Chapter 36: Missing Him

The breakfast was lively as it was full of laughter and teasing. Kim Eunji had already lose count on how many times she was speechless and shy around them.

Well, it was already clear that the man sitting beside him was of an extraordinary background. The treatment she bad received in the hospital, her room which was a VVIP suite at that and the number of body guards in the area could already tell her that.

She never thought that his family could be so warm and welcoming to strangers like her. Being his wo- no, his lover had not sunk in yet that’s why she still felt awkward around them the entire time but these two woman had never failed to comfort her that it’s okay. That they completely understood her. And Nathan was also there, always looking at her with soft gaze and would display a reassuring smile towards her.

Looking back, she had been busy studying how to kill someone and then took missions soon after that that she had limited interactions with her family. Especially her mom whom she missed dearly. She wondered if they’re okay.

‘They should be. As long as Dad’s still the head of the organization, everything will be fine.’ She thought as she tried to comfort herself.

Nathan noticed her silence therefore he gently squeezed her hand to get her attention. Mei and Sana noticed it too and they suddenly became worried of her.

“Eunji-darling, are you okay?”

It took some time for Kim Eunji to snap out of it and she was stunned to see their worried look towards her. She also looked at the man beside her and she could feel that be was squeezing her hand tighter this time.

“I-I’m fine. I just remembered something that made me kind of lost. I’m sorry to worry you Aunt Mei, grandma Sana, Nathan.”

“Is that so? If there’s anything that has been bothering you, please don’t hesitate to tell us. Okay? You’re already a part of this family.”

Kim Eunji could simply nod her head in agreement. This kind of support system was so overwhelming for her. It even felt surreal. Which made her thought of what had she been doing for this past year that she managed to meet this man and brought her to this situation?

As far as she could remember, she had managed to have a low profile and had even managed to delete photos of her circulating in the internet just to avoid people with the likes of him.

The only thing that would make the chances of him interacting with these bigshots was when she’s on her other identity as EL. Also in her charity organization, they always made sure to stay low-key and never promoted it to the media to not attract much attention. They would rather do the traditional way of word of mouth as their form of marketing and they were not short of funds at all.

If attending functions was unavoidable, it would be Kelly who will attend those or one of the directors would do the job and they made sure to never disclose the identity of the founder to the public.

Imagine if she came out as the founder of such global charitable institution, people with curious minds would start to dig up for her background and would question her of where she got such huge some of money to fund their daily operations.

That’s why when he told her that he’s her boyfriend, she could not believe it. She thought she must be in a nightmare. She bad tried to pinch her cheeks countless of times but to her dismay, everything was real.

“Mom. I think it’s best for us to retreat to her room and let Eunji rest.” Nathan looked at his mother as he said that.

“You’re right. Go and take care of my daughter-in-law. I’ll come to her room later on to hang out with her.” As much as she wanted to get to know her more, she understood that Kim Eunji might want a time on her own. She could tell that Kim Eunji was overwhelmed by everything that had been happening to her the moment she woke up.

It’s not easy to accept the fact that when she woke up, she found out that she had lost a year worth of memory.

They could feel that Kim Eunji was feeling lost and they thought she had been trying to force herself to remember when they caught her in a daze earlier. Both mother and daughter’s heart ached for her as they watched Nathan and Kim Eunji’s departing back.

The only consolation that they had was she did not reject their advances toeards her at all. She even answered their questions as long as it’s not personal.

Kim Eunji told them that she got the luxury to travel around the world thanks to her job as a freelance photographer.

On the other hand, Kim Eunji was shocked to learn that she had became Nathan’s photographer for a magazine shoot. But he explained that that was not the first time that they had met each other.

This also gave Kim Eunji the perfect excuse as to why she knew most languages in the world. She had to adapt to speak the country’s language to better communicate with people.

They accepted that excuse but Nathan was skeptical as he felt that there was more than meets the eye.

“Are you okay?” He asked her though it was obvious that she wasn’t

“If I’ll say I’m not, will you stop asking?” Kim Eunji snapped at him. But she soon regretted it as she looked at him. It was not right to vent her frustrations at him as it was not his fault at all.

Nathan’s grip on the wheelchair loosened and he became silent, his expression turned blank all of a sudden. She thought that he would be mad at her but on the contrary, Nathan helped her to lay back on her bed.

“If you need space, I’ll give it to you. However, I hope you won’t take that long as I, Nathan Johnson is an impatient man. You won’t surely like it when I lose it.” He spoke after he’s done.

Nathan then turn around to leave after that. Seeing his departing back, Kim Eunji’s heart turned heavy.

‘You messed up Kim Eunji. Bigtime.’ She heard a voice on her left shoulder.

‘If he really meant everything he said, he will be back. There’s no need for you to worry about.’ Another voice on her right echoed.

Kim Eunji did not pay any attention to the voices, which looked like her conflicting conscience and her inner self talking to each other, and decided to sleep this time.

It was already noon when she woke up. She looked around to see a familiar man but to her dismay, he’s not around.

‘Tssk. You pushed him away and now you wanted him to be in your room when you wake up?’ The voice on her left said as soon as she did.

‘Give her some slack okay?’ The voice on her right echoed.

Before she could think of anything else, the door of her room was pushed open revealing a worried Mike Roland.

“Eunji, how are you? How do you feel?” He immediately asked her as soon as he laid his eyes on her.

“I’m fine. I just want to go home. Can I?”

“Who in the world did you provoke that you wanted to run away?”

“He said he’s my boyfriend. I even met his family during breakfast.”

“Were they mean to you?” He asked and Kim Eunji shook her head.

“Did he mistreats you?” He asked one more time and this time Kim Eunji pouted. It was obvious that it’s a big fat No.

“Eunjiyah…give him and these people a chance in your life and a place in your heart. Don’t let your insecurities to consume and limit your potential to reach out and connect to people. You are amazing. They will love you.”

“But…”

“Trust in yourself.” Mike Roland advised.

“I’ll think about it.” Kim Eunji finally compromised.

“Good. I’ll be expecting more results from you. I can guarantee you that you didn’t miss a lot. Your life in the past year was… all I can say… boring… to say the least.”

Kim Eunji’s lips twitch as soon as she heard how Mike Roland described her life for the past year.

“Will you be staying longer?” Kim Eunji asked him this time to change the topic.

“I won’t be staying long. I have to go back to South Korea. I have a patient there that needs me. Of course unlucky for her, I have to leave her behind. You’re my top priority.”

“I’m fine.” Kim Eunji reassured.

Mike heaved a sigh as he knew it was the truth. He thought he would found her sulking at the corner and be depressed again but on the contrary, she was on her usual self. Maybe Nathan’s company helped her to divert her thoughts from turning negative.

“Yeah. Sure.” He then placed both hands in his pocket as he was sure that she’s okay.

“Kelly’s worried about you. Try to give her a call. Had her morning sickness did not get worse, I’m sure she would immediately fly to Japan from Beijing just to be with you.”

Mike did not linger longer and he left the room but before he did, he had some serious talk with the hospital staff. Especially those who treated and interacted with Kim Eunji.

He also informed J of what happened and the development on Kim Eunji but of course had hidden the fact that Kim Eunji was now romantically involved with someone else.

***

Mei Johnson indeed had came to Kim Eunji’s room to accompany her together with Sana to hang out together.

Though Kim Eunji did not open up that much, at least the air between them were not that awkward anymore as she somehow had adjusted with them.

Mei Johnson took the opportunity to narrate to Kim Eunji how Nathan was when he was still a child. He was always alone and would stare in the thin air like he was always in deep thoughts.

Never in his life did he seek for a father figure as Mei made sure to give him all the love and support that he needed.

“That’s why I’m happy that he has you now. At least I’m can be at peace that he won’t be lonely anymore.”

Kim Eunji only smiled as her response.

Night soon came and Nathan had not come back yet. She somehow felt guilty for her attitude towards him. What he did was to care for him. But she was ungrateful to answer his care and kindness towards her with her bitchy attitude.

She would be lying if she would deny that every time the door would open, she would not bob her head and look if it was him. She would then be disappointed as it was not Nathan who would come inside the room and it would be the nurse or the doctor who would come to check on her.

Because of this, she lost appetite to eat for dinner.

Though she found him annoying at times, she could not deny the fact that she felt comfortable around him. It was like she worried less when he’s around.

Mei persuaded her to eat more but she could not. She had completely lost her appetite. She decided to sleep earlier than scheduled then.

Her eyes was already closed and Kim Eunji was almost asleep when the door creaked as it opened. She immediately sat up to check in who it was.

To her surprise, a familiar masculine smell evaded her nostrils. The smell that she had been missing for the entire day.

“Did I wake you up?” Nathan softly asked.

Kim Eunji shook her head as she honestly answered. “Nope. I had barely sleep when you came in.”

“Mom told me that you barely touched your food during dinner. Why’s that?” Nathan asked her.

“Nothing. I was just not hungry.” Kim Eunji lied. Of course she would not tell him the reason why she did not eat.

“Is that so?” However, Nathan had already seen her cover.

“Yeah. I just hope you came back earlier for dinner. That would have been better.” She answered.

Nathan smiled as soon as she said that to him.

“Don’t worry, this won’t happen again.” He reassured and gently touched Kim Eunji’s face and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

“Okay.”

“Are you hungry? I’ll let someone bring food for you.” Nathan sincerely said.

She was indeed hungry but as Kim Eunji looked at the time on the wall clock, it’s almost twelve mid-night and she didn’t want to bother his people to bring food for her.

“I’m not.” She lied.

“What do you want to eat? Tell me, I’ll buy it to you.” He suddenly asked.

“A congee maybe?” She pouted her lips as she said that. Since she’s still not allowed to eat hard food, that’s all she could have for now.

“Congee it is!”

Her food arrived and she enjoyed it. Nathan also decided to order some for himself as he skipped dinner earlier because he had to attend a sudden meeting for his company here.

After they were done, Kim Eunji finally yawned as she felt sleepy.

“Are you going to watch over me for the whole night again?” Kim Eunji asked him as she recalled that Nathan barely had slept last night. And he looked tired earlier but did not mind to have some rest as he prioritized her over himself.

“Yeah.” Nathan answered as he took his tablet and started to scan through the documents which were emailed to him by his secretary.

“Aren’t you tired?” Kim Eunji suddenly asked as soon as she realized what the man was doing.

“I’m not.” Nathan simply answered her.

“Wrong answer.” Kim Eunji got up from her bed as she walked towards him. She then took away the tablet and placed it on the coffee table.

“What are you doing?” Nathan answered and looked at her with a puzzled look. Kim Eunji crossed her arms over her chest as she explained.

“You’re clearly exhausted from work. Your millions won’t ran out if you skip working for even eight hours just to sleep. Besides, I can’t sleep if someone’s watching me so you better sleep.”

Nathan grinned as he thought of something.

“Fine. But there ain’t any other bed in this room. This couch was not long enough to accommodate my height had I chosen to sleep in here.”

“The bed’s quite spacious.” She offered as she paused. “However, don’t get the wrong idea. You’re not allowed to touch me. I’m doing this for Aunt Mei. I don’t want her to be sad when she looked at you in your panda-eyes look.”

“Alright. Sure. For Mom.” ‘Why can’t you just tell me that you missed cuddling to me?’ He continued on his thought.

Nathan did not dare to tease her as he’s afraid she would change her mind instead.

He didn’t want this chance to get close to her to slip away just because he was such a j*rk sometimes.