Chapter 119. Limbo

By the time Yonghwa left her apartment, he was confident that things would go smoother this time. Her brother was right— he didn’t want to spook Seohyun and just slowly creep in her good favors not only because of their baby but he was genuinely lost without her. Hence, despite the aching to ask her back to the lake house, he decided that he would make sure she was ready— as well as him. After everything that happened, there was no way he would let her go.

Thus, he was back again the next day after leaving work early in the afternoon. He wanted to spend as much time as he could with them. These thoughts made him smile as the elevator door chimed signaling he was on the right floor. Yonghwa exited with that smile never leaving his cheeks. Once in front of their door, he rang and waited until ajumma answered. He didn’t expect that but he was early so there’s that. However, the shrill cry tore through the background and the old woman unlocked the main door for him and hurriedly told him to go in. Yonghwa chuckled as he made his way in the apartment listening to Ajumma’s desperate pleas for the baby to stop crying.

“Euna…. Euna?” He cooed when he reached the living room where the old woman bounced the angry baby in her arms. When Euna didn’t seem to hear him through her crying, he walked to them and just took her from ajumma. “Sweetheart?” Yonghwa whispered repeatedly along with her name in a soft tone to calm her. And after a few seconds of flailing, it was apparent that she just realized who was holding her that her loud shrieks were replaced with soft sobs and she turned her face to him.

And smiled— a tear-stained smile.

“There she is,” Yonghwa chuckled kissing her forehead while she sniffed, “Why are you so upset?”

“She just woke from her nap,” Mrs. Kim replied with a sigh looking exhausted.

He chuckled then asked noticing that Seohyun was not home, “What time do you usually go?”

“Around this time but I have to wait for her Umma, starting today apparently,” she replied pulling a chair from the kitchen table and taking a seat, “Do you know it’s Seohyun’s first day at her job?”

“Ah, neh, she mentioned yesterday,” he nodded while rocking Euna gently, “If you want to go, I can look after this feisty one until her umma gets here…”

The old woman gave him a big grateful smile and stood, “Thank you. Your daughter was very antsy today. She probably she knew her umma was not around and she has gotten used to her being with her all day.”

He sighed kissing his daughter’s head while she buried her face on his chest. Poor baby, she must have thought that, like him, her umma was no longer around too like he was for the past days. It was still bright outside so Yonghwa decided to walk Ajumma to her car and let the baby have a change of scenery to at least cheer her up.

They didn’t stay long outside because he wanted to be there once Seohyun came home. Euna too got cranky and thankfully Mrs. Kim already prepared her food that the moment he sat her on her high chair, she stopped screaming like nothing happened.

“Maybe Ajumma just didn’t feed you enough so you were cranky all day?” He said after putting a spoonful of the squash porridge in . Euna puckered her lips and blinked heavily, “Yummy?”

She smiled so he chuckled and leaned in to kiss her cheek but she pushed his face away then tried to reach out for the bowl. “All right, all right,” he laughed giving her another scoop, “You’re such a hungry little monster.”

Euna ate and ate like she had been starved while Yonghwa wondered how late her umma would be coming home. But then again, he decided to ‘live’ in his office for the time being. The decision came to him the night before thinking it was more practical to sleep in the office than drive home considering he would be closer to them. With that thought in mind, he packed extra clothes in his gym bag and stealthily kept it in his office. Hence, he was not really rushing to get ‘home.’

The baby was on her last few scoops when the alarm system rang and they both sprang to attention and looked at each other. “Umma’s here,” he grinned and Euna flapped her arms in the air like she knew exactly what it meant, “Come, let’s meet Umma.”

After quickly wiping her face, he picked her up and carried her to the hallway to meet Seohyun. However, the moment the door opened, the ready smile he had on was replaced with a frown finding another man beside her as she looked at him while holding a hideous looking bouquet of red roses.

“Oh, Appa is here!” She casually crooned and wordlessly handed the flowers to the stranger then got her baby. Ignoring him, Seohyun turned back at the other man. “This is Euna,” she spoke in Japanese introducing Euna and coaxing her baby to respond to the man who tried to get her attention.

Yonghwa was still standing by the doorjamb looking more stupid with every second that passed. He was waiting for the introduction but it seemed that she had forgotten his presence all together.

His saving grace came at that little form of his baby girl who suddenly reached out for him when the other man tried to get her from her umma. It was the encouragement that he needed to swoop in at the seemingly private conversation that kept him out whether deliberately or not.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” he crooned when Euna whimpered burying her face on his chest, “Appa is here.”

Hugging his baby tight, he turned to them and spoke rather flatly, “I’ll take her inside.”

It was obvious that he was irritated especially seeing her far chummier with that guy he suspected she knew from way back. “At least I have you,” he murmured cuddling his loyal little girl on the couch. Euna squealed when he playfully bounced her on his lap until her umma appeared in their field of vision that she whimpered with arms stretched out towards her.

Seohyun walked to the room bypassing them to take the vase from the kitchen counter then arranging the flowers on it. He carried Euna to where she was because the little one was already crying for her. Seohyun finally move closer to them and got her. “Hi, my Euna,” she cooed softly while rubbing her face on the baby’s, “I missed you a lot. It was a long day without you.”

“But you couldn’t come home fast enough,” Yonghwa grunted on the corner stool he perched himself on.

She only giggled looking back at him, “Well, for Euna’s information, they threw me a little welcome party and it would be rude to just leave while everybody else was still eating. Right, sweetheart?”

That small attention from her mother was enough for the baby that she squealed in delight. He only scoffed watching as she paced about using her free hand to keep the feeding bottles and other stacks of dishes drying by the sink. The fact that she remained mum about that guy who obviously walked her home irked him— like he didn’t deserve an explanation.

She might think that but he has every right to know who that guy was since he had given her the same courtesy when he stopped dating even before they established their ‘relationship’.

“Who was that?” Yonghwa finally managed to ask then raised a brow when she didn’t even look affected by the question.

Instead, Seohyun smiled, “I thought you’d never ask.”

He followed her every movement with his eyes, “Still, you’re not answering…” When she passed closer to him, Euna bent forward towards him arms reaching out to him. He smiled at his baby but frowned at her, “Old friend? Boyfriend?”

“Appa’s jealous,” she fake-whispered to Euna who grumbled louder so Yonghwa just took her from her mother who was obviously making fun of him.

He grunted again making Seohyun laugh but she tapped a hand on his shoulder as she moved behind him in an attempt to appease him. “He’s my brother’s childhood friend,” she answered at last, “And he worked for the firm in Japan. So Oppa thought he’d be a good addition to the team here.”

“The flowers are from him?” He murmured while tryin