Pay With Your Heart

Jae-Hyun's Office

Jae-Hyun slumped on his chair the moment he stepped into his office. He tugged on his tie in frustration and yanked it off. He was feeling breathless. He pulled out one of the desk drawers and brought out a small bottle of whiskey. He hadn't drunk at work in a while, but he really needed it now. He picked a glass and poured himself a drink.

"Now that's serious." Someone said from the door. Jae-Hyun froze when he heard his door been flung open. A frown formed on his face when he saw it In-Ha.

"This is my office, and you should knock." He said in a cold tone, making In-Ha cock a brow at him as he looked at him suspiciously.

They shared a silent stare before Jae-Hyun broke their locked on gaze and poured himself another drink which he gulped in one go. In-Ha paid intent attention to the man's actions and expressions before walking towards the desk. He took a seat and continued staring at Jae-Hyun.

After several seconds of tolerating his annoying gaze, Jae-Hyun spoke up. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he passed the bottle and a glass to In-ha, but In-Ha didn't touch it.

"To hear the truth." He casually replied.

"What truth?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You and I know you're a terrible liar, and I'm sure Dan-Han didn't buy the crap you told him. So out with it, what's wrong with mother?" Jae-Hyun stiffened when he heard In-Ha, but he maintained the stoic look on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied, making In-Ha sigh as he lolled back on the seat.

"You know, the thing about being friends for decades is that we get to know every little detail about each other. And one little detail about you is, you can't lie. So out with it, what is going?" He asked again, this time his voice sounding a bit hard than before.

Jae-Hyun gazed at him and sighed. He raked his hand through his hair as he sunk deeper into his seat. He sighed again; his mind was in turmoil as he pondered about telling In-Ha the truth.

"You can't tell Dan-Han." He said.

"Tell him what?" In-Ha sat upright when he realised how serious whatever Jae-Hyun was hiding could be.

"Promise me you won't tell him. I promised Auntie I wouldn't tell him, at least for now."

In-Ha narrowed his brows as he gauged Jae-Hyun's look. This had got to be serious than he thought. After much contemplation, he nodded his head.

Jae-Hyun dragged in a deep breath before sitting upright. "Auntie... Mother is dying." He confessed.

In-Ha stared at him with a confused look etched on his face. He didn't understand what he had just said. Yes, he had heard him clearly, but his brain couldn't process any of his words.

"What do you mean by Auntie is dying? Jae-Hyun don't make such jokes. It's not funny."

"Auntie has cancer." Jae-Hyun blurted out. "And she has about a month or two to live."

"What?" In-Ha's eyes widened to the fullest when he heard those dreadful words.

"What did you just say?" He asked in disbelief. He must have heard wrong. He didn't just hear that Mrs Lee had cancer or that she had just a month to live. There was no way that's possible!

Jae-Hyun could tell he didn't want to accept what he had told him, "It's the truth, In-Ha."

Truth? What sort of truth was this? How could she be dying? What sort of nonsense was this?

"I don't believe you. This can't be true!" He declared. He couldn't accept something like that. Jae-Hyun sighed again when In-Ha looked like he wouldn't believe him. He couldn't force him to believe.

In-Ha stared at Jae-Hyun, waiting for him to say that this was a lie, but the look on his face said otherwise. This couldn't be.

"You're serious?" He asked while Jae-Hyun nodded. In-Ha felt like he had been dealt a deadly blow. This was shocking!

Mrs Lee was dying and so soon?

"How long have you known?" Was the first question that came to In-Ha's mind after several minutes of silence.

Jae-Hyun was taken aback when In-Ha asked him that. He hesitated for a while before finally answering, "Two years."

"Two, what?!" In-Ha snapped, jerking to his feet.

"In-Ha, calm down," Jae-Hyun spoke in a small voice as he stood up too. What was he thinking telling In-Ha about it, especially when he knew the dude was going to flip.

"You had no right to do this. How dare you withhold such information from Dan-Han, from us." In-Ha asked lividly.

"She asked me not to."

"And you agreed? Are you stupid?" In-Ha couldn't believe him. How could he help her keep a secret such as this?

"Technically, she's my patient, and one of the medical ethics I must uphold is confidentiality."

"Not on this case! She's like a mother to us, you fool!" In-Ha roared. "I'm telling Dan-Han," In-Ha said as he turned around to leave. Jae-Hyun's eyes widened when he heard that.

"You can't do that" He rushed over to him and blocked his path. "You can't tell him."

In-Ha's eyes turned red; he glared at Jae-Hyun and roared, "Get out of my way."

"I'm sorry I can't. This is what mother wants. She has her reasons for not telling Dan-Han." Jae-Hyun explained.

"And what reasons could that be?" In-Ha asked angrily.

"She doesn't want to spend her last days confined to a hospital bed. You know how she is. She likes making sacrifices, making people happy. That is who she is. She can't bear the burden of seeing Dan-Han sad or in pain. You know she loves him with her life. In-Ha, please let her have this wish. Even if we want Dan-Han to know, let her tell him. We can only try to persuade her to do so." Jae-Hyun said in one go. He couldn't risk In-Ha telling Dan-Han about it.

"But... that's his mother. He'd be broken." In-Ha said, the harshness in his tone slowly disappearing.

"I know." Jae-Hyun sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"No, you don't." In-Ha refuted him. "You know how mother's past mistake had strained their relationship, Dan-Han would live in self-guilt if she dies without him fixing their relationship. It will eat him up." In-Ha's voice was much lowered now. Despair and sadness loomed in his eyes.

Jae-Hyun sighed defeatedly when he heard him. All he said were true, but what could they do? He hissed and roughly pulled the root of his hair. "I hate this."

In-Ha defeatedly walked back to his seat and slumped down in it. This was the cruellest thing he had heard in a very long while. How could something this awful happens to Mrs Lee? He didn't know how the world worked.

Why was someone like his father and Ji-A still alive and healthy and someone like Mrs Lee got this monstrous fate?

He turned to Jae-Hyun, who was still standing rooted to a spot. "Jae-Hyun, what do we do now?" he asked.

What could they do? He also didn't know. He looked outside the window, staring at nothing in particular as he pondered on the answer to that question.

After several minutes of silence, he finally replied. "Let's give her the best one month of her life. It's the least we can do."

"Fuck!" In-Ha cussed loudly. He took a deep breath before glancing at Jae-Hyun again. "Just so you know, Dan-Han will kill you for this."

"I know."