#74
“What on earth is this…”
No matter what happened, Kang Ye-ryeong had never shown herself looking disheveled. At least, that’s how it was in Hyun-oh’s memory.
Even at his father’s funeral, she had greeted the visitors with an upright posture while wearing a deep layer of lipstick in a beautiful shade.
Such a person was now in such great shock that she couldn’t even breathe properly.
Hyun-oh roughly wiped his face. Though he didn’t have tender feelings for her, seeing her appear weak for the first time in his life made his heart complicated.
“…Take her to the waiting room.”
“Yes.”
At Hyun-oh’s instruction, Kang Ye-ryeong’s secretary tried to support her.
“Let go of this…!”
Kang Ye-ryeong refused to leave her spot. She hadn’t even properly examined Eunsol’s face. Even if she could only see through the glass window, she felt she needed to at least confirm that he was breathing properly.
“I will stay here. Please go and rest for a while. If you collapse too, Mother… I won’t be able to face Lee Eunsol.”
Kang Ye-ryeong’s eyelashes trembled delicately as she supported her body with her secretary’s help.
Hyun-oh had changed.
He had asked his father to find Eunsol’s whereabouts. His father had immediately shared the information he discovered not only with her but also with Hyun-oh.
She had received word that Hyun-oh had departed earlier than herself. She too had moved as quickly as possible, but due to the unprecedented heavy snowfall, there had been a traffic accident right ahead.
She had felt anxious. Even though Eunsol wasn’t involved in an accident, the image of a man being rescued from a partially wrecked vehicle overlapped with that of her child.
She immediately called Kim Myungjun. Anticipating that Hyun-oh wouldn’t answer if she tried calling him, she had contacted Kim Myungjun from the beginning.
But Kim Myungjun hadn’t answered either. When the vague anxiety she had been feeling materialized and enveloped her entire body, she received a call from her father’s confidant.
Eunsol had been in a serious traffic accident and was in critical condition.
She too had found out that Eunsol had run away without telling even her, in order to protect the child he was carrying.
The news of an unexpected grandchild’s arrival made her as happy as when she learned she was pregnant with Hyun-oh. She had planned to hug Eunsol tightly and tell him he had done well when they reunited.
She didn’t think accidents discriminate in seeking their victims, but this was too cruel.
Her memory was vague about how she arrived at the hospital where Eunsol was admitted. She hadn’t even realized her ankle twisted while walking urgently.
Seeing Eunsol’s appearance at a glance had made it hard to breathe. Then, upon seeing Hyun-oh standing there with no expression, rage boiled up inside her.
She had wanted to slap him. If she hadn’t been wobbling from being unable to breathe properly, she would have done so.
She had been too busy finding Eunsol first to have time to examine Hyun-oh’s condition. Only when Hyun-oh spoke to her did she look into her son’s eyes.
“You…”
Though they weren’t close, he was her biological child whom she had given birth to with labor pains. Because of this, Kang Ye-ryeong was quicker than others at noticing changes in Hyun-oh’s emotions.
Although to others he might appear no different from usual, Kang Ye-ryeong felt as if Hyun-oh had returned to the time when he still needed her touch.
There was something he wanted to say, but what escaped through his lips were only words that couldn’t form sentences.
It was when Kang Ye-ryeong unconsciously reached out her hand toward Hyun-oh. He looked so precarious that she wanted to stroke his head now, even though she hadn’t done so in his childhood.
“Arrest!”
Suddenly, there was a commotion around them. The medical staff, who had been closely monitoring Eunsol’s condition, rushed in masses into the hospital room.
It was the moment when the graphs that had been forming curves changed to straight lines. Hyun-oh, whose statue-like expression crumbled, tried to enter the hospital room.
“Lee Eunsol!”
“Guardian! You cannot enter!”
Two medical staff members at the door desperately blocked Hyun-oh. They understood the guardian’s feelings, but his entering would only worsen the situation.
“Charge to 100! Shot!”
The large body couldn’t cross into the hospital room and sank down. Still in early pregnancy, Eunsol’s body didn’t look like that of a pregnant person at all.
Just like in Hyun-oh’s memory, his body with prominent ribs jumped up perilously every time the medical staff touched him.
It must be painful each time his body hit the bed, yet Eunsol’s eyes remained firmly closed.
“Increase it! Charge to 200! Shot!”
Had there ever been a time when he felt so useless? Eunsol was dying, and there was nothing he could do.
Hyun-oh desperately focused his senses. Even in a place mixed with numerous smells, Eunsol’s pheromones could be faintly detected.
When their bodies overlapped, the scent of lily of the valley would not only intensify compared to usual but would also wrap around him like a protective barrier with a subtle pine scent.
But now, like Eunsol’s interrupted breath, he could only feel the scent that tapped the tip of his nose fleetingly if he concentrated all his senses.
“…Eunsol.”
Hyun-oh felt the trace of pheromones, so faint that only he could detect it, like Eunsol’s desperate call for him.
He could be called crazy. If his pheromones could help hold onto Eunsol who was trying to leave this place, even a little.
Hyun-oh secretly released his pheromones toward Eunsol, so subtle that others couldn’t detect it.
“BP and heart rate have returned!”
Did Hyun-oh’s call reach him? Eunsol’s heart, which had stopped, started beating again.
“Thank you. Thank you…”
Kang Ye-ryeong’s voice from behind faded dimly. Hyun-oh urgently inhaled the breath he had been holding, alternately looking at the graph changing from a straight line to a curve and the pale Eunsol.
For a moment, Hyun-oh too felt as if he had gone between life and death with Eunsol. The doctor had said tonight was the critical point, but it seemed he hadn’t dared to think that Eunsol’s heart would actually stop.
His heart was beating violently as if it would burst through his chest at any moment.
His breathing became rough, as if he had run hundreds of meters without rest, and Hyun-oh had to place his hand on his chest and take time to regulate his breath.
“Fortunately… he has passed the crisis.”
Eunsol’s attending physician approached Hyun-oh. The hand wiping his forehead with a handkerchief taken from his pocket was trembling slightly.
Although every patient’s life is precious, the one he was currently in charge of was even the spouse of Chairman Han Hyun-oh of the TH Group.
He was also pregnant, so it was as if two lives had just been revived.
“We’ll need more detailed tests, but the fetus also appears to be fine.”
“The child is important too, but our child, please save our child no matter what, doctor.”
Kang Ye-ryeong, who had risen from her seat with her secretary’s support, grasped the doctor’s hand.
She had never had to plead with anyone in her entire life. But thinking of Eunsol, she felt like she could even kneel before the doctor.
“Yes. Don’t worry. I will do my best.”
The doctor, recognizing that she was Hyun-oh’s mother, bowed respectfully to Kang Ye-ryeong as well.
“…May I look more closely?”
Hyun-oh, who had been silent until then, spoke in a heavy voice. Though he hadn’t shouted, the end of his voice was completely cracked.
It felt like his throat was being torn, but he didn’t care about the condition of his own body.
“Yes. Just a moment.”
The attending physician, unable to refuse Hyun-oh’s request, approached Eunsol and organized the surrounding environment.
As soon as the attending physician signaled that he could come closer, Hyun-oh moved with heavy steps.
“Ah, this is… because the patient’s heart rate didn’t return with just the use of the AED…”
Eunsol’s body was already covered in wounds. But due to the direct chest compression applied by the medical staff, the middle of his chest was swollen red.
The medical staff had provided emergency treatment, but that didn’t mean the traces left on Eunsol’s body had disappeared.
“It’s alright. Please don’t mind me and focus only on the patient’s condition.”
The medical staff had only done their job. The one who should be punished for Eunsol being in this state was Hyun-oh.
Hyun-oh reached out his hand and carefully brushed back the hair covering Eunsol’s forehead.
Drawing closer, Eunsol’s pheromone scent felt a bit stronger than before. In response to the pheromones that touched his body with a gentle breeze, Hyun-oh also released his own pheromones thickly.
He knelt by Eunsol’s bedside. He stroked the black hair, wet with cold sweat, with an affectionate touch so that his warmth could be felt.
“You’ve worked hard. For overcoming this, really… thank you.”
Could Eunsol hear Hyun-oh’s words?
A transparent tear formed like dew at the corner of Eunsol’s eye. Hyun-oh’s eye area slightly distorted with stinging pain.
The hand that had been stroking his head brushed past his temple and caressed the reddened eye area.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
