It has already been a few days later since they went to the resort and it"s Christmas week. As a tradition, Seo Joon and Samantha were going to shop for gifts together and brace through the very crowded mall. "So, they do this every year?" Daniel asked Hannah while they sat on a bench inside the mall and watched the siblings agreeing or arguing on something in front of them.
Hannah nodded and started to explain, "It"s like an adventure for them to find gifts in the middle of the chaos yet they find this quite enjoyable because, at the same time, they are going to have a race on whoever is able to buy their parents" requested gift."
"Requested gift?" his brows raised.
"Though Uncle and Auntie do not really need any more new things most of the time, Samantha and Seo Joon force them to think of something that they want as a Christmas gift and they will race whoever buys it first on a chosen date. And that date this year is today."
Drinking her milk tea, Hannah continued, "The rule is, they will set a timer of thirty minutes to one hour. They will look for the gift and pay for it, however, the winner will be determined on who arrived fast and who paid less for a good quality product; each one getting one point. If both of them gets one each, the receiver has to choose between the two gifts to declare the winner and be the King or Queen for the day."
Daniel chuckled at how silly the siblings are but he found it interesting that they have this kind of tradition.
In last year"s race, they were competing for their father"s gift. Samantha took a while to find one that"s cheap and in the end, Seo Joon won and became the King. She had to serve her brother drinks and snacks the whole day and even ma.s.sage his feet. They"ve been doing this since they were kids and the tradition was hard to break as they get even more compet.i.tive each year.
So today, Samantha was determined to win and let her brother carry her around their parent"s house when they go there on Christmas, she"ll make him her slave.
As the race began, the two of them ran off to find their gifts while Hannah and Daniel continued to talk about Samantha and Seo Joon"s childhood years.
After almost an hour, they saw the two running towards where they were sitting and the siblings arrived at the same time.
"First!" both of them announced and then looked at each other.
"I got here first, you Dopey!" Seo Joon bantered in which Samantha retorted with, "Nah uh! Look at my foot! I got here first!"
Hannah rolled her eyes while Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched them bicker.
"Both of you arrived at the same time so no one gets a point. Let me see what you bought," said Hannah and the siblings handed over paper bags of the same size and from the same brand.
Mother Kim was quite mysterious this time as she sent them a text message of a specific brand name of a pair of shoes, however, the color only said "B".
Looking at her boyfriend"s and best friend"s gifts, Hannah smiled upon seeing the right items but the color that Seo Joon got was blue while Samantha got brown.
"Why would you give mom a pair of blue shoes?!" Samantha questioned, her brow raised.
"It"s a nice color! Why would give her brown? That"s so… lame," he remarked.
"Perhaps your mother wanted a black pair," Daniel chimed in before he took a sip of his coffee.
Samantha and Seo Joon"s eyes widened and they hurriedly scrambled away to get that black pair of shoes.
Sighing, Hannah turned to the stoic man beside her, "Thanks a lot, Mr. Cho. Now we have to sit for another hour because of your little comment."
Daniel stood up from his seat while tapping his phone, "Actually, you"re going to have to sit alone. I have an important meeting to go to."
"What? Oh come on! You"re escaping!"
He signaled for Logan to sit beside Hannah. "Sorry, Han. I"ll see you guys at dinner tonight. Enjoy!" He said before walking away.
After almost two hours of shopping and the siblings" bickering, their gift shopping race ended and they tied so they have to wait for which gift will be chosen on Christmas day.
They loaded everything in Seo Joon"s Mercedes in the underground parking lot and was about to get in the car. "We still have about an hour or so before dinner, are we going there early? Or… do you girls want to go somewhere else first?" he asked.
"I"m fine with either… though there"s a nice night market that just opened nearby. We could try dropping by... what do you say, S?" Hannah turned around and saw Samantha who was leaning against Seo Joon"s car and touching her temple like she was having a headache.
"S? Are you okay?"
"Dopey?"
Both of them sounded worried.
Samantha opened her eyes and forced a smile, "I just have a headache. I"m probably just hungry," she took a few steps forward but her vision swayed that she had to reach out to the car for support.
"Woah, Sammy…" Seo Joon immediately grabbed his sister"s arm and pulled her towards him. And just as she was in her brother"s embrace, her vision went dark and she fainted.
"Sam?! Hey Sam! Wake up!" Seo Joon frantically shook his sister and patted her face but she was unresponsive. Hannah and Logan were also quick to arrive at their side.
"Let"s get her to the hospital," Logan suggested and Seo Joon snapped out of panicking.
"Right," he answered as he carried her towards the backseat of his car and allowed Logan to drive it. Hannah got in quickly and was very nervous, worrying about her best friend as well.
…
When they got to the hospital, Samantha was rushed to the emergency room and Seo Joon called for his friend Nathan who arrived in two minutes. He was about to go home after his 16-hour s.h.i.+ft when his friend called him.
Daniel who was in a meeting left as soon as he received a call from Logan while they were on the way to the hospital.
"Where"s my wife?" was the first questioned that he asked when he arrived in the hospital, "What happened?"
Logan, Hannah and Seo Joon were outside of the ER as they waited for Nathan"s findings. Samantha"s brother recalled what happened in the parking lot and Daniel"s expression was a mixture of worry and anger.
His heart was beating rapidly as he waited with them. And after some time, the doors of the ER opened and out came Samantha in a wheel bed – she was going to be moved to a private room.
Daniel stood up right away and went to her side. Picking her hand up, he scanned her face and saw that she was a bit pale.
"How is she?" Seo Joon asked Nathan.
"Her vital signs are normal. We took blood from her just now to check what"s wrong. I will take it to the lab personally and update you with the results," Nathan informed Daniel but all he got was a curt nod. Daniel did not even spare a glance at him as he was very worried about his wife.
Breathing deeply, Nathan nodded towards his friend before he turned around and left.
..
In the VIP room, Samantha was still sleeping with an IV drip attached to her right hand. Daniel never left her side since they arrived four hours ago.
Samantha"s parents have already come and left with Seo Joon and Hannah so it was only him who stayed with her.
Daniel partly blamed himself and thought that it probably could have been avoided if he did not leave for the meeting.
A knock on the door was heard, disturbing Daniel"s thoughts and in came Nathan Yun with a piece of paper in his hand.
"Mr. Cho, according to the results everything is normal except for the short fluctuation of her heart rate. After everything was ruled out, the main reason that she fainted was that she is anemic."