“Hyunjoong, what are you looking at?”

 

Hyunjoong didn’t respond. He couldn’t move. There in front of his eyes was Somin, looking as beautiful as ever. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t even utter a single word. They stood like that, both staring at each other.

 

Suddenly, Hyunjoong’s view was blocked. Jinho had come over and shielded Somin from him. Before he knew it Jinho, Yoomi, and Somin were all leaving to the nearest exit.

 

“Oh my god, it’s her isn’t it?” Maerin looked at Hyunjoong. “What are you doing just standing here?! Go after her!”

 

“What’s going on?!”

 

They both looked up to see Dongwon running towards them breathless. “I just got word that Jung Somin left unexpectedly. Does this have something to do with you Hyunjoong?”

 

Hyunjoong looked at Maerin and then at Dongwon. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

 

Hyunjoong began running towards the main entrance of the venue. Once the doors opened for him Hyunjoong ran down the stairs as quick as he can. He saw Somin and Yoomi entering a black Mercedes with Jinho slamming the door shut. Hyunjoong pushed through the paparazzi, who were by now swarming around him.

 

“Somin! Somin, I know you’re there.”

 

As Hyunjoong reached for the car door, a great force pushed him back. Jinho looked at him with angry eyes. Hyunjoong reached for the car again but was only pushed back once more.

 

“Go!” yelled Jinho. “Start driving!”

 

Once hearing Jinho’s orders, the car sped off.

 

“What is your problem?!” Hyunjoong shoved Jinho off of him. “Jinho, who the do you think you are?”

 

“ off Hyunjoong,” Jinho put his hands in his pockets. “I’d punch you if there weren’t so many people here.”

 

Hyunjoong looked around him and realized paparazzi were taking pictures.

 

“Hyunjoong!”

 

The two of them turned around to find Maerin and Dongwon running towards them.

 

“What happened?” asked Maerin. “Did you talk to her?”

 

“I see you’re still with this ,” spat Jinho.

 

“Hey!” Dongwon yelled. “That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about.”

 

“Jinho…this is all a misunderstanding. I don’t get why you won’t let me near Somin!”

 

“This guy over there’s your boyfriend Maerin?” Jinho asked ignoring Hyunjoong. “Wow, you get around a lot don’t you?”

 

Dongwon grabbed for Jinho’s collar and pulled him in close to his face. “Say that again you son of a .”

 

Hyunjoong went in between them and pulled Dongwon off of Jinho. “Not here, in front of all these people.” Hyunjoong put a hand on Jinho’s shoulder. “Let’s stop this.”

 

“No!” yelled Jinho as he threw Hyunjoong’s hand off his shoulder. “You’ve hurt her enough already. I won’t let you hurt her again.”

 

“That is not for you to decide!” countered Hyunjoong.

 

“Yes it is! She’s my friend and I’ve taken care of her for all the years that you’ve been gone. You weren’t the one there for her when she was crying every single night. You weren’t there for her when the baby was born. You weren’t there for her the way Yoomi and I were.”

 

“You don’t get it Jinho, I’m doing all this to be there for her again. She’s the one I want.”

 

“No,” replied Jinho. “You don’t know what you want.”

 

Just then, a taxi pulled up next to the curb. Jinho gave one last look at Hyunjoong, entered the taxi and left.

 

Hyunjoong closed his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. His hands were balled up into a fist at his sides.

 

“You have to make things right Hyunjoong,” spoke up Maerin. “This can’t go on this way.”

 

“I know,” replied Hyunjoong. “I know.”

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to be stay with you?” Yoomi put a hand over Somin’s hand. “I can stay here with you for tonight.”

 

Somin shook her head no. “Go home, Jinho will be expecting you. I’ll be fine on my own.”

 

Yoomi starred at her before giving in. “Alright, we can talk about this another time.”

 

Somin smiled. “I’m sorry I snapped at you before.”

 

“You had every right to,” Yoomi squeezed her hand. “Call me if you need me.”

 

Somin stepped out of the car and waved goodbye as it left. Once the car had turned the corner and disappeared Somin turned around and began making it up to her parents’ house. Every light was off except for a dim hue in the living room. She opened the front door, walked in the living room, and found ahjumma sitting on the living room couch watching a late night drama on the television. Upon hearing her heels hit the floor, ahjumma turned around.

 

“You’re home, it finished early?” Ahjumma stood up from her seat and walked over to Somin. “Wow, you look dressed to impress. A little too much on the ruffles but other than that I like it.”

 

Somin laughed. “Thanks, ahjumma. Where’s Eli?”

 

“Sleeping like a baby upstairs,” Ahjumma began to reach for her coat and shoes. “I’ll be heading on home now.”

 

“Wait, let me call for a car fist.” Somin grabbed her cell phone in her small purse and called a car company to pick Ahjumma up.

 

They waited for ten minutes, before the car finally arrived. She hugged ahjumma good bye and thanked her for the extra hours.  She closed the door with a heavy sigh, took off her heels by the door, and began making her way up the stairs to her bedroom.

 

She quietly opened the door knowing well that Eli was fast asleep. She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it. She began to Eli’s hair. “You look so much like your father.”

 

All except for the large brown eyes, which were Somin’s, the rest of Eli’s facial features looked exactly like Hyunjoong. When Eli started to grow up, it sometimes hurt Somin to look at him. There had been bouts of depression here and there but Somin had forced herself to overcome it. Seeing Hyunjoong now, brought all those depressing feelings back. A tear escaped from her eye as she held Eli closer to her chest and cradled him in her arms.

 

“I’m so sorry Eli, I’m so sorry.”

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

Ding!

 

The elevator doors slid open and out walked Hyunjoong. He looked around him to find the penthouse number and walked to it. Hyunjoong quickly rang the door bell.

 

The door opened, revealing a shocked Yoomi. “Ki—Kim Hyunjoong?”

 

Hyunjoong bowed his head down to her. “Hello Yoomi,”

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“I came to talk,”

 

“Who is that Yoomi?” Jinho appeared behind Yoomi and upon seeing Hyunjoong his expression became sour. “What are you doing here Hyunjoong?”

 

“Like I said I came to talk,” He pushed through Yoomi and Jinho and walked into the penthouse. “Nice place you got here,”

 

“You son of a—“

 

“Jinho,” Yoomi stopped him. “Hyunjoong, would you like something to drink or eat?”

 

Hyunjoong gave her a smile. “Water would be nice,” Hyunjoong watched her walk into the kitchen before sitting down on the living room couch. He looked over at Jinho who was still at the door way. He gave him a little smirk, “You can sit if you want.”

 

“What do you want Hyunjoong?” asked Jinho as he took a seat across from him.

 

Yoomi came back into the living room and set a glass of water in front of Hyunjoong. She slowly sat next to Jinho.

 

Hyunjoong took a sip of water and silently placed it down. “If I have to come and beg on my knees for permission to talk to Somin then so be it. But, I’d prefer that we don’t go to that extent.”

 

Jinho snorted. “Permission?”

 

Hyunjoong nodded. “Permission, because you just can’t seem to let Somin be her own person and let her decide things on her own. And I want to know some things”

 

“She obviously doesn’t want to talk to you,” yelled Jinho. “So leave her alone! How many times do I have to tell you that?!”

 

“I’m not going to leave her alone until she tells me herself that she doesn’t want to see me!”

 

“Enough! The both of you!” Yoomi sighed. “You two are giving me a major headache.” Yoomi turned to Jinho. “You need to let Hyunjoong and Somin fix this problem their selves.”

 

“Honey!”

 

Yoomi shook her head and grabbed Jinho’s hand. “Sweetie, just leave it alone. I know you really care for Somin and I really care for her but this is not something that we should be in the middle of. Just let it go.”

 

Jinho closed his eyes for a moment and let out a small sigh. “Fine,” Jinho turned to Hyunjoong. “What do you want to know?”

 

“All I want to know is my son’s name.”

 

“Jung Eli,” replied Yoomi. “His name is Jung Eli.”

 

...........................................

 

“Hey, it’s me.” Hyunjoong opened the penthouse lobby door and began walking towards his car. “I want you to look up a Jung Eli in the Seou area. I want to know what school he goes to and once you find it text me the address.”

 

Hyunjoong hung up the phone and climbed into his car and started to drive. She named him Eli. With one hand, Hyunjoong reached inside his shirt and pulled out the long silver chain that he had worn for so long. He began rubbing the two rings attached on it together. It was calming for him as he drove.

 

After receiving the text Hyunjoong began to make his way to the elementary school that Eli attended. It was a public school that was near the Jung Tech Cell Phone Company building.

 

He looked at the time and realized that school was going to be let out very soon. He pumped up the speed and in no time arrived outside of the school.

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

Somin grabbed her black pea coat, put it over her dress and buttoned it up. She grabbed her bag filled with files and paperwork. She walked out of her office and greeted all the assistants’ goodbye with a smile on her face. Somin finally had the rest of the afternoon off and all she wanted to do was pick up Eli from his school for the first time since they moved to Seoul.

 

Her car arrived outside the building, and she switched places with the valet. Somin turned up the radio and began making her way to the school. Her mood was happier since last night. If she just continued to stay away from Hyunjoong than her and Eli would be fine.

 

Thankfully the school was near by and Somin arrived ten minutes after the end of the school day had rung. Somin got out of the car and walked inside the school. She went to his classroom and found his teacher sitting on the desk grading papers.

 

“Hello Miss Nam,”

 

The teacher looked and stood up upon seeing Somin. She extended her hand for Somin to take. “Hello Eli’s mother, you’re here today.”

 

Somin shook her hand. “Yes I am, where’s Eli?”

 

Miss Nam turned towards the window. “He’s outside with your husband,”

 

Somin looked at her confused. “My…my husband?”

 

Miss Nam nodded. “Yes, your husband. He came in ten minutes before you. He’s outside right now in the playground with Eli.”

 

Somin didn’t respond as she began to run outside towards the elementary school playground. Once reaching outside, Somin stopped short and held her breath. There sitting side by side on the swing set was Hyunjoong and Eli. They were talking.

 

All of Somin’s anger began to surge inside her as she walked over to the swing set. They both looked up at her as she grabbed for Eli’s arm.

 

“Somin…”

 

“No! Don’t you dare say my name,” Somin pulled Eli off the swings and pulled him close. “You have no right to be near him.”

 

“Mom, what are you doing?” Eli said. “He looks like daddy, we were playing together.”

 

Somin looked down at Eli then back at Hyunjoong. “We’re leaving,”

 

“Somin, wait!”

 

She felt Hyunjoong grab hold of her arm. She stood frozen in her spot fighting back tears.

 

“Please, just talk to me.” He tightened the grip on her arm. “Let’s just talk.”

 

Somin pulled out of his grip and picked up Eli in her arms. “I’m not ready Hyunjoong to talk to you.”

 

“But you’ll talk to me eventually.”

 

The desperateness in his voice, she heard it. It just wasn’t the right time. She turned around to face him and for the first time in five years, they were really taking a good look of each other. “I don’t know…”

 

“I…I don’t want anything else but to talk,” said Hyunjoong. “The three of us.”

 

“I can’t promise you anything but please, give me some time,” replied Somin. “Goodbye Hyunjoong,” She began walking out the back of the playground and quickened her pace as she headed towards her car. She placed Eli in the backseat of the car. She slammed the door shut and just as she was about to enter the driver’s seat, Somin spotted Hyunjoong running out towards them.

 

She turned around as Hyunjoong stopped a few feet away. Somin slowly shook her head, telling him to not come any closer. Somin inhaled a deep breath, trying so hard to keep the tears from falling and entered the car.

 

She quickly sped off without looking back. Somin’s grip around the steering wheel tightened as she entered the empty highway. Somin began to speed.

 

“Mom why did you do that?!” exclaimed Eli. “Mom he looked just like daddy! He was very nice. He even offered to buy me a donut.”

 

“Eli!” yelled Somin. “Please don’t talk right now. Please! I don’t want to hear about it right now. I should be grounding you for talking to strangers!”

 

“He’s not a stranger!”

 

“Yes he is Eli!”

 

“No, he’s not!” Eli began to sob. “I’m not stupid mommy.”

 

Somin looked at her rearview mirror to catch a glimpse of Eli who had curled up in a ball. “I know you’re not sweetheart, I know you’re not.”

 

“Then why don’t you just tell me that he’s my dad,” replied Eli. “I don’t want to pretend anymore.”

 

“You’re not sure of---“

 

“I know he is mom!”

 

“You’re only five years old, how could you even remember him?!”

 

Eli began rummaging in his bag and took out his pencil case. He took out what seemed to be a folded piece of paper and held it up for Somin to see through the rearview mirror.

 

“It’s him!”

 

Somin didn’t dare look. Her vision became blurry as the tears she was trying so hard to hold back began to fall. “Eli…”

 

“It’s not your fault Mom, I know that you don’t want to hurt me anymore.”

 

Suddenly, Somin heard an elongated beep and the rushing speed of a car driving past and stopping several feet away from Somin.

 

Her instincts quickly stepped on the brake. The loud screeching noise rang in the air as the car dangerously pulled to a stop close to the car in front.

 

Somin regained her nerves, unbuckled her seatbelt and looked back at Eli. “Are you alright?!”

 

Eli nodded, perfectly fine.

 

“This bastard,” muttered Somin. “You stay here Eli.”

 

She exited out of the car and began walking towards the car that had almost caused a severe accident.

 

Long thin legs began to get out of the driver side of the car. Somin squinted her eyes to get a better look. Long jet black hair appeared and a face that was so familiar to Somin that it hurt to look at her.

 

She began walking towards Somin and as she reached face to face with her, she smiled. “It’s been a long time.”

 

“You too, Maerin.”