"Welcome home, son"

Silently, Kyuhyun cringed at the warm welcome given by his parents. Even so, he kissed his mother and hugged his father. He misses them. No doubt about that. But it was hard to put the thought behind—that they left him here and left for work, just like that, for six years.

Considering that many things had happened in a span of six years, they should be talking non stop, but Kyuhyun rather let his eyes follow the maids carrying in the dishes one by one, until the the big dinning table was full of food.

"There's something I need you to help with," his father finally got to the point after severely beating the bushes over the fancy dinner, prepared by the head chef of the mansion.

I knew it.. I saw this coming, he hissed in his mind. Kyuhyun wasn't talking much since he got to his parent's mansion. But a lot was going through his mind.

He wasn't the ungrateful, rude, kind of son. Nothing like that. So he opted to listen to what his parents had to say, instead of bursting out of nowhere. An occasional nod and semi-smile was enough to be given as a response to their talking.

"Our company is doing extremely well, as you know. If you hadn't been told, Cho Holdings have bought a few buildings that would benefit us big time, including the hospital you are working in" his father boasted ever so proudly, lifting his tall champagne glass.

Kyuhyun lifted a brow, acknowledging how damn rich the company is. He knew his father had always been the one with amazing business ideas, and buying the whole hospital building didn't really surprise him—not that his dad owning the hospital would mean anything to him.

“Well,” he finally spoke after his father remained silent for a while, as if expecting him to comment on their success. “Congratulations then,” he said as he wiped the corners of his mouth clean. “Where does me helping out comes in any of this?” he asked, chuckling at his mother who signalled him to stop making sarcastic remarks. “If you want me to help take care of the management here, I’ll have to say I’ll pass, dad. I can’t do that,” he shook his head. “ I just started working at the hospital. And—I like it there. A lot. I’m not going to sit behind a desk all day in an office. Nope,” he gave a smile to his frowning mother.  

“Yes, you will,” Mr Cho said in an authoritative tone. “I want my only son—my only child to be the chairperson of our company here, in Seoul,” he nodded, already feeling so proud of his one and only kin. “But you will continue working in the hospital, as the doctor you are. All i’m asking you to do is sign papers on behalf of me. It’s just that— ,” he started rubbing the palms of his hands together, making Kyuhyun feel damn uneasy—thinking of what kind of things had his father planned. “I need you to help look after the staffs in the hospital management unit. They will all be under you,”

“What?”

The last thing Kyuhyun would probably want right now was being handed dozens of staffs to look after.

At this age, he was busy planning his own future—his career, his friends, the love of his life. And now comes a side dish of management staff to that.

“Especially---Jimin,” his mother suddenly barged into the conversation with her voice raised as high as her eye brow, pointing out a finger, as if making a point that it was very important to look after Jimin.

“Who?”

“Shin Jimin..  My friend’s daughter, seeking experience working in an office. You be nice to her, Cho Kyuhyun, Ok? I don’t want to hear complains,” she slightly warned him, taking note of the about-to-rebel face his son was making.

.

That was all that hurled inside Kyuhyun’s mind right now. Somehow he knew that he would leave his parent’s mansion with things he didn’t need. And there it was. The whole company shenanigan, with the staff, and a ‘Shin Jimin’ he had to look after.

“Fine,” he half heartedly agreed to his mother, taking out his ringing phone from his pocket.

“Kyu! Please..!! Halmeoni’s in ER right now!”

***

“Mi..” he called to her as soon he arrived at the hospital. Kyuhyun found Mira sitting in the waiting room with Sehun, who was already sleeping. He sat next to her, holding onto her cold hands tightly.

“It was my fault..,” it came out like a whisper. Mira couldn’t shake the guilt building in her. She felt responsible—not thinking about how her grandmother was going to take such despicable news.

“Don’t say that,” he replied, letting his hands go, to hug the emotionally stressed girl.

“But I—“

“Shhshhhshh..” Kyuhyun hugged and rocked her softly as she started to sob into his chest.

Her grandmother didn’t make it.

The old lady suffered from a heart attack—perhaps due to the sudden shocking news. She wasn’t in her healthiest state to begin with at such an age.

“She left me and Sehun.. I’m so sorry.. Halmeoni..”

He cuddled her, hoping that his warm embrace would comfort the poor girl and she’ll slowly accept of her grandmother’s death.  Even though he didn’t quite understood why Mira was apologizing, he didn’t think that it was the right time to question her. Perhaps next time, when she’s feeling better.

"I'm here.I'll always be here.."

A week had quickly passed by. Kyuhyun hadn’t told anyone about him being the Chairman of the hospital and the sight of the Shin Jimin was yet to be seen. His father had assured him that he didn’t have to attend to meetings as all of the decisions will be made by CEO Cho himself from Taiwan, but Kyuhyun will be signing the papers on behalf of his father.

He figured that it was just a small favour his father was asking for. However he cannot say the same for his mother, who kept on nagging him to look after Shin Jimin. Who is this Shin Jimin?! What a pest. Why do I have to look after her?! And why the heck didn’t she report for work? It has been a week.

Mira was given a few days off by the hospital to settle things she had to take care. Kyuhyun and she, had agreed to see each other after the week was over, giving Mira sometime on her own, as she requested.

On the other hand, Kim Mira slowly accepted her grandmother’s passing away as fate. The old woman wasn’t in her best health for so long. Though it was hard, Mira tried to not blame her grandmother’s death on herself. Plus, she had other issues to deal with, such as moving on with her complicated life. The house was still scheduled to be demolished, only it had been extended to one month from the letter issued, leaving her three weeks to look for a new place.

Will she be able to? The poor girl.

Pay day will only come in two weeks time, and then only will she be able to pay for a new house.

For the time being, the neighbours offered to help with Sehun, so she’ll be leaving Sehun with them, even though she had to do so with a heavy heart. She tried her best to spend time with Sehun before going back to the hospital.

***

“Hey..” Mira peeped through the opened doors of Kyuhyun’s mess that Monday morning, right before they started work in the ER. She saw him standing in front of the mirror, struggling with his necktie as usual. There was Changmin in the room as well, all dressed up and was playing games on the laptop.

“Help?” Kyuhyun tried to puppy-eye his way to her.

“Nope,” shaking her head, she playfully told him to do it herself, as she walked in and placed a box of chocolate chip cookies on the desk. There were leftovers from the ones she had baked together with Sehun.

“For me?! Auuwww Mira, you shouldn’t have..” Changmin rounded his eyes, intentionally irking somebody. He opened the box, only to be violently slapped on his hand by an agitated Kyuhyun.

“She didn’t. So get your hands away from my cookies,” he took them away.

Mira chuckled at the two, and they felt happy hearing her laughter. This shows that Mira was alright and had moved on from her grandmother’s passing away. The strong girl she is.

“I’m glad to hear that giggle I miss so much,” Kyuhyun whispered to her, in front of Changmin, and broke half of the cookie he took from the box and fed her, and munched on the remaining half. “Mmm! An award winning chocolate chip, people.”

“Yah yah.. stop the lovey dovey business. Now I miss Bona..” he pretended to sob cutely.

As usual, the ER was busy as hell. Being the head of the ER department, Kyuhyun had to handle the briefing session.

“Alright,” he shoved his hands into the white coat. “Take your rounds this morning as usual, but make sure you respond to cases here in the required time. Run if you have to. Which is why you shouldn’t be wearing those high heels,” he pointed to Sora, who rolled her eyes in respond. Silently, she was feeling pissed off because of the rekindled relationship of him and Mira. When will it be me? she asked herself.

“OK, safety first,” he reminded them and gave a special wink to his girl, as the others dispersed to carry on with the job. “Talk to you for a second?” he pulled on her arms, forcing her to spin around a little.

“What is it?” she asked him, concerned if there were any other problems, besides the many she was facing now.

“How are you doing with the house hunting?” he asked. “Let me help, please.. I’m a house hunter.”

“No no, house hunter.. I can take care of it,” she shook her head, showing him a tough face, translating to him that she is still that same independent girl he knew. But honestly inside, she was biting in a sob.

Kyuhyun’s concern towards her was overwhelming. Never had any guy stuck around her so long to lend her a helping hand—or in this case, helping hands, since Kyuhyun has been helping her out with a lot of things.

“Forget the house and  just stay with me,” he cooed to her. “Sehun likes it there,” he tried to assure her.

“Hey.. I like it too, you know,” she nudged him. “But let me try to find one first, ok?” giving him a meaningful smile and Kyuhyun knew he should just let her handle things her way. He was sure she’d come to him if she needs him.

Kyuhyun felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to look. There was a girl, about the same size as Mira, holding a file. her short hair made her look cute, but that super red lipstick and jet-black eyeliner made her look bold and daring. She dangled out her pen and said, “Sign juseyo, Chairman Cho.”

Mira looked closely from behind them and the girl caught sight of her.

“Hi. I’m Shin Jimin”