"He's Always There For Us."

It was 5:30 in the morning.

Mia and Jun were sitting in the train, where there were only one or two more passangers with them in the same compartment.

Mia's hands were in Jun's and he was gently tapping on it.

No one was saying anything.

She was looking outside the window while he was looking at her.

As of remembering something, she quickly turned to him and asked, "Why Mom or Jina haven't called me yet? Does that mean it's something serious?"

"No. No, Mia. I'm sure nothing will be serious. Maybe they just couldn't call because they are caught up in all those Hospital formalities."

Her eyes started welling up, "I just saw him at the Christmas…..He was fine…Totally fine…Wasn't he?"

"Yes, Mia. He was and he is."

"Then how could this happen to him? And what has actually happened? I'm getting worried, Juna. I can't stop thinking. Only the worse thoughts are—"

"Shh! Shh…Stop thinking like that, Mia. No more worse thoughts, I bet he's fine."

She looked at him with those teary eyes, "Should I call mom?" She asked.

"Wait, I'll call Jina. I think it's better to call her than mom."

Saying that he took out his phone from his jacket and dialing Jina's number, he put it to his ears.

Mia could hear the rings going on as she nervously brought her ears closer to him.

The rings kept going but no-one didn't pick up.

He tried again but same thing happened.

"Mia…"Jun said hanging up. "I think they are busy with some things. Don't worry; she'll call me as she'll see the missed calls."

Mia looked down as her grip on Jun's hands, tightened.

"It's okay. Besides, we'll be reaching there in an hour and you'll get to see him."

"…."

She didn't say anything further, nor did he.

They just kept looking outside, their hands holding each other's.

~

As soon as both of them got out from the station Jun's phone rang. He quickly took it in his hands, it was Jina.

Seeing her name popping up on his screen, Mia grabbed the phone from his hands and picked up.

"Hello? Hello Jina?" She called out with panic.

"Oh sis!.....Um... You two are together." Jina said from the other side, her sound seemed weak and tired.

"Yeah. We are in the city, we'll be at the hospital as soon as possible."

"You came here, already?"

"That's…That's not important, Where's Father? How is he? What happened?"

Jina realized that Mia was panicked and tensed.

"He…He is fine now. Don't worry."

"What happened to him actually?"

"Listen, sis. You two come here and we all will talk it elaborately."

"But—"

"Is Jun oppa there?"

"Yeah…"

"Will you give him the phone?"

Mia quietly gave it to him.

"Hello?"

"Yeah…Oppa…It seems sis is tensed."

"Yeah…"

"That's why I didn't tell her. It seems…Father had a mild heart-attack."

"…." His face darkened.

"I just thought, I should tell you beforehand."

"…Yeah…"

"You two come here as soon as possible, so that I can tell her face-to-face. It's better for her."

"Yeah, I understand. We'll be there soon." And he hung up on the call.

"What? What happened? What did she say?" Mia asked.

"…Umm…Nothing, she was just telling me the name of the hospital. Come on, we should get going."

"…."

He ran towards the road and fetched a cab.

~

After walking to and fro several times Mother had sat down when Jina came towards her.

"Mom, Sis is on her way here, she'll be here anytime soon."

Mother nodded and asked, "Did she come alone at this time?"

"No.no. Jun oppa is with her. They both are coming."

She sighed, "…Thank god, Jun is there with her…"

"Yeah…"

Mother rubbed her hands over her tired face and then rested her head on her hands.

"He'll be fine, mom." Jina said putting her hand on her mother's shoulder.

Around after 15 minutes, Mia and Jun came running towards them.

"Mom?" Mia called.

Mother got up and tightly hugged her daughter. And she started crying.

"Mom? Mom? What happened to Father?" Mia asked as she was caressing her crying mother's back.

"Sis…" Jina came forward to answer, "Father had a…a heart attack!"

"What?"

"..Yes…" Jina said silently and Mia's mother started crying even more.

"Mom…" Mia held her tight.

"Mia…" She said letting go off of the hug. ��When…When I saw him lying down on the bathroom floor like that…I couldn't think of anything."

"It seems, Mom got up by the sound of something falling in the bathroom and when she went to see, she saw him collapsed down on the floor…" Jina said.

Mia looked at her mother's teary eyes and her eyes also started welling up, but she held them back, "He'll be fine, Mom." She said firmly. Looking at her daughter being strong, Mother also felt like gaining some strength.

'It seems she handled the news pretty well.' Jina thought.

'Maybe looking at her mom crying, Mia felt that she should be strong!' Jun thought.

As they were talking a doctor came out from the ICU across them, Jina and mother hurriedly went towards him; Mia and Jun followed them.

"Doctor, how's he now?" Mother asked.

"It was a mild one and he's out of danger now."

"Oh thank god…" Everyone sighed relieved.

"He's becoming stable but we need to keep him under observation." Doctor continued, "Who of you are his family?" He asked.

"We all are." Mother said.

"Okay, so can I have a talk with you all?"

"Yes, doctor."

"Please…" And he let them enter his cabin.

As they all got settled, the doctor started talking, "Mrs. Lee…"

"Yes?"

"Was Mr. Lee under any kind of pressure? Anything in the family or at his work, that made him stressed?"

"…Well…He has been working on a project for past six months and it was in the last stage…And for the last two weeks he was working very hard, pulling almost all nights…"

The doctor nodded understandingly, "So he wasn't getting much sleep…"

"Yes…" Mother said.

"…And doctor…" Jina said, "He wasn't eating too, right mom?"

"…Yeah doctor, since he was so busy with his work, sometimes he would skip his meals…"

"I see…"

"But doctor…"Mia said, "This is not the first time he has done this…I mean, I remember, he used to work like this once in a while…"

"Yes doctor." Mother agreed, "Pulling the whole nights, skipping meals…He would do that when he has too much work…"

"Yes, you are right Mrs. Lee…" Doctor said, "But you should remember one thing, he is not as young as he used to be."

"…."

"His body cannot handle stress now, like it used to."

"…."

"And you might know this, that once the heart attack has come, it can occur again."

Mother gasped in shock and looked at Mia who was sitting beside her. Mia grabbed her hands while, Jina held her mother's shoulders from back. Jun also kept one hand on Mia's shoulder and the other one on Jina, who was standing beside him.

"Unfortunately, yes." The doctor said. "Once a heart patient, always a heart patient. I am not trying to scare you people, I just wanted you all to know that."

"We understand doctor." Jun said.

"Yeah." Doctor nodded. "For now, he's safe and he'll get better soon. But if you don't want to happen all of this soon, you have to take a great care of him."

Everyone nodded.

"His diet, his health, his work pressure, his stress, everything should be under control, then only this won't happen again."

"Yes doctor." Jun said.

"Doctor? Can we meet him?" Mia asked.

"Umm…I'm sorry, but I think you have to wait more, to meet him."

"Ohh.."

"Don't worry. You'll meet him soon and believe me, he's fine."

"Thank you doctor." Mother said.

He nodded.

All of them stepped out from his cabin.

Mia went towards the ICU, where her father was. She looked through the glass window, at her father lying down on the bed.

Her eyes started welling up; his hand came from the back on her shoulder.

Mia turned and he embraced her in his arms. She held him tighter.

He gently kissed her head, "He's fine…Don't worry…"

.

"Mom, I called aunt BongCha and gave her the news…" Jina said.

"I also called your uncle Kyong and he's on his way to here..." Mother said.

As Mia was trying to call one of her other uncles, she realized something and she looked at Jun who was standing before her.

Looking at her face, he asked, "What? What happened?"

"I forgot to call Ray! Shoot! How can I not remember to call him?" She said.

"It's fine. I already called him." Jun answered quietly.

"You did?"

"Yeah, I did."

"When?"

"Half an hour ago. I got that you might have forgotten in all this, that's why I called him…"

"…."

"Don't worry, he'll understand. Who calls doesn't matter, the message is conveyed and he's on his way here, which is more important…"

She nodded, still thinking about something.

Jun looked at everyone's tired faces, "Aunty, I think you all need some coffee, I'll go and bring for you all…" He said.

"Wait, I'll come with you, you won't be able to get four cups." Jina said and then both of them started walking towards the end of the corridor where a coffee machine was visible.

Mia was looking at Jun, going away from them with an usual expression on her face.

"I'm so relieved, that he is always there for us…" Mother said.

Mia waited for a couple of seconds before saying, "Hmm…."

~