Soon, it was time for us to go back to our country.

“Jesper darling, we’re going back home later in the evening. Let’s go visit daddy before we leave, okay?” I shouted from the bathroom. Surprisingly, little Jesper didn’t wake up at 6 o’clock today to watch his cartoons. It was already almost 9 and his eyes were still tightly closed. No signs of him waking up at all.

I walked out from the bathroom to see the boy still soundly sleeping. I went closer to pat him. He opened his eyes slowly, pouting. “Mommy… ”

The four-year-old stretched his arms out paging for a hug which I gladly took in before I noticed his body was a little too warm. I quickly placed my palm on his forehead. Not this time. Right, he had been in and out of the hospital for the whole week and I forgot to bring his vitamins along for the trip.

“Jesper, do you feel uncomfortable?” I asked.

“Hmm…” he was dozing off again. Great. Both the Byun’s are sick now.

I carried him to the bathroom and cleaned him up. I dressed him up with 3 layers of clothing before we left the hotel room to the hospital. I had experienced worse of Jesper down with high fever. A mild one like this wasn’t that worrying for me to go all panicky. As we got down the cab and entered the hospital we went straight to the pediatrician.

Mild fever. Medication. “You may go now.” The doctor said so simply after a 5 minutes consultation. Whut even.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the doctor and left the room quickly after thanking him insincerely. I took the prescription, paid the bill and went directly to the big Byun’s ward with the small Byun in my arms. I've come to know the routes in the hospital already, after reporting at the hospital everyday.

“Sally! There you are! I was wondering if you had gone back to your country already!” I heard Mrs. Byun’s voice the moment I stepped into the ward. I bowed with a smile to her and Mr. Byun, greeting them politely. “The little one is down with fever so we came late.” I explained as I turned a little to show the sleeping boy in my arms.

“Omo, Jesper’s sick too?” Mrs. Byun came and touched the little boy’s forehead.

“I’m not sure if his condition is suitable to fly later.” I said as I passed her the little one.

“I don’t think he should fly.” I heard Mr. Byun say as I was getting Jesper’s thermos bottle out to make him some milk before he took the medicine the doctor gave previously. “But the flight ticket… And hotel…” I replied after a few seconds, a little distracted by what I was doing. I didn't actually look at Mr. Byun as I didn't actually notice who made that statement.

“You can come stay at our place! Baekbeom’s room is empty since he moved out after marriage. Baekhyun is coming back later today or tomorrow according to the doctor. He got 3 months of medication leave which the company had already approved. He is coming back home.” Mrs. Byun said casually, rocking Jesper back and forth.

“Ah, really, thank you! But it would be very troublesome for you all. Besides, Jesper still has classes back there, I have work as well, eomonim.” I rejected the offer as I poured the hot boiled water into the bottle.

“It’s okay to stay, Sally.” Mr Byun’s voice hovered from my back, I finally registered he spoke previously. I turned back to see him sitting beside Baekhyun and the now patient celebrity was looking at me as well.

“You can stay.” he said, still looking into my eyes.

I forgot to answer anyone. All I did was staring back into Baekhyun’s eyes. It felt like everything stopped and a century had past before I looked away to Jesper’s tiny figure.

“I… I’m just a stranger.”

I couldn’t help it.

“I might not remember you, but I know you. (You’re) Not a stranger.” he said as loud as he could since I was standing at the other end of the room but he still sounded pretty weak. He coughed a little as he finished his line. He winced at the movement he induced on his ribs. I was going to drop the bottle and run to him by instinct but I saw his dad patting him, bringing him water and my rationality told me to keep on doing what I was doing.

“I will think about it... “ I said as I shook the bottle to homogenize the milk powder and sat down beside Mrs. Byun. I carried the little boy back in my arms and shook him awake. “Piggie, wake up for milk.” He slowly got up and grabbed the bottle with two hands, drinking the warm milk bit by bit. As he finished his milk, he took the medicine which the doctor prescribed previously and he asked absentmindedly, “Mommy, what time is our flight later? Can't I not go back...”

He repeated the second part again in Korean, pouting as he added one more line to it, “난 아빠의 옆에 있고 싶어요(I wanna be by daddy’s side…)” I looked at Baekhyun by natural instinct and he was smiling upon hearing Jesper’s previous statement. “Omo, he learnt to speak Korean already? Such a clever boy! Aigoo!” Mrs. Byun was pretty surprised.

Jesper got a big kiss from his grandma before he giggled and yawned as the medicine took effect on him.

“Sally-ah, just stay here for a few more days, at least let Jesper recover first.” Mr Byun who had been talking a little more than he usually did spoke again. I thought for a few seconds and agreed to it by nodding my head and whispering thank you.

That afternoon, Baekhyun was discharged from the hospital. As his father drove him home with Jesper, his mother followed me to the hotel to check out and we took a cab to their house. As we reached their house in Bucheon, I took out my wallet only to realize I didn't have any Korean currency left after I paid for Jesper's visit to the pediatrician just now. Not that I had much of it even before that. Remember I came to this country really spontaneously.

Mrs. Byun saw and she touched my hand, shaking her head with a smile, gesturing that she would pay. The second we got down the car, she asked in a joking manner, “did you spend all your money on the trips to and fro the hospital these few days?”

“Ah… Yeah. I didn't have much Korean currency to begin with as we came in a rush...” I answered, feeling a little embarrassed. “Don't worry! Eomonim works, just so you know.” She said with a wink. “Let's go inside. It's cold out here. The three Byuns are probably inside already.” She carried one of the smaller bags which I brought along and led the way to their house.

It was a unit with 3 bedrooms and 2 living rooms in a condominium. It wasn't a very big and trendy or glamorous house. But it was definitely a very warm and welcoming house. When we entered, Mr. Byun was just closing the door behind him, which I suppose was Baekhyun’s room, judging from the location of the room which was in between two other doors. His parents would take the master bedroom of course.

“You guys are back. Jesper's with Baekhyun in his room.” Mr. Byun said as he walked over to take the bag his wife was holding and showed me to Baekbeom-oppa’s room, that was diagonally beside Baekhyun’s room. Connecting the two rooms was an attached bathroom. I thanked him after he handed me the small