Chapter 111. Love is Painful

Seohyun yawned as she shifted on her side reaching out for her phone to check the time but when she caught sight of him on her periphery, she smiled, “You’re home early…”

He didn’t say anything to that but just took a quick swig from his glass making her frown at the fact that it was also too early for him to be drinking. However, her attention shifted to her little girl who started tossing and turning by the foot of the sheets. She croaked when her baby started whining, “Euna, are you awake now? I’m here… open your eyes, puppy…”

She turned to the direction of her voice but Seohyun could tell she didn’t see her yet. Euna was just blinking trying her best to keep her lids from closing again. Her lips was pouty but the moment she focused on her face, she smiled and literally rolled along the remaining distance between them. She laughed and heard Yonghwa chuckling as she cooed at her baby, “Can’t get fast enough?”

To her surprise, Euna pushed herself up and draped her body on her face, her chubby tummy falling directly on her face. Seohyun got hold of her and pushed her gently before she’d get suffocated and Euna ended up with her lips on her forehead. She squealed happily most probably thinking her umma was playing with her and gave her an open-mouthed kiss on her nose. Seohyun giggled wiping her face with the back of her hand but Euna seemed to be delighted and satisfied with herself that she showered her with more wet kisses.

Once she stopped and slipped off her mommy, she landed on her bottom sitting up facing her. “Did you miss umma after your three hour nap?” Seohyun cooed but her attention was not on her anymore since she was staring intently at the musical book near her feet. After a few seconds of obvious contemplation, Euna crawled to it and started biting on its edges

“Euna, did you know that Appa is home?” Hearing the word made her look at her umma with a big grin so she continued, “Yeah, he’s home early. In fact he’s behind you.” She said pointing at him but the baby was just waving the book happily that Seohyun moved and turned the baby around to face her appa, “There he is!”

The moment her gaze landed on him, she squealed, dropped the book and crawled to him. Yonghwa smiled and waited for her to move closer to him and push herself up by anchoring her little body on the edges of the couch. She was already whimpering evidently upset that her appa was not helping her so when he did, she buried her face on his chest and spread her tiny arms across him.

He smiled kissing the top of her head and patting her back gently. “Did you miss me?” He whispered and kissed her cheek when she looked up at him, “Were you good today?”

“Why are you drinking so early?” Seohyun asked from across the room without looking at him while she fixed their little corner. When he didn’t answer, she shifted her gaze to them and saw how he was just cooing at Euna and realized that she was getting ignored. “What did I do this time?” She grumbled to herself soft enough for him not to hear.

She let this go this time thinking that, like in the past, he would end up just talking to her so she busied herself with the things she needed to do.

“I need to be in Busan for a week…” he suddenly spoke but his eyes only passed her for a second.

Seohyun found herself staring at him until she realized that he must have been thinking about this trip so he looked distant, “You can’t take us with you?”

“I’m afraid not,” Yonghwa replied quietly placing the baby on his lap and handing her a toy that went straight to

“Oh, okay,” she replied standing up slowly taking the empty bottles with her, “When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow…”

Seohyun paused, her gaze was on him but her mind was all spinning too fast she couldn’t even form a concrete thought. All she had was this feeling that something was off he couldn’t even look at her.

It made her wonder if Aunt Hyeonji talked to him— her heart palpitated hard inside her.

What if she told him what she promised not to be revealed? She swallowed back the lump that formed in . Is he panicking? Is she seeing the tell-tale sign that knowing how she feels terrified him?

He looked up to her and frowned. After a deep sigh, he spoke, “I need to meet up with the land owner for our new project and also survey the site.”

“I see…” she replied in a soft voice and hurriedly left the room. The sudden thought alarmed her that all she wanted to do was to cry. Now, she was just too afraid to ask what was wrong which would be easier before her talk with his aunt. But if he was going away without them, then he probably needed the time and space to think and she should honor that.

Besides, she too needed those.

With all the strength she could muster, she managed to quietly wash the baby bottles without tearing up. His apparent silence remained all through dinner and he masked it by paying more attention to everything that Euna did. Seohyun was dying to ask him to talk to her before he left but she was also afraid with what he would say. By night time, he offered to put the baby to sleep and she remained downstairs for a bit trying her best to keep calm and wait for him to initiate and say whatever was bothering him.

After a while of waiting, she realized that she shouldn’t expect too much and she decided that it was better to wait for him to be asleep before going up— it would be easier for her. She slipped out into the balcony of the living room and curled in the lounger. She sniffed and realized she was about to cry so she pinched her nose as hard as she could.

For all she knew, this could only be paranoia.

“What are you doing out here?”

Seohyun turned to see him by the doorway, his face hidden by their dim surroundings. She smiled looking in front of her again as she answered, “Just catching some air…”

He was quiet and she prayed to herself for him to go away before her tears show but Yonghwa walked to her and spoke softly, “Care for a company?”

She smiled and scooted a bit to give him space. She sighed when he wrapped his arms around her that her head ended up resting on his chest. “I’ll miss you,” she found herself saying.

“Uh-huh…” his only reply.

Seohyun swallowed back the tears, “Will you?”

“I would definitely not miss myself,” he said with a chuckle and she elbowed him lightly so he pressed a kiss on her temple, “What was it again? ‘Seeing you still missing you’?”

She smiled— at least he was still throwing jokes.

Somehow, she could feel that there was something in this ‘air’ despite his attempt of humor. But what he said was true for her as well so she replied, “Yes, you’re with me but I feel like I’m still missing you…”

“Yeah,” he sighed and held her tighter.

“Call me every day…”

“Don’t worry…”

“I can’t help it, Oppa. I will worry… you won’t be anywhere near…”

“I know how t