Pay With Your Heart

In-Ha noticed the pale and bewildered look on Eun-sun's face after the call. He looked at her with concern, as he wondered what that call was all about. He was sure it wasn't a good call hence the Eun-sun he knew wouldn't be like this.

"What is it?" He asked, as he slowed down and looked at her face more intensely.

"Stop the car" Eun-sun suddenly requested, as she began to unbuckle her seat belt. In-Ha noticed the way her hand was shaking as she tried to unbuckle the belt.

"Why?" He asked.

"Just stop the damn car" She snapped. She was no longer in her right state of mind. She has been looking for her dad for the past ten years all to no avail. She had given up on the cops in finding her father. She had decided to hire a private investigator to look for him as soon as she had a good job and had started to settle the pressing debts hanging over her neck, and now she gets a call to come to confirm a dead body?

Eun-sun didn't know what to think, do or expect at the moment. She knew she had to go to the office, but this was more important. She had to get there. To confirm that that body wasn't her dad. Her father wasn't dead. There was no way her Father could be dead. She can't accept that, and the first step towards confirming that was going to the hospital.

"Tell me what's wrong? Why are you all shaken up?" In-Ha stubbornly asked. He simply couldn't pull over and let her go when she was like this. She had to tell him what was up with her, and if he has to pull over then he would.

Eun-sun turned to look at him with angry eyes, but seeing the worried look in his eyes she sighed. "I have to go to the hospital," She told him.

"Is someone si...." His speech slurred when he realized he shouldn't be asking such questions. "Tell me what hospital I'll take you" He declared.

"No just stop me," She said as she picked her bag like she was going to jump off any second now.

"Stop being stubborn and tell me what hospital" In-Ha snapped. He didn't know what was going on but he was also worried, especially when she looked that way.

"City hospital" Eun-sun deflatedly replied. From In-Ha's voice, she could tell he was quite adamant about taking her to wherever she was going. She might as well agree to it and let him take her. Right now she wasn't in the mood for arguments.

In-Ha nodded and quickly reversed the car and drove to the hospital at full speed, while Eun-sun thought it wise to call her departmental director and take permission to resume work a little later than usual.

Meanwhile, in PK corps a certain someone had his eyes glued to his watch as he waited for his breakfast or rather the bearer of his breakfast to make an appearance.

He frowned when he noticed it was half an hour past the usual time. Eun-sun usually comes at this hour, so what happened now? She wasn't avoiding him again was she? Was it because of the quick peck he had kissed her last night?

Immediately he buzzed his secretary through the intercom.

"Sir"

"Check if Ms. Eun-sun has resumed work today" He ordered before hanging up. He hated it when she tries to avoid him. If she was avoiding him again then he'd move her desk upstairs and right into his office, then he'd see how she was going to avoid him from then.

He impatiently waited for secretary Chang-wok to return, and soon the man did. He narrowed his eyes at him as he waited for him to speak up.

"Sir, she hasn't resumed work yet. I was informed she had an emergency and might be resuming later" Secretary Chang-Wok reported back to his boss, while Dan-Han nodded as he thought about what sort of emergency was making her run late. She wasn't sick again right?

The thought of Eun-sun being sick didn't sit well with him. He tried to convince himself otherwise that it might just be something else.

He looked up at Chang-wok again, "Did you drop them on her seat desk?" He inquired.

"Yes sir" Chang-wok replied.

"You can go" Dan-Han dismissed him, before trying to return his attention to his work. He had a lot to do but Eun-sun's absence was making him lose concentration. He wanted there as soon as possible.

.....

Eun-sun froze the moment they arrived at the hospital. A web of confused thoughts enveloped her. She didn't know if she wanted to go in anymore. Yes, she wanted to confirm it wasn't her dad, but on second thought, she was scared she'd be disappointed and find out that it was indeed her father.

What was she to do if that was the case? For the first time in a long time, Eun-sun could say she was scared.

In-Ha looked at her confusedly. He didn't know what was wrong with her, neither did he know who had called her, or who she was here to see, but from the look on her face, he could tell she was in a dilemma.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" In-Ha asked when she remained unmoved, but her eyes were glued to the entrance of the hospital.

Eun-sun slowly turned to look at him. She shook her head and said, "No, I'll be back" before she turned to the door and stepped out of the car.

In-Ha's eyes closely followed her as she took slow and heavy steps towards the hospital. He didn't like the way she was acting. To him, she looked like she was scared to accept whatever she was probably going to see inside. That feeling was familiar. It was the same feeling he had felt when he heard his mother had been in an accident and had died. He could remember how he had felt on that day. The refusal to accept reality was a familiar feeling to him. And for her sake, he hoped something bad hadn't happened to someone she knew or cared about.

Eun-sun felt each of her feet weighed over fifty pounds as she walked towards the entrance of the hospital. She could barely lift them to walk, but she preserved and slowly made her way into the building.

The moment she arrived in the lobby she met the two officers who were waiting for her. She paused a few steps away from them, her eyes were fixed on them and her heart began to pound uncontrollably, goosebumps crawling over her skin, her palms were turned sweaty as she gazed at them.

One of the officers caught sight of her and he nudged his partner to look in her direction. They easily recognized her, because over the past ten years she had not failed to call or visit the station for any news about her father.

"Ms. Park" They greeted her as soon as they approached her. Eun-sun also replied with a bow.

"This way," They said as they started leading her towards a long hallway. Eun-sun slowly trailed behind them. With every step, she took towards their destination her heart pounded harder. She could hear her lungs wheeze when they approached a body covered on a stretcher.

Eun-sun paused just a few steps away from the corpse. Her legs suddenly felt glued to the ground. If her heart was racing earlier, now it was soaring, because at the very moment, she could hear the irregular beats in her ears. She gripped the side of her skirt as she stood away from the body. She reluctantly yet fearfully took closer steps to the body, her eyes glued to it. She was about to turn away when she suddenly felt a warm hand grip her. She turned to look and she was surprised to find In-Ha standing by her side, with a comforting look in his eyes. He was looking at her as if telling her it was okay.

"I'm here" was all he said before turning to the officers and he gave them a nod ordering them to go ahead.

The man nodded in return and picked up a pair of gloves before pulling the cloth away from the body. In-Ha shot his eyes for a second when the body was revealed because the sight in from of them was unpleasant.

The body was slightly deformed and very swollen, it was already decaying and the stench oozing from it alone was enough to kill ten more healthy people. But for Eun-sun's sake, he had to maintain a strong resolve.

He lowered his eyes to look at her and he saw a tear trailing down her cheek as she slowly shook her head.

"That's not my father" She softly said.

In-Ha felt relieved when he heard her, he let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding as he pulled her near and wrapped his hand around her. He didn't know exactly how she was feeling at the moment, but he knew she could use some comfort.

The policemen nodded in understanding and covered up the body.

"This was the card we found in its pocket," One of the officers said as he stretched out the card which belonged to Eun-sun's father. Eun-sun wiped her tears and turned to receive the card from him. It was her father's credit card.

"Don't worry we'll keep looking for your father, be rest assured we'll find him" He assured her but Eun-sun was too focused on the card in her hand to give them a response.

She looked at the body on the stretcher before gazing back at the card. There was one question going through her mind at the question.

'since this body wasn't her father's then what was his credit card doing in the pocket of a dead man?'