(Wow, finally hit the big 2! Thanks for subscribing!)

Gary and Ji Hyo hadn’t really left the hospice yet. Of course, their visit couldn’t be so short and simple. Gary and Ji Hyo went into the staff room, where there was a lounge for them to rest. One of the staff brought some food over. She was in her sixties, a small, bespectacled woman.

“Are you feeling okay?” she asked the couple, who looked worn out.

Gary smiled weakly. “We’d be fine after a rest.” Ji Hyo had already fallen asleep.

The woman sat down on next to them.

“It’s really admirable of you,” she said. “To spread hope to the kids even when you are in this condition.”

Gary had told the staffs about his and Ji Hyo’s illnesses. Usually, it takes a while to arrange visits to hospice, but they made an exception for them.

“No, we should have started this earlier,” he said.

“Most people in your shoes would whine and blame everything else,” she said. “Or they would give up hope and live in despair… I’m glad both of you can still be a source of laugher.”

Gary shifted Ji Hyo, so she can rest on his thighs. She stirred a little from the movement, but Gary just brushed her hair and told her to go back to sleep.

“It was her idea,” he said, looking at Ji Hyo gratefully. “She was the one who pulled me out of despair.”

“Both of you are good people,” the old lady said. “I really hope a miracle can bestow upon you.”

Gary sighed. “Miracles don’t happen so easily,” he said. “But, even if they do, I hope that this chance can be passed on to the kids,” he continued, as his eyes wandered off to the door. “They are still so young, but we’ve lived for several decades.”

The old lady nodded, smiling sadly. Then she stood up. “You should rest too,” she said, turning to leave. “I’ll wake you when the kids are asleep.”

He nodded as a form of thanks, and slowly drifted off to sleep, with Ji Hyo still hugging his hand.

A couple of hours later, the staff came in to wake the couple up as promised. The couple, as well as some of the staff who volunteered to stay over, worked hard to prepare a surprise for the children.

They first pumped up balloons of various colours. There were hundreds, maybe a few hundreds of them. They assembled the balloons in an arc shape, forming a structure resembling a rainbow. However, they weren’t able to obtain all the colours of the balloon, so their rainbow was a strange combination of red, gold, yellow, white, blue and black. But still, it was a rather pretty sight.

They then stuck colourful ribbons in the halls, where the children spent most of their time. On the medical equipment, Gary and Ji Hyo personified them by drawing funny faces, making them less scary.

It was close to three by the time they were finished with the decorations. Then, they moved on to the kitchen. They were going to bake a cake. From their talks yesterday, Gary and Ji Hyo learnt that many of the kids wanted to eat a cake once more, and some hadn’t even gotten the chance to try it.  But it wasn’t a normal cake. It can’t be, since the kids have to avoid unhealthy foods.

So, the plan was to use white rice as the base. Purple rice, brown rice, seaweeds, carrots, slices of fried egg and cherry tomatoes were used as decoration. They finished their ‘cake’ by 6 am. During the cooking, or whenever there was time, they wrote cards for the kids. It was close to 8 by the time they were done, and it was almost time for the children to get up.

They washed up and got ready to surprise them.

One by one, the kids slowly woke up and filled the hall.

“Wow, so many balloons!” they exclaimed as they entered.

“It’s a rainbow!” someone said.

They roamed the hall, admiring the new decorations. Then, Gary and Ji Hyo entered the room with the cake.

“Whoa!” the kids exclaimed in surprise, both at the sight of Gary and Ji Hyo and the cake.

“Why are you still here?” they asked, giggling, but their eye