There are Many Flowers in Seoul

Chapter Forty-Eight

'Okay, this might be more difficult than I thought,' Rose admitted as she and Hitomi stood outside of the hospital. News of Tae-won's sudden illness and dramatic rescue were all over the internet and hoards of fans had descended upon the building clutching bouquets of flowers, enormous plush toys, banners and chocolates. They wailed at the security guards who wouldn't permit them entry and shouted over the administrators reminding them that they had other patients and they were being a nuisance.

Hitomi watched them with her arms folded across her chest. 'I can't believe you talked me into spending my day off like this.'

'Your day off?' Rose asked. 'You haven't done any work since you got here!'

'Okay, good point. But this is the first day I haven't been stuck in the studio with you and now we're here staring at kids freaking out over Tae-won.'

'We're never getting in this way.'

'We're never getting in at all,' Hitomi said. 'Come on. Can't we go and eat or shop? Or hang out in a park or something? I'd take a day at a communal sauna over this.'

Rose grasped Hitomi's hand and slapped it to her own forehead, asking, 'Do I feel warm?'

'What?'

'I was in that lake, too. Do I feel warm to you? Feverish?'

'No.'

'We need coffee.'

'What?' Hitomi asked, nonplussed.

The heat radiated by a paper cup full of coffee was enough to redden the skin, and when held against a person's forehead it could mimic a fever for just long enough to convince a doctor that medical attention was required. Hitomi and Rose lingered in the waiting area, the latter tapping her feet impatiently while the former lounged in her chair and stared at the ceiling.

Suffice to say, it was clear which of them was worried about Tae-won and which of them was only worried about getting lunch.

'They'll never let us see him,' Hitomi said. 'It's not like we can just run through the hospital.'

'Go Deok-su!' Rose said, leaping up from her seat.

Tae-won's manager had squeezed through the crowded doors, arriving ruffled with his thinning hair in disarray. The man looked in their direction at the sound of his name, momentarily confused before an uneasy smile settled on his lips. 'Miss Abe?' he asked. 'Both of you. Are you here to see Tae-won?'

The security guards twitched and glanced back in their direction, worried perhaps that they'd allowed two fans through by mistake. They carefully scrutinised the level of familiarity between the manager and the two girls. Deciding that they weren't a threat, they returned to their attempt to shoo away the other teenagers, or to at least establish some sense of order in the crowd. The screaming was reaching a fever pitch and it was only a matter of time before the police arrived to calm them down.

Rose cleared her throat and forced her face into a concerned, kind expression. 'I was just so worried after yesterday and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do.'

It wasn't a total lie; Rose was worried. She knew there was nothing she could do to heal him faster – that was the whole point of the hospital – but it would reassure her to see that he was being cared for with her own eyes. At least that way she could alleviate the guilt she felt for her part in what had happened to him.

Or, so she thought.

'Tae-won isn't here,' his manager said.

'What?' the girls asked in unison; Hitomi in glee and Rose in horror.

'Where is he, then?' Rose demanded. 'What about all the fans? I mean – wait – I don't care about that. What about his treatment?'

'What about getting out of here?' Hitomi asked. 'No offense,' she added for Deok-su's sake, 'but if he's not here then there's no reason for us to be.'

Rose hissed under her breath, 'Can you just forget that you hate him for five minutes?'

'I can't forget for five seconds.'

Rose rolled her eyes. She loved Hitomi more than anyone in the world but her dismissive attitude was driving her crazy. Worse; Rose knew her friend was right. If she could go back in time and do that day over again, Rose would still have run out of the apartment. If she'd stayed, they'd only have argued about his deception, and she still would've walked out. There was no version of that scenario which ended well, except if she'd never found out that Tae-won was the boy she'd met on her father's drama set as a child.

'I'm sorry!' Deok-su said, bowing his head so suddenly that the girls darted back. 'Tae-won always behaves so rashly and rudely. I begged him to stay but he insisted on going home.'

'When?' Rose asked. She couldn't fathom him sneaking past the fans; they'd have spotted him in an instant.

'Last night, as soon as he woke up.'

'Shouldn't you be at his place?' Hitomi asked. 'Don't get me wrong, I don't feel sorry for him. But you're his manager, right?'

Deok-su blushed. Managers weren't supposed to be so meek, they were meant to be capable of controlling their charges, but Deok-su let Tae-won walk all over him. Yes, Tae-won was rude and intimidating, but he was hardly a rarity in the world and he needed the firm hand of a manager who knew how to – well – manage him.

'He won't see me,' Deok-su explained. 'He prefers to deal with things like this on his own.'

'See?' Hitomi said to Rose. 'He wants to deal with this on his own. Now, can we go get lunch? Or do something that doesn't involve seeing, thinking about, or talking about Ji Tae-won?'

Rose chewed her lip and gave Hitomi a withering look. She wanted to skip off to some amazing tourist spot, eat local food, and buy more Korean skincare products than she could fit into her luggage, but she couldn't enjoy it knowing that Tae-won might be half dead in his apartment.

'No,' Hitomi said firmly, 'don't you dare look at me like that. We're not going.'

'Call Jung-wook,' Rose replied. 'Get him to take you on an amazing date and tell me all about it later.'

'You can't be serious.' Hitomi grasped Rose's wrist and dragged her away from Deok-su so they could safely converse in English out of earshot. 'Rose, I love you, I do. I love you so much that I can't let you go and chase after this guy.'

'I'm not –'

'Keiji hurt you, and Tae-won is just like him. If you go there then you're playing into his hands. I mean, this is the guy who said you'd fall in love with him before you left for Japan. How can you trust someone like that?'

'I don't trust him,' Rose assured her friend. 'I don't, I swear. I just feel bad. Besides, if he gets worse then we'll be even more delayed with work and that impacts Yuta. I told you that we had to continue to work together for his sake, and I can't do that if he doesn't get better.'

Hitomi scrutinised Rose's face, seeking out a lie she was sure was hiding somewhere in her proclamations. Unable to find it, she conceded, 'Fine. But if you're not back for dinner later, I'm calling the police. And then the army. Then I'll call in your parents, and we both know they're way more frightening.'

'They are,' Rose agreed.

'You're on a curfew, young lady. Remember that.'

'Yes, mother.'

'Miss Abe?' Deok-su ventured nervously. 'Are you going to see Tae-won?'

'Apparently I am,' Rose said. 'Can you give me a lift?'