When Your Pain Becomes Mine

Episode 1. Come Here

"Wait until I contact you."

A downpour of winter rain. His unconcerned voice came through the winter rain and rang in Sun's ears. Sun stopped and couldn't answer, as if she was in shock. 'Tuduk tuduk.' A man holding an umbrella leaned forward; the cold rain hit her cheeks strongly.

"Wait."

Sun was anxious about what he was saying, thinking that it might be hard to hear.

Why did he feel so bad suddenly? Sun recalled everything that happened today hastily, but she couldn't see any reason for this.

"Gyeonhui… What did I do wrong?"

He had no answer like he always did. Sun saw his expressionless face through the heavy rain. She couldn't figure anything out from his dark eyes. He didn't tell her anything, not one reason. She felt pain in her heart as if it was burning. She couldn't even catch her breath.

"… I'm sorry."

Her voice was weighed down by the rain and came out weakly. He calmly looked at her with one of his hands in his pocket.

"It's my fault, Gyeonhui. Please forgive me."

"What did you do wrong?"

His smile over the cold rain came into Sun's eyes.

It was sneer. It was a savage's smile after a successful hunt.

"… Please?"

Sun lifted her face up and looked at him. His dark eyes were so mysterious. His white skin, like a child's, was gorgeous. It was enough to imagine having a family with him. However, he was spitting mean, his words were sharper than daggers.

"You don't even know what you've done wrong. Why do you apologize?"

For his thoughtless response, her hand began to tremble as she touched her flower bracelet.

"What's wrong? Are you shaking because you think you are going to be abandoned?"

He lowered his head and whispered to her ear.

"Listen. You come to me when I say come, and wag your tail when I command, like a puppy."

The bracelet was cut off after hearing this. The flower that she had been boasting until now, fell down in dirty, muddy water. He looked at her face as if he was studying her. 'Now, cry. It's time for you to cry.' It seemed his eyes were asking her to cry.

He knew exactly about Sun more than anyone. Sun turned away suddenly to avoid showing him her eyes welling up with tears. She bit the bottom of her lips to hold the tears. If she showed her tears, he would talk to her less because of it. Bzzzz, his cell phone rang.

"Chaegyeong, I'm fine to talk."

His voice faded away as he left talking on the phone slowly.

Boom! The sound of a door shutting was heard. It was him getting in the car. She wanted to run at him and stop him, yet she couldn't. If she did anything that would make him feel bad, she wouldn't know how long she would have to wait for him until he'd call her again.

Brrrr. The sound of car engine starting echoed out. It was him getting ready to leave. Woowoowoong. The sound of his engine soon followed after. It was him leaving. Shoaaaa. It was only her and the strong rain left on the road.

She looked down at the flower in the mud. After she squatted, she spread out her hand to scoop it out of the mud. It was herself that was screwed up. She felt the last of her prince was disappearing.

"Hu… Hu...k.."

Her tears burst. The white cloud of her breath spread into the air following her sobs like a shadow. With intolerable pain, she grabbed the red scarf. It was the first and last gift from him.

"Geeeeeeek, Kwang!"

At the moment, a loud thundering noise was heard with a sudden stop. Freaked out, she stood up and turned herself around. It was coming from the same direction that Gyeonhui just went.

"Gyeon… Gyeonhui?"

Her eyes were unstable and trembling.

***

"I'm from Consensio."

An unfriendly face with a sunken voice. He was extraordinarily handsome, but gave off an aura of sullen darkness. It was how she remembered Gyeonhui's first impression.

"Hello, my name is Cheonsun, the designer of this project. Great to work with you."

She held out her hand with a smile, but she just put her eyes on the documents. She was embarrassed as she wiggled her fingers. She suddenly thought about the rumors of him.

'He doesn't tell anyone about his name or his job position. I think he is an assistant manager.'

'He doesn't allow any mistakes, even if they are minor. He drags it out until the end.'

'The manager got so tired of him doing this. He is so fussy.'

Gyeonhui was an unwelcoming person in this company because he always pursued perfection. That was why Sun was able to get a promotion as a project leader.

"Can you do this?"

This guy, without even an introduction, asked her without explanation.

"Sorry?"

"I'm asking you if you can do this well."

He proceeded to interlock his fingers with no expediency in his face and asked her directly. Sun refused to yield because of his arrogant and rude behavior.

"Can I show you with the results?"

Gyeonhui laughed out loud at her after he saw her talking through her teeth angrily. She felt bad about his rude behavior, but was mesmerized by his interlocked fingers. She thought his fingers were so pretty for a man.

***

"Emergency!"

The urgent voice spread in the emergency room. After that, Sun, with an ambulance worker following close, trailed a rolling stretcher into the emergency room. Gyeonhui was unconscious and his hand was limp, falling over the stretcher. Sun held his bloody hands tightly.

"Gyeon… Gyeonhui. Please wake up. Please."

She was close to crying and continuously called out to him, but he didn't answer.

"We will take over him for now."

A nurse and an employee of the hospital came to her and took him away. After Sun sent the stretcher with him to them, she became so dizzy. The shock of the accident was compounded by the pain from her period. She looked down at her hands covered with blood. She had to do everything she could to save him when the car crashed. Her hands got ripped open by the broken glass, and her blood was all over both of them, but the only thing she cared about was him. Moreover, Gyeonhui's status was more important than her painful injuries.

"What's going on with him?"

A doctor on duty rushed to him and asked while he was checking Gyeonhui's eyes.

"It was a car accident. The car hydroplaned out of control on the rain soaked road, and then hit one of the trees along the side. He is bleeding from his stomach."

The doctor rapidly checked the injury after he heard the ambulance worker.

"Are you his family?"

"What? Yes."

Sun, who was slow to respond because of the shock, struggled to answer.

"What's his blood type?"

The doctor asked her while his eyes were fixed on the chart.

"You mean blood, blood type?"

It was such a common question in the hospital, yet Sun's head was totally blank. She has been with him for 3 years; she didn't even know what his blood type was. Gyeonhui also never told her, but It was a shock for her that she didn't know it.

"Do you not know?"

The doctor moved his eyes to her and asked again. She slowly nodded her head while she bit the bottom of her lips hard.

"We have to give him a transfusion…"

It wasn't difficult to diagnose his blood type, but time couldn't be wasted. Gyeonhui's face was turning white because of his copious bleeding.

"Hey, here it is. This is his blood identification tag."

At that moment, the ambulance worker brought the keychain that was in Gyeonhui's pocket. On the set of keys was a metal blood identification tag hanging.

"It's RH-AB!"

The ambulance worker, who acknowledged the tag, shouted, "… RH-AB??"

Sun, who just heard the blood type, opened her eyes big.

"Nurse Hwang! Prepare 8 packs of RH-AB now!"

Along with the doctor's order, the nurse Hwang rapidly checked the inventory of blood packs.

"Doctor, we don't have enough blood packs of RH-AB now. We used everything for the other operation this morning…"

"What?"

The doctor's face hardened.

"Request more blood from the blood bank. Hurry up! We don't have much time!"

Nurse Hwang rapidly went out of the emergency room after she got the doctor's order.

"Doctor."

At the time, Sun called the doctor.

"Yes?"

"I can give him blood."

"What?"

"My blood type is also RH-AB."

"Are you sure?"

Sun was able to understand his intention for questioning. If she was his family, she would've known Gyeonhui's blood type. This relationship is paradoxically close and distant at the same time. These two people didn't even know their blood type.

It was also hard to believe that these two people were both among the small 3 percent who have the RH-AB blood type in Korea.

"… Yes, I'm sure."

She handed out her blood donor card which she always carried with her in her purse

to the doctor.

"That's fortunate. Let's get started. To the operation room please."

"Okay."

The nurses who heard the doctor carried Gyeonhui over to the operation room.

"You don't have any symptoms of dizziness, do you?"

Another nurse came to her to check if she was well enough to give the blood to him.

"Yes, I'm fine."

She recalled that she gave blood a month ago, but she had no choice. She had to lie. Her eyes were only on Gyeonhui who was being moved away to the operation room.

***

The operation room was so frigid that she immediately had goosebumps on her skin.

"It's going to sting."

The nurse thrusted a thick injection needle into her arm as soon as she said it. Sun closed her eyes tightly because of the pain. Even though she donated her blood regularly, this time, it was more painful.

"It works better if you repeatedly close and open your fist."

After she listened to the nurse, she bared down on the pain and flexed her fist harder. Her red blood was going through the tube and then going inside of him. Sun turned her face and looked at him. His face turned more pale.

"We have the same blood type…."

She finally knew his blood type. Today...

"What have we done?"

She felt as she did three years ago when her crush started—it was true love.

Sun who was looking at him vacantly, started asking, "…Is this man going to be okay?"

"Yes. The injury is serious, but his intestines are fine. The injured area looks clean."

The doctor answered.

"That's fortunate."

Sun had a sad smile on her face and looked at him calmly. She didn't really exist in his life. She had been enduring this idea for a long time, but it was time to accept it. She did everything she could do for him. She loved him with everything she had. Her tears fell down from her face. Sun closed her eyes while she bit her trembling lips.

"Are you okay?"

The nurse noticed that Sun was getting pale and asked.

"… Yes. I'm alright."

Her dizziness was getting worse, but she clenched her fist harder. Whenever she did that, the crushed flower leaves from her bracelet fell down between her fingers.

***

"Um."

A dry voice came out from Gyeonhui who was lying on the sickbed.

"A-Are you awake?"

His assistant, Ojae Kwon, who was sitting next to him, made a great fuss that caused him to wake up.

"… What happened?"

"Don't you remember? You had a big car accident. You have been unconscious for 3 days."

"Accident? Ah…"

He recalled the moment that the car slid on the wet and slippery road and crashed on the street tree. When Gyeonhui saw the wrinkles on the sheet, he reached out his hand to stretch them. Ojae Kwon shook his head as if he was really tired of Gyeonhui.

"You need to see a counselor. That's a serious disease."

"… Whatever it is, it has to work on the right spot."

"You're obsessive-compulsive. I heard it from TV. It happens when you are anxious."

Gyeonhui stared at Ojae Kwon.

"I'm just saying it because I worry about you."

Ojae rapidly shut his mouth and felt sheepish. Gyeonhui was so displeased, and then started asking, "What happened to taking over the Funny Box?"

"Is that what you want to know first after you almost got killed?

"Don't make me repeat it again."

"Hum. Hum. I will report it to the president of Consensio. The taking over of the project was…"

Ojae took a pause and smiled at him. He continued the presentation, "Things went well. We can now advance the offline business too."

Gyeonhui, who heard Ojae, didn't say anything and clenched his fist quietly.

"... It's just the start."

Gyeonhui's company was already the top in his industry. But he thought he still had a

long way to go. Gyeonhui's eyes glared when he thought about his mother, Mrs. Sukjin Shin.

"Anyways, the girl saved your life."

Gyeonhui knitted his eyebrows after he heard Ojae. It meant that he needed to explain more about her.

"It was Cheonsun. She took you to the hospital and gave you the blood, too."

"Transfusion?"

Gyeonhui, who knew how rare his blood type was, asked Ojae again.

"Luckily, she had the same blood type as you. Isn't it a miracle? Don't you think?"

"Ah…."

Surely, Gyeonhui had a big surgery after the car accident. Sun must have taken care of the serious blood loss situation.

"… I can't believe she gave her blood."

Gyeonhui smiled and reached out his hand to Ojae.

"What?"

"Give me my cell phone"

"Phone? Why?"

"Anybody who shows me loyalty should get compensation."

"What?"

Ojae couldn't understand him, but he handed Gyeonhui's phone to him. Gyeonhui made a phone call with the number he saved under "Girl #16" in his address list. He had been seeing sixteen girls...