe. I know you're still undecided about moving back permanently and I don't have any say in the matter, but please let her stay with me while you're gone this time. Please let me do this.”

Sarah doesn’t immediately respond, finding her keys, unlocking her car, and taking Rose from him. After she finishes buckling the sleeping child into her car seat, puts the bags inside, and closes the door, she finally turns and meets his eyes. “Soohyun.”

His heart stops, hanging on her words for the cue to beat again in pain or relief.

“If there was anyone else outside of our immediate family that I would trust with Marina, it would be you, but taking care of her for even a short time would be a huge responsibility.” When his face falls, she hurries to add, “I’m not saying ‘no,’ but I’m not saying ‘yes’ either. Let me think about this for a few days, okay?”

Relieved she wasn’t outright shutting his request down, Soohyun nods. “Thank you.”

Sarah nods back. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”


“I freed some time up in the afternoon.”

“Okay. Good night, Soohyun. Don’t stay up too late; running yourself thin won’t help anyone.”

“I know. Good night, Sarah.” He opens the door for her and closes it, waiting until the car disappears around the curve to return to Marina.

“Hello? Oppa, are you back?” she calls when he opens the door.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Soohyun sits beside her, examining her face for the thousandth time that day. Most of the cuts were almost healed and her usual healthy glow was returning, albeit slowly. “Do you need anything? Are you thirsty? Hungry? Tired?”

Marina shakes her head. “I’m fine. It’s still early, isn’t it?”

“Only a little past eight o’clock. No one's come to check on you?”

“The night nurse came by while you were gone, but no doctors. Dr. Jang said yesterday that my test results would come back tomorrow morning and she’d be by to see me in the afternoon.”

He notices her shift and promptly reaches behind her to adjust her pillows to be more comfortable. “Are you still scared to find out?”

“Thanks,” she smiles, leaning back further and inching her hand along the blanket in search of his hand. When it readily finds hers, she begins playing with his fingers. “A little, but ...”

“But what?”


“I’ll still have you and Sarah and Rose and everyone else to help me get through it no matter what’s wrong with me. That’s all I’ll need.”

“I’ll be with you every step of the way,” Soohyun promises.

“I know,” she replies with a quiet smile, squeezing his hand.

    They spend the next few hours alternatively searching the television for shows Marina can listen to and simply talking. Soohyun considers telling her about his tentative plan to take care of her but decides not to, both not wanting to raise her hopes in case Sarah decides to say no and because he doesn’t want to upset her by reminding her that she might have to leave Korea. As the hour grows later, yawns begin sneaking up on him despite his vigilance.

After one that was particularly loud even though he tried to stifle it, Marina chuckles softly. “Don’t you need to go to sleep?”

“I’m fine. I just wasn’t breathing in enough oxygen,” he says, trying to hold in yet another yawn.

She pats his arm. “You’re lying. You always have early practices. Go home and sleep in your own bed. It must be late already.”

“I can stay a little bit longer.”

“You said that a long time ago too.”

“So?” Soohyun shrugs. “It’s still true.”

“No, you need a decent night’s sleep. It’s okay to say good night, oppa. Unfortunately, I’ll still be stuck right in this same stupid bed tomorrow too.” Marina thumps the mattress to emphasize her frustration on being kept largely immobile.

“Hopefully just a day or two more and then you can go home,” he reminds her, rising and stretching before lightly kissing her forehead. “All right. Good night, jagiya. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon sometime. You should go to sleep soon too.”

“I will. Good night. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Laying a chaste kiss on her lips, Soohyun her hair one last time before leaving, turning off the lights as he goes out of habit.

    Smacking his face a few times to wake himself up enough to drive home, he makes his way to his car. About halfway home, a thought strikes him.

“What the hell am I doing?” he mutters, quickly changing lanes so he can go back the way he had come.

    With Sarah still undecided, if Marina was going to leave him for who knows how long, he needed, wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. He could grab clothes from his apartment on his way to the company. He walks back through the hospital doors soon after, his feet finding the way to Marina’s room more by habit than thought. The lone nurse on night duty gives him an acknowledging nod, already familiar with him. Cautious of waking Marina since he had left almost an hour ago, Soohyun puts an ear to her door instead of just walking in. When he hears muffled sobs, he quickly pushes the door open and turns on the light. Finding her huddled into herself with her back to the door, he rushes to her side.    

“Marina! Marina, what’s wrong?” he asks, putting a hand on her quivering shoulder to try to turn her to see her face. “Marina, I’m here.”

Marina curls herself tighter around the pillow, her breath shallow gulps.

Frantic, Soohyun switches side and slides one hand beneath her chin and the other over her clasped pair. Even more confused when her face is dry, he tries again. “Marina. It’s all right, I’m right here. Marina, it’s me; it’s Soohyun. It’s Soohyun.”

    Her hands unclench long enough to cling to his shirt, her breath still quick and uneven against the exposed skin near his collar. He quickly but gently pushes her over so he can pull her into his lap like a small child. Soohyun rubs her back comfortingly and keeps talking to her in a low voice as he stands and speed walks out of the room.

The nurse looks up in surprise when she sees him and rushes around the counter to them. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” he confesses. With some difficulty, he keeps most of the panic out of his voice. “I came back and she was just like this. She can’t breathe and she can’t or won’t respond to me. What’s wrong with her?”

Slipping a gentle hand around Marina’s wrist, the nurse frowns. “You said she’s not responding to anything? Not even her name?”

“No. Nothing.”

“I think she’s having a panic attack. She’s not on an IV, is she?”

“Panic attack? No, I think they took her off the IV yesterday.”

“I’ll have to give her a sedative as a direct injection then. Normally we’d just wait it out, but she’s still too weak and we don’t know how long she’s been experiencing the attack. Take her back to her room and I’ll be right there,” the nurse orders, already moving.

    Soohyun does as she says, half worried he’ll have a panic attack of his own. He’s too afraid to let go of Marina once he’s set her on the bed, but swiftly moves out of the way when the nurse comes in a few seconds with a syringe. Expertly flipping Marina’s arm and slipping the needle into her vein, the nurse stands by as Marina’s breathing slowly returns to normal and her grip on Soohyun grows limp. The nurse checks her pulse again as he lays her back on the bed and covers her with a blanket.

“Is she going to be all right?” he asks, brushing hair off Marina’s clammy face.

“She should sleep till morning with this dosage and I’ll put a heart monitor on her so just in case it happens again, we’ll have a bit more of a warning. I’ll leave a note for her doctor.” Glancing up at him as he sinks into his chair, she asks, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine; it’s just been one of those days,” Soohyun explains, running a hand through his hair.

She nods in understanding, attaching the monitor to Marina’s finger before patting his shoulder. “I’ll be right back out at the station if you need anything.”

“Thank you,” he replies absently, his eyes still on Marina.

    Taking a small towel from the bedside table, he wets it and carefully wipes away the cooled sweat on her forehead, all the while wondering why. She’d seemed fine when he’d left and she was the one who had urged him to go. He lays the towel aside and takes one of her hands, determined to stay awake to keep vigil in case the attack happens again. The dark night outside is slowly chased away by the early dawn sunbeams until it completely drains away, leaving saffron and pink in it’s wake. Soohyun’s eyes feel like weights are hanging from them, but at least Marina had slept without stirring.

As if she heard his thoughts, Marina’s eyes flutter open. Frowning, she flexes her fingers against his. “Soohyun?” she asks tentatively.

“Good morning, Marina,” Soohyun says softly.

“Oppa...I’m sorry.”

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Hello, lovlies! Yay for a stolen hour of internet at the library! Only two more weeks and then I'll be back for good. ^^ Thank you again for being patient and waiting for me. Hope you enjoy the story and are enjoying life. Saranghae!