“The airport,” she replied lightly.

“WHAT? WHY?”

“I’ll tell you when we get there.”

Tae Hee sunk in her seat. “It took me so long to get here, and you’re telling me to go back home?!”

“You’ll understand it’s for the best...”


*****


“WHAT THE . You’re just telling me NOW that my brother is diagnosed with LEUKEMIA? , why didn’t you just tell me after he died. HOW THE CAN YOU KEEP THIS AWAY FROM ME?”

“Mianhae, I just didn’t know when I could tell you...And... Jaejoong told us not to tell you.”

She scoffed. “You’re actually listening to that idiot? That idiot who’s about to die?” Tae Hee began to tear up. “How can that idiot keep this away from me? I’m his only hope!”

“That’s why we’re going back to Korea.”


*****

Jaejoong awoke from a nightmare, sweating uncontrollably. He had dreamt Tae Hee had come back. He shuddered. He couldn’t imagine what it’d be like if she came back.

He heard a shout outside his room --- Junsu’s shout. He smiled as he painfully got up from his hospital bed and hobbled over to the door. But before he could twist the doorknob, the door flew open.

“OMG! JAEJOONG!”

And he was embraced.

He knew that beautiful voice. He knew that lovely scent. He knew those sad sobs. He knew it was Tae Hee.

“Jaejoong-ah...” she cried, shaking in his arms. “How could you...Jaejoong...”


He her soft hair. “Tae Hee...”

She looked in his eyes.

“You can’t do this. It’s called .”

She hugged him even tighter. “I don’t care anymore! I don’t care!” she wailed.

But she was still pushed away.

“Sung Hee?” Tae Hee whispered in awe.

Sung Hee ignored her as she rushed to her boyfriend. “Jaejoong! Are you okay? You’re burning up! Somebody get the doctor!”


Soon after Jaejoong was tended to by the doctor, Sung Hee led Tae Hee into the hallway, out of Jaejoong’s earshot.

“Tae Hee, I hope you realize that you’re only back here to help cure Jaejoong. Other than that, we don’t welcome you back anymore.”

“Correction, you don’t welcome me back. Everybody else does though,” Tae Hee retorted.

“I don’t care. You weren’t supposed to come back! You were supposed to stay over there! I’M SUPPOSED TO TEND TO HIM. I’M HIS GIRLFRIEND. YOU’RE MERELY HIS SISTER.”


“...Are you really going to let a boy get in between our friendship?” Tae Hee asked quietly.

Sung Hee glared at her. “Are you?”


Silence. She had never thought about that.

Was Jaejoong that important?

Was he more important than their ten year friendship?

“Yes.”


*****


Tae Hee sat before the doctor, clutching her hands anxiously.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the doctor looked up at her, acknowledging her presence. “Hello, Miss Kim.”

She nodded.

“I understand that you are here to discuss your brother’s, Kim Jaejoong, condition.”

Again, she nodded.

The doctor took a seat at his desk. “So we’ll start off with the basics.” He took a breath. “Also called "blood cancer", leukemia is a progressive malignant affection, marked by the excessive and chaotic proliferation of the blood cells precursors.”

“I know. I know; I studied that stuff in school.”

“Ok, so we’ll continue. Your brother has Acute myeloid leukemia, otherwise known as A.M.L. Acute myeloid leukemia is a potentially curable disease; but only a minority of patients are cured with current therapy. AML is treated initially with chemotherapy aimed at inducing a remission; some patients may go on to receive a hematopoietic stem cell transplant.”

“Okay...” Tae Hee replied slowly.

“Despite aggressive therapy, however, only 20%–30% of patients enjoy long-term disease-free survival. For patients with relapsed AML, the only proven potentially curative therapy is a stem cell transplant, if one has not already been performed. And this is where you come in. I plan to let Jaejoong undergo chemotherapy, so he’ll be doing a Allogeneic BMT . You’ll be donating some bone marrow cells.”

Tae Hee nodded; she understood.

“BUT. Allogeneic BMT is highly individualized, so there may be a possibility that you won’t be able to.”

She frowned. Way to burst a bubble.

The doctor smiled happily. “But don’t worry, siblings usually match up.”

Tae Hee glared at him. Was this a humorous matter? Was it time for jokes? “I can go visit Jaejoong now, right?”


*****


Shaking the bewilderment off, Tae Hee was about to step into the hospital room when she heard a yell.

“WHAT THE HELL, YOU GUYS!” Jaejoong shouted loudly at his visitors. “LIKE SERIOUSLY! I SPECIFICALLY ORDERED YOU GUYS NOT TO TELL TAE HEE! LET ME GUESS, YOU GUYS TOLD MY PARENTS TOO!”

“No... we didn’t,” Junsu said slowly.

“GAH! WTFCK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS? GO AWAY!” A crash was heard as Jaejoong threw a vase of flowers to the floor.

“Before we leave... you should see something...”

More shouting was heard as his friends scurried out of the room, dodging the flying objects within.

“Tae Hee?” Yoochun asked. He shook his head. “You came at the worst time ever.” He handed her a newspaper.

Her eyes grew wide. The newspaper read, “THE ULTIMATE DOWNFALL OF KPC: WRONG INVESTMENT AND ?” She scanned the article. “...invested in Home Depot Inc. However... currently is -13.4% lower than last week... very smart of them to invest in a home improvement store when they’re a software company, NOT... the relationship between long lost daughter and CEO, Kim Tae Hee, and older brother, Kim Jaejoong are quite messy too... were found kissing each other...anonymous source claims that they were together...perhaps even have done---“

The article’s information became unbearable; she tore her eyes away from the paper clutched in her hands. “OMG. I can’t take this anymore. I mean, this is totally---”

“The truth?” Yoochun interjected slowly.

“Sure it may be the truth, but..." She fell silent. She had nothing in her defense.

“Do...our parents know about Jaejoong?” A change of topic was so much more easier to deal with.

Yoochun shook his head. “We didn’t think it was smart of us to tell them...now that the company is...”


She nodded. “I understand, oppa. I guess I should go check up with my parents...right?”

“But hurry back. You do know they’re testing your compatibility soon.”

“Got it!” Tae Hee shouted as she sprinted out the main entrance.