Juwon’s eyes widened as he saw Ina’s mother lying motionless on the bed.

Juwon bit his lip hard when he saw her face covered in dark bruises and her leg fixed with metal.

Ina approached her mother with tears in her eyes.

“Mom. Juwon came to see you too. So open your eyes quickly. Okay?”

Juwon hugged Ina’s trembling shoulders and held Ina’s mother’s hand.

Then he spoke in a deep, sunken voice.

“Mother… I’m here. Why are you… so badly hurt.”

Unknowingly squeezing her hand, Juwon’s eyes reddened.

As Ina covered her mouth and sniffled, Juwon held her hand as well.

“Mother… Ina is very sad. You’ll wake up… soon, right?”

Her mother didn’t respond, and tears fell from Ina’s eyes.

Juwon silently embraced Ina with one arm as tears fell from his eyes too.

Holding Ina with one arm and Ina’s mother’s hand with the other, Juwon stared endlessly at Ina’s mother.

Just a few months ago, when he went to Yeosu to pay his respects, she had welcomed him with a beautiful smile like a flower…

Seeing her now lying with a face covered in dark bruises made his heart ache terribly.

The two of them stared at her mother’s face silently for a long time.

“Ina. I’ll watch over Mother, so get some sleep for a bit.”

As Juwon stroked Ina’s face and spoke, Ina shook her head.

“No. I’m fine. You must be tired from coming from China, so lie down over there and get some sleep.”

As Ina pointed to the long chair in the hospital room, Juwon shook his head.

“I slept on the train ride here. So you should sleep.”

Ina stared quietly at Juwon, who was clearly lying to get her to sleep even though he must not have slept well.

Then she leaned on Juwon’s shoulder and held his hand tightly.

“Then let’s lean on each other and get some rest together.”

At Ina’s words, Juwon interlaced their fingers and caressed her hand.

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

The two of them stared at her mother lying on the bed, with their heads leaning on each other’s shoulders.

After staring at her mother for a while like that, Ina slowly closed her eyes, and watching her, Juwon closed his eyes too.

As they drifted in and out of sleep, checking on her mother’s condition each time they woke, the time passed 6 AM.

A nurse came in after knocking and checked on her mother’s condition.

Juwon asked the nurse as she checked various things:

“When do you think she’ll wake up?”

“Well, some people wake up in a day, while others take over 3 days.”

At those words, Ina standing behind bit her lip hard.

Juwon held Ina’s hand tightly and patted her shoulder.

After the nurse left, Ina dampened a handkerchief and gently wiped her mother’s face.

Juwon also carefully wiped Ina’s mother’s small, delicate hand with a handkerchief.

Around 9 AM, the door opened and her aunt and Yeongmin appeared.

“Elder brother!”

As soon as he saw Juwon, Yeongmin ran and hugged him tightly.

Juwon raised his hand and patted Yeongmin’s shoulder.

“Oh my… Our Yeongmin called and I came without even finishing work, you know?”

Her aunt spoke to Juwon with an apologetic yet grateful expression.

“It’s nothing. Of course I had to come.”

“Yes. Thank you. Thank you.”

Her aunt held Juwon’s hands tightly and caressed them.

Then she went to her sister lying on the bed and looked at her face.

Seeing her sister still with her eyes tightly closed, her eyes reddened again.

“Oh, Juhee. Your son-in-law came to see you too, so open your eyes quickly, okay? You have to open your eyes today, you hear?”

As her aunt touched her sister’s face and spoke, tears welled up in Yeongmin and Ina’s eyes.

After touching her sister’s face for a while, her aunt turned and spoke to Ina.

“Ina. I’ll watch here, so go home and change your husband into comfortable clothes and have him eat a spoonful of rice, quickly.”

“No, it’s fine.”

At Juwon’s words, her aunt lightly hit Juwon’s shoulder and said:

“How is it fine? You must have suffered sitting here all night, so go change clothes and eat something quickly. You have to eat even if you don’t feel like it. Understand?”

When Juwon hesitated to answer, her aunt handed Ina her coat and said:

“What are you doing? Go quickly. I set the table, so just heat up the soup when you get there. Okay? Go eat and get some rest. If your mom wakes up, I’ll call you right away.”

“Yes. Sister. Go quickly. I’ll watch over Aunt well.”

With even Yeongmin urging, Juwon and Ina had no choice but to leave the hospital room.

With heavy hearts, they went home and Ina took out clothes from Yeongmin’s room and gave them to Juwon.

After changing clothes, Juwon held Ina’s hand and went to the kitchen.

They saw the meal her aunt had neatly prepared.

“Let’s eat a little even if we don’t feel like it. Okay?”

Ina nodded at Juwon’s words.

But seeing Ina sitting blankly in the chair, Juwon picked up the spoon himself and handed it to her.

“Eat even a little bit. We have to go see Mother at the hospital again later. Okay?”

Ina nodded weakly at Juwon’s words.

After barely swallowing down food that wouldn’t go in, the two headed straight back to the hospital.

“Oh my, oh my. I told you to sleep a bit, but you came right back, huh?”

Her aunt sitting in the chair spoke as she saw the two.

“We got some rest at the hospital yesterday, so it’s okay, Aunt.”

Ina said as she approached her mother.

The moment she held her mother’s hand and stroked her face silently, her mother’s facial muscles moved slightly.

“…Huh?”

As Ina looked at her mother with surprised eyes, her mother slowly opened her eyes.

“Mom!”

At Ina’s cry, the other three people approached the bed.

“Mom, can you see me? Mom!”

At Ina’s voice, her mother turned her eyes towards Ina.

“Oh my! Juhee! Sister, sister! Can you recognize us?”

This time her mother looked at her aunt speaking tearfully.

Juwon immediately went out of the room and spoke to a nurse.

Shortly after, a nurse came in and checked various things before promptly notifying the doctor.

Soon the doctor came and asked her mother various questions, then said she needed surgery right away.

After quickly signing the surgical consent form, as they followed her mother being taken to the operating room, tears began to fall from Ina’s eyes.

Yeongmin also started sniffling, and her aunt cried as well.

“Mom. You have to do well in surgery. Okay?”

Ina held her mother’s hand and spoke as she followed the bed.

Her mother seemed to have difficulty speaking, so she slowly nodded, and tears flowed from her eyes too.

Ina couldn’t hold back and cried out loud, and Juwon tightly embraced her shoulders.

Everyone waited on chairs in front of the operating room in a long silence.

One minute felt like an hour, and as her anxious feelings kept growing, Ina kept biting her lip.

She bit so hard that blood formed on her lips, and Juwon touched her lips in surprise.

“Mother’s surgery will go well. So don’t be too anxious. Okay?”

Ina nodded at Juwon’s words, but when tears fell, Juwon wiped them away.

After sitting like that for about another hour, suddenly someone came running urgently.

“Ina!”

She looked up at the voice calling her name and saw it was Hyunju.

Hyunju ran over with tears in her eyes and hugged Ina tightly.

Ina’s eyes widened as she was suddenly embraced by Hyunju, who cried with sobs.

“Ina. What in the world happened? Huh? Hic.”

Ina silently raised her hands to hug Hyunju back and cried.

After crying in each other’s arms for a while, Hyunju separated and looked at Ina.

“How’s your mom? Is she in surgery now?”

“Yes.”

Hyunju wiped her tears and glanced at the operating room before approaching her aunt and holding her hand.

“Aunt. You must have been so shocked too, right?”

Her aunt held Hyunju’s hand tightly and asked in a surprised voice:

“Oh my, Hyunju. How did you hear the news and come, huh?”

“Juwon called me last night to let me know.”

At those words, Ina and her aunt both looked at Juwon.

“I thought it would be good for Ina to have Hyunju by her side.”

Ina’s nose tingled at Juwon’s words.

“Thank you so much for coming, Hyunju.”

Hyunju replied in a nasally voice to Ina’s nasally voice:

“What are you thanking me for? Of course I had to come!”

After the five of them sat side by side in chairs waiting for over another hour, finally the operating room door opened and the doctor came out.

Her aunt jumped up and asked in a trembling voice:

“Doctor! Did my sister’s surgery go well?”

“Yes. The bleeding site suture surgery went very well.”

“Oh, doctor! Thank you so much, really!”

Her aunt said as she grabbed the doctor’s hands.

Yeongmin hugged Juwon standing next to him in joy.

Juwon smiled and hugged Yeongmin back.

Hyunju and Ina also embraced, shedding tears of joy.

After that, her mother went to the recovery room and woke up after a few hours, then immediately underwent various tests.

After returning to the ward, when the nurse informed them of items needed for caregiving, Juwon and Yeongmin went to buy the items.

At evening rounds, the doctor came again and said they needed to do surgery on her left leg the day after tomorrow.

At 8 PM, her aunt and Yeongmin got up from their seats.

Hyunju also stood up and put on her coat.

“Ina. I want to stay longer, but I have an important meeting tomorrow that I can’t miss. I’m sorry.”

Ina shook her head as she held Hyunju’s apologetic hand.

“No, it’s okay. Thank you so much for coming all the way here when you’re busy. Get back safely and I’ll treat you to a big meal when I go up.”

“It’s fine. Just take good care of your mother.”

As Ina and Hyunju exchanged goodbyes, her aunt turned to Juwon and asked:

“Shouldn’t you be heading back soon too?”

“No. I talked to the company and took the whole week off.”

At those words, Hyunju smiled with her eyes and said:

“That’s right, Juwon. When else are you going to score big points if not now?”

At Hyunju’s words, her aunt lightly hit Hyunju’s arm and said:

“Oh my, girl. Our son-in-law already scored 100 points when he came to pay respects last time, didn’t you know?”

Hyunju’s eyes widened.

“Oh my! Aunt! You’re already calling him son-in-law?”

“Of course, of course. Naturally. He became our son-in-law right from the first day we met him!”

At her aunt’s words, Ina’s face turned red and Juwon had an embarrassed expression.

Hyunju laughed brightly as she looked at the two of them.

“Oh my, at this rate they might get married even faster than me!”

“What are you saying?”

Ina replied with a reddened face.