Wife Sleeping by Ailing Husband's Side in Hospital Wakes up to Find Roses in Her Hands – Story of the Day

Sarang spends every night at her comatose husband's bedside, waiting for him to wake up and despairing about her growing medical bill. One morning, she finds a posy of roses tucked into her hands. Her husband's condition remains unchanged, which leaves Sarang wondering who might've left her flowers.

Sarang sighed as she gently smoothed the blue sheet across her husband's chest. Her hand lingered over his heart as she leaned in to kiss his cheek, just above the line where the pipe for his nasal cannula crossed his cheek.

"I'm still waiting for you, my love," she whispered in her native Korean. "I miss you so much."

Kwan continued to lie peacefully in his hospital bed, surrounded by the beeps and blips of the machines monitoring him. He'd been comatose for several days after being hit by a drunk driver while crossing Main Street. Sarang had spent all her free time at his bedside since then.

It helped that she worked as a nurse at the same hospital where Kwan was admitted. Her supervisor allowed her to take breaks in his room and turned a blind eye to the extra bedding Sarang had taken so she could sleep beside Kwan every night.

She settled into a chair and pillowed her head on her arm. Sarang fell asleep staring at her beloved but woke to the sight of a posy of crimson and lilac-colored roses tucked into her hand.

Sarang frowned as she examined the roses through sleepy eyes. She hadn't slept well — nobody could sleep well in a hospital visitors' chair — and it took a moment for her to reach full alertness. Her eyes snapped open when she did, and she leaped to her feet.

"Kwan?" Sarang leaned over her husband and set her palm against his cheek.

Kwan still lay there as though he were sleeping. He didn't show any change at all, nor did the machines monitoring him change. But if the flowers didn't come from Kwan, then who? Sarang frowned at the bouquet, which had fallen to the floor when she stood up.

That was when she noticed the note attached to the gold ribbon tied around the stems.

Nothing was on the note but a handwritten phone number on the thick card attached to the roses. Sarang flopped back into her seat and stared at it with a frown. She was still puzzled over the flowers' origin when the door opened, and Diane entered.

"Hey Sarang, I see you found your gift." Diane smiled at her. "How's your hubby this morning?"

"Kwan is the same...what do you know about these roses, Diane?" Sarang lifted the bouquet. "I don't know anyone who'd give me a gift like this, except Kwan."

"Oh, it's from one of your patients on the VIP floor," Diane replied as she started checking on Kwan. "He was discharged early this morning and insisted on delivering those to you."

Sarang was even more confused now. Most patients on the VIP floor were jerks who thought their wealth and status entitled them to luxury hospital visits. Those rooms were like hotel suites with heart monitors. It wasn't easy to imagine any of them being so kind as to give her flowers.

"...bill is overdue and Mandy in accounts is getting antsy," Diane said. "I told her you'll pay soon, but you should really see her yourself to settle things."

"Of course." Sarang faked a smile. "I'll go speak to her before my shift starts."

In truth, Sarang was certain her blood pressure had just skyrocketed at the mention of the money she owed the hospital for Kwan's care. She reached over to squeeze her husband's hand and then left to prepare for work.

She forgot she still held the roses until she reached the staff bathroom. Sarang gently ran her finger across the lip of a velvet petal as she pondered which of her patients might have given them to her. As she mentally sorted through the list of minor celebrities and wealthy business owners under her care, she thought about how to pay her bills and save Kwan.

Sarang quickly dismissed the thought as a desperate notion born of her distress over Kwan's condition and the hospital bill, but it kept returning. She cleaned up quickly, took the note off the bouquet, and went upstairs to clock in for her shift.

During her lunch break, Sarang dialed the number on the note. It rang a few times before a deep, masculine voice answered.

"Hello...you left me flowers?" Sarang said nervously. "I called to thank you. They're very beautiful."

"A beautiful woman deserves beautiful things," the man replied. "But if you truly want to thank me then you'll meet me tonight for dinner. Does 7 p.m. sound good?"

Sarang licked her lips. This was precisely the opportunity she'd hoped for. She agreed to meet the man, who said his name was Lucas, outside a famous up-market restaurant downtown.

He ended the call soon afterward, and Sarang tucked her phone away with shaking fingers. Her heart revolted at the idea of meeting another man and the seduction she'd have to weave around this stranger to get him to part with his money, but she had no other option.

Lucas would have been wealthy if he'd stayed in the VIP ward, and Sarang needed a benefactor.

She and Kwan had spent all their savings on the plane ticket that brought him here to join her in the USA. They could never have foreseen that he'd end up in a coma just a week after he arrived.

Sarang expelled all her aversions with a long breath. Her husband needed her, and there was nothing she wouldn't do for her beloved Kwan.

That evening, Sarang slipped on her most alluring dress and paired it with the striking, amethyst drop earrings she'd inherited from her grandmother. She also wore a fake diamond necklace Kwan had gifted her soon after marriage. She felt it might serve as a reminder of her purpose.

The restaurant hostess escorted her to a private dining room where Lucas was waiting. She vaguely recognized the handsome man as a patient who'd been admitted for some routine tests. He undressed her with his eyes as she strolled toward the table.

"You look good in your nurse's uniform, but you look even better like this," he remarked as he rose to meet her. "I hope you don't mind if I call you Sara. It's easier to say than your given name."

"Of course not." Sarang smiled. She needed this man to like her and couldn't afford to do anything except cultivate his affection.

"Good." Lucas smiled as he held out a chair for her.

Lucas's fingers brushed over the lowest part of her back as he helped her into her seat. Sarang toyed with her imitation diamond necklace as she glanced over her shoulder and batted her eyelashes at him.

"I'm glad you agreed to meet me," Lucas said as he poured a glass of wine for Sarang. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since I was discharged."

"I'm flattered that a handsome, charming man like you would think of me at all." Sarang coyly smiled as she brushed her leg against his beneath the table.

Lucas gazed intensely at her and took her hand. "I like beautiful things, Sara, and you are very beautiful. I'm also not the type of man who denies myself from going after the things I want."

Lucas stared into her eyes as he gently kissed her hand. Sarang felt her face heat as the blood rushed to her cheeks. This situation was incredibly awkward, but she had to follow her plan.

The waiter arrived then, and Lucas ordered appetizers. He didn't take his eyes off her as they ate their blini with caviar and sipped at the wine, and Sarang pulled out all the stops to charm him. She laughed coquettishly at his jokes and listened with rapt attention while he spoke about business, the economy, and other topics she cared little about.

Fortunately, he seemed more interested in discussing himself than asking about her, so Sarang found it easy to feign interest and focus on charming him. When she felt confident it was working, she excused herself to use the washroom.

Sarang allowed herself to spend precisely two minutes hugging herself in a stall while despairing about her situation before she put phase 2 of her plan into action. She removed one of her earrings and placed it in her purse. Then, she carefully smeared her mascara and eyeliner.

Sarang had only to think of Kwan to start crying. She rushed back to Lucas in tears, further ruining her makeup with the tissue she held to her face.

"Sara, what's the matter?" Lucas frowned as she took her seat opposite him.

"My earring..." she touched her fingers to the now-bare lobe of her left ear. "It fell down the drain in the bathroom! These earrings are all I have left of my grandmother...they're a family heirloom."

Lucas threw his napkin down on the table and rose. "I don't want to see you crying, Sara. Come, let's see if I can find some way to get that pretty smile back on your face."

He offered Sarang his hand, and she took it. Lucas led her from the restaurant and out to a luxury car, pausing only to toss a few hundred-dollar bills at the hostess near the door. He sat in the back of the car with her while his driver pulled away from the curb.

Lucas phoned a jeweler as they left the restaurant and ordered the man to open his shop so Sarang could pick out a pair of earrings. Sarang sobbed quietly into her hands throughout the call and secretly pondered the audacity of the ultra-rich.

She offered Lucas a wan smile when his arm slithered around her waist as he escorted her into the jewelry store. He immediately told the jeweler, Robert, to bring out all his earrings with purple gemstones. Lucas briefly studied the selection before picking out a pair of purple sapphire studs set in platinum.

Lucas's fingers brushed against Sarang's bare earlobe as he held the earring up to it. His gaze darkened as he smirked at her.

"We'll take these, Robert." He returned the earring to the jeweler without taking his eyes off Sarang. "I'm sure they'll make my pretty lady smile again."

As Lucas gently cupped her cheek, a chill and quiet sense of foreboding gradually ran down Sarang's spine, leaving her uneasy about the encounter. The way he smiled at her and his cologne's piney scent made her think of wolves, and she couldn't help but wonder if the deer felt like this before those sharp fangs found its throat.

Her foreboding grew when they got outside, and Lucas dismissed his driver for the evening before insisting on driving her home. Sarang didn't want to go with him but felt she couldn't refuse. She'd come too far to turn back now.

"Is this it?" Lucas asked as he parked in front of Sarang's apartment block.

Sarang nodded and smiled at him. "Yes...thank you for an amazing night, Lucas."

"There's that lovely smile." Lucas reached up to cup Sarang's chin. "You know, Sara, the night is still young and we did cut dinner short..."

Sarang's heart pounded with trepidation as he leaned in to kiss her. She couldn't do it. Her heart had no space for infidelity, no matter how necessary. She turned her head at the last minute so his kiss landed on her cheek.

"I'm a lady, Lucas," she murmured. "This is all moving a little too fast for me."

Sarang reached for the door, but the car locked with a solid click.

"I don't think so, Sara," Lucas whispered gruffly. He gripped her chin again and turned her head to face him. "See, I know why you're here and what you need. I'm happy to give it to you too... for a price."

"I don't know what you mean," Sarang replied. She tried to look innocent as she bravely met Lucas's hungry gaze."

Yes, you do. They say you can't buy health but they're wrong. You can buy anything with enough money, Sara. Everything has its price... name yours."

Sarang could barely breathe, let alone speak. She demurely glanced down as she sifted her thoughts for the right thing to say.

"Here." Lucas leaned back and placed the box containing the earrings he had bought her onto Sarang's lap. "Consider this a bit of incentive, or motivation, if you will. We're both adults here... call me when you're ready to be honest about your needs."

The car door unlocked, and Sarang fled to her apartment. She threw herself onto the bumpy, secondhand bed she and Kwan had shared briefly before the accident and curled into a ball.

The following day, Sarang pawned the earrings Lucas bought her and used the money to pay the hospital. Mandy let out a long-suffering sigh as she processed the payment.

"You still owe the hospital thousands of dollars," Mandy said as she handed Sarang her receipt. "And I'm sorry, Sarang, but we can't keep this up for much longer. The hospital has a strict policy about bill payments."

"I know, Mandy. I'm doing everything I can. I'm working on a way to pay off the balance as quickly as possible."

"Well, you come straight to me when you get that right, honey. I'll do everything I can to keep the wolf at the door until then."

Sarang thanked Mandy and went to the VIP floor to start her shift. She had her own wolf to deal with. The moment Sarang finished her rounds, she settled into a quiet corner of the nurse's station and called up Lucas's file on the system.

She quickly wrote down all the information she needed about Lucas and closed the file. Everything else would have to wait until later.

That night, Sarang sat at Kwan's bedside and searched the internet for information about Lucas. She'd hoped to find something she could use as leverage to regain a measure of control in this sticky situation, but there was nothing.

Sarang scrolled through pages and pages of photos featuring Lucas at celebrity awards shows, humanitarian galas, and cheering in the stands at ice hockey matches. It was all useless until she found a series of photos and articles featuring his family.

Lucas had inherited a billion-dollar corporation when his father died two years ago. He was married to a woman from New York who seemed to be yet another pedigreed member of the wealthy elite. They had a 5-year-old son together.

Sarang's lips curled into a smile as a sneaky plan entered her thoughts. She typed a message to Lucas, set her phone aside, and reached across to hold Kwan's hand.

"I know exactly how to help you," she whispered.

Sarang fell asleep holding Kwan's hand. She was prepared to risk everything to help him regain his health. There'd be no second guesses this time.

The following evening, Sarang met Lucas at the door to her apartment and welcomed him inside. He arched his eyebrows and gave an amused smile as he glanced around her cramped apartment.

"Is that dinner I smell?" he asked. Before Sarang could respond, he dumped his coat into her open arms and strode toward the kitchenette.

"Yes," Sarang hung up his coat and followed him, "I made chicken."

"Huh." Lucas peered into the oven, switched it off, and grinned at her. "I actually don't like Asian food. I'd rather skip straight to the main course."

Lucas closed in on her, wrapping his arms around Sarang's waist. Her guts churned at his touch, but she forced a smile as though she liked it and placed her hands on his chest. When he kissed her, electric waves of revulsion shivered through her.

She broke away from him when he pulled her closer and looked deeply into his eyes. "I think we'll be more comfortable in the bedroom," she whispered. "Don't you agree?"

Lucas followed her to her and Kwan's bedroom. She smiled coyly at him as she unbuttoned his shirt. It took all her willpower to play out this farce, but Sarang had to be strong. She glanced sideways at the hidden camera she'd set up on the bookshelf as she pressed a kiss to his chest.

The red light was on, and everything was going according to plan. Sarang skimmed her fingertips across his bare skin after she unbuttoned his shirt. Her fingers shook as she unbuckled his belt. She stepped back and looked up at him as she removed her blouse.

Lucas smirked and sat down on the edge of the bed to watch Sarang undress. She fixed a shy smile on her face and ignored the uncomfortable sensation of his hungry gaze studying her. Once she was down to only her underwear, Lucas grabbed her hips and planted a kiss on her belly.

Sarang slithered from his grasp and backed up to the bookshelf. "I think that will be enough for your wife," she said.

Sarang smiled victoriously as she retrieved the hidden camera and ejected the memory card. "Now, if you want this incident to stay between you and me, then you'll pay all my husband's hospital and treatment bills." She stated calmly, holding up the memory card. "Refuse, and I'll send the recording of this meeting to your wife!"

Lucas arched his eyebrows. Then he leaned back on the bed and laughed.

"Go for it, Sara!" Lucas said between chuckles. "The only reason Tara and I married is because my father wouldn't let me inherit his business unless I settled down. Love has nothing to do with it."

"Then why would you stay together?" Sarang asked.

He pulled a face as he tried to get comfortable on the bed. "Honestly," he continued, "I always intended to get divorced after the old man kicked the bucket, but Tara’s father has great business connections, and the paperwork is a drag. It works out better for both of us to just carry on together. She has her lovers, and I have mine."

"But...you have a child together!" Sarang said.

"Tara and I got drunk one night in Mauritius, and one thing led to another. The kid gives her something to do, and I needed an heir anyway, so..." Lucas shrugged. He tipped his head sideways as he regarded her with an amused glint in his eye. "You really thought this would go your way, didn't you? That you’d be able to blackmail me into paying your bills?"

Sarang hung her head and bit her lip to hold back her tears. She could never have imagined that another person could be so heartless. Did Lucas care about anything except himself?

"It was a solid attempt, but you're nowhere near good enough to outfox me." Lucas bounded to his feet and pulled on his shirt. "You could've saved yourself a lot of trouble by just giving me what I want."

Lucas patted Sarang's rear on his way out of the room. When she heard the front door open and close, she sank to the floor and wept. She'd bet everything on this plan working, and now she had nothing.

Sarang returned to Kwan's bedside with a heavy weight on her shoulders. She was back where she'd started and had done little to lessen her debt to the hospital. All the time she’d wasted on Lucas would’ve been better spent looking for a second job. She held Kwan's hand and tried to figure out a way to resolve this problem once and for all.

The following morning, Diane woke her with a hard shake on her shoulder. The grim expression on her friend's face immediately set Sarang's nerves on edge.

"Mandy needs to see you, Sarang," Diane said in a low voice. "It's about your account."

Sarang let out a sigh. She got ready for her shift and stood before the elevator, trying to convince herself to go down to accounts and see Mandy. Her body refused to cooperate. Instead, Sarang clocked in at her station on the VIP floor and continued her day. While she was having lunch, she got a phone call.

"Sarang, I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day! I have bad news," Mandy said when she answered.

"I'm working on getting the money I owe, Mandy," she replied. "I just need a little bit longer."

"I'm sorry, but it’s too late for that now. My supervisor found out about your overdue account, and he's looking to transfer Kwan out of the hospital. Honey, he's talking about medical deportation."

Sarang's heart froze in her chest. After everything she and Kwan endured to get to the USA, the thought of him being sent home was chilling.

"But we're here legally," Sarang sobbed. "We both have visas. They can't just send him back!"

"That's what I said but you know what these management types are like." Mandy sighed. "I'm very sorry, honey, but you have to come up with something fast to pay off your balance. My hands are tied now."

Sarang put a hand to her forehead. "I understand...thank you, Mandy, for everything you've done for me and Kwan."

Sarang ended the call and pushed the remainder of her lunch aside. She'd lost her appetite. Dozens of solutions flashed through her mind, each more desperate than the last. Eventually, she realized there was only one way out of this situation.

Sarang ran from the hospital and hopped into a cab. A couple of minutes later, she was hurrying through the doors of the tall skyscraper where an international corporation was headquartered.

Sarang pushed open the wooden doors of Lucas's corner office and marched inside. He was seated at the head of a 12-seater conference table positioned on one side of the spacious room. All eyes turned to her.

"I'm ready to give you what you want, Lucas," Sarang said as she approached the table. "I'll pay your price right here and right now."

"Too late, Sara. I'm bored with your games." Lucas made a dismissive gesture. "We're in the middle of a meeting here, so please leave, or I'll be forced to call security."

"There's no game this time." Sarang nervously licked her lips as she circled to stand in front of Lucas. "I understand now... it's just good business, right? I give you what you want and you give me what I want. We both walk away satisfied."

Sarang looked Lucas in the eye as she sat on the edge of the table and started unbuttoning her uniform dress. Lucas sat back and studied her. When she reached the third button, he began to smile.

"I can't say no to a gift that unwraps itself, can I?" he said with a chuckle.

"Mr. Grier, this is highly unorthodox!" one of the men behind Sarang exclaimed. "If your father could see this..."

"The meeting is over," Lucas announced, his eyes fixed on Sarang's chest. "All of you, get out of my office now."

A few weeks later

Sarang was never the same after she left Lucas's office that day. Some part of her felt changed forever, incurably diseased. It was a small consolation that Lucas kept his word. Once he'd gotten what he wanted from her, he arranged with the hospital to pay Kwan's bill.

Sarang was there when Kwan opened his eyes and looked at her. Everything she'd endured seemed worth it when he smiled at her and whispered her name. Sarang threw her arms around him and sobbed tears of relief.

But the joy of Kwan waking from his coma didn't last. Maintaining her happiness seemed to take a lot of effort as Sarang supported her husband through his recovery and rehabilitation. Initially, she dismissed the queasiness as stress, but a creeping suspicion began to claw at the edges of her consciousness.

"Home at last!" Sarang declared with a beaming smile as she and Kwan entered their apartment. "Why don't you sit down, my love? I'll bring you coffee."

"Thank you, my darling." Kwan smiled at her. "It's so good to be back home with you, where I belong."

Sarang turned away as a wave of nausea swept through her body. She started the coffee machine and then snuck into the bathroom.

Desperation and fear drove her to the bathroom, a small plastic stick clutched in her trembling hand. She stared at it, her heart pounding in her chest, waiting for the life-altering results of the pregnancy test she had just taken.

While waiting, Sarang set the stick down, touched up her makeup, and stared at herself in the mirror attached to the cabinet. Alone in the bathroom, she didn't need to force herself to smile or pretend she wasn't haunted by what she'd done with Lucas.

A shiver wracked her body as she remembered that day in his office. It felt like something that had happened to someone else. There was no way Lucas's "Sara" could be the same person as her, Sarang, the loving and faithful wife.

But she'd done it for Kwan. Her sacrifice had bought him all the time he needed in the hospital and the expert care of the finest doctors. Being with Lucas brought Kwan back to her, making it worthwhile.

Sarang glanced at the pregnancy test she'd set down on the basin. Her mind went blank as she stared at the two lines that had appeared on the stick.

"This can't be happening," she whispered.

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