Chapter 25: Humans

Sun Hi was quiet in the car for a long time. Ji Hoo stole glances at her as she stared longingly out the window, but he said nothing. At one point, she turned from the window and solemnly fiddled with the shoebox on her lap. He wanted to know what she was thinking but couldn't bring himself to ask. Was she sad that she was leaving her dream behind? Was she sad about seeing her aunt again? Was she wondering what he was thinking this entire time?

Finally, to his surprise, she broke the silence. But it was not about leaving her dream behind or her aunt or what was on his mind.

"Dr. Yoon, there was a party tomorrow, for your friends, right?"

"Yes, for my friend, Yi Jeong."

"The potter. Will you be back in time for it? There's a bus stop not too far from here. I can take the bus the rest of the way. I don't want you to miss something important for your friend."

"No, I'd feel better if I took you the whole way," he replied. He couldn't trust that she would abandon the trip if he dropped her off somewhere. She might as well hop on a bus right back to Seoul and forget her obligation.

He desperately needed to know that she was of good character and seeing what she would do once she got home was the only way for him to see it. He didn't want to let her go. It was cruel of him to feel, but he had wanted her to be some orphan he could care for and love forever without anything to get in the way. But she belonged somewhere, and it wasn't with him in Seoul. Not at this moment.

"Dr. Yoon," she asked timidly. "Your friends, what are they like? You've told me some but not a lot. President Gu seems scary."

Ji Hoo allowed himself a laugh. "Gu Jun Pyo is intimidating, but scary, not so much. Jan Di, as you know, is very kind, but she can be the scary one."

"Unnie?" Sun Hi questioned incredulously.

"Jun Pyo fell in love with her the moment she round-kicked him, and it was a kick he deserved. Truthfully, Jan Di is the reason we all changed."

He found himself telling her the story, fulfilling her request to tell her about them as the car wound the turns and bends of the countryside. How the F4, including himself, were pompous, self-entitled people who cared for no one and nothing but themselves. How Jan Di was the poor nuisance and was the only person who would stand up to them. How they found themselves rescuing her every other moment. He told her that before Jan Di, their friendship had been long, but a bit superficial. They were best friends because they were rich, handsome, and influential, and although Ji Hoo wanted to step away from that, he worried about being without them. But after Jan Di, they came together in ways they never knew they could and became the everlasting F4.

He told her about Jun Pyo, the son of a tyrant mother who forced incredible pressures on him, but that now, Jun Pyo had become a success all on his own and had a good head on his shoulders. He told her about Yi Jeong, the artist and Casanova, who had been won over by the least likely of candidates, Jan Di's best friend, Ga Eul, and about Woo Bin, the son of a powerful mobster, who lived another life that was the opposite of the noble character they often saw in him. She was so easy to talk to that he surprised himself with how much he revealed to her.

"Wow," Sun Hi said after awhile. "They all sound very… human."

"Human?" Ji Hoo was amused.

She sighed thoughtfully. "When normal people think of rich people, we picture people without problems. People who can go wherever they want and buy whatever they want and never struggle or experience what normal people do. But your friends, they live like humans."

"We do go wherever we want and buy whatever we want as well," he replied, "but we have to work at being able to do that. Work requires struggle. I used to be the type that never struggled. I slept and let life pass me by. I ignored my obligations, and lived carelessly off the money my parents left me."

"Until Jan Di unnie," Sun Hi grinned half-heartedly at him. "But now, Dr. Yoon works really hard and makes his own money. Unnie must be so cool. I wish I had time to get to know her more."

The drive was a long one. They kept up conversation here or there, but when Ji Hoo reached Sun Hi's village, she became quiet and the color seemed to flush from her face. When they arrived at a small house, literally in the middle of nowhere, there was surprisingly a crowd of people outside. It was a mixture between older women and elderly women all standing around looking forlorn.

Ji Hoo and Sun Hi quickly clicked off their seatbelts, and Sun Hi was the first out of the car. She seemed to take a deep breath and gather herself before taking a step towards the crowd.

Ji Hoo wondered if they were too late. Had Sun Hi's aunt passed away? Was she minutes from dying?

"Wait, Sun Hi," he called out. "Let me get my equipment. Maybe I can help."

He grabbed his doctor bag, hoping on everything that they weren't too late, and they proceeded to the house.

The closer they got, the more people from the crowd looked up. They seemed to recognize Sun Hi right away, but instead of kindness, Sun Hi was met with anger and fury when they finally reached the women who moved to block the entrance of the house.

"Look at this girl! She runs away with Wook Jin Woo, doing who knows what, and returns with a completely different man! Disgusting!" said one Ahjummah.

"Such shame! Her poor father and mother wouldn't be able to look at this child," said another.

"Your aunt is in there dying!" shouted another. "Let her die in peace before seeing a demon like you!"

Sun Hi made it to the entrance and removed her shoes. She didn't say a word. When Ji Hoo tried to enter into the house with her, he was shoved by several of the women.

"You're not welcome here!" they all chanted. "Go back to the city."

"Stop it!" Sun Hi shouted, linking arms with him securely. It was the first physical touch they had. "He's a doctor!"

The word doctor quieted all of them.

It didn't take the two of them long to find her aunt. It was a one room house, and Sun Hi's aunt was resting in the middle of the floor, with a man kneeling beside her, pressing a cloth to her forehead. He looked up and was startled by what he saw.

"Lee Sun Hi?" he asked. "You came back."

Ji Hoo looked at Sun Hi, who immediately burst into tears at the sight of her aunt. She ran and fell onto her knees, clutching the woman's hand and sobbing into her arm.

"Auntie, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm here now, and I'm so sorry!" she cried.

The man stood up and approached Ji Hoo. They bowed in greeting.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"I'm a Doctor. Dr. Yoon Ji Hoo. I accompanied Sun Hi from Seoul to see if there was anything I could help with. Are you the village doctor?"

"No," the man rung his hands nervously. "That man recently left for another village. I took his place, but I'm not professionally trained. I'm unclear on Eun Sook-sshi's diagnosis so your expertise is definitely needed."

Ji Hoo placed himself into work mode and approached the patient. The woman, Eun Sook, was pale and clammy looking. Ji Hoo assumed she has lost a lot of weight because her skin sagged in places, and there were dark circles around her eyes. He kneeled beside her and reached into his medical bag for his stethoscope.

"Auntie, wake up! Please!" Sun Hi continued crying. "Your Sun Hi is here."

Ji Hoo went about his check up. Everything sounded irregular and slow, but the more he went on, the more he was able to come up with a couple of diagnoses. He asked the village doctor some questions about her condition. How was her diet? How long had she actually been sick? What symptoms had he gathered during the length of her illness? The man told Ji Hoo that her full medical record was at his home.

Suddenly, the woman's eyes opened slowly. It reminded him of when Sun Hi had awoken in the hospital.

"Prop her head up," he ordered of Sun Hi, who did it immediately.

"Auntie, it's me," she whispered.

Eun Sook opened her mouth to speak, staring straight up at her niece. "Has… my… Sun Hi… come back?"

"Yes, Auntie, I'm back, and I'm never leaving your side," Sun Hi cried. "I promise. Dr. Yoon is here to help you. He's an amazing doctor, and he'll cure you. Honestly, Auntie, Dr. Yoon is great."

Ji Hoo knew she was emotional, but he wished she wouldn't tell such things to this woman. He didn't know if he could cure her or not, and 'amazing' wasn't a word he would use to describe his medical practice. But he would try his best.

Eun Sook slowly turned her head towards him and brought the ends of her mouth to a grin. "Ah… he must be… an angel doctor. Bringing… my Sun Hi… home."

Ji Hoo grinned back at the woman. "Get some rest, Auntie. I'll find out what's wrong."

Back in Seoul, when the sun had gone down, Hye Rim found herself outside of the salon. She was going to go from blonde to classic black, part of her surprise for Woo Bin. She hadn't told him a definite answer on if she was coming to Yi Jeong's party tomorrow or not, but she had decided that she would. She couldn't deny any longer that she had fallen hard for Woo Bin, and if he was going to be in her life, she needed to be apart of his.

"Princess Im, you really should stay in the car until we park. Seoul has proven safe so far, but—"

"It'll be fine," Hye Rim stressed. "I'll go straight into the salon and wait for you. Besides, everyone in this city knows that I'm connected to the Song family. They wouldn't dare approach me."

Her bodyguard didn't want to, but she let her out by herself. Hye Rim checked her phone for any missed calls and proceeded to wave off the bodyguard to park the car. The car drove off, and she took a moment to see it go down the street.

"Im Hye Rim?" someone shouted her name.

It was a man's voice. She should've recognized that it was not the voice of Woo Bin, she was human, and humans naturally reacted to their names being called. He was the only man she had expected to run into on a random street in Seoul.

She turned towards the voice, but before she could fully greet it, a rag covered her mouth and a blindfold flew over her eyes. All that proceed next was darkness.