~Chapter six~

Jiyong got himself back to his room on a wheelchair since Dr. Go wouldn't let him walk back on his crutches. Silently thinking about his conversation with the doctor he had moments ago, he pushed the door open to find Chaerin already on her bed with her earphones plugged in. On his bed sat Jaehyun staring outside the window, still oblivious to his presence.

"Park!" Jiyong  called out loud as he wheeled in. Immediately his secretary came sprinting across the room to help him stand up and lay him on his bed. "I thought you'd be in Beijing. What happened? How'd the meeting go?"

"It went well sir." Jaehyun answered rather weakly as he stared at the tiled floor and cleared his throat one to many times for Jiyong's liking.

"But what?" Jiyong prompted, sounding rather irritated and annoyed then he had actually intended to. He would spend at least 18 hours of his day with Jaehyun working beside him, it was no surprise he knew there was something his secretary wasn't telling him just by the way he keep cracking his knuckles.

"I.... S-Sir, I--" he stammered avoiding eye contact.

"What is it?" Jiyong demanded. He noticed Jaehyun glance at Chaerin's direction then back at him. "You can say whatever you need to say Jaehyun. She's fine."

"I'm sorry--"

"At least tell me what'd you d--"

"Your driver, Mr. Moon... He.... He--" Jaehyun mumbled. Jiyong sat straight up, eyes bulging from its socket.

"They'll be doing it today." Jaehyun explained, searching for Jiyong's eyes.  Mr. Moon Daehun had been in life support and the doctor's knew no other way to revive him, there was almost zero percent hope that he'd wake up from his sleep. After a long considerate talk with his family, they were going to pull the plug on him.

"No... You said he was fine." Jiyong shook his head unable to accept the news, Mr. Moon had been his chauffeur ever since he was a child. He was the one who'd collect him from school, the airport or any meeting he needed to attend. Never did he hear him complain even once although at times he'd treat him . A sense of guilt started boiling inside him.

"Are you sure they tried everything?" Jiyong asked, steadying himself as he tried to stand up. "He can wake up. He'll wake up Hyung.... They can't just do that to him."

"It was his daughter's decision Sir. All the papers have been signed. I only wanted you to know."

"What does she think she's doing? there's still a chance Hyung." Jiyong replied immediately, "I can go talk to her."

"Sir, please." Jaehyun placed his hand on Jiyong's shoulder, stopping him from taking a foot further. "Don't do this. Please, it's not going to help you." Jaehyun couldn't help but see the guilt in Jiyong's eyes.

"I need to see him Hyung! He's in that place because of me!" Jiyong yelled punching the door with his fist.

Chaerin quietly watched as the scene erupted right before her eyes. She hadn't planned to interrupt, since meddling in people's life never really interested her. As for this case, she couldn't not keep herself from saying something since she didn't want to watch Jiyong blame himself his entire life for what happened to Mr. Moon. She'd seen it herself how guilt could eat someone alive and force them to such extend that they take their own lives because they find no other alternative to escape the pain brewing in them, growing like a tumor in one's soul.

"I'll go with you."

Jiyong turned around to look at Chaerin, scrambling out of her bed as she quickly placed her phone on the table beside her bed.

"Chaerin-sshi, I don't think that's a good idea." Jaehyun timidly suggested as he watched Jiyong frozen in his spot, just his eyes watching the said one's movements.

"Could you take us there Jaehyun-sshi?" Chaerin asked as she grabbed her coat and slid her hand into the sleeves and grabbed a darker and larger coat hung just beside hers. "It's chilly." she simply said as held it out for Jiyong to hold. When she saw no movement, she clicked her tongue and decided to do it herself as she stood on her tip toes and swung the coat over his broad shoulders.

"You can stare at me some other time okay?" she lightly joked to ease the environment, blowing her bangs away from her forehead, grabbing a crutch beside the door and tucking it under his left arm, swinging the other arm over her shoulder as a substitute for the other crutch.

Jiyong still hadn't spoken when they reached outside the ICU. After showing the way, Jaehyun stepped aside to talk to the doctor in duty, explaining the situation.

"Are you ready?" Chaerin asked as she put her hand on the knob.

Jiyong nodded as he waited till she opened the door and moved aside to let him in.

"Are you not coming in?" he asked as Chaerin signalled him to get in.

"Talk to him alone." she said, a gentle smile taking over her lips as she put a supportive hand on his shoulder and squeezed it once. "I'll be here."

Jiyong slowly walked outside the room as the doctors and Mr. Moon's daughter, Hyemi walked in to end the medical intervention. Although Hyemi had requested Jiyong to stay since, he was a big part of her father's life. Jiyong felt like he would be invading into a family matter, which was ironic in a way, since a few minutes ago, he'd tried persuading Hyemi to change her mind about ending the life support, to which Hyemi replied, 'He's finally going to see my mother Jiyong-sshi. As much as it hurts to let him go, I'm sure I'm doing the right thing.'

As he closed the door behind him he couldn't bring himself to turn around to the sound of sniffling coming from the room. Trudging his way to the hall, he found Chaerin curled into a ball as she laid on the couch. A slight pang of guilt rushed through him at the thought of Chaerin waiting for the past hour or so. Without waiting for another minute, he sat down as quietly as possible shifting closer to her as he gently raised her head and placed it on his lap. Softly caressing her hair, he whispered to her in a shaky voice.

"Thank you...."

The next day the two of them didn't really get time to bond since Jiyong's colleagues, associates and acquaintances came to visit him during the visiting hours. Chaerin lightly joked about opening a flower stall looking at the flowers that crowded their room noticing the intense expression on Jiyong as he tried very hard to stay tamed and polite.

"Are you alright?" Chaerin asked suddenly just as another acquaintance left their room.

"I'm fine." Jiyong replied, although he wasn't very sure. He could only think about what had happened that night. His mind went over the thoughts of finding out and making things worse for the driver that crashed into them, blaming the slippery tracks and brake failure. But most of all..... He blamed himself for what had happened that night. If hadn't insisting on going to the meeting that wasn't all that important, Mr. Moon would've still been alive.

"It wasn't your fault." Chaerin's soft voice reached his ears. Jiyong stared at the girl, disbelieve in his eyes. How did she know what I was thinking about? "You didn't know,"

Jiyong didn't really feel like having a conversation about the topic since, the more he thought about it, the more he hated himself. After a few minutes of silence, Chaerin cleared as she fixed the pillows and leaned her back against the metallic bed post.

"My father killed himself....." she started and immediately Jiyong turned towards her, a rather confused and sympathetic face.

"I'm sorr--"

"Don't be." Chaerin raised her hand to stop him. "It was along time ago."

Jiyong watched her as she shifted her position for the nth time, when she spoke no further, Jiyong slowly approached her bed and sat at the edge.

"What happened?"

Chaerin closed her eyes as she hugged a pillow to her chest. "You want to know?"

"Yes." It surprised Jiyong that shed even care to tell him about her life since she'd been so mysterious. Grabbing the opportunity to know her better he shifted closer so he could hear her better.

"I was 13 when my parents told me that I was going to be a Noona." the thought of it bought her to smile. Breathing in heavily she continued. "The next month my father had to go for an official trip to Taipei. On the way he realized he'd forgotten a folder, where'd he'd kept his important files so he called my mother to drive to the airport and bring it to him since it would've taken double the time for the driver to fetch it. On the way, my mother must've rushed because she lost control of her car and drive it off the Gimpo bridge. My father boarded the plane since my mother didn't arrive. Soon, he got a call that my mother had been in an accident. A search party was dispatched to search for her body and my father had to identify it. Neither my mother nor my brother survived the crash."

Fiddling with her fingers Chaerin continued.

"Since then my father isolated himself, blaming himself for what happened to my mother. It went on for a year until one day, our helper found him hanging from the ceiling."

Jiyong bent his head down, knowing nothing to say. He couldn't imagine how hard it would've been for her, losing all the members of her family in a short period of time. He'd read about the tragic story about the Gimpo bridge incident in the news and didn't give another thought about it and changed the channel, would he have known she was Chaerin's mother he would've at least watched the whole news.

"My father must've thought about it for a long time because..... He'd arranged everything for me and even left me a letter. He apologized for leaving me alone and not being a responsible dad. I don't blame him for his actions, sure he could've done something else or moved on. But just watching him in so much pain everyday, every minute, every second. It...... It felt better knowing he wasn't suffering anymore."

Jiyong nod and blinked, trying to imagine himself in Chaerin's shoes. What would he have done?

Whilst being in deep thought, he felt a hand on his and he looked up to find a rather teary eyed Chaerin still managing to give him a little smile.

"Everything in this world happens for a reason." Chaerin whispered, but loud enough for him to hear. "I don't want you to leave me like my father."

Something in his mind clicked. Jiyong never knew he was capable of feeling so weak. Her words stung his heart like it shouldn't have. Before he realized he was already in too deep to get out of it and although he'd never felt something like this before and if he promised something, he'd have to keep it.

He wasn't sure if he wanted go all the way, or if they'd even have a future together. But he was sure of one thing.

He'd do anything for Chaerin.

"I promise...." he said as he slowly shift forward and embraced her, speaking into the crook her her neck. Chaerin felt the tears she'd been holding for 7 years fall as she sobbed into Jiyong's shirt.

"I'll never leave you."

Author's note:
Hey guys! I'm sorry for taking so long to update.
I hope it isn't disappointing. I'd been editing, re-editing the scens over & over since I wasn't satisfied. (I'm still not.)
*phew*

Can we just spend a minute or two saying prayers for the Ferry incident in South Korea?
It doesn't matter what religion you belong to... or if you don't even believe in a higher power.
There are people still grieving over the MH370 and now this happened.

#PrayForSouthKorea


With love
E~