.05% | lty

50. It's Time

"What happened?" Da Reum shouted as he ran inside.

"I don't know, she just fell"

Da Reum pulled Yuna from Taeyong's arms and gently shook her.

"Noona, are you ok?"

She exhaled sharply and opened her eyes. As she did, her stiff body relaxed and she struggled to catch her breath.

"It hurts." Her voice was strained. She pushed Da Reum's hands away and struggled to get up. "I need to go."

"Go where? Hold on, let me help you." Da Reum responded.

"The hospital. The baby..."

She couldn't even finish her sentence before Taeyong scooped her up.

"Move." Taeyong pushed past Da Reum and then Jaemin in the doorway with a determined expression that was no less than terrifying.

"Taeyong, let me down. I can walk. It doesn't hurt now."

He ignored her request and held on to her a little tighter as he walked toward his car.

"Open the door." He instructed either of the two panick stricken boys that followed behind him.

Jaemin ran ahead of them and opened the door to the backseat. Taeyong gently set her inside and buckled her seatbelt.

"Get in the front so you can tell me how to get to the hospital." He pointed at Jaemin. "Sit in the back and make sure nothing happens." He said to Da Reum as he got in the driver's seat. He quickly obeyed.

"Jaemin, please call the hospital and tell them I'm coming."

"Yes, noona." He answered formally, wondering how he was suddenly in a car with a gangster and a woman who was about to give birth.

Da Reum sat next to her, watching her with wide eyes as though he was afraid something would happen if he blinked.

"Stop looking at me like that, I'm not going to suddenly sprout two heads. Chill out, you're making me nervous."

"Uh, right." Ha sat back and faced forward, still rigid and on edge.

"Call Jiwon and tell her what's going on. She's probably worried."

Da Reum nodded his head and called his sister's best friend, who answered quickly.

"Noona, we are on our way to the hospital...I think so. I'm not sure...well, there was a little bit of a situation...no, it's a little more complicated than that..." Yuna listened to Da Reum's side of the conversation as he looked uncomfortably between her and Taeyong.

"Just tell her I'll be fine at the hospital and ask her to get things ready at home."

"Did you hear her?" He said back into the phone. "Ok...what?? No she didn't tell me that...ok...I will, bye." He hung up and looked at Yuna with a sad expression.

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"She said we need to get you there quickly or you or the baby could die."

"Oh my god." Yuna rolled her eyes. "Neither of us is going to die. The doctor will probably need to give me some medicine and everything will be fine...the wonders of modern medicine and all that."

"So, you're saying if you don't get medicine, you could die?"

They heard the engine rev as Taeyong floored the gas.

"It's not that big of a deal."

"Jiwon noona said you would say that. She said you make it sound like it's nothing, but it's very serious and the doctor was even going to make you deliver the baby this week because your blood pressure is not stabilizing."

"It's well managed. Lots of women go through the same thing and everything...is......fine- ohfuck" she suddenly gasped and grabbed on to Da Reum's arm, digging her nails into his skin.

"Owowowowow!" He cried out.

She covered her mouth with her free hand to keep from screaming from the pain.

"Hyung, it's happening again. Hurry up." He said, wincing from the pain in his arm.

"How far away is it?" Taeyong asked Jaemin, who was looking in the back seat with a horrified expression.

"Um..maybe 5 minutes?" He managed to answer. "They said they will meet us outside."

Yuna unlatched herself from Da Reum's arm as the pain again subsided and leaned back in the seat, panting, exhausted and with tears in her eyes.

"It hurts so bad!" She wailed.

"We're almost there, baby. Hold on" Taeyong met her eyes in the rearview mirror.

It had been much less than five minutes when they pulled up in front of the emergency room. Taeyong threw the keys to Jaemin and told him to move the car after they got out.

"Another contraction is coming." Yuna warned as Taeyong picked her up out of the car. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and he stopped moving when she stiffened and buried her face in his neck. Her arms squeezed so tightly around him, he could barely take in a breath.

"It's ok. It will be over soon." He said softly in her ear as he had done on countless restless nights to put her at ease.

It passed and he felt her relax but she still clung to him, shaking and breathless again.

"I'm really scared, Taeyong." She confessed in a faint, tired sounding whisper against his skin.

"Please put her in the chair so we can take her inside." A nurse called as she pushed a wheelchair toward them.

"Don't be scared. Our child wants to greet the world and I know you'll bring him or her safely into it." His lips lightly touched her forehead with a soft kiss before he set her down in the chair.

"Are you the father?" The nurse asked.

"Yes." he answered.

"Will you be present for the delivery?"

"Yes." Yuna answered for him. She grabbed his hand and held it tightly. "Please stay with me." She pleaded, looking up at him with scared eyes.

He nodded and squeezed her hand as they went inside.