What if I die?


Tae Hee was speechless.

How could he be so pessimistic? Sung Hee was gone. Ri In was gone. His parents were gone. There was nothing stopping them anymore. And yet, he seemed unwilling to start afresh.

She placed her hand on his arm. He jerked it away.

“Don’t touch me,” he replied coldly.

She choked on her desired words; they just wouldn’t come out. And so, the wrong ones, the ones she didn’t intend, tumbled out. “WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Her eyes bulged with realization; she cupped her hand over .

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? HOW CAN YOU ASK THAT?” Jaejoong shouted, his eyes also bulging---with anger.


She swallowed; her words still didn’t come out.

Jaejoong sat in his bed and huffed angrily.

“HOW CAN YOU YELL AT ME? WE’VE GOT EVERYTHING IN OUR FAVOR NOW. AND NOW YOU’RE BEING ALL B!TCHY ABOUT IT. HOW CAN YOU NOT GRASP THE CHANCE?”

She would’ve slapped him; but he was sick and that’d be too harsh. So she stomped out of the room and slammed the hospital door behind her.



Their relationship was seriously on the rocks.



*****


Somehow, someway, Tae Hee wound up back at school in the middle of the night. She wandered around the campus and ended up in the school parking lot. She scoffed and held back a flood of tears.

This was the area where she first started it all. Where she almost lost her life. But she was saved by the love of her life, Kim Jaejoong. Why couldn’t she be the one who could save Jaejoong? Why did it have to be stupid, ex-good-friend Kim Sung Hee? Sure she had unofficially “dropped out of the race for Jaejoong’s love, but there was always going to be a part of her in him---literally. Her bone marrow.

Tae Hee sulked on. To that tree! What tree? The tree she vented all her anger on when she discovered she was shackled by the title of “Kim Jaejoong’s girlfriend”. But she couldn’t find it. Everywhere she turned. Everywhere she looked. She just couldn’t find it. All the trees looked the same.


She stopped. This was a sign, wasn’t it? They weren’t meant to be.

Tae Hee shook her head. No. She couldn’t be pessimistic. Not now.

She turned and headed for her old home. There was still a ray of hope.



*****


Tae Hee studied the door before her and hesitated. She didn’t even know who lived in this house anymore. But she knew she had to check. Tae Hee carefully knocked three times.


She stepped back with a frown.

Nobody was answering.



With a sigh, she turned to leave when the door creaked open.

Tae Hee jerked her head back to check who it was.

“Park Jiwoon?” *

He beamed and ran to hug her. “NOONA!”

Tae Hee froze. “Noona?” Before she could question him anymore, somebody had arrived at the door. “Umma?” ** She pushed Jiwoon away and ran to her mom.

Umma was back.



Tae Hee sat at their kitchen table eating her Umma’s special Kimchi.

“Umma. This is even better than I remembered!”

Mrs. Kim smiled. “I’ve missed you, Tae Hee.”

Tae Hee put down her chopsticks. The question was bugging her ever since she saw her mom. “Where did you go?”

She sighed. “They took me away, Tae Hee.”

“Tell me the truth, Umma.”

“I am.”

Tae Hee’s eyes teared up. “I thought you died Umma. When I heard that gun shot... I thought I had lost you forever.”

Mrs. Kim placed her hand on her daughter’s arm. “Shh...” she soothed. “Don’t get all worked up now. I’ll explain. Don’t cry.

“A few days after you left me for your real family, your parents offered me money. In exchange, I would have to disappear from your life. They realized that if you weren’t enjoying your new life as heiress of KPC, then you would come running back to me.

“Of course, I refused upfront. But they took me away anyway.”

Tae Hee was speechless. Jaejoong’s parents had been such nice people. Who knew they could’ve sunk to Jang Ri In’s level? “Then... what about the gun shot?”

“That day, Siwon tried to shoot me. But your brother saved me.”

“What?”

“Park Jiwoon is your brother.”

Tae Hee smiled weakly. “How can he be my brother?”

“You were the one who said you always remembered playing in the mud with some little boy. And you said he was your brother.” Mrs. Kim paused, “I always thought you were kidding; I always thought that you were just lonely. But...it turns out...you were right, Tae Hee.”


“But that’s not right... He was there proclaiming his love for me along with Yoochun. That’s...that’s...”

“But he is your brother.”

“That’s !”

Silence. And then both of them laughed.

“ is so nasty,” Tae Hee smiled. “You still haven’t told me how he’s my brother.”

“Apparently Jiwoon knew you were his long-lost sister the moment he saw you. But of course, I didn’t believe him. So we had a DNA test.”

Tae Hee was confused. “How’d you get my DNA?”

“You never clean your hairbrush, so we took from there a few strands of hair.”

“And the result?”

“The doctor says you’re 99% related to him.”

“Hey...Umma? But that’s seriously then... I mean, he was seriously like...all over me before...”

“Jiwoon was just protecting you. And Tae Hee, why is it that with Jaejoong, was okay?” her mother teased.


Because they were meant to be. Her hope was fulfilled.


“That’s why he’s living with you now, huh?” Tae Hee asked to change the topic. “Because he’s my brother, and now your son, right?”

Mrs. Kim nodded.

Tae Hee rose from the table; her chair scratched against the cold linoleum.

“Where are you going, daughter?”

“To patch things up,” she responded before zipping out of the house.


*****


By the time Tae Hee arrived at the hospital, Jaejoong had already fallen asleep. She tiptoed to his bedside and sat next to him, watching him sleep peacefully. She pushed a strand of his golden hair from his face.


The next thing she knew, she had fallen asleep...

...And Jaejoong was awake, watching her sleep peacefully.



He smiled softly. Their relationship started from hatred and sprouted beautifully into love. And for that, he was thankful. He wanted to push that stray strand of hair away from her face, but couldn’t. He couldn’t touch her anymore; she couldn’t get hurt anymore.

Tae Hee stirred in her sleep, and Jaejoong quickly closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.

“I’m sorry, Jaejoong,” she apologized.

His mouth twitched in amusement. What could she possibly be sorry for?

“I shouldn’t have blown up at you. It’s just that you kept dumping on yourself, saying you would die...when you know perfectly well that YOU HAVE A CHANCE.”

He decided to respond to her. “Tae Hee...what if I don’t get that chance?”

She held onto his hands tightly. “You have a chance. You have a chance. Don’t give up. You have money for the procedures. You have bone marrow. You have everything in your favor. You just can’t give up like this.” Tears began to flow.


He wiped her tears away. “Don’t cry Tae Hee. No man is worth a woman's tears; the only one who is, will never make her cry.”

She quickly stopped crying and whispered, “I love you. Don’t give up on me. Don’t give up on yourself. But most importantly, don’t’ give up on life.”

And so, at that moment, Jaejoong decided, he was going to try his best to hang onto his life. He wasn’t going to make Tae Hee cry anymore.



“I love you too, Tae Hee.”