She hurt all over. That was what woke her up. She could feel burn and a dull ache in various areas of her body: her neck, left arm, calves. There was a distinct whirring of machinery to her left, complemented by high pitched beeps at regular intervals. Suji couldn't quite remember what happened before this, her memory a blur of colours and sensations. For the first few minutes, Suji could only take in her surroundings through its sounds and smells, her senses overwhelmed by her fatigue and pain.

Questions came later.

She forced her eyes open to a slit, feeling as though they had been weakly glued shut. It took a while for her to register the colours and situation, feeling more confusion than fear or panic. She was propped up on something, allowing her sit up somewhat vertically, her legs stretched out before her, covered by a white cotton blanket. It was somewhat dark; heavy blue curtains surrounding the bed through which a dim light protruded from beyond.

Suji glanced around her, only just noticing the dark mass of hair brushing against her right arm. Minhyun sat on a stool at her bedside, leaning forward until his head lay face down by her side, one hand dangling from his awkward position and another loosely holding hers'. She reached out her left hand to touch him, to feel his soft hair which always seemed to smell of fruit and his cologne, but was distracted by a small stinging pinch, the IV cord halting her actions.

"Are you awake now? It's been a while!" A middle aged nurse swept the curtains aside, flooding Suji with light from the rest of the ward, and smiled warmly at her dumbfounded expression as she pressed a few buttons on the IV monitor. She tilted her chin at the stationary figure beside you, continuing in her thick Daegu accent "You've got yourself a keeper there Honey. Never left your side the whole time you've been here."

"Why- Why?" Suji eked out, her voice rough a trembling from disuse. She cleared and continued, "Why am I here? I mean, what-"

"You mean you don't remember?" The nurse shot her a bewildered look, "I'm probably not the one to tell you. Look Hon, I'll ring up your daddy here okay? He's probably upstairs in a consultation with one of his patients." She left in a flurry of wild hand gestures and tapping heels.

Suji sighed, fluffing up Minhyun's hair absentmindedly and tracing the shell of his ear with the nail of her index finger as she waited for the nurse to return. In his position, there was no doubt that he would wake up with a stiff back and a crick in his neck.

The room was quiet again, aside from the dull bustle of the ward and Minhyun's even breathing, at least until her mother burst through the curtains with the nurse at her heels.

"Suji ya!" She wailed as she threw her arms around Suji's neck, nearly choking her daughter from the shock of having her mother suddenly appear in a wave of tears and crushing limbs, as well as toppling the sleeping boy from the edge of the bed, "You're finally awake, my poor baby! Are you hurt? Doctor Park said that the trauma of the quake added onto the heat wave across Seoul must have caused you to overheat and pass out."

Suji exchanged a perplexed look with the bewildered nurse as she stuck to the wall like a limpet, as far away from her employer's seemingly crazy wife. She had to somehow control her mother before rumours of the head neurosurgeon's wife going batty in the recovery ward circulated the hospital.

"Umma" She mumbled against her mother's cashmere throw, "I'm really fine. I can't really remember what happened but I'm feeling okay right now. You're freaking out the whole ward."

At her words, Hwasung Group's executive director straightened up and her face grew impasse, every bit a professional. Such was her transformation from the hysterical overbearing woman that the nurse felt compelled to rub at the glasses to confirm that the person before her was, indeed, that of only a few moments ago.

"Nurse Lee." She addressed the alarmed woman behind her who replied with a stuttering acknowledgement, "Don't you think this ward is a little too noisy for Suji to rest? I would have thought that the nursing staff would be qualified enough to decided whether or not to admit a patient to their own personal room."

Suji rolled her eyes at her mother's words. Once she became invested into her 'executive director' mode, she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted, not even her own reputation.

Nurse Lee bowed and apol