Pay With Your Heart

Chapter 473: DNR

The air was filled with palpable tension as almost everyone waited with bated breath while the doctors tried to wake Ki-Jun up with the Bispectral index.

Sena was engulfed with fear and worry. Her fidgeting hands felt clammy and there was nowhere else to put them other than to grip tightly against her arms as she nervously hugged herself.

Mi-Cha put an arm around her and held her to herself to comfort and support her, but whatever comfort strived between them, tilted more towards Mi-Cha than her mother, who she was trying to comfort.

Mi-Cha was nervous to her core. She had never been in this type of situation before. She had never been at the brink of losing someone, and especially not the man she loved most in the world.

Ki-Jun and Sena owned the entirety of her heart, and she couldn’t stand something bad happening to them. She couldn’t even imagine it.

When she had found out that Ki-Jun was her adoptive her father, and Sena, her adoptive mother, she had felt a hole been burrowed in her heart. She had been devastated, but not as much as she was now.

There was something about knowing that the one thing she loved and was most proud about wasn’t really hers to begin with.

.....

She had been angry and scared at the time, but Ki-Jun and Sena never made her feel less of what any child should feel.

They’ve loved her irrevocably and even more than some parents did their biological children, but sometimes she couldn’t help but wish that barrier – that biological distance didn’t exist between them.

But nevertheless, they made her feel special. They made her theirs, and she was certain she would never had had better parents -most especially a better father than Ki-Jun, and that’s why this very moment was so scary and devastating.

“It’s going to be fine,” She whispered to Sena as she held her even tighter, while whispering a prayer in her heart. She wasn’t convinced by her own words, but there was nothing else she’d rather believe.

Eun-sun stood at Dan-Han’s side as they waited behind the glass, anxiously watching the doctors as they examined him. Her gaze kept shifting between her father and Sena who was in Mi-Cha’s embrace.

She could tell they were just as nervous as she was, or maybe even more, and they had to be there for each other.

Eun-sun pulled away from Dan-Han, who looked at her with curious eyes, but Eun-sun cautiously walked towards Mi-Cha and Sena. They both turned to her when she stood beside them. And without hesitation, she placed an arm around Sena, thereby overlapping hers with Mi-Cha’s. They all needed to be there for one another, comforting each other as this was a critical moment in their lives.

Sena mindlessly leaned towards Eun-sun, while Mi-Cha stepped closer, both girls providing a support for their mother.

Dan-Han looked over his shoulders when he heard approaching footsteps, and without doubt he knew it was Yong-Gun coming, but more to his surprise, he saw not only Yong-Gun, but his father tagging along.

What was he doing here? When did he arrive?

“What are you doing here?” Dan-Han asked in surprise when he saw the old man walking towards him.

Father Lee ignored him and looked over to his friend who was being wired up by the doctors.

He turned to Sena, who he gave a sympathizing look, before shifting his gaze to Eun-sun who instinctively tensed up at his gaze. He sighed and towards Dan-Han, who had surprise written all over his face.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming.” Dan-Han said, while Father Lee gave him a once over.

“You seem to be doing okay.” He casually said, and Dan-Han sighed. He understood his statement clearly.

“Don’t tell me you were worried about me?” Dan-Han asked and his father glared at him.

“You’re the least of my problems.” He hissed at him, making Dan-Han’s lips twitch amusedly. “Tell me the situation with Ki-Jun. How is he right now?” He inquired and Dan-Han immediately filled him in on what exactly was going on, not wanting to tease for evading his question.

His might not have solely come for him, but they both knew he was worried, hence why he had come.

“So if he doesn’t wakes up, what’s next?” Father Lee cautiously asked, trying not to be audible to Sena, even though she seemed too focused on what was going on with her husband to even overhear him.

Father Lee briefly glanced at Yong-Gun, who was intently observing what was going on inside the room, before glancing back at Dan-Han.

“We’re not sure, but we’ll take it from there.” Dan-Han replied him and the old man nodded.

Father Lee looked at Eun-sun again and his brows furrowed, before looking away from her to focus on his friend.

They watched as the doctors tried to wake Ki-Jun, but by the several attempts they made and how keen they watched the monitor of the machine which electrode was attached to Ki-Jun’s face, they knew it wasn’t working.

They all perked up and moved towards the door when the doctors walked towards them. The despondent looks on their faces made everyone nervous.

“How was it? Is he awake?” Sena hurriedly asked, her gaze darting between the doctors and Ki-Jun.

She glanced back at the doctor who was still leading the group of doctors trailing behind him. “How is he? Is he waking up?” She anxiously asked again.

“I’m sorry, but he isn’t.”

“He isn’t?” Sena muttered after him and he nodded.

“So what does that mean?” She inquired, as she tried to fight the cold feeling stemming in her stomach.

The doctor coursed his gaze across their faces and resignedly sighed. “I’m sorry, but the chairman isn’t conscious at all. He has truly slipped into a coma.” He announced and Sena’s face instantly paled and so did her daughters.

Sena didn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it.

Though they have being Informed about his condition few hours ago, but there was something about hearing this after an attempt to wake him that reeled in the deep reality of the precarious situation.

“So what happens now? What happens to my brother?” Yong-Gun earnestly questioned, making Eun-sun glance at him with a hard glare which she tried to conceal.

“I’m sorry there’s nothing we can do other than wait.”

“And how long are we talking about here?” Father Lee curiously inquired.

“We can’t say sir. There’s still some activity going in his brain, but he can’t breath on his own. Neuro function might improve or regress in a few days, but we can’t know that for now.”

“So you’re saying there’s a possibility he might never wake up? He might die?” Yong-Gun asked, and the doctor nodded.

Eun-sun balled her hand into a fist as she listened to his questions. This was what he wanted – to kill her father. To kill her and everyone related to her. Eun-sun felt her anger surge inside her, so much she wanted to plant a facer, and pummel to the ground till he was dead. But she couldn’t do that as she was holding Sena up.

“That’s not true. He’s not going to die.” Sena vehemently declared. She wasn’t going to lose her husband.

“I’m sor-”

“Stop telling me sorry!” Sena snapped, cutting the doctor off. She glowered at the man and the team of doctors standing behind him.

“Where’s doctor Tan?!” She questioned. “Call me doctor Tan!” She demanded.

“Sena-” Ji-Sun, Dan-Han’s father softly called her name, but Sena didn’t stare at him, rather she continued demanding for the doctor.

“I want doctor Tan!” She declared.

“Doctor Tan is currently in consultation, Mrs Kim.” One of the doctors explained, but Sena frantically shook her head.

“I don’t care, call me doctor Tan! He’ll know what to do.” She didn’t believe all these doctors. There was no way she was going to accept her husband was in a coma, or was going to die.

“Mum calm down, please.” Mi-Cha pleaded, with a shaky voice, but Sena was adamant.

But just as she kept demanding for doctor Tan, she spotted him approaching with a man which she recognized as the director of the hospital. She had seen him in few fundraising events she had attended with Ki-Jun.

“Doctor Tan,” She called, stepping away from Mi-Cha’s and Eun-sun’s hold.

“Good evening, Mrs Kim,” The director and doctor Tan greeted with a bow, but Sena was too distraught to greet back, she could only manage a nod.

“My husband. Please check on my husband.” She desperately urged. The doctor who had attended to Ki-Jun whispered into the director’s ear.

And without saying anything, the director and doctor Tan strolled into the room, while the other followed behind.

Doctor Tan placed the electrode on Ki-Jun’s face again and they tried it one more time just as she had asked, but still there was no response from him.

“What is it? Why isn’t he waking up?” Sena demanded, sounding almost hysterical. This scene seemed too familiar to her. Twenty-five yes ago, her child had refused to get up as well, and even though she now knew her child was alive and well, she couldn’t help but feel she was at the verge of losing her husband, and this time it might be for real.

The director turned to her. “I’m sorry, but he isn’t waking up. And-” He slurred on his speech, making the other suspiciously stare at him.

“What is it? Is there some problem?” Yong-Gun asked.

The director received the file in doctor Tan’s hand and stared back at them. “There’s something we seem to have missed, but has been brought to my attention.” The director, gaining everyone’s attention.

“What is it?” Sena asked.

“There’s a signed DNR form by the chairman that stops him from being hung up to life support.” He said and everyone stilled and silence reigned in the room.

A signed DNR form? Eun-sun mused.

“A..and what does that mean?” She anxiously asked even though she already knew what it meant.

The director ruly sighed. “I’m sorry, but the chairman must be taken off life support.” He announced.