Seulgi had some calls of her own to make.

  While Jeong-Hui and Song-Hoon were making calls, Seulgi started making some of her own. However, she also held Wendy’s good hand while doing so. Taking the chair next to the bed, she fished out her phone and dialed the first number.

  It was answered on the second ring.

  “Seulgi? What’s up?”

  “Joo-Hyun, are you alone? Good. I am about to say something cryptic, but I need you to trust me and listen. I will expin everything in due time, but just listen for now, OK? Good. If you go anywhere, do not go by yourself. And if you do, go to pces with lots of people around, ok? Yes, this is very odd. I know it sounds paranoid. But, just trust me, OK? I’ll expin it in two or three days. Does this involve Wendy? How did you know? Someone was asking about her?” Seulgi snapped her fingers at the Parents, motioned them to come over, and put the call on speaker.“So, you were saying that someone was asking about Wendy?”

  Joo-Hyun responded with, “Yes. A rge man was asking about her. If I knew her. Suppose I knew where she was. It was really creepy, so I admitted to knowing her, but not to knowing where she was.”

  “Can you describe what he looked like?”

  “Large man. Tall and muscur both. He was wearing a gray overcoat. He was also wearing a matching fedora. Which I thought was odd. I mean, who wears fedoras anymore?” Joo-Hyun hummed for a moment trying to dredge up any extra details.

  After a moment, Seulgi said, “Thank you, Joo-Hyunnie. I’ll be calling you in the next few days, OK? Be sure to be careful,” then disconnected.

  Looking at those around her, she said, “I need to call our other friend, Soo-Young. I need to warn her, too.” The Parents stepped away and allowed them some privacy, without going too far away.

  Seulgi started to dial Soo-Young, but Wendy’s hand covered hers to stop her.

  “Should we warn her? I mean, she is always surrounded by people. She’s never alone.”

  “We need to warn her regardless.” At this, Wendy nodded. Seulgi finished dialing. This time, it went to voice mail. Both thought it odd, but she could be at work. Granted, she could be at work, or out at karaoke, or any number of things. They tried again and met the same results. This time, she left a message, “Soo-Young? It’s Seulgi. Call me when you get this. ‘Kay? Thanks.”

  All of this was done while still holding her friend's hand. They chatted for a bit until Song-Hoon walked over and gave her a slip of paper with a name and a phone number on it. “This is the person who will call you to come get our things.”

  “You know that you can leave it with me as long as you need to, right?”

  “We know that. We are grateful that you treat us so well, but we don’t know how long we’ll be away this time. Most likely a year or more. Until she is well enough to stand on her own and be able to do her work without needing assistance.”

  “I don’t have many visitors, but I’ll keep this and look forward to the call.” At this, she tucked the slip of paper into her pocket. Before doing so, she opened it and read it. “Sir, you must be a terrible doctor.” Wendy gasped and Song-Hoon frowned.

  “And just what makes you say that?”

  “Because I can read this,” was the reply with a sly smile. Wendy started giggling. His face was thunderous until he heard a slightly less boisterous and equally tiny set of giggles coming from across the room from Jeong-Hui.

  Wendy may have gotten her volume from Song-Hoon, but she got her ugh from Jeong-Hui. Both had Other-Worldly sounds. If anyone ever wanted to do a live-action movie that involved fairies, any rational direction would move Heaven and Earth to get this pair.

  Song-Hoon, for his part, moved his hand forward and flicked Seulgi on the forehead. There was no heat or force behind the flick, so Seulgi being Seulgi colpsed in a deliberately over dramatic fashion over the side of the chair while moaning with in exaggerated pain. She called for a doctor. Everyone ignored her.

  After this chatter died down to a manageable level, Wendy and Seulgi tried to get Soo-Young on the phone again and failed again. They would give up for now. They would try again in a few hours.

  As the next hour dragged by, Seulgi got frequent notifications of people arriving home, safely.

  About the top of the hour, an overly officious doctor barged in and started blustering. “What is this that I heard about MY patient discharging and leaving care without authorization…” He got this far before Song-Hoon stood up and replied in kind.

  “MY patient. My daughter. I am her registered primary care physician AND her power of attorn…” The noise dropped considerably when Daddy chest bumped the unwelcome guest back out the door that he had just barged through. They could still be heard but at a massively reduced volume.

  Jeong-Hui got A Look in her eye and literally and metaphorically rolled up her sleeves and she headed toward the door. “Time to remind these clowns that they are in a hospital and they need to respect that.”

  Bhuwakul just held the door open for her. The noise bsted back up long enough for the door to open. Wendy winced at this. Not recoiling at the sound but what is about to happen to those making it. Especially her father. Her mother wouldn’t tear off his ear for real this time. Would she? She supposed it depended on how mad her mother got.

  “Hey Bhuwakul, get my mother, please?” She got a nod in response.

  The door opened again. This time the noise was distinctly more feminine, though no less powerful. “Ma’am? Wendy is asking for you.”

  “Both of you little boys are under reprieve, but so help me, if I hear another word from either of you…”

  The miniature typhoon entered the door. “Yes, dear?”

  “Mother, has anyone thought to warn the cops or the nursing staff that Uncle and his boys are coming? If we let them know, in advance, they will be less likely to have problems, you know.”

  Jeong-Hui had a thoughtful frown for a moment. It cleared, she nodded, and headed back toward the door. Bhuwakul immediately opened it for her again. She shoved the two men who were haunting the doorway out of the way with little respect for either of their dignity. As the door was closing, they heard her tiny voice start with “Sargent, we need to talk.”