**

“I’m calling from Seoul National University Hospital to inform you that your mother, Mrs. Lee Jimin, was admitted into our hospital this morning. I understand that you are overseas at this moment. Is there any other family members or relatives that we may call?”

You gasped. Your legs gave out and you fell to the floor. Your phone slipped out of your hand and landed on the floor beside you. You felt strangely void of any emotion for the first few seconds before tears started rolling down your cheeks. You wanted to stop the tears from flowing but you just couldn’t until you heard the lady’s voice again.

“Hello? Are you still there?”

The tears stopped almost immediately and you pulled yourself together so quickly you surprised yourself as you scrambled to grab your phone.

“Hello. I’m still here.” You quickly answered. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“Oh. For a moment there, I thought the call had lost connection.” She sounded relieved. “And I’m actually not the right person to answer your question but I can tell you that we aren’t sure at the moment. Your mom got admitted because she was found unconscious in her house. She has since woken up but we are keeping her here to run some tests.”

“Is there really no one else we can contact? Perhaps a relative in Korea?” She asked again.

You briefly thought about your dad before you “N-no. There isn’t anyone else.” You said, feeling slightly ashamed of it. “I’ll fly back as soon as I can manage.”

“Alright. We’ll be expecting you then.”

**

Your life in the days that followed that phone call was a living nightmare. You quickly informed your supervisor of what had happened before rushing back to UCLA to apply for a voluntary Leave of Absence. You found out later from the admin staff that you still needed a letter of approval from your department for your application to be complete so you had no choice but to wait until the next day. You felt really frustrated but you knew that it was all just part of the procedure so you couldn’t blame anyone for it.

You managed to get the letter from your director first thing in the morning the following day and immediately handed it in with your application for leave. You got a phone call later that afternoon informing you that your leave was approved and you had been given by default a year. You were also told that you could return anytime to withdraw your leave but you should time it to coincide with the start of a new semester so that you could enrol for your classes. There were other details that you were being informed of but you didn’t pay much attention to it. You knew that you could always check it online if you really needed to know something. Once that was settled, you immediately booked the next available flight back to Korea and rushed to pack your suitcase for Minhyuk and yourself. 

*Flight TG508 to South Korea is ready for boarding. Please proceed to the boarding gate.*

You stood up and carefully strapped a sleeping Minhyuk to your chest before taking his baby bag and proceeding to the boarding gate. You were grateful that Kibum had insisted on making a passport for Minhyuk when he had just turned two months old. It had seemed like such a pointless act at that time but now, you were beyond thankful for it.

It was only when the plane was in the air and you had successfully secured Minhyuk in the inflight bassinet, that you finally allowed yourself to relax. It was going to be a really long flight back and you couldn’t afford to be on edge the whole way. You took a few deep breaths to calm your nerves and you wondered whether Soojin was already at the hospital. You had called her earlier when you thought it was a decent time in Korea and once you told her what had happened, she had insisted on going down and accompanying your mom until you got there. You couldn’t express how thankful you were for that but you were sure that she knew.

You spent most of the time slipping into and out of dreamland. Minhyuk had spent most of the flight asleep as well although he had woken up twice to be fed. The second time after he had eaten, you even managed to watch some cartoons with him on your netbook before he had fallen asleep in your lap. You were sure that he was tired from the stress of the travel but he never made a fuss. You had left out the part where your mom was in the hospital when you told him that the both of you were going to visit grandma because you weren’t sure if he would understand. Up to today, he had only seen pictures of his grandma and spoken to her on the phone very briefly on a few occasions.

When the plane had finally landed at Incheon Airport, you allowed most of the other passengers to leave first as you had to put Minhyuk into his baby carrier first. You were just about to put him into the carrier when he shook his head and pouted a little. “Walkie, mummy, walkie.” He said cutely.

He had just discovered walking not too long ago and enjoyed tottering around whenever he could. In fact, the only reason why you managed to get him into the carrier earlier was because he was asleep. But you couldn’t have him tottering around at the airport though so you bent down to his eye level and patiently explained. “Mummy needs both hands later to carry the suitcase and the bags so I won’t be able to hold your hand if you walk. You don’t want to get lost in the airport right?”

He shook his head, the cute pout still on his face.

“Be a good boy ok? Mummy will let you walk all you want later. How does that sound?” You tried to pacify him and it worked because he cheered up and willingly stepped into the carrier himself.

======================

Heh. So now you know what happened with the phone call :)