Emi woke up to Charles rustling in the bathroom. "C, it's the middle of the night. Why are you up?"
"I don't feel so good. Maybe I did not cook the burgers correctly for dinner."
"Well I don't think being shirtless in a cold house is going to help much. I'll try to see if I can get something for you." Without thinking, she moved the covers from body and took one step. "Ah crap. Ah!" Charles ran and knelt down to check her knee.
"It's okay, it was just a slight pain. It's fine. I'm gonna get you that medicine." Emi grabbed her crutches, which she just started using more independently as physical therapy became more intense. Charles followed her out of the bedroom.
"Pabu, where did you go, boy?" Charles called out, just so Emi was not startled if Pabu jumped out at her. It had happened before where she went to the kitchen on her own. She could not blame her dog. Emi raised Pabu since he was a puppy. He was excited to see her out and about after so long of just spending time together on the bed.
Pabu ran to Charles, who seemed not as ill as he had made out to be. "The tea and the medicine are –" Emi was interrupted by movement in the kitchen. She stepped back and stood next to Charles.
Charles turned on the lights in the living room and kitchen to reveal a group of people standing there with a lighter.
"Happy Birthday, Emi!" Lia, Kai, Stewart, Carly, Evan, and Daniel Henney yelled and threw confetti. The group stood there as Charles started to sing Happy Birthday as Lia led Emi to the couch. The chocolate cake was brought to the coffee table and each person gave their gift to Emi.
"I can't believe you guys are here in the middle of the night and with food." Emi cut the cake and passed out pieces as Charles grabbed some tea and milk for the guests. Once all the pieces of cake were passed out, Kai signaled Emi to start opening her gifts. He took a camera and saw her get shy after being on camera after so long.
"Sorry Em, I should have asked. I'll -" Kai attempted to put the camera away. Emi shook her head and lifted up the camera again. She waved at the camera as if it was her first time in front of it.
"I have to get used to it again, Kai. You and I both know that." She first opened the gift from Carly, who was shot on camera eagerly awaiting for Emi to reveal the gift.
"Carly, this is amazing," Emi flipped through a small scrapbook of their filming adventures, award ceremonies, and days off in the city together. The media did not highlight their friendship much, which is what they liked. Carly and Emi were actually very close when they were not on set together. Whenever the guys had filming days, Carly and Emi would sneak out to the city and flaunt their excitement to the guys who were stuck filming. The book listed out and showed every cafe they hunted down, every ice cream shop, and every tea room they could find. The book was only halfway filled. "We still have a lot more adventures together, right, Carly?" Emi asked as she flipped through the blank pages. Carly smiled and jumped in for a hug.
It had been awhile since she had seen Emi. The last time she saw her was at the hospital before she was discharged. Carly stayed in contact with Lia and Kai and even Charles to check up on her and heard the difficult time Emi had been having through her recovery. Charles had been very truthful to Carly about the difficult nights and struggle with learning to walk again, yet Emi's drive to relearn how to dance and fight. Carly was glad to see that Emi would be up for more adventures. "Thanks, Carly. I can't wait to plan more with you."
Evan brought in his gift, which was a Polaroid camera and some film. Evan always found Emi taking pictures with her phone. Most of her subjects were of behind the scenes moments, but Emi loved putting them around the house or adding it to a memory book (just as Carly had shown with her present). "Whenever you get to go on adventures and places you want to go to," Evan said as he leaned in for a hug. Not seeing or talking to Emi for months had been very difficult for Evan as Emi was his soundboard for his love life as well as navigating new ground with his now fiance, Lucas.
Stewart and Daniel Henney brought in more of her favorite foods and drinks. Emi took great care of them whenever they filmed together, so they wanted to take care of her. She made them lunches and dinners whenever she finished her scenes first. "Stay healthy, Em. We miss you."
Lia and Kai brought out a new outfit for Emi. Emi knew the two siblings were hard at work getting her professional life together, especially after the accident. They were fighting for her non stop per Charles' updates. Emi made it very clear to Lia and Kai that she did not think she was mentally or emotionally ready to face the aftermath of the accident just yet; and that when she was ready, she wanted to do it on her own terms, rather than have the legalities take over her life. Emi admired the outfit as it made the violet pop out as well as Kai's customizations. "Em, we hope you like this. The pieces to this outfit just reminded us of you."
Daniel Kim was with his family at the time of their celebration, but sent along a notebook as a gift with a lengthy note on what she meant to the entire cast and crew of the Ancestors, but also what a lucky person he was when he got to cast her. The notebook was filled with messages from the cast and crew that asked about Emi's health everyday.
Charles was the last to give his gift to Emi. "I've had this made for a while, but I figured your birthday would be a much better occasion than just some random day in recovery. You remember some of that old jewelry we were sorting through during our Korea trip?"
"Yes, the ones that I was going to give to some of the neighbors. The neighbors loved them."
"Well I kept a few pieces and I got it made into this." Charles took out a box and revealed a locket. The locket itself was oval shaped and had Emi's name in Hangul on the front. The back of the locket had the words: "Love, C" in English written on it. "My Eomma found pictures of them in an album Auntie Eun Ji gave to my mom. So I thought I would use one here." Emi opened the locket to find Eomma and Appa there smiling back at her, but younger versions of themselves. "So you remember that they are always with you." Emi started to cry as she saw her parents smile back at her.
Charles grabbed her and she reciprocated his hug. Kai took a picture of this moment as not many people got to see the relationship these two have. "God, will you please put on a shirt before you actually get sick?" Emi laughed as she pulled herself together. Charles ran into the bedroom to grab a shirt.
Emi started to put on her locket and Charles helped move her hair to the side as she finished fastening the necklace. "I gotta send this to Eomma so she sees the finished product." Emi tried to put a big smile on her face. The picture Charles ended up sending to Suk Yong was of Emi admiring her locket with a gentle smile.
"Thank you, C. Thank you," Emi placed a kiss on his forehead. Charles then pulled her into his arms and kissed her on her forehead. Something they had not done since they were kids.
YOU ARE READING
Threads and Strings
Fanfiction"I know there will be more people in your life that will be become more than someone you pass by." As a speech pathologist working with little kids, Emi Kim had been through enough in her 24 years of life that could have broke her, especially in 201...
