Fan Fiction |
by chinay
The church bell rang 5 times, signifying that it was 5 o'clock.
WooHyuk suddenly felt something in his eyes. They weren't exactly tears because he was
suppressing his emotions too much and wasn't used to being touched. His hands that were
holding the boy's face shook meagerly.
'EunWoo... EunWoo... is that what she named you? Such a fair name... just like your
face...'
"Hewwo?"
EunWoo looked at WooHyuk weirdly, who was holding his face. WooHyuk immediately
caught himself right before he went on a crying spree, breaking out of his emotional state.
He detached his hands from the boy's face and took a step back.
"Where's your mother?" he queried in a grave tone. But the little boy hopped away like a
rabbit, ignoring his query. Like a well-disciplined child, he knew when he should return
for the supper time after hearing the bell striking 5 times from a distance away.
However, no answer was needed. He turned around immediately at the sound of familiar
footsteps.
There stood the person he had been looking for in the past 6 years, who had just dropped
her bag of groceries onto the ground.
"Oh my Lord...." the two mouthed in shock simultaneously. WooHyuk's inherently white
face looked even paler at the sight of her.
They stood only a few yards apart. If he were to take several steps advancing to her, she
would easily be within his grasp.
Keeping that in mind, he started walking towards her, without saying another word. He
knew surely that she couldn't go on another evasion, because this time, he would hold her
back using any means.
Almost as evident, though, HaNeul's first reaction was to run away. She was not the same
person who stood in LiRa's dark hallway enduring his diatribe. Her legs proved to
function adequately, as her brain was coding one and only one message to her: Run away
from him.
"No! Don't go!" WooHyuk ejaculated in fear, something he definitely did not like. He
ran after her, who unfortunately wasn't fast enough. She was forced to stop when the two
rough arms went around her waist, the same hands that once made her leave.
"Let go! Dammit!" she resisted by elbowing his stomach, but he stood still, embracing
her tightly from behind.
"No, I won't. Never again."
His breathing whisper tickled the back of her neck. Cold as usual. She remembered this
feeling and was getting chills.
"You want to do more damage to my life? As if you hadn't ruined it enough already?"
The sharpness in her voice stabbed him but he refuted.
"I didn't ruin yours as badly as you ruined mine. By running away."
He released from his lock and spun her around. To his disappointment, the eyes he longed
to see weren't in his sight. But he was fortunate enough to get a close look at her face.
"I was willing to take care of you after that. If you hadn't escaped like that..." he began in
a soft voice, but she scoffed in an amusement.
"Yeah, like I really would've wanted that. Even if a knife was shoved into my throat, that
would be the last thing I want."
WooHyuk felt a tide of anger rushing inside. He held unreasonable ideology in his mind,
hoping for a dream that would never be. He knew the extent of its ludicrousness, but he
would not accept it. He abhorred failing.
"Even if it's the last thing you want, I'm still taking you back. You know I won't fail in
anything," he stated firmly, going back to his old self again.
"There's a first time for everything. You will fail this one," she retorted, eyeing him
straight and removing his hands from her shoulders at the same time.
"There is one common bond only us two share, no matter how much you deny it. You
know what it is," he said matter-of-factly, but by this time, there was so much hate in her
that he could not trace the same person he knew back in the days.
"That doesn't mean I belong to you. And I intend to keep it that way," she challenged.
That totally sparked his rage to its highest level. He snatched her wrist and started
dragging her to where his car was parked. It always came down to him using force in the
end, which she was no longer able to tolerate.
"Stop this, WooHyuk!" she shrilled as she pulled herself to a stop, struggling to shake his
hand off. But he held onto it ever so tightly, for he was never willing to let her go again.
"You think..." she parted her lips and took a deep breath, "you think... I have no feelings?
That it's okay for you to do whatever you want to do to me? I'm not a robot, WooHyuk.
I have feelings too, despite your belief. I thought if I ignored the things you did, you
would stop and change. But I see you've stayed the same. And you still manage to claim
that everything is my fault."
WooHyuk stood still, gripping onto her hand, anxiously waiting for her next words. She
had never spoken so many words to him before, this was intriguing to him.
She continued in a subdued tone.
"Go find someone of your own status, WooHyuk."
"And you are that person," he said with no doubt, but she shook her head.
"I have nothing. JaeWon claimed all my inheritance, which leaves me without a cent. I
didn't even finish high school, and now I work at a low paying grocery store. I know how
materialistic you are, so don't even tell me these things don't matter to you."
"They don't," he said disagreeably, "not when it comes to you."
She looked at him, not convinced, as she went on with her oration.
"What I really don't have is the heart that loves you. Which I never did have from the
beginning, which I never will till the end."
"It doesn't matter as long as you're by my side. I won't torture myself again by having you
leave me."
"WooHyuk!" she said, losing her patience, "I was never 'with' you from the beginning!
Why can't you get it through the remarkable brain of yours?!"
"You had my kid and that won't change," he interrupted irrelevantly, "and you both are
coming with me."
He gripped onto her wrist even more tightly, enough to cut off her circulation, and
preceded with his quest to take her back, towards his car.
This time, she had nowhere to run. The only way she had was to fight him off.
"Let go! Damn you, WooHyuk! I'm not your property! If you want to find women to
play with and have fun torturing, go elsewhere!"
WooHyuk stopped again, this time surprised by her tirade. She really did change. And
when he turned around, her open left palm struck his face. He let go of her impulsively
and stared at her with wide open eyes, speechless.
"You say I gave birth to your son? So that's supposed to make me yours too?" she
shouted angrily.
"No...it's not just that...I.."
"Read my lips, JangWooHyuk. I don't love you. What you have for me is not love either.
Okay, so I had a kid. He was not out of love though. When are you going to stop
thinking that you can stomp on me like an insect? Until I die?"
She had so much boldness in her speech that it took him by shock.
"No, you don't understand, HaNeul. It's not just that..."
"I don't care what it is," she cut him off gnawingly, "what I care about is when you'd leave
me alone. Step out of my life. I'm sick of you. I regret the days I didn't stand up to you
and JaeWon and HeeJun. Making fun of me and who I was and my foreign eyes. So I
was just a trash. Are you happy that I finally live like one now?"
It seemed as if every time he tried to open his mouth, the words only circled his head.
"I hate you. No, you're not even worth wasting my time hating. I never want to see you
again. I would kill myself before I do," she finished off and walked away, expecting him
to chase after her.
However, he did not run after her this time. Instead, he was busy exploring the new side
of him... how he could be hurt by someone.
Hurt... that was a new concept to JangWooHyuk. Her words had hurt him. 'She' had hurt
him. His plan was to chain her back by his side and keep her forever. But after
experiencing this new feeling, he realized something great.
That a love was not something he could possess.
Could he afford to let her go, though? Besides her was his child. His heir. The question
remained in his heart as he tiredly advanced to his car.
HaNeul's life that could never be normal somehow went back to normal after WooHyuk's
appearance. She cried herself to sleep then got up to work again for the next few days.
The routine seemed to have settled and the only thing that bothered her was EunWoo's
frequent complaint that he had a headache.
When the pills she gave him didn't seem to alleviate his pain, she finally took him to a
doctor.
"It's the meningitis," the doctor told her after taking some X-rays, "commonly known as
brain fever."
Brain fever... people could die from that. HaNeul finally noticed the extent of her son's
illness.
"It seems like an object, such as a rock, hit his head and got him infected," explained the
doctor.
She then remembered coming home after seeing WooHyuk, to find EunWoo's forehead
cut and bleeding.
"No..." fearful moan escaped her mouth, "is he going to be okay?"
"He needs an immediate operation. After that, he should be all right."
Relieved to hear that, HaNeul walked up to the registrar. Little did she know that that's
when the real trouble began.
"May I see your insurance, ma'am?" the nurse in charge requested.
"Umm... I do not have one," HaNeul replied, fidgeting. She, herself, found it hard to
believe that someone who was once a daughter of Lee Corporations could not afford to
pay the monthly insurance, therefore did not have one.
"Did you know that you must prepay if you don't have an insurance, ma'am?" the nurse
started to change her attitude in an arrogant way.
HaNeul's expression turned gloomy as it could ever be. That was so much money.
"It's saving my son's life you're talking about. I'll pay afterwards in some sort of a
payment or whatever, but couldn't you just perform the operation now?" she said, holding
in her anger as much as possible. [Korean hospitals used to have a policy that if one did
not pay in advance, the operation couldn't be performed.]
"I'm sorry ma'am, it's our policy. Until then..."
The nurse trailed off hesitantly. HaNeul knew what she was going to be told anyhow.
She sat on the bench, losing all her hope. EunWoo was the only thing she had in her life
now. There was no way she would let him slip away, but the money was impossible to
afford. She thought of all possibilities.
Hundreds of sources wandered around her mind, but they all came down to one.
WooHyuk.
Whether she liked it or not, he was the father of EunWoo. And the only person who
could help her.
================
RING RING
WooHyuk stopped playing his violin when he heard the phone rang. He grabbed the
cordless phone.
"Hello..?"
There was a silence on the other line for a while.
"WooHyuk..."
A familiar voice penetrated his ears as he turned into a cold ice, remembering the day.
"I know what you're thinking... but I really need your help."
"For what?" he said in a low voice carrying skepticism.
"EunWoo's sick. He has a brain fever and needs operation but I don't have any money so
they wouldn't give him one...."
WooHyuk dropped the violin he was holding as he clutched onto the receiver. Where was
she at? He would be right over there.
Yet funnily, the next thing that came out of his mouth was something despicable.
"What does that have to do with me?"
He could not believe he just said that. Neither could she on the other line as she stood in
the phone booth, praying that he'd help her.
"He's..." she gulped, not wanting to admit, "he's... your son, WooHyuk."
"Not out of love though. Repeating your words."
His venomous remarks did not stop.
"He is going to DIE if you don't help me now, and you're saying that has nothing to do
with you?" her anger was on a verge of blowing up, but remembering her position, she
kept it all in.
"He's part of your life. You're the one who told me to step out of your life, remember
that."
'I don't believe I'm saying these. Stop!' he pulled a brake desperately but it was too late,
as hateful words left his mouth blatantly.
There was a long pause afterwards.
"I..." her voice broke out into a miserable weep, "I will do anything. If you could just
help me. He's all I have left, WooHyuk. I beg of you..."
He was already getting dressed up ready to rush over to the hospital as he was holding the
phone, but what she said sparked his interest.
"Anything?" he winced, "so if I told you to marry me, you would."
"Damn you, WooHyuk! Why must you do this?!"
"You said anything."
Now all he had to do was reach for his car keys on his desk. Not expecting much of an
answer, he grabbed them and headed out of his room.
But when he heard her faint whisper on the phone, he almost dropped it.
"I will..."