The love story of Lee Seon-jae and Oh Hye-won of the top Korean drama series 'Secret Love Affair' continues...
This story is dedicated to my friend and visual collaborator Tess Angeles, whose edited pictures are almost as beautiful as her sweet natu...
Sitting with Hye-won in his arms, her face - normally so vital, now so wan and lifeless - slumped against his shoulder, Seon-jae felt his heart constrict and his gut clench in fear that this...blankness from Hye-won would be permanent. The thought of a world where she didn't exist, where he couldn't see her intelligent eyes fire with ideas or hear her responsive laughs when they shared their private jokes, was physically painful to him. For a second, he imagined he heard again the faintest whisper - take care of Mommy. His heart flipped over. Could their baby - if there even was a baby - really have known and been trying to warn him to protect Hye-won and make sure she recovered - for herself, for him and so the baby wouldn't...slip away? That can't be. That can't happen. The anxiety inside gave way to panic now. It's been so long. How long has it been? 5 minutes...10? That's too long. She has to wake up now.
He kept calling her name and touching her face but there wasn't a flicker of response. The arrival of 2 paramedics in full uniform and kit-bag - Ciara and Dieter trailing anxiously behind - was welcome but made the situation more official and scary, somehow. They lifted Hye-won onto a stretcher and while 1 spoke to Seon-jae to get some background, the other tapped the back of Hye-won's hand while calling her name. They checked her vital signs and confirmed that her pulse was steady and her air-ways clear, with no obvious signs of trauma. Dieter began to describe the difficult travel schedule that they had had and In-seo and Ciara were listening and chipping in, while Seon-jae and the other paramedic continued to try to revive Hye-won, though still she showed no signs that she would revive any time soon and each moment ticking away seemed to pound in Seon-jae's brain, like a deadly timer counting down the seconds to impact.
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Light...bells...Seon-jaea...what are you saying love?...Seon-jaea...I can't hear you...you look so worried...poor baby...
The feelings that clutched Seon-jae's heart as he watched Hye-won's eyes flutter open, then close again, couldn't have been expressed in words but in one instant, his heart raised within him with hope, and in another, his worst nightmare took over again. It seemed too cruel for her to come back to him - and seem to respond to him - and then to leave him again. He looked to the medic who was again lifting Hye-won's eye-lashes and swiping a light, left and right, to gauge her consciousness. Something he saw there made him change his approach and he reached to take Hye-won's wrist and check her pulse again. Seon-jae thought he heard him say something about coming back but his mind wasn't capable of focussing on anything but his love and - to his eyes - she still seemed as unreachable as before.
Slowly though, even his frozen heart could see that she was stirring and just a little more life and colour was beginning to come to her cheeks. After what seemed an age, her eyes flickered a second time and this time, they stayed open, though she still seemed unclear as to what was happening. Seon-jae leaned over her, reaching to feel her forehead and cheek. Still clammy and cold.
