Maria clutched his right arm when they were in the hallway. She looked beautiful in a black dress with long sleeves. She wore low heels. Jeha matched his footsteps to hers.
“Are you hurt?” Maria asked as they walked along the corridor to the nurse’s station.
“No,” Jeha said, patting her hand on his right arm.
“I hope you’re not lying to me.”
“I’m not lying, Mom. I’m healthy.”
“Okay. Moon is jealous of you,” Maria said. “He wants your position and is willing to do all underhanded things to get it. It’s understandable, but you should not tolerate it. Show him your strength. Don’t let him bully you.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Maria stopped when they reached the nurse’s station. She turned to face Jeha and narrowed her gaze.
“I hope these years you’ve resolved your doubts. I hope you’ve come to understand how much we love you, Jeha. Knowing how much it would destroy me if something happened to you, I hope you take care of yourself. Don’t get hurt. And, don’t get shot. Don’t—”
“Omma,” Jeha interrupted her, leaning in to kiss her right cheek. “I’ll be very careful and when I’m done, I’ll come to eat your food.”
Maria nodded, biting her bottom lip. She reached up to caress his right cheek.
Ryan came up behind Jeha, and Maria let go of Jeha.
“Ryan,” Maria said, clearing her throat, as Jeha buttoned his suit jacket. “I’m leaving my son in your care.”
“Yes, Mrs. Wook,” Ryan said.
“We have to go,” Jeha said.
“Mm,” Maria nodded, smoothing her hand over Jeha’s shoulder, her fingers smoothing the expensive fabric of his suit. “Today is Thursday. I hope it only takes you two weeks to manage Moon. Come home on the last Sunday of this month. Let’s have lunch together with your Pa. I’ll make your favorite.”
“I’ll be there,” Jeha promised.
Jeha brushed a kiss on her right cheek again. He happened to glance at the nurse’s station and saw Sandy watching them. Jeha gave her a nod, making her blush, and then led the way to the elevators.
Ryan pressed the down arrow and they entered the elevator when the doors opened.
Jeha watched his mother as she stood by the nurse’s station watching him leave. The elevator doors closed and his childhood memories and the reasons why Moon wanted to fight him filled his thoughts.
Jeha was born an orphan.
His Korean birth mother died at the hospital during childbirth. He was a dark-haired boy with blue eyes, so his father was clearly from the Kingdom of Aeras. The hospital could not find him because his mother did not write down his father’s name, nor did she write down her next of kin.
And so, Jeha became a ward of the Aeras Kingdom at birth.
He lived in an orphanage managed by Prince Kleopas of Aeras for three months until Yisu and Maria Wook walked into the place and adopted him on sight.
His new parents named him Jeha Wook and handed him a heavy legacy.
During his teenage years, Jeha sometimes wondered what his life would have looked like had he remained the ward of the state. He struggled with the answers for a while, and then stopped because it was useless. Maria and Yisu loved him too hard for him to keep at it.
Jeha could not turn back time, and he was not sorry Yisu and Maria loved him on sight. He was grateful Yisu thought him worthy of the Wook family legacy. He was his parents’ only child. The son they presented to the Wook Family’s patriarch, Chae Wook.
The one now responsible for the care of the Wuga Group, and a clan with over two hundred Wooks who expected that their burgeoning assets continued to make profits. Jeha’s parents and his grandfather had bred him for this position. Because they had, Jeha owned the right in full, so he would drag Moon back in line no matter what.
The elevator doors opened into the emergency department floor. It was the one place in the hospital that was always filled with people day and night. Nurses and doctors doing their best to fight a battle between life and death. Most times, they won, other times…not.
Axel’s tears filled Jeha’s thoughts.
Jeha stepped out into the corridor, and almost collided with Axel Graysen.
Axel was dressed in blue scrubs, his doctor’s coat, and white crocs on his feet. He was also in a full run.
Ryan pulled Jeha out of the way, letting the doctor run past them.
Axel was six feet tall, in true fit form. He moved with practiced grace.
Had to be all the running, Jeha thought.
Axel’s brown hair was a tangled wavy mess on his head. The doctor must have been sleeping or had not slept yet.
Jeha followed Axel out of curiosity. His security team emerged behind him from the cafeteria. Jeha searched the Emergency Room, wondering where he had lost the good doctor.
Then, Axel appeared. There he was, kneeling on the side of a rolling stretcher, performing compressions on a patient’s chest. Two nurses and a second doctor pushed the stretcher working to keep it steady as they moved.
“Make way,” the nurse shouted, and Jeha realized she was looking in his direction.
Jeha turned to Ryan, and they both motioned for his security team to help clear a path to the elevator. In seconds, the hallway was clear, and the elevator doors were held open by two of Jeha’s men.
The stretcher rolled past Jeha, moving as fast as it could.
Axel’s gaze met Jeha’s for a second as they passed.
The determination Jeha read in Axel’s brown eyes in that second filled him up. Axel kept working, even as they maneuvered the stretcher into the elevator. He did not stop pumping his hands in a clear quest to keep his patient alive.
Jeha smiled as the elevator doors closed.
“If I’m ever in danger of dying, find him,” Jeha said.
Ryan scowled.
“Don’t joke with things like that when we’re about to fight Moon, Jeha Wook.”
“I’m just saying,” Jeha said, heading out of the hospital with a wide smile.
It was interesting how much Axel made him smile on sight.
“Where to?” Ryan asked when Jeha’s car rolled up to the curb, Ryan had called the driver.
“To collect Moon’s Chemist,” Jeha said.
Now that he had his grandfather’s permission, he would take control of the clubs and stop Moon. The faster he ended this the better. He wanted to get to know Axel Graysen and it would not happen when he was in the middle of a major family conflict.
Ryan opened the back passenger door for him.
“Harris from our investigating team reported back when you were with Chairman Wook. Moon’s Master Chemist has been spotted entering a warehouse in the Industrial District,” Ryan said.
“Of course,” Jeha said with a small scoff. “I wondered why Moon purchased land in the area a year ago. He must have made a hideout out there. It’s perfect. Call everyone not assigned to protection duty to join us. Pa has authorized the use of his team. Make sure everyone understands that things will get messy if we don’t move fast. I want the Master Chemist in our control as soon as possible.”
“I’ll make the call,” Ryan said, reaching for his cell phone.
Jeha slid into the backseat, and Ryan closed the door. They waited two minutes as Jeha’s security team boarded the two cars: one in front and one at the back of Jeha’s car.
Ryan slid into the front passenger seat and started making calls.
“Ryan, don’t forget to get a team for the top floor of the hospital,” Jeha said, glancing at the emergency room entrance. “Moon is crazy enough to start a coup.”
“Already done,” Ryan said.
Jeha hoped the fight with his cousin would not get too bad. He truly wanted to find time to discover more about Dr. Axel Graysen. The doctor lingered in his thoughts since their moment on the hospital’s rooftop.
Was Axel always so passionate about saving lives? What made him so driven? Was he dating anyone?
Jeha smiled at the prospect of discovering it all.
****
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Omma – means mom
Sui Writes 
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