HEART LIES

TO DIE FOR

"Hey."

"Yoona, you're already here."

"Remember, I work here," Yoona said as she left the door to enter the room.

Colleagues, students, and neighbors, everyone knew about Sa rang's and Ji-Seong's relationship.

What burnt the doctor's heart was her family was now aware of the situation. Unlike what In-Sung thought, Sa-rang's career wasn't what affected her the most. Sa rang's family was her preoccupation as she cried in her best friend's arms.

"Yoona, it's horrible. You should have seen In-Sung and Sonmi theyㅡ."

"It's okay, Sa-rang. What's done is done. You've got other things to worry about the school board."

"I don't want to know; there's something profoundly wrong with our society. You spend your life being an exemplary citizen, and that your first mistake. Everyone forgets all the good you've done," Sa rang said as she chucked her pajama's in her bag.

"That's Korea for you, Sa-rang. I feel so awful if I didn't give you that gift. Perhaps you wouldn't be here today. All this is my fault. I shouldn't have encouraged you to pursue meeting Ji-Seong."

"No, Yoona, I choose, and I assume my choices. I thought Ji-Seong loved me, but he betrayed my trust. I'll never forgive him."

"Sa rang."

"No, he had no right to tell Sonmi. She's my daughter," Sa-rang said as she tapped on her chest, "they're my family. How could he do this to me?"

"Sa-rang, stop yelling. Let me take you home."

Sa-rang refused to stay in the hospital. She hated being a patient, but above all, she could no longer stand the judgmental stares surrounding her.

Every eye she crossed bared their message of disapproval.

"Kajja [let's go]."

They left the room where Sa-rang spent a week. Despite her peer's diagnosis, she decided to go.

Sa-rang would die no matter how long she stayed in the hospital. There was no point inflicting herself with the pain of facing people who gossiped about her.

Sa-rang desired peace, and she knew where she would find it.

Yoona drove her home, but the woman was not at the end of her surprises.

In the lift leading to her apartment, Sa-rang and Yoona met Mrs. Cheong, who, after a very crisped greeting, pulled her little six-year-old son close to her as if she was in an elevator with a child molester. At least that's how Sa rang felt.

News traveled fast, and in her high-rise apartment filled with people, she either knew as patients or neighbors who mingled in the identical spheres. Golf, country clubs, and charities, the rumor had no place to hide and die out.

The world was a cruel and cold place. Sa-rang, who lived a lavish life, forgot its reality. Sickness didn't make her more aware, but the cold treatment she received was a slap across the face. To crown this day, in which Sa-rang lived like a nightmare, she and Yoona found Ji-Seong sitting in her living room. Soo Hae told him when Sa rang left the hospital.

"How did you get in?"

"I have the codes to your doors, remember. Also, I doubt you prefer me to wait outside where your neighbors will have more rumors to knit."

"Eh, Sa-rang; maybe I should leave and let you two talk." Yoona looked in the direction of the doorway, which seemed like a mirage wishing Sa rang would spare her.