Chapter 10. Stroll

He woke up in the high pitched singing of Euna, it seemed that the new energy she discovered two days ago has become stronger. A smile formed on his lips when he recalled how she looked as she imitated Joohyun—the way she would flip her hair on the side, the way she pursed her lips, and even the way she heartily laughs were all naturally embraced by his own daughter.

On the breakfast table, he and his mom looked at each other when Euna politely told her grandmother that she is not buttering her bread correctly.

“Why? How should it be done,” her halmeoni asked with humor.

“Like this,” Euna demonstrated with her cookies, “You should break the bread and butter each one and eat and butter and eat!”

“Ya… who told you that it’s the right way?” Yonghwa laughed.

“I saw Joohyun Unnie doing it like that with the cookies so I think it’s the right way,” she declared as a matter-of-factly.

“Joohyun—Eunayah!” Yonghwa stumbled on his own daughter’s name and his mom’s laughter grew louder, “Whatever Joohyun-ssi does doesn’t mean it’s the right way of doing stuff.”

“But I think her way is better than ours so we better change on her ways,” she blinked twice as she explained, “Appa, I should know.”

“Aigoo…” Mrs. Jung wiped her tears from so much laughter, “Let her do whatever she pleases…”

“But, Umma—“

“See, Halmeoni? It’s really a girl thing,” her serious expression never waned as she insisted her belief, “Appa won’t understand it.”

He has to give up or else it would be another long winless discourse. He noticed that Euna was no longer bringing up the Joohyun-should-be-the-new-mommy subject so he assumed that she has gotten over the idea or she realized how much he dislikes Joohyun.

Euna understands after all, or so he thought.

~~~

She carefully laid the flowers on her mom’s grave and gently brushed the soil on her tombstone, “Hi, mom… I know you’re upset, sorry if I just got to visit now. The gallery is doing well and Oppa is happy, yeah we are still taking care of each other just like what we promised you and Imo. But THE abeoji is jealous, as always, it’s his fault anyway,” she rolled her eyes, “But don’t worry, umma, I’m taking care of him now.”

She wiped the tears that were slowly forming in her eyes, “I’m sorry mom, I’m such a cry baby. I can’t help it, I miss you so much. It still feels so empty every time I go home not seeing you there and it hurts the most because the house has your smell. Changmin Oppa is still in New York, I asked him to bring flowers to Auntie’s place too and he asked me to bring you flowers from him. I hope everything is okay between the two of you, you have struggled so much for all of us. Don’t worry about appa, I’m on a mission now to let him retire early and have his life back. A girlfriend maybe?” She laughed at what she said as she thought of her mom’s wrinkled nose, “I’m just kidding, but who knows, if it could make him happy… we will give way this time, right mom?”

She hugged her legs and rested her chin on her knees and curled her body like a lifeless ball. The sun has a mellow glow and the breeze has that kind of lull that persuades her to sleep right there. She let her tears freely escape on her closed eyes, she loves that kind of solitude once in a while, escaping all her fears and worries and just letting nature take over her and her mom’s memory to keep her company.

When her mom was still alive, they revolved their worlds around each other that her dad felt left out most of the time. She has been sick but she kept it to them so it was very hard for Joohyun to accept what happened. She loves her so much that she always does whatever she knows could make her happy. She rocked her body back and forth like she is comforting herself from her own grief. She knows that her mom is beside her on that moment and so her tears welled up like she cried for all those years she hasn’t been on her resting place.

She stood and made her final prayer before saying goodbye to her mom with the promise of doing their ritual soon.

~~~

He found himself looking at the empty table on the corner of his office. She’s late! He muttered under his breath feeling irritated again, not that he is actually looking forward on seeing her but he just wants to try if he would have that strength to be nice to her however annoying she gets.

Yonghwa stood and decided to hang out with Jonghyun for a bit, just to release even a bit of tension he was feeling. When he was about to take hold of the knob, the door opened and the woman on the other end of the door was surprised finding him there.

“Oh, I’m sorry…” she said in a tone that he could barely hear, “Sorry, I’m late.”

For a moment, he stood by the door watching her every move and especially noticing how she looked lethargic and the usual glitter in her eyes were missing. And Yonghwa could not figure out exactly how that made him feel. Joohyun was already in her desk, skimming through a particular folder while waiting for her computer to open but he remained there watching her, looking for a sign that she was the same woman who belligerently fought with him. Suddenly, while his thoughts wondered, she looked back at him like it was the first time she saw him in the room. He cleared his throat not knowing what to say until he mumbled mindlessly, “Ms. Seo, where’s the report I asked you to do?”

“I am actually wrapping everything up,” she said looking back at her screen, “I’ll just give this to Ms. Kim later.”

“Oh, okay…” Yonghwa nodded almost to himself. The weird thing about the situation was that he was waiting for their usual banters to happen. Has he gone crazy expecting her to say or do something to annoy him? He moved towards his table totally forgetting where he was even going before she came in. Sitting back on his chair, he thoughtlessly added, “Uhm… after that, ask her about the other FS, I already told her about them. Make another report and give it to her as soon as you’re done.”

Finally, she revolved her seat and faced him, “Hmmm… I’m sorry but I’m not really feeling well right now. After I finish this, can I go home? Promise, tomorrow I will work on what you want and finish them before you know it.”

It was only that moment that Yonghwa could observe how lifeless she appeared and somehow, something told him that she just cried. It was probably the whole sympathy thing, he shook his head listlessly like he didn’t really want to talk to her. He spoke in a small voice, “You don’t need to finish it. Just go home and rest.”

“No, this won’t take too much time,” she weakly smiled. There was something different about him. Maybe she just look that terrible that even this person who had been giving her the cold shoulder was sympathetic. But then again she didn’t have the energy to fight so she shrugged, “I’ll finish this up, but thanks…”

Yonghwa sighed as spun back to her work. Stupid but he was battling over the idea of asking her what was wrong but he decided to keep his distance. He has nothing to do with how she feels so it’s better for him to stay away. Perhaps she had a fight with one of her boyfriends and the thought made him feel rather uncomfortably