YB Quote #3: ‘Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry, Naega naega naega meonjeo, Nege nege nege ppajyeo, Ppajyeo ppajyeo beoryeo baby, Shawty Shawty Shawty Shawty...’ Manager Ma, Coordi Unni and Mi-Nyeo apologise to Tae-Kyung, Super Junior style.  Yeah!  Sorry sorry, sorry I am for putting this song back in your heads.  You’re going to listen to it now right?  Right?  Come on, you know you are...

Chapter 3 – Cure Number One: A Bullet to the Chest

For Mi-Nyeo, waking up with a sore chest was frightening compared to waking up from sleep.  Her ribs felt stiff, she had the urge to cough, and her teeth were chattering.  What upset her most were the strange voices echoing in her head:

“...Once again your existence has shown itself to be nothing but a hazard to Mi-Nyeo,” said one.

“Thanks so much for rubbing it in,” replied another.  “How long is she going to just lie there?  The doctor with coffee on his shirt said she was fine.”

“Cut her some slack.  How would you feel if someone shot you in the chest?”

“She was wearing a bulletproof vest, ergo there is nothing to be cut.  Get it?  No surgery.”

“Idiot.  Yah Hyung-Hyung!  Remember when I broke my arm in that motorcycle accident?”

“I remember that you tried to get us to spoon-feed you...until I reminded you of your other arm.”

Mi-Nyeo opened her eyes when someone touched her hand.

Four saints: David, Joseph, Julian and Thomas stared down at her.

Mi-Nyeo’s throat spasmed, and she broke out into horrible coughing fit.

Joseph grimaced, while Julian leaned away from her.

“Why is she coughing?” asked Thomas.

“Calm down Mi-Nyeo, we’re not going to hurt you,” said David.

Mi-Nyeo shook her head and looked around.  The entire room was white.  “What do I do?  What do I do!  Oppa is going to be so angry with me when he finds out I went to heaven,” she whispered.

Joseph frowned.  “Ya.  Don’t you recognise us?”

Thomas’ eyes grew as round as saucers.  “This is just like the dramas.  She’s got...”

“Got what?” asked David.

“Amnesia.”

Mi-Nyeo gasped.  “I’m in heaven, and I have amnesia?”

“Way to scare her some more, dimwit,” said Joseph.

She leaned towards David, who seemed to have the kindest eyes of the four.  “Great Saint!  I would be so grateful if you would send me back, even if it’s for just one more day.  Oppa is in big trouble.  An Ahjusshi tried to kill him!”

“Mi-Nyeo-“

She touched his wrist, stopping him mid-sentence.  “Remember how I used to wash you every day with a rag and a bucket of soapy water?  Remember?  I know it is wrong for me to ask, but can you take that small gift as payment for one more day?  I need a chance to help Oppa.  I have to make my smile pretty for Seongsaengnim and to...maybe say goodbye to someone else.”

Her last words caught Julian’s attention, while Thomas scratched his head.

“Sure,” said David.  “Whatever you want.  Just lie back and close your eyes.”

Mi-Nyeo wiped at her wet lashes and let him push her back against the pillows.  When David nodded, she squeezed her eyes shut and made a sign of the cross.

“Now focus Mi-Nyeo.  You’re alive.  You’re in a hospital after getting shot.  Remember?” he said.

“I am?”  If it was true, then she was going to try to do all things she had left undone.  She clasped her hands together and prayed hard.

When she blinked and refocused, she saw Mi Nam standing over her.  His eyes were covered by a familiar mop of shaggy brown hair; it was a feature they shared as twins.  Behind him stood the closest thing she’d ever had to a family: the band members of A.N.Jell.

“Oppa,” she cried out in relief, flinging herself into his arms.  “I was so worried about you.”

Mi Nam leaned back and tugged on her nose.  “You should be more worried about yourself.”

“Mi-Nyeo!”  The blond drummer shoved Mi Nam aside.  “Can you remember me?  What’s my name?  Who is the President of the Republic of Korea?”

“Jeremy!”

He grinned as if she’d kissed him.  “She remembers me!  It’s going to be all right!  Who cares if she thinks I’m the President.  That only means a tiny bit of brain damage, right?  But Mi-Nyeo, what is this about Shin-Woo Hyung and a rag?  Did the two of you once go to the sauna together or something?”

“Eh?”  Mi-Nyeo looked over at the guitarist’s smiling face and turned red.  “N-no!  I didn’t mean Shin-Woo Oppa.”

Shin-Woo gave her a warm nod and mouthed, “It’s all right,” making her blush even more.

“Don’t tell me you meant...the almighty Hyung-nim?” said Mi Nam.

At the mention of the band’s leader, the tension in the room escalated.  All three bandmates glanced over their shoulders at him at the same time.

Taken off-guard, Tae-Kyung unfolded his arms and changed his stance.  “What?  Why are you all looking at me like that?  She was obviously confused from the painkillers.”

Mi-Nyeo watched him move into the light with a pounding heart.  It hurt to look at her lost star, but she refused to turn away.  When she went to heaven again, she wanted to be able to recall his image whenever she wanted.

Tae-Kyung’s cold eyes flickered over her face, making her knees tremble under the sheets.

“Go Mi-Nyeo, tell them exactly what you meant.” he commanded.

“T-the saints,” she whispered.  “I used to wash the statues of the saints at the convent.”

Tae-Kyung lifted one eyebrow at her reply and turned to Mi Nam.  “See?  Misunderstanding cleared up.  I’m going to get some air.”

He refused to look her way as he left the room, and Mi-Nyeo’s heart sank into her stomach.  How was she supposed to heal her heart when he could so easily make her feel this low?

Mi Nam sat down on the edge of her bed, blocking her view of Tae-Kyung’s exit.  “He Yi is in hospital too.  She’s fine!”  He held up a hand to stop Mi-Nyeo from speaking.  “Her publicist asked her to pretend to have some...signs of shock to fit in with her image.”

“How’s your chest, Mi-Nyeo?” asked Shin-Woo.

She ran her fingers over the padded area.  “It feels a tiny bit sore.  Did I break any ribs this time?”

Shin-Woo frowned.  “This time?”

Mi-Nyeo lowered her eyes, thinking that he probably wouldn’t like to know the truth.  “I-I didn’t mean this time...exactly.”  She looked at her brother.  “Oppa, did anyone catch the Ahjusshi, or did he escape?”

“That man,” scowled Mi Nam.  “I have no idea who he was, but he’s dirtied my clean image, and the band’s.  The police grilled me for ages and I still couldn’t think of anyone who’d want to kill me.”

Jeremy snorted, and earned himself a shove.

“I meant for real, Mister President,” said Mi Nam.  “Yeo dongsaeng, you’re going to help me with this, right?”

“Neh.”  Mi-Nyeo gave him a firm nod.  “I will ask Yoo He Yi for some time off my job so that I can protect you and help the police find this Ahjusshi.”

“Bad idea,” mumbled Shin-Woo.

“What?”  Jeremy’s eyes grew wide.  “Is it true what everyone has been saying about you?  Mi-Nyeo-yah, are you really a bodyguard?”

Mi Nam gave him another shove.  “What is with your brain?  The light is on but no one is ever home.”

After complaining to the staff that Mi-Nyeo was hallucinating from the painkillers (never trust a doctor with a coffee-stained-shirt), Tae-Kyung pulled his hood over his face and strode down the corridor in search of He Yi’s room.  The events of the night had shaken him, but he liked to think he was being level-headed now, and there were a few small details that he felt didn’t make sense.

Not that anything involving Mi-Nyeo had ever made sense.

“Aish, she’s an extremist,” he muttered, counting the number of accidents and near-misses Mi-Nyeo had had in the past.  “How can one person attract so much bad luck in a lifetime?  And Shin-Woo...a saint?”  He shuddered.  “No.  It’s easier to imagine Jeremy moving into the Blue House.”

He spotted a male bodyguard standing outside of a patient’s room and made a beeline for it, ducking his head when one of the visitors gaped at his famous face.

“I’m doing this because someone needs to protect her,” he affirmed to himself.  “I am not volunteering to be her road kill.”

The man’s eyebrows lifted in recognition, and he gestured for Tae-Kyung to go in.

He Yi was sprawled across the bed, loose limbed, and he resisted the temptation to compare her to Jeremy’s dog when it was napping.  He noted the ice pack pressed to her head and the blankets draped over her legs, but it was the finishing touch of the humidifier in the corner that made him snort.

The actress pulled a few strands of hair out of her face to look at him.

“Oh, it’s just you,” she said, sitting up and letting the ice pack fall to the floor with a slap.

“Don’t stop the show on my account,” he said, as she kicked off the blankets and ripped out a magazine from under them.

She looked up at him with false sweetness.  “Were you worried about me, Tae-Kyung?  I’m touched.”

The band leader snatched the magazine out of her hands and held it behind his back before she could make a grab for it.  “Hiring an innocent girl from a convent to be your bodyguard?  Are you in your right mind?  Or is your fake fairy dust clogging up your brain?”

He Yi reached for the remote control and switched on the TV.  “I had nothing to do with it; Appa does the hiring.”  She turned her marble eyes on him.  “I like to do the firing.”

Tae-Kyung wrestled the remote control out of her hands and switched the TV off.  “Is she really a bodyguard?  Or did you have some other use for her?”

“Does that thought bother you, Tae-Kyung?” she said, her eyes shining with mischief as he circled her bed.  “But you drove her away over a year ago.  Why are you so concerned about what I do with her now?”

“Concerned?”  He sneered at her attempt to pierce his armour.  “Of course I am.  Both Mi Nam and the band’s image will take a massive beating over this.  I will be lucky if I have a career tomorrow.  Now spit it out Devil Fairy, what were you using her for?”

He Yi pouted.  “She’s only my bodyguard, Tae-Kyung.  Has your image taken such a beating that you don’t need security anymore?  If you must know, there was a vacancy after one of the staff didn’t live up to my expectations.  Pumpkin Face went through the usual checks that my staff went through.”

Tae-Kyung walked around the foot of the bed and rolled up the magazine.  “Only someone fearing for their life would need a bodyguard close by at all times.”  He hit the rolled-up magazine against the bed, not far from He Yi’s ear.  “Has something come forward from your past to smack you in the face?”

She didn’t bat an eyelid as she sank back into her pillows.  “My meal should be arriving soon.  Care to share it with me, Tae-Kyung?  I might be able to talk to you some more after I’ve had something to eat.”

The vocalist reached over and gently pulled the blanket up to her neck, tucking it around like a noose.  “If I were you, I’d avoid the hospital food.  The extra serving of bacteria could kill you.”

She gave him a pitying look.  “You’re mistaking me for a narcissist.  I’m not like you, and thankfully, I never will be.”

“Then enjoy your meal.”

When he stepped outside, the male bodyguard was helping a nurse with He Yi’s dinner tray.

“Ah!”  Tae-Kyung’s eyebrows lifted.  “I’m glad I caught you.”  He stuffed the magazine and the remote into the bodyguard’s hands.  “The patient is not feeling too well.”

“She is?  In what way?” asked the nurse.

“It’s her stomach,” he said, keeping his mouth in a perfect straight line.  “She asked if you would be able to mix up a very strong laxative for her.”

“Ah!”  The nurse nodded in understanding, putting the dinner tray back on the trolley.  “I’ll slip it in the food for her.”

Tae-Kyung bowed.  “You read my mind.  I’ll leave her in your very capable hands.”

He tugged the hood back over his head and strode towards Mi-Nyeo’s room.  His work wasn’t done yet.  He still had a few things he needed to find out in order to keep her out of trouble...not because of some irrational, self-harming desire to see her.

“Tae-Kyung?”  Mi Nam appeared in front of him with a box of take-away, blocking his path.  “Did I just see you come from He Yi’s room?”

“Never mind that.”  Tae-Kyung pointed down at the food.  “Is that for who I think it is?”

Mi Nam held it up.  “I thought He Yi might like this over the hospital food.”

Without a word, the elder snatched the box away.

“Ya!  What the hell, Hyung?”

Tae-Kyung glared at him, stopping him in his tracks.  “I can’t believe that of all people, I have to be the one to tell you this, but you should be buying food for Mi-Nyeo.  You should be spending time with Mi-Nyeo.  After all, she saved your neck...again.  Maybe if you paid her more attention she wouldn’t feel this constant guilt-driven need to sacrifice herself for you.  Besides, do you think your girlfriend is some narcissist that can’t tolerate hospital food?  Your sad lack of attention to the women in your life is disturbing.  I’m amazed that they haven’t already left your side.”

“Wha-”

Tae-Kyung didn’t wait for a reply.  He’d confused the enemy just long enough to make an escape.  As he motored down the hall, he ran a hand over the top of the box and twitched his lips.

It was only right that Mi-Nyeo should have it.  She deserved some good luck.