Chapter 36

Holding the phone firmly with her right hand, Yuri asked her mother weakly, “Mom, please say it clearly. Who’s dying?” Her voice trembled. Her hand was shaking as she prayed to god not to hear what she had guessed. She held her breath, ready to hear the worst news in her ears.

“Your son, Yuri. Chunghee. He’s dying.” She heard her mother crying loudly.

Yuri became breathless & speechless as she felt her world suddenly darkened. She almost collapsed. Her mind & heart screamed loudly at the same time, ‘No! It can’t be Chun! It couldn’t be!’ Tears dropped endlessly onto her pale cheeks, ‘Oh god, please don’t take Chunghee away. Please.’

She stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment & put herself down on the sofa limply. She sobbed silently as the news shocked her more than she could bear.

“Yuri, are you still there? He’s in the hospital now. I can’t tell you the details on the phone. For god sake, you have to come home. Don’t you want to see him?” Her mother’s voice had become softer.

After getting her mind clear for a few seconds, Yuri started to sobbed hard. She couldn’t lose Chunghee. She couldn’t lose him. Living in a separate world with her son during these last six weeks was killing her. What if she would never seen him again, for the rest of her life? She let out a deep sigh between her sobs & whispered weakly, “I’m coming back, mom. I have to see him. I have to be by his side. He can’t leave me & Yunho Oppa.”

Putting the phone down quickly, she ran to her bedroom to get changed. Throwing her wedding gown onto the bed, she quickly took her khaki platinum denim crop jeans, sea of clouds brinlee shirt & island scroll denim jacket. While sobbing hard, she opened her drawer harshly to get her passport & all of her money. She didn’t have time to pack her clothes. Tears blurred her sight. She wiped it with the back of her hands harshly. She had to run. Did Yunho say that his flight would depart in one hour? Did he say he bought her a ticket to Korea? Where was it? Had he given it to her? Oh, no. He hadn’t given the ticket to her, “Yunho Oppa, please wait for me. Please wait.” She whispered dreadfully, while putting her things into her white michael kors hamilton tote handbag.

She took the phone & dialed the number, calling the taxi in a panic. She screamed out to the lady who received her phone call when she told her to wait for another eighteen minutes. She couldn’t wait.

When she was ready to lock her apartment door, she remembered Yoongi. There was no time to call him. She took a pen & wrote a short note for him. Locking the door, she ran to the main road as fast as she could to get a taxi to the airport.

Scanning the departure hall of Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport with teary eyes, Yuri tried to find Yunho, “Where is he? Oh god, please show me where he is?” She asked herself in despair. She wanted to scream loudly to call his name, however, there were a crowd of people. Facing the hall back & forth, she couldn’t find Yunho. Sobbing hard, her eyes searched him in fear. What if she couldn’t find him? She didn’t have a ticket to fly back to Korea. Ignoring the weird looks from the other people around her, she looked at the announcement board. There were only two flights going to Korea tonight. The fastest one was Singapore Airline. However, its passengers had boarded already. The gate had closed. She was too late. Yunho must have taken that flight. She let out a big sigh as she felt breathless. She looked at the board again, for the next flight to Korea. Only one airline was left. She quickly ran to the Cathay Pacific counter to buy the ticket. After arguing with the sales officer because of being too late, she finally got her ticket to Korea. However, she had to stop over at Hong Kong first before continuing to Korea. Waiting for the print out of her boarding pass impatiently, she prayed inside her heart sincerely, ‘Please don’t let anything happen to Chun. Please, god. This is all my fault. Hold on, Chun. Mommy is coming to see you.’

Looking at the white clouds in the darkness of the night outside the Singapore Airline window with teary eyes, Yunho let out a big sigh of sadness & despair. He had failed to bring Yuri back to see their son. Even his confession of his deep love couldn’t win back her heart. He remembered how Yuri didn’t even say a word when he confess his love to her or held him back from leaving her apartment. She only stared at him with teary eyes & stood still like a statue in her wedding gown, ‘She must have been guilty for not being able to love you back.’ His mind told him. While waiting for her in the park, he imagined she would run into his arms & say that she loved him, too. Then both of them could go back together to Seoul & bring the good news to Chunghee. However, when he saw her in her wedding gown, looking beautiful liked an angel, ready to marry Yoongi, he stop himself from telling her that Chunghee was badly sick. He didn’t want her to be sad & ruin her wedding plan. He just wanted her to be happy. If her happiness was only with Yoongi then as he told her before, he wouldn’t want to be a part of her life again. He let out a big sigh, “My angel, I lost you. I lost you forever.” He whispered to himself. He stared blankly at the shadows of the clouds again, through the window & tried to smile bitterly.

‘I’m sorry, Chun. Daddy couldn’t bring mommy back as you wish. Please don’t leave daddy, Chun. You’re the only one that I have now. I died if you leave me, too. You’re my good boy. I know you won’t leave me alone here in this world. Please Chun.’ He closed his eyes as tears were flowing down his cheeks. He let out a big sigh again, & blinked several times to stop his tears. He looked at the empty seat next to him. Yuri was supposed to be with him in this flight. He had booked the ticket for her already to fly back together, however...he let out another deep sigh for the hundredth time already.

He recalled the moments when Chunghee got sick after Yuri had gone to Sydney. Chunghee was missing his mother badly. He kept crying & called mommy every night when he didn’t see her face as usual. Yunho had tried his best to persuade him with his favorite things, yet he failed. The feeling of losing his mother made Chunghee cry the whole night. He started to refuse to eat & slowly, his chubby figure had turned into a skinny toddler. Yunho sighed again. Both of them couldn’t eat. Chunghee lost his weight & so did he.

Youngmi & Yuri’s mother was shocked when Yunho brought Chunghee to their house three weeks after Yuri left. He still remembered Mimi & her mother drowning in tears. Mimi wanted to call Yuri to let her know about Chunghee, yet he refused. He decided to let Yuri start her new life without his disturbance. Although, deep inside his heart, he yearned to have her back in his arms, he wanted her to come back not only for Chunghee but the most important thing was she would come back for him. He still had his pride. He didn’t want to beg for her love if she loved her fiance, Yoongi. He finally believed that they weren’t meant for each other. His heart pounded in pain every time he looked at his son. Chunghee missed his mother & he missed his true love, too.

Starting with crying every night, calling for Yuri, Chunghee’s health had become worse. When Yunho took him to the specialist as the medical doctor couldn’t cure him for almost five weeks already, he was shocked. The doctor said that Chunghee was displaying symptoms of pneumonia which included high fever & respiratory problems such as shortness of breath & coughing. His world suddenly darkened. He couldn’t bear to lose him after losing Yuri. He quickly brought Chunghee to the hospital, putting him in the hand of the best doctors in Korea.

Yunho didn’t have any choice except to bring Yuri back to Korea for the sake of his son. He whispered in his ear when he left him yesterday, “Please fight, Chun. Daddy will bring mommy back to you.”

He felt tears forming in the corner of his eyes again. Chunghee was a bright little boy, cute & genius for his age. He was talkative liked Yuri with his innocent questions & grin. Yunho believed that Chunghee’s bubbly nature had a lot to do with the way Yuri had influenced him. He sighed deeply again. What would he say to his son? He failed to bring Yuri back.

Mrs. Jung knew when Yunho only shook his head, answering her question about Yuri, “Where is she?” She followed her son to the ICU room in which her grandson was lying on the hospital bed, “She didn’t want to come, did she?”

Yunho refused to answer & walked through the ICU door. He bent down his head to kiss his son’s pale cheeks gently, “Daddy is back, Chun. Are you okay now?” He whispered to Chunghee, with his choked voice.

Chunghee didn’t open his eyes as he was in a deep sleep. Yunho stared at him lovingly with teary eyes. He turned his head to see the monitor screen which was showing Chunghee’s declining condition. He let out a big sigh of breath. Chunghee looked so pale, very lifeless as he lay there on the bed. His body didn’t move except for the continuous slight rise & fall of his chest in rhythm to his shortness of breathing. It was reassuring him that his son hadn’t left him alone, not yet, “You have to fight, Chun. Please. You have to fight for daddy.”

He put himself in the chair & held Chunghee’s tiny hand carefully. He touched Chunghee’s right arm in which a needle was being injected into his baby skin to supply his nutrition. His face was covered by a mask of oxygen to help him breath. His heart broke at the sight of his son, ‘He’s still a one year old boy! He’s still a baby!’ His heart was screaming loudly in despair.

Chunghee’s white face washed all the brilliance, cuteness & innocent grinned that lit it up each & every day. Chunghee’s hand felt so cold as Yunho took it in his as he was trying to transfer his warmth to him. Tears of grief were falling on his cheeks. He couldn’t press his emotion down anymore. He needed to cry. He was tired of fighting all those tears & fears in his heart. He had