"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to Minju, happy birthday to you."

Minju clapped excitedly and clasped her hands together as she closed her eyes to make a wish.

"Done!" she exclaimed as she blew out the candles.

"What did you wish for?" Eunji queried.

"I wish Aunt Chorong can be my mommy!"

There was an exchange of awkward glances between Chorong and Eunji.

Eunji cleared and lightly ruffled her daughter's silken hair. "She has a wife, Minju-yah."

"She has a wife?" Minju furrowed her brows in bewilderment. "But if she does, then why does she live with us?"

"Well," Eunji said, glancing briefly at Chorong, "her wife went somewhere else. Aunt Chorong came here so that she won't feel lonely at home."

"Her wife went somewhere else? Like mommy Naeun?"

"Mommy Naeun's a different case, sweetheart."

"So Aunt Chorong's wife is coming back?" Minju asked again.

Eunji nodded. Chorong's heart ached, not at the thought of her own marriage that was on the verge of breaking, but at Minju's innocence. The girl was so young, yet she already possessed such maturity and logic at such an age. Chorong felt a pang in her heart when it dawned on her that Naeun wouldn't be able to physically witness her own daughter growing up. Jung Minju was robbed of her opportunity to have a complete family, and that gave Chorong's heart a painful twist.

"I wish mommy Naeun is still here," Minju mumbled, with a twinge of sadness. She looked up to Eunji and asked, "Are we visiting her soon?"

"Yes, we are." Eunji smiled. "This weekend alright?"

Minju broke into a wide grin. "Yay!"

The little girl's smile was so infectious that Chorong couldn't help but smile too.

"Minju's an intelligent kid for her age," Chorong commented as she watched Eunji running a hand through her sleeping child's tresses.

A warm smile spread across Eunji's face. "Guess she inherited her intelligence from her mommy, considering how my late wife used to skip a grade back in school."

And then there was quietness.

"I haven't had the opportunity.. or rather, guts, to ask you this, and I'm not sure if this is the right time to ask..." Chorong hesitated. "How did your wife pass away?"

Eunji exhaled deeply. "She had a frontal lobe tumour. She could have undergone a surgery to remove the tumour, but it wasn't a 100% guarantee that she would survive since the size of her tumour was large. Naeun didn't want the surgery- she said her dad once had to go through surgery and he didn't make it, so she didn't want the same thing to happen to her. It was hard for her to continue living because of all the impairments, but she was so strong. She lived for us- Minju and me." A lone tear coursed down her cheek. "You know the famous saying: You don't know what you have until it's gone, so you shouldn't take anything for granted?"

Chorong nodded.

"But we all know what we have don't we? We just didn't think we would lose it. That quickly, even." Eunji glanced at Chorong. "It's been a week Chorong. I think it's time you face reality and work things out with your wife. It's never too late to pick up the broken pieces and fix things."

Chorong didn't say anything, as she pondered Eunji's words.

"Minju is fast asleep, and she sleeps like a log, so I'll send you to your house. Okay?"

"I don't know.." Chorong trailed off. She bit her lower lip in uncertainty.

Eunji put her hand on Chorong's shoulder and lightly squeezed it. "You won't know the outcome unless you try, right? Let's try to think positively."

"Easier said than done."

"Of course, but we have the freedom to choose don't we?"

Chorong sighed. "Okay. Let's go."

"Hey, don't worry. Things will work out. Have a slow talk with her. I'll wait for you outside," Eunji said to Chorong once she had parked her car along the driveway.

Chorong looked at Eunji, and noticed something in the latter's eyes- it was the stillness that came from trusting that everything would turn out the way it needed to. Chorong wondered how or when Eunji got it, and whether it would last long enough. But her random thoughts didn't really matter at that moment, for she liked how beautiful it looked on the eye-smiling girl. Chorong breathed in, closed her eyes and felt the swirling of life and faith inside her. She then breathed out, and opened her eyes. "Okay, I'm ready," she said. She pushed the car door open and got out.

The cool air caressed her skin, giving her goosebumps. She looked back after walking a few steps, and saw that Eunji was already standing by the car door. The brunette gave her a thumbs up, and an eye-smile. And those were enough to comfort Chorong for a little while.

Chorong's mind was going a hundred miles an hour in a thousand different directions. Her heart pounded into overdrive as she unlocked the front door and opened it. She felt like her heart could burst out of her chest anytime. After stepping in, she quietly shut the door behind her and called out to her wife.

"Bbom-ah?"

"Wow, someone's finally coming back after being missing for a week. Who's that person waiting for you outside? My replacement?" Bomi lambasted as she walked down the stairs and appeared in Chorong's line of sight.

Chorong shot her wife an incredulous look. "Are you accusing me of cheating on you?" she asked in disbelief.

"Aren't you?" Bomi spat, her voice laced with anger. She crossed her arms.

"You have the audacity to accuse me of cheating when you're the one having an affair behind my back."

Bomi glared at Chorong, narrowing her eyes at the latter. "You were acting all chummy with that bastard at the supermarket. It's shameless of you isn't it? What will the public think of you?"

"Were you spying on me?"

"I was only a running a background check on your secret girlfriend," Bomi answered with a touch of sarcasm.

Chorong rolled her eyes. "She's just a friend. Stop assuming things."

"You've been staying at her house haven't you?"

Chorong scoffed. "Why do you care?"

"Because you're my wife!" Bomi yelled, with the harshness and loudness of her voice conveying her pent up frustrations.

Chorong let out a dry laugh. "Right, so now you're finally acknowledging me as your wife? After months of not treating me like one?"

"I've just been busy with my schedules," Bomi replied flatly.

"Sure that's what you always say," Chorong said bitterly. "It's funny how you only care after I'm gone."

There was a flash of pain across Bomi's face. She quickly concealed it, but that didn't go unnoticed by Chorong.

"I don't understand you. Why did you change? What happened?" Chorong asked, no, more like she was begging her wife to explain everything that had gone wrong.

"I don't owe you an explanation," Bomi replied, with her face set hard as granite.

That made Chorong boil with anger. Her eyes swung to Bomi with righteous anger in their depths. "You do. You ing do, Yoon Bomi. I'm your wife. I deserve a ing explanation why you're treating me like trash."

There was an unreadable expression on Bomi's face until she finally let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. You want an explanation? Then I'll tell you. People change. Feelings change. Do you know what that means? It means-"

"Stop," Chorong interjected. She knew where the conversation was heading to and she refused to listen to Bomi anymore. "I don't want to hear any-"

"No," Bomi interrupted as her gaze on Chorong hardened. "You wanted an explanation so much, so I'm giving it to you now. I'm sick of you. I'm sick of us. I don't want this marriage anymore. I don't want you."

Chorong felt as if a freight train had smashed into her body.

A stinging slap landed on Bomi's cheek. "You heartless ."

Bomi didn't flinch. She remained rooted to the ground, wearing her mask of nonchalance. It was as if she was unfazed by the tight slap. Chorong didn't get it. It was a natural human reaction to wince at the sudden pain but Bomi looked as if she had expected the slap. Or rather, she knew she deserved the slap.

"You can have this house since it's under your name. I'll call my lawyer to prepare our divorce papers," Bomi stated. Her tone was so icy Chorong was sure it could instantly freeze all the melting ice caps in the northern and southern poles.

Chorong moved a few steps forward and cradled her wife's face. Her eyebrows bent inward as she searched Bomi's face for something- answers. "Why are you doing this, Bbom-ah? Tell me the truth, please. Don't lie to me."

"I've told you what you wanted to hear," Bomi responded as she looked at everywhere but Chorong.

"No.. no you're lying," Chorong insisted. "We've