"Please be careful! I hate you riding that thing on these streets." MC fretted over her husband.
Hyun was heading out on his motorbike to head to his agent's office on the next ward over. The streets are crazy enough in a car, but on a motorbike, it was ten times scarier. He is not a young man anymore, and she worries about his welfare in the busy traffic.
She hates siding with Jumin in a dispute of theirs, but he does have a point. They could afford a safer mode of transportation by now.
The woman held onto the actor's jacket to pull him down for a kiss.
"Jagiya, I'll be fine." He pressed a kiss to her lips before standing back up and walking out the door, getting on the bike and slipping his helmet on. "I've never had an accident before. I'm not going to have one today!"
"Yeah, you've never had one. That means you're due to having one." She points out.
He chuckled. "Or it means that I'm too hot to hit. See ya!"
Hyun speeds down the street, not looking back.
"Be careful!" MC shouts after him.
Damn her daring husband for living on the edge. It worried her sick every time he left on that thing. She listened as the bike whined as it took off on the road, shaking her head in resignation, and tried not to worry. She grabbed a book from the bookshelf and took a seat in the living room and began to read.
It could not have been more than thirty minutes at the most when her cell phone rang. Her husband's photo, a selfie that he selected himself and regularly changes, appeared on the phones display and she answered right away.
"Hey, why are you calling so soon?" She asked before giving him a chance to speak.
"I'm sorry. Is this, er, MC Ryu, by any chance?" A male voice spoke, someone else's, not Hyun's voice.
"Yes, it's me." She answered hesitantly. "Who is it?"
"Your husband asked me to call you, ma'am. He's been in an accident."
Her vision turns dark for a moment. Her hold on the telephone grows looser.
"What?! Is he alright?!"
"The 'medics are on their way, but other than maybe a broken leg and cuts and bruises, I think he is okay. He's just in too much pain to speak so he asked me to call."
"Did you see it happen? What happened? What caused the accident?" She asks on the same breath.
MC wants to scream, to run there on foot. There are so many questions spinning through her head, she can barely make sense of her own thoughts.
"I witnessed the accident, yes, ma'am. He was turning onto the road when the bike slid out from under him and he fell." The person explains, hesitantly. "The bike fell on his leg and pinned it so we're pretty sure it's broken. The paramedics are here now. I'm handing your husband the phone."
"Thank you for the call, sir." She said before he handed the phone off.
"Princess..." Hyun groaned.
MC could hear the pain in his voice, and while she wanted to berate him for being so laissez-faire about his safety, she swallowed it for a more pragmatic approach.
"What hospital are they taking you to? I will meet you there." She asked quickly.
"I'll have them take me to a C&R clinic. I'm not too far away from home." He spoke through clinched teeth as the medics put him into the ambulance. "Come quick, please."
She began to tear up now as she listened to his groans and moans of pain.
"OK, I'll be there. I'll have Jaehee prepare ahead. I love you." The woman said and hung up the phone.
She shot a text quickly on the messenger and rushed to the hospital. It was right down the street, so she ran there. It would be quicker to run than to get in the car and drive there in this traffic and find a place to park.
The ER entrance was on the front side of the hospital along the arterial road and she reached it in just under three minutes with a jog.
"I'm Hyun Ryu's wife. I need to see him." The woman stumbled through the words, still rather short on breath.
A quick look of recognition passed through the receptionist's eye. Jaehee, bless her heart, must have read the message and just called to make sure that Hyun receives proper care.
"He hasn't arrived yet, ma'am. The ambulance has an ETA of two minutes." The receptionist said. "Please take a seat and we'll let you know when he gets here."
She points to the waiting area, but MC cannot sit, she is too nervous. She decides to pace the floor while looking out the windows into the covered deck of the ER entrance parking. Finally, after what felt like the longest two minutes of her life, she saw an ambulance pull up to the door and unload her husband and wheel him inside.
"He's here. Can I please see him?" She rushed back to the desk.
"We need to let the paramedics get him in a room and the doctors evaluate him before we let you go back." The receptionist said.
"I need to see him now. Please, let me back there to see him." She begged.
The woman, however, was not moved by her display. "I'm sorry, ma'am, it's standard procedure. We'll let you know when you can go back."
She grumbled under her breath and prayed that she could get back soon. Still pacing the floor nervously waiting for the old bitty to let her back behind the locked doors. Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes and still no word.
MC ran to the front desk again. "Please, I beg of you, let me back there now. I won't be in the way. I just want him to know I'm here."
The old woman started to speak again but she already knew the answer.
"Yeah, I know, sorry we can't let you do that." She babbles off then starts her pacing again.
The paramedics had long since left and she is sure he was probably alone now back there.
"Damn it..." She grumbled.
Ten more slow minutes passed when the receptionist finally spoke up. "Mrs. Ryu, you can head back now. He's in curtain five."
"Thank you!" She pulled opened the buzzing door that the woman had unlocked and did a speed walk to the curtain with a number 5 above it.
MC pulls back the curtain and rushes to his bedside. He was awake, just a bit scrapped up and had a few stitches.
"Hyun..." She began to cry again.
He took her cheek in his large strong hand and wiped away the tears.
"Princess, I'm fine. I'm going to be okay." He spoke softly, the pain from his voice was gone now, removed by the meds he had dripping in his IV.
"What did they say? Did you break your leg? What happened? Have they taken x-rays yet? How do you feel?"
She spat out question after question one behind the other so fast that he could not tell them apart.
"Jagiya..." He tried to get she to stop rambling but she couldn't stop. More questions spilled out now. "Princess, I need you to stop talking and listen to me."
He placed his long index finger over her lips and looked into her eyes.
"I can't. I was so scared, Hyun, and then they wouldn't let me see you and..." She sobbed hard and gasped for air.
The actor took her hand and rubbed her arm with his other hand.
"Jagiya, please stop crying. It's okay now, you're here and I'm here and we'll both be okay, I promise. I just have a broken leg and it's already wrapped up. I'll come back tomorrow to get a cast on it and then I'm good to go." His voice was comforting even though she should have been the one comforting him.
MC is hurting more than him at the moment, he concluded.
"But you're all scratched up and cut up, Hyun. You've got stitches on your forehead and arm." She fusses over him. "What are we going to do about your play, huh? And what if you get a scar?! Are you really in no pain at all?!"
"MC, I've had stitches before, and I have broken my leg before. I'll live." He chuckled a bit but a pain stopped him and he wrapped his arm around his chest.
"What's wrong? Something hurt?" She fussed again.
"I've got road burn and a crack rib but I'll be okay."
MC gave him a stern look.
"Really, I will be." He smiled again and looked to her.
The doctor came in once more, giving a new target for her anxiety.
"I'm Doctor Park. You must be ZEN's wife." The doctor held his hand out for her to take.
They shake on it, politely.
"Is he going to be alright?" She asked.
"Princess..." The patient said, trying to get her to calm down and not flood the poor doctor with questions.
He was laying there, wide awake and alert, but, for some reason, she could not believe him.
"He'll be fine." The doctor assured the woman. "He will need to rest until his leg heals. The cracked rib is a little trickier, but it will heal in time too."
"Are you sure?" She asked, and Hyun suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
The doctor smiled in her direction. "Quite sure. If he follows the recommendations to the letter, he should make a full recovery in up to four months."
"Four months?!" The pale man splutters.
"Pretty much. No strenuous activities for a while. No heavy-lifting, driving or overdoing it. The stitches will come put in a week or so if they are healing well. You will be sore but pain meds will help with that." The doctor then turns to the wife. "Do you think you can keep him still until he heals?"
"Me, keep Hyun Ryu still? That has to be a joke." She laughs without humour and looked to her husband, who is smirking. "I'll make him stay still doctor, don't you worry."
"So, you mean I have to cancel my travel dates and all my work until I get the cast off?" Hyun sounded anxious already at the idea.
"I'm afraid so, if you want to heal at all and get back on your feet." The doctor spoke with a stern look. "You have a broken rib. This could be very serious."
"That's not happening." Hyun scoffed.
"Yes, sir, it is certainly happening. You will not be leaving my sight until you are fully healed. And don't even think about ever riding a motorbike again because I'm sending yours to the scraps." She said, pointing at him.
"Come on, MC! It was a puddle and I hydroplaned. I couldn't help that. I'm more than skilled enough to drive a motorcycle." He groaned.
"Not happening." She spat back.
"We'll see..."
"Well then, good luck with him. You're going to need it." The doctor said, good-humouredly.
"When will he be able to go home?" She asked.
"I'd like to finish this bag of meds first then he can leave. I set up an appointment for an orthopaedic to see him tomorrow. The doctor is in the medical building here so you won't have to go too far. I'll check on you later before you go, ZEN. Until then, get some rest." The doctor shook her hand again and left the room.
By the time they got home again, it was well past sunset. MC helped Hyun into the house with his crutches, settling him on the sofa and with his leg propped up.
"What can I do for you now?" She asks him.
"I can think of a few things..." He grinned and patted her backside as she stood close to him.
He had not a care in the world, thanks to the heavy pain medicine he was given at the hospital. He knows he will feel his misadventures tomorrow, but he tried not to dwell on it.
The woman gasped as he patted her.
"No! No strenuous activities, remember?" She narrowed her eyes to look at him.
"I can lay down and have you do all the work for me." He offers.
"Hyun!" MC shrieks
He just smirked and chuckled silently. Hyun was going to be a handful while he was recuperating.