Chapter 16. Found

She rose to transfer the simmering water from the heater to Euna’s thermos. It has been almost an hour since her baby fell asleep again and a few minutes since she had her own nap. Seohyun felt restless but she could not understand why. Perhaps, it was Euna’s cranky mood since they got to their house.

The first thread of morning light streaked through the tiny hole on the wall and settled beside her. She sat on the floor and blow on her cup of milk before heating her system with it. The laundry has to be done later after her breakfast and before Euna wakes up again. After that, she would ask Mrs. Choi, her landlady, to watch over Euna so that she could make a quick visit to the convenience store.

She sighed and gulped the last drop of milk and got up to wash the cup. It was time to start the day. Seohyun opened the door to welcome the morning breeze. She held on to it a bit and left it ajar since the air was too cold for Euna. It almost slipped out of her sight but it was too obvious.

The bunch of paper waved proudly with the wind. Seohyun frowned since she knew exactly where they came from.

“Aish, that jerk!” She complained out loud and stomped back into the house. She was determined to give it back to him. He must be thinking that they were some sort of charity case and it pissed her off some more.

“Seohyuna!”

The familiar voice made her smile and forget, for a moment, that infuriating person. Seohyun opened the door wider then stepped out to meet Mrs. Choi. The old woman hugged her tight that she could swear her windpipe would burst if she didn’t let go of her soon. She coughed and the woman laughed realizing her situation.

“What happened to you? Do you know I was really planning to call the police if you wouldn’t appear within a week?!” Mrs. Choi cried then looked over her shoulder, “Is she here?”

Seohyun nodded with a big grin then watched as the older woman walked inside her tiny apartment. Mrs. Choi lifted her gaze at her with a gentle smile and Seohyun had to rub her arms feeling the goosebumps that formed in her skin. She remembered her mother. She would have been the first woman to see her baby. She knew that even if she would be very disappointed with her, she would be so ecstatic to meet Euna.

Hyeoyeon Kim is a tough woman. Stricter than the headmistress she had back in boarding school. But she was a fun-loving adventurous woman. Her Umma would always say that she got her spirited soul from her and she believed that. This blip— Euna, her baby, she probably happened from Seohyun’s too spirited nature. She was actually a product of her attempt to make a statement for her hardheaded father. The kind of statement that would shake their worlds. But Seohyun miscalculated and although she didn’t regret now that she pursued having a baby, that decision was a whole lot stupid than she would admit it to be.

“Now, tell me the rest of it…”

The voice of the older woman brought her back to reality. Seohyun smiled when she saw Mrs. Choi cradling the now wide awake baby on her chest. She started her story on that night she felt the first of labor and her old friend was quick to scold her for not asking help from her.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t really want to be an inconvenience,” Seohyun sighed then she mumbled almost inaudibly, “But I ended up inconveniencing someone else.”

The woman looked up with a questioning stare, “What do you mean?”

The version that she told was the abridged one, setting aside the proposition she got along the way. What was so surprising to Mrs. Choi was that there were still these rich people with magnanimous heart. Although Seohyun didn’t tell her that the Jungs even settled the hospital bill, the older woman still assumed that her random benefactors had done so much more for her and Euna.

And it was all true.

“And now, these…” Seohyun sighed as she raised the bundle of money she got from her clothesline this morning. By the looks of it, it could probably last them two months of food supply. His intentions may be good but it annoyed the hell out of her.

“Why that long face?” Mrs. Choi smiled, “It’s a blessing.”

She shook her head, “It is a blessing but they’ve given me more than enough. I can no longer accept these. Besides, I pointed that out to him yesterday when he gave this to me!”

The older woman laughed, “Alright, so what do you plan to do with it now?”

Seohyun sighed, “That entails me to ask for your help. I want to give this back to him and maybe if it won’t be too much to ask if you could look after Euna while I’m gone—”

“Oh, shush!” Mrs. Choi laughed, “While I don’t disagree that you give the money back, I would be very happy to look after this little puppy.” With that Euna stirred and opened her eyes much to the older woman’s amusement that she cooed, “My, hello there, Euna!”

“I will just feed her and I’ll go so I could get back the soonest,” she gave Mrs. Choi an apologetic smile.

“Aish, why are you saying that? You can take as long as you want.”

Seohyun grinned guiltily, “And then I might drop by the store for some things…”

“Take as long as you want,” Mrs. Choi said in an exaggerated drawl then gave the younger girl a sidelong glance, “He must be a very good looking fellow, huh?”

She almost choked with the older woman’s remark then asked just out of curiosity, “What made you say that?”

“Aigoo,” Mrs. Choi cooed at Euna as if she was tal