Take Two

CHAPTER 1: HOUSE OF CARDS

"Look at your siblings! One has become a famous attorney and other a cardiac surgeon. And you? Does working in that low-class get you anything? You said you could earn a lot! But you are still working under someone like a slave. You think-"

Welcome to my daily life.

My name is Hyewon. Shin Hyewon.

I'm 26 years old and I work as an assistant accountant. Although the work of an accountant yields a lot of money, or so as people say, it's not in my case. I get paid about 1250000 KRW (~$980) per month and that can barely cover any cost of my rented apartment and some basic necessities. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, all by myself or sometimes my boyfriend drops by.

"Are you even listening, you ungrateful wench-"

"I- I have some work to do... I'll call you later"

"You always say you are busy...Tsk....Don't forget to send the 500000 won-" I cut the call before she could say anything else. It's not the first time that my mom called me to ask for money. Although my siblings are well-to-do, she has never once asked them for money.

I never had a dad to begin with. My mom got married to another dude and had two kids. The dude and his kids hated my guts and that was pretty obvious. Slowly even my mother turned a blind eye on everything they did to me. At the age of 18, I decided to leave home. Nothing went right after that day. My 'step' father died and my mom and so-called siblings were depended on me for their livelihood. I had to leave school and had about 5 part-time jobs.

All of that traumatic past has led me to this messy present. My House of cards broke every time I build it. So for a long time, I stopped building it. That was until I met my boyfriend Choi Dongwoo. That's when I built the house of cards again with the trust that Dongwoo would protect it.

I looked at the clock. It was past midnight. My sudden thought about Dongwoo lead me to scroll through my contact list.

Dongwoo<3

I call on the number and wait for him to pick the call.

"The person you're trying-"

He doesn't pick. My instant thought was that maybe he had fallen asleep but then I remembered him saying that his high school friends had called him out for a drink. I sighed looking at my phone. After all the drama on the phone with my mom, I couldn't just fall asleep. Maybe soju?

I pick up my purse and quickly put on a jacket. *cough* *cough* *cough*

I close the door behind me and walk towards the elevator. *cough* *cough*

Is it because of the cold. Tsk. Soju is the best medicine. I didn't realise that I had been coughing from the past 2 weeks. It felt very normal to me so I didn't think much about it.

I buy two bottles of soju along with other snacks and then make my way towards the counter. As the employee lazily scans the items, I look outside the shop to find gang of guys, along with a few girls, smoking. I didn't think much of it but something caught the side of my eye.

Dongwoo?

And... He was with someone... They were getting too close to each other... *cough* *cough*.... My head suddenly started to hurt......Are they kissing?

My vision was blurring but I tried to keep my focus on Dongwoo. But before I could say something, I blacked out.

The next moment, I was in the emergency room. There was no one beside me, not even Dongwoo. That reminded me of what I saw before I blacked out. I tried searching for my phone, when I caught a doctor's attention.

"Ma'am...Calm down...What are you searching for?"

"M-My Phone"

"Oh yes... We have it... We'll give it to you as soon as we are done with a few scans"

"Scans? Why? I'm perfectly fine"

"We are not sure yet but we think it might be something serious" That frightened me to be honest. I never really fell sick or even if I did, just a tablet and good sleep would do wonders for me.

"We tried calling your contacts but no one is available... Would you like to call someone?" I kinda wished I could say yes and call someone over because I was really terrified and all I wanted was someone to comfort me. At that moment, although I wanted to cry, I held back my tears and shook my head. The doctor walked away and I was left alone with my thoughts.

"Ms. Shin? The Doctor is calling you"

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"You have Leukemia. It is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. It is curable but-" everything he said after that never entered my head. My palm turned cold and I couldn't think about anything. Surgery? Chemotherapy? I don't have money for all that.

What happened after that was all blur to me. How and when did I reach home? When did I pack my bags? When did I get on a bus? I remember nothing. But when I came back to my senses I was on the way to Tongyeong.

Yet again.... My House of Cards was destroyed and this time, I had lost a lot of cards to rebuild it again.