Due to her health, Leenah must make a difficult decision involving her career as an idol. Heechul makes a big mistake.

I Know You Like Me:

Answers:

"Leenah Jung, you have been diagnosed with AATD." Doctor Lee informed her.

Leenah became even more confused. "What's that?"

His answer only made her feel like her whole world was crashing down upon her.

"It's Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. Which is," He hesitated, "Premature emphysema."

Leenah felt herself go into a shock. This couldn't be true. This had to be wrong, it had to be! "I-I don't understand. H-How could I have, AATD? I-I'm young, I'm twenty-seven years old how could I have emphysema?"

"I know this is hard for you but you are in the age group for symptoms to start showing more and progressing." Doctor Lee explained to her in a calming tone, but it didn't seem to help. "Alpha-1 Antitrypsin protects your lungs so they can work normally so without it, your lungs are damaged."

Leenah had no idea what to say. So her lungs were permanently damaged? With her occupation this couldn't happen, it just couldn't. But wait, don't people with conditions like this, die? Isn't it supposed to be a slow and painful death? What had she done to deserve this? She never smoked, she could never be around anyone who did smoke because just a hint of it would make her cough up a storm. She was healthy so why was she getting the short end of the stick?

"Am I gonna die?" Leenah tried to hold in her tears. It was painful to keep it in but she didn't want to cry until she was alone.

"No, you're not going to die." Doctor Lee put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "I was very concerned at first because people with AATD usually contract liver disease but you didn't. If you had, your life expectancy would've been about five years or so. You have a normal life expectancy but unfortunately your everyday life will be limited."

"But, I can't do that. I'm Leenah Jung, I have a group, I have a contract, I've been working all my life to get to this point." Leenah felt her eyes beginning to water as her voice got shaky. "I can't quit, not now."

"I understand that. I always recommend patients to stay physically active, but only with minor activities."

"What should I do then?"

"Like I said, stick to minor exercise and don't exceed over an hour. You can receive some physical therapies to help you if you want, they can also help with your breathing. You'll be on medications to help ease your symptoms to keep them from progressing at this fast rate, but I must unfortunately say that in a short time, you will need to rely on an oxygen tank."

Leenah averted her eyes to her lap. Pretty soon she won't be able to breathe well without an oxygen tank that she'll have to carry around everywhere. Where was the good in this situation? The only good she saw was that she will live, but not in the way she wanted to. "When exactly will that time be?"

"A few months if you take the medication everyday. I hate to say it, but I highly suggest that you not continue idol work. It will only make things worse."

"I understand that, but I can't believe it." Leenah tried as hard as she could to not cry but a tear fell anyway. "I can't right now."

Noah had called her earlier to talk about his diagnosis. He was here in Korea, and this wasn't a topic that should just be discussed on the phone. She had to see him. They had to work through this together and figure everything out.

"I need to call my brother." Leenah stood.

___

"So, you too?" Noah said as he and Leenah walked down the street together.

"Yeah." Leenah replied. "I just don't understand why this happened."

"I talked to our birth parents about it before coming here. They both had it too, and they didn't know it. Their symptoms started showing a couple years ago but they only got diagnosed very recently. A month or so ago, maybe. When they found out, they called me and told me to check and see if it passed down to me."

"You're okay though right? You didn't get the liver disease?"

"No, I didn't," He chucked, "get the liver disease. Did you?"

"No." Leenah replied. "It doesn't matter though. I have no idea what I'm going to do now, I can't leave my group I just can't. But I don't really have another choice."

"Did you talk to the other members about it?"

"I called Marta a little earlier and told her about it. She's going to talk to our manager and see what we can do. I have no idea what Heechul's going to do." She felt herself go into shock again when she thought of Heechul. "Heechul! Oh my god, Heechul! How am I going to tell him about this?"

"Everything will be okay." Noah comforted her. "Where is he now?"

"He's in London! He's supposed to go to Paris afterwards." Leenah gripped her hair. "I have to wait until he gets home. He needs to focus on everything over there right now and not worry about me. I can't have him rushing home. This is something that we need to talk about in person. I just don't know how he's gonna take it."

"I can't say that he'll take it well because he probably won't, but I'm sure everything will be fine. You'll get through this together."

"And what are you going to do?" Leenah looked at him with worried eyes.

"Me?" Noah pointed to himself. "I'll be fine. I'll just stay in New York with my little oxygen tank and continue trying to live my life the way I always have."

"I wish I could say the same thing, but I can't." Leenah frowned.

"Don't worry, we'll be okay. You will be okay." Noah patted her shoulder.

"And you will too."

__


Leenah went home and stayed there the rest of the day, waiting for Marta's call. Why hasn't she called yet? What was taking so long? She hated being in the dark about this. She just wanted an answer. Will she have no other choice but to leave her group, yes or no? She just hoped that they would be able to work something out.

\Her laptop started making noise, signaling a video call. She looked at who it could possibly be, and saw that it was none other than Heechul. She hated that she would have to put on a happy face but she just couldn't worry him. Of course she wasn't looking forward to the talk they were going to have when he gets back, but this was going to be just a little harder.

"Hey." Leenah answered the call and waved to him. "Enjoying London?"

"It's not that bad, it's actually pretty cool. I just wish you were here to enjoy it with me." Heechul made her a small heart with his thumb and index finger. "How are promotions going? Do you have a ton of schedules today?"

"No, just two performances because we have that party at the SM building."

"I wish I could be there to go with you. I can't imagine how boring it's gonna be." He laughed, which cheered her up a little. She tried to laugh back but it only came out very awkward and sounded obviously fake, which wasn't what she wanted. He seemed to sense it right away. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She lied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, you seem a little upset. Maybe I'm just worrying too much. I'm not used to being away from you this long." Heechul brushed off his worry. "Don't overwork yourself. Try to get plenty of sleep, okay?"

She smiled for him. "I'll try my best."

That was when her phone started ringing. She picked it up and looked at the caller ID and saw it was Marta. Marta! This was the call that she was waiting for! But why now? Why did she have to call while she was talking to Heechul?

"Who is it?" She heard Heechul say.

"Oh it's just Marta." Leenah answered. "Do you mind if we chat later? She might keep me on the p