Chapter 25 Paid in Full #2
It wasn’t a challenge. It was an honest offer.
Tae hesitated. If he went home, he’d drive himself crazy. And Julia had driven him here. He hated to admit it, but she was
the last person he wanted to see right now. He didn’t want to see anybody, actually. He wasn’t thinking straight, and there
was a good chance he’d think or feel or say something he’d regret later.
“I’m the one who stays,” he bit back. “You go. You both go. I’m not leaving.”
I can never leave, he thought to himself.
Julia looked up at him, concern filling her eyes. This was supposed to be an incredible night. But maybe this just wasn’t
in the cards for them.
Tae leaned down and kissed Julia on the forehead. “Go, Jules. I’ll be okay. I’ll call you later.”
She hesitated, but Tae’s look left no room for discussion. She nodded. “If you need anything . . .”
“I’ll let you know.”
It had been a long night.
Tae lifted his hands above his head to stretch out the kinks in his back.
“Here.” Min reached out a steaming travel cup. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
Tae shook his head while taking a careful sip of the coffee. It was exactly what he needed. “I spent most of the night pacing.
And watching YouTube videos until my phone died.”
“Did you talk to the doctor?”
Tae closed his eyes and nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. “They’re okay. Dad’s going home today, and Mom won’t need surgery,
but she’s gonna stay one more day for them to keep an eye on her lungs. They were both sleeping, doped up on pain meds, but
I did get to see them. It scared the shit out of me how banged up they looked. But the doctor swears they’re okay.”
“Why don’t you go home, and I’ll hang out. Take a hot shower, grab some sleep, charge your phone,” Min said.
“I’m gonna wait until the billing office opens. This ER shit is not gonna be cheap, and we’re already in deep from the other
treatments. I want to work out a payment plan that’s doable. Maybe if they see me looking this pathetic, they’ll take pity
on me.”
“All of that can wait, Tae.”
Min didn’t understand. He didn’t give a shit about the mountain of details Tae was buried under. Tae wanted to hate his brother.
But he understood too. When he was living and working in Chicago, he was blissfully oblivious to it all as well. Only when
he moved home and saw exactly how much his parents weren’t capable of doing on their own did he decide to step all the way
in.
Tae dropped his head to his chest, overcome with the weight of it all.
Min wrapped his arm around Tae’s shoulders. “We’ll figure it out.” Tae nodded, knowing we meant himself. He’d have to figure it all out. “Go grab something to eat at the cafeteria, and I’ll run in and check on Mom
and Dad. Then I’ll drive you home since you don’t have a car.”
Tae agreed, and though he had no appetite, he probably could grab a banana or hard-boiled egg.
“Could you tell me what floor the billing department is on?” he asked the cafeteria cashier.
“It’s in the other building, floor two.”
“Thanks.”
Tae had to get it over with. He had to rip off the Band-Aid of facing the debt and figure out a solution for how to pay it
back. He might as well face it head-on while he was here. He walked over to the administrative offices.
“Hi,” he greeted the woman at the front desk. “I was hoping to talk to someone about my father’s medical bills.”
“Are you the legal caregiver?” she asked.
Shit, Tae still hadn’t finished all the paperwork the lawyer had sent over to make it official. “No, not legally. But I wanted to work out a payment plan for the bills since those do fall on me.”
She nodded her head, asking for his father’s name, typing away on the computer in front of her.
“It shows here that everything is paid in full.”
Tae jerked his head up in surprise. “I’m sorry? I think that’s the wrong account. The balance should be a little over forty
thousand dollars. Can you check the name again, please? The patient’s name is Jung Hoon Kim.”
She looked closer on the screen. “Yes, this is the right account. Shows here that the balance was paid off yesterday.”
“That’s impossible. Does it show a payment method?” Tae was racking his brain at what could have caused the misunderstanding.
“I’m sorry, but I’m unable to give you any additional details without your father’s permission. If you have him call us, we
can let him know.” Tae nodded, still in shock.
Paid in full. As of yesterday.
Tae couldn’t understand what happened.
“If you need anything . . .”
What Julia had said to him yesterday before leaving the hospital. Julia was the one person who could afford to do it. And
the one person who kept offering to help if he needed it. He couldn’t imagine her doing this without asking him first. She
wouldn’t, would she? But he hadn’t been in his right mind yesterday. And it was like her to do anything she could to help.
And she was the only one he could think of that had the means to do it on short notice.
She was a CEO. She made spur-of-the-moment decisions about money without asking anyone else all the time. And money, to people
who had a lot of it, didn’t mean the same to those who didn’t.
“Did you need anything else?”
Tae shook his head. “No. No, thank you.” He turned and walked away, stunned.
How could she? He’d specifically told her he didn’t want her involved. This was his problem. The last thing he needed or wanted
was her trying to take care of things for him. He didn’t want her feeling sorry for him or his family’s predicament. Why would
she do this? It felt like a complete invasion of privacy. They weren’t even officially dating.
She basically just Dr. Joshua Parked him.
“No job. No pay.”
Tae fumed as he walked back to his parents’ hospital room . . . feeling about as small and helpless as he’d ever been.