Chapter 14. Goodbyes

“Thank you very much, gentlemen and congratulations for a job well done,” Jonghyun stacked his own papers as the others left the conference room. He was watching Yonghwa by the corner of his eyes beside him and he could tell that his mind was somewhere far from the room, “What do you think of the presentations?”

It was a long morning for all of them as two assigned teams had to work on the same project and gave their preliminary presentations before they could get the approval of their clients. He continued to watch him intently waiting for his reply and decided to just nudge him, “Yonghwa to earth…”

“Yeah?”

Yonghwa turned to him with the same preoccupied look so he raised his voice and jokingly cracked, “Ya, snap out of it! I was just gone for three days and you have turned into an absentminded person I didn’t know you are. Something happened while I was away?”

“You wouldn’t wanna know,” Yonghwa’s smile was grim and he stood taking his own things and walking out of the room.

“Guess what?” Jonghyun tried to catch up with him as they walked the hallways of their office, “I do want to know. Don’t tell me you’re getting married.”

Yonghwa stopped without looking at his friend and sighed with the thought that the news had spread already, “Don’t tell me you heard it from someone.”

For a second, Jonghyun thought his friend and business partner might be pulling another joke but he looked too somber for that. Marriage or even being serious with a woman was not really his friend’s style after all so he insisted, “I was actually just kidding!” He sprinted in front of him totally stopping him from walking ahead again, “So is it true? You’re getting married? Forced? Arranged? What? Tell me the details!”

Yonghwa shook his head then opened the door to his office and was about to close it when Jonghyun held on to it and entered after him. His friend was obviously making fun of him so he tried to wave him off but knew that he couldn’t so he just allowed him to lounge on the sofa. He decided to tell him every tiny detail of what transpired days before, “And now she decided not to continue with the plan anymore…”

It really came as a shock and Jonghyun absorbed his story or tried to. Surely, his aunt had better reasons for that agenda and he could not tell if he should laugh at his friend’s misery or feel bad for him. He could not play as 'the friend' and give him a better advice since he could not even imagine himself on that situation. Being practical would give him reason to push Yonghwa to it since their company wasn't really on a good shape lately. But it was a fact that he could not handle relationship much more being an instant father.

“Now she has decided. How about you? What’s your decision?”

Yonghwa tapped his pencil on the table as they speak and it was making a rhythmic beating with the ticking of the clock. Unconsciously or not, he was paying attention on the way the hands moved for the past minutes they entered the room as if he was waiting for some sign. “Happy to accept that,” he reclined on his seat comfortably but suddenly stood as if remembering something he needed to do, “I have to go…”

“Hey! Where are you going?” Jonghyun ran after him but halted breathless as he called out with a chuckle, “Did you just change your mind?”

Yonghwa just waved his hand in the air as the elevator door closed.

It was the right thing to do. He told himself as he drove heading to the hospital and hoped, or not, that they were still there. Something in him really wanted to know their condition as she declared to be well and nothing for him to worry about. It was his growing conscience to verify her statement and it was his way to check that the baby Euna would grow up in a good environment with her mother.

He knocked gently without second thought and waited until no answer came so he opened the door expecting the room to be empty. His heart rapped in his ribs— relief washed over him. The bags that lay still on the bed welcomed him and behind those was the baby that seemed to be wide awake but quietly moving her little limbs around as if she was dancing.

 Yonghwa sat on the bed dazed on the little sight.

Seohyun let the water wash the suds of soap on her hands pondering on how she would carry their belongings out of the hospital. Aside from the baby bags, she needed to carry three more— a basket of fruits sent by his brothers, a bag of baby things from his parents and sisters-in-law, and the extra feeding bottles from Aunt Hyeon Ji. She would even love to bring the baskets of beautiful flowers but decided not to. She could call a taxi and ask for the driver to come up to their room to pick them up and sighed that it was somehow hard. She held up her hands to the drier and waited for a few seconds before taking extra tissue to wipe the remaining water off her skin.

A faint sound coming from the room made her decide to go out only to find him staring at Euna. It shouldn’t come as a surprise but after lunchtime passed, Seohyun gave up the thought that he would be there. And she was pissed. She too could not even reason with herself but she was upset of the thought that he wouldn’t come so, this time, she made sure he knew it as she spoke rather in a snap, “I thought you're done with the hospital papers yesterday. Did you forget something?”

“Nice to see you too,” Yonghwa replied amused by her obvious annoyance. After all, he did promise to be there earlier and it somewhat made him feel good that she would be pissed off by him being late. When she didn’t reply and just passed him by, he just smiled to himself and gently rubbed the baby’s covered tummy, “Well, I need to drive this little girl home.”

Seohyun pinched her eyes tight for a moment and ordered herself to be calm in the process. After heaving a deep sigh, she mumbled, “You don't need to. I don't want to drag you more than I did on this trouble, really.” She paced for a minute looking for something to do, trying to fill her attention with something else. Except that there was nothing else for her to do so she sat a few inches away from him.

Yonghwa smirked but noticed that they end up unconsciously staring at the same view lying on the bed. This teeny tiny view had taken up a big chunk of their lives especially for him— so suddenly at that. His gaze didn’t leave Seohyun until she noticed it and glanced back at him. And he wished she didn’t. Those eyes were boring into him but he could not really understand the depth of those emotions reflected on them.

Ignoring his confusions, he did what he could do best— he grinned at her, “I am not actually asking for permission. I am telling you what I intend to do.”

Despite that boyish grin he was wearing, Seohyun could tell the sincerity and determination in his eyes. He did so much for her and most especially for her baby. Not only that, she could not take this away from him. This moment he wanted to do something for Euna—even for the last time.

For only a short moment, he became the father that her daughter will never have.

That caused this unbelievable pain in her chest.

She looked away and nodded, “Okay...”

Minutes later, he drove through the familiar street that was exactly where they bumped into each other that fateful night. The only difference that made it almost unrecognizable for him was the swarm of people in that mid-afternoon buzz. He remembered the rain that night, it was some kind of a premonition that his life would be different— a whole lot different. 

Who would have thought that only five days passed? It felt like a lifetime for Yonghwa.

“Please turn right on that corner.”

Her voice distracted his thoughts as he followed her directions. The line of shops and commercial buildings disappeared and was replaced by this residential buildings. The place was barely a ten-minute drive from the lake house he