A/N: I’ve been very busy with work and grad school and I was just able to read the comments. Unfortunately for those who want a different ending, I’m telling you now that you can stop reading right here… I don’t have time to change anything that I’ve written. If you want you can write your own ending… consider this as open-ended if you'd want to stop reading ;)

Chapter 64. Closer to Forever

Euna scratched her eyes again trying to convince herself that she was not dreaming. The light music that her appa put on the car stereo was the only thing she could hear as he drove. They were going too fast that it somehow frightened her but she liked it that way—they could reach her mommy very soon. Euna looked at her dad’s face while he drove and he looked at her really quick too and smiled. She loved that kind of smile he had on his face—suddenly, he looked too different. His face was so peaceful and, like, really happy.

“OMO!”

She turned to him again with a question.

“The ring! How could I forget that? We have to go back…” Yonghwa was ready to make a U-turn when her little voice almost rang in his ear.

“Nooooo! We should not go back, please Appa! If we go back now it would be hard to stop the plane when it’s flying in the sky and the house is very far!”

His little smart kid had a point. It was really too late but it would surely be a waste. Maybe he could improvise. Yonghwa sighed, “Yeah, I guess… we can give the ring again tomorrow. What’s important is—“

“Stopping the plane,” Euna said nonchalantly.

“Right!” He laughed out loud, pride rushed in realizing that he really did have a smart girl for a daughter.

Euna heaved a sigh of relief and settled comfortably back on her seat. Not only it scared her that they wouldn’t make it on time but the thought that her appa would find out that the ring was not with her anymore was kind of scary. She wanted her mommy to have that ring so much that she brought it with her when she hid in their house.

At first it was her idea to ask Chairman harabeoji for help to tell Joohyun umma not to leave her appa but he had a better idea. She could still remember their conversation when he came to visit her in school one afternoon.

“I always wanted you to be my granddaughter but I was shy to ask your Appa if it would be okay if you would call me grandpa. And when Joohyun and Yonghwa got together, I was happy that finally Euna will really be my granddaughter. And I heard you really want Joohyun to be your umma?”

She just nodded because she was still surprised talking to him, “But I think they are not very good to each other anymore…”

“Yes, I know that too, so I’m here. You see, I have a plan but I need you to help me...”

Euna liked the idea that they would play a little trick on umma and appa so that they would have a chance to be together and probably talk longer. They made it appear like she ran away from home to look for her mommy but the truth was her grandfather took her to their big house and let her stay in her mommy’s play room. She was really sorry for making her halmeoni and appa worried and her mommy sad but she thought it was the best plan.

Nana was really nice to her too because she was the third person in the secret plan as what harabeoji called it. She took good care of her and even cooked delicious food and snacks. They also baked cakes and cookies that her mommy ate for snack whenever she was home and what Euna would never forget was the night when she first arrived at the house and her mommy came home that night too. They almost bumped into each other by the hallway but Nana was fast enough to hide her inside the playroom. She remembered how she held her breath when her umma came inside and talked to Nana while she tried to fit her body inside the dresser.

She giggled but bit her tongue so she would stop giggling so her appa wouldn’t notice—oh well, it seemed that he was not really paying attention to her anymore. Maybe he was also excited to stop the plane. Euna just hoped she would not be stubborn again.

~~~

Of all the things he would be forgetting, why would it have to be the ring? Yonghwa called himself every other word that meant fool since he couldn’t imagine a wedding proposal without the ring. After the failed one he did last time, he vowed to give her something even more romantic. He couldn’t consider himself romantic so the clichéd roses and ring would probably do the trick, only this stopping-a-plane could be considered as the cherry on top. To redeem himself from the thought that Joohyun deserved nothing but the best and he couldn’t deliver that, Yonghwa just told himself that she didn’t give him time to prepare.

Perhaps he should just compensate this cliché-ness every day for the rest of their lives together. Yonghwa vowed to give her nothing but happy tears tonight and onwards.

He couldn’t wait any longer.

Yonghwa could feel the tension was gradually burning his mind and heart.

What if they were too late? Then he would have to follow her there.

What if she said no? That was a tough one. No available solution.

Now, Yonghwa badly needed lady-luck, a guardian angel and a fairy to help him make things better.  It was starting to rain heavier again but it was way past rush hour so the roads were clear. Despite this, he couldn’t stop but worry. Looking over his shoulder for a second, he noticed that Euna was looking out of the window, her little finger was tracing on the fog that was forming on her window.

A thought struck in his mind.

He remembered clearly that night of her birthday. Euna’s wish. Her prayer.

“Just give me a raindrop if it’s a yes—even a drizzle would do…”

A shiver barreled through his system. Raindrop. Drizzle. Storm.

All these time, Ha In was giving them the sign Euna wished for. He wanted to laugh. That very first day at the company party, Yonghwa looked for his little girl since it was drizzling and he found her talking to Joohyun. At the cemetery when he broke down. The storm when Euna ran away.

“Oh god…” he mumbled while running one hand through his hair. After making a short prayer, he tapped his daughter’s shoulder as if consoling her, “She gave us her sign…”

“Hmm?” The little girl frowned as her head tilted slightly in confusion.

“It’s not a raindrop, Euna, not even a drizzle!” Yonghwa spoke excitedly, “We will make it, Joohyun will be your umma soon.”