Old man Cho turned around to the familiar voice and he searched until he saw a beautiful face walking towards him. "Are you Samantha?", the way he asked the question was full of wonder. Back at the party, she had face paint on so Grandfather Cho didn"t completely saw her face. Now that he is in front of him, she looked a lot like someone he knew very well decades ago."Yes, it"s me. I"m here to see Daniel.", she answered.
Grandfather Cho was about to respond to her when he noticed the pendant hanging on her neck.
"You... that pendant, where did you get that?"
Samantha touched her necklace and a smiled a gentle one, "My grandfather gave it to me. It once belonged to my grandmother."
"What"s her name?"
She thought it was a little weird that he asked but she answered, "Tae Young-Hee".
"Young-Hee... no wonder you look like her.", the old man said with a hint of sadness in his eyes; he even looked like he was teary.
"You knew my grandmother?"
Grandfather Cho"s expression suddenly changed as if he remembered something, "So your grandfather must be Kim Yong-Hwan?"
Samantha nodded.
The old man scoffed and hit the floor with his cane, "Too bad, I actually liked you. But I won"t accept you for my grandson since you have the blood of that man. You must leave Daniel!"
He left before Samantha could even understand what he meant. When Samantha realized it, grandfather Cho is already gone. "Did he hate my grandfather that much?".
"Ms. Kim!", a.s.sistant Ahn hurriedly walked over to her. "I"m sorry, I got here as fast as I could. Please, right this way.", he gestured as he panted.
Samantha followed Ahn but before they could get to the elevator, Samantha"s phone rang.
"h.e.l.lo? Mom?"
Samantha heard the sound of a siren and some noises at the background like it was chaotic. Her mom"s voice sounded distraught. "Come to the hospital, your brother has been in an accident."
When she heard her mom, Samantha"s face paled and she froze before she ran out of the building leaving Ahn confused.
"Ms. Kim!", a.s.sistant Ahn called after her but Samantha has already gotten inside a taxi. He didn"t know what caused Samantha to suddenly leave like that. When he turned around, he saw the receptionist looking his way. Ahn"s expression darkened, "What did you say to the lady earlier?"
"I-- I asked if she had an appointment with the president but she didn"t. I told her she needed one, she insisted-..."
"And what did you say when she insisted?!"
"I-I... I said I can"t help her."
a.s.sistant Ahn"s brows furrowed and looked at the receptionist angrily, "You better pray that you will still be able to keep your job. Otherwise, I don"t know what the president will do to you.", he scorned before he turned to leave.
The receptionist"s eyes widened when she realized that woman from earlier must be someone important. But how was she supposed to know that? She hurriedly called Ahn, "Mr. Ahn, wait!!"
"I can"t help you.", he replied.
-
When Ahn arrived on the top floor, Daniel Cho has already finished his meeting.
"Boss, Ms. Kim came earlier."
Daniel Cho raised his head, "What? Then where is she?"
"Um... I don"t know.."
"What do you mean you don"t know??"
a.s.sistant Ahn recalled what happened and told Daniel everything.
"She ran and left?", Daniel asked with a puzzled face.
"Yes. Oh and before I arrived downstairs, I saw your grandfather too. It looked like he just spoke to Samantha but..."
"What?"
"I"m not sure but his expression looked like he was... displeased?"
"Why?!... Never mind, I"ll just ask him about it." Daniel said before he grabbed his phone and dialed Samantha"s number.
He waited for his call to be answered but it just went to voicemail. He tried again a few more times but still no answer. He found it strange since he knew she always had her phone with her.
"What happened Samantha? You came to see me but... you left immediately after a phone call."
Daniel thought very hard about what possible reasons there could be. It wasn"t until a few hours later that he learned from Ahn about Seo Joon"s accident.
Samantha arrived at the hospital and as soon as she got out of the taxi, she rushed to the OR waiting area. Both of her parents are sitting on the sofa, her mother leaned on her father with tears in her eyes. Chairman Kim who usually looks very well-put had a sullen expression on his face. Their head turned to the side when they noticed Samantha"s presence. "Sweetheart...", Mrs. Kim said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
"Mom, dad... what happened?", Samantha was also very worried, the news was very sudden. She just saw her brother 2 days ago... And now he"s been in an accident. Life is really unpredictable.
"We only know that your brother was driving his car on his way to meet a client for a lunch meeting. The accident happened on the intersection, the traffic light has just turned green and when he crossed, a speeding car from his left crashed into his car. We don"t know how extreme his injuries are and when we got here he"s already in the operating room. He"s already been inside for 2 hours.", Samantha"s father explained what he knew.
She didn"t know what else to say, her mind was very clouded. She"s very afraid to lose her brother.
Samantha fell asleep sometime after she arrived, when she woke up, it was a little over past 5 o"clock in the afternoon. She opened her eyes and saw a black coat over her, then she raised her head and saw Daniel. Samantha was leaning into his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her. Daniel"s eyes were closed and when he noticed her stir next to him, he opened his eyes and looked at her, "Hey..."
Samantha leaned into him more, inhaling his scent that she missed so much. Daniel tightened his embrace as he stroke her arms with his other hand. They still had a lot to talk about but right now, Samantha just wanted to savor this comfortable feeling and Daniel didn"t mind it either.
"How long was I asleep?"
"probably about 2 hours, I arrived an hour ago."
Samantha noticed her mom was also sleeping and her dad was leaning against the wall near the window. Hannah was also sitting on a chair next to the sofa.
Several minutes after, the doors from the O.R swung open and a doctor in a scrub suit came out. "Are you the family of Seo Joon Kim?", he asked after he lowered his mask.
My parents hurriedly walked over to the doctor, "Yes, how"s my son? What happened to him?"
"Before the patient arrived here, he developed a pneumothorax when one of his broken ribs punctured his lung, collapsing it in the process. The emergency personnel performed a needle decompression to relieve the trapped air that was collapsing his lung. Because he suffered from internal bleeding, we"ve done a thoracotomy procedure. He also has a concussion but his condition is now stable, we"ve already transferred him to the ICU. He has to stay there for the meantime."
Both her parents were relieved of the good news. All they have to do was to wait for Seo Joon to wake up. All of them went to see him but they couldn"t enter the ICU, they could only look at him through the gla.s.s window.
"Mom, dad... you should both go home, I"ll stay here with Joon.", said Samantha.
Mrs. Kim shook her head, "No, I"ll stay here until he wakes up."
The ICU was designed to have a waiting or resting area for family members on the other side of the patient"s unit, a wall with a gla.s.s window separating them from him. The four of them were quietly waiting and sitting on the sofa. All they could hear were a few beeps from the other side of the window where the wall separates them from Seo Joon and the faint sound of the TV in the waiting area running a primetime soap opera. Samantha was staring at the TV but not really minding what was on.
A news report came during the advertis.e.m.e.nt break, a male reporter talked about an accident that happened earlier during the day. On the TV screen, it was Seo Joon"s black metallic Porsche in the middle of the intersection; the car was totaled. Samantha subconsciously stood up as she listened intently to the news report, her heart pounding. The other people in the room noticed her and also had their attention drawn to the TV.
At this moment, Samantha felt a sudden excruciating pain in the head, she winced and raised her hand to touch her head, "agnnnghhh", the next second, a smas.h.i.+ng sound of gla.s.s was heard in the room. Samantha has let go of the gla.s.s she was holding in her hand as the pain became more intense. "AAAHHHHHH", she screamed.
The instant they heard the smas.h.i.+ng sound, their gaze fell to Samantha who was now on the floor screaming with hands on her head.