25. Appa

It was his first morning away from his bed and there was this force that pulled him out of sleep remembering who he was going to wake up on— wake up for. He rose from the bed he would have to occupy for a year. Thinking about that, he realized that they already spent a few days from that one year. He didn’t want to count but he knew she had been doing that from the very beginning.

A few minutes later, he left the guest room and got this weird feeling when he knocked on his own bedroom. Seohyun opened the door looking fresh and hardly disheveled, a sign that she had a good rest. Yonghwa, though, asked anyway, “How was sleep?”

“You should ask Euna,” Seohyun grinned gesturing towards the bed where the baby was staring at the toys dangling in front of her. She added as she watched him unceremoniously slumped on the bed on his stomach to greet Euna, “She only whimpered when she was dirty or hungry. It even seemed that she didn’t want me to cuddle her and just be put back in her crib.”

Yonghwa laughed looking at Seohyun when she sat on the bed across him, “How so?”

“That one time after feeding and burping, I let her stay on my chest for a bit just to cuddle before I put her back but she just whimpered. I thought the light was too bright so I put her in the crib to adjust the lamp but she just closed her eyes and went back to sleep…” Seohyun shrugged.

“Now we know she likes her room,” he retorted casually and, to his surprise, she nodded in agreement. Euna made that little growling baby noise so he turned to her, “Good morning, Euna. I heard you had a good sleep…”

Seohyun smiled while he continuously cooed the same sentence over and over again and in different pitches. She was getting used to this now, watching the two of them together. Suddenly, Euna’s head slowly moved to her appa’s direction and she stopped jerking— stopping any other movement she was making but her eyebrows pulled together and her forehead wrinkled. Yonghwa suppressed his laughter looking at that tiny angry person glare at him, “Uh, Euna! You look like your mother!”

She should have been upset but Seohyun found herself laughing since her baby really just froze and looked as if she was glaring at him, “She’s irritated by your cooing.”

Yonghwa laughed and scooted closer to Euna and rubbed her head gently, “Arasso, I won’t bother you…”

As if in response, Euna sighed out loud then rubbed her fist on her face. To the delight of her ‘parents’ though, her lips curled into a tiny smile and she held it a little longer than all the other reflex smiles she had been showing in her early life. They looked at each other as her face relaxed, both of them basking at that small moment. Yonghwa spoke, “We should have her pictures taken. She’s really cute when she smiles like that.”

“Especially when she smiles in her sleep…” Seohyun said in response. Perhaps her baby was in this stage where she would be calmer than the first week. She prayed that it was the case because her body was still healing and the pain in most parts were still bothering her. But she couldn’t complain— she didn’t want to complain. The past two nights had been good for her with Aunt Hyeon Ji looking after Euna on the first and just last night. Although she woke up really early, her baby was an angel that night.

It was a few minutes after six but they were both up an hour ago. Seohyun hoped that Euna would go back to sleep soon so she could also start with her chores. Her gaze fell on the man who had that permanent grin on his lips while watching Euna watch her toys spinning slowly in front of her. She frowned thinking to herself that he looked like he didn’t even realize what day it was so she decided to burst his little bubble, “What time do you go to work?”

“Can’t wait to get rid of me?” He chuckled when she grunted.

“It’s not that.” She stood and picked up a wandering pillow from the floor and laid it by Euna’s foot, “Can you watch her for a bit? I will try to make breakfast.”

Yonghwa laughed at the way she over-emphasized the word then replied lazily, “I’m already looking forward to it…”

“Don’t expect too much…” she moved the baby gym aside and threw a big pillow at him, “Wanna have tummy time with her?”

Yonghwa grinned and nodded. She lifted Euna as he fixed the pillow by the headboard then settled he comfortably. She arranged Euna on his chest with her little head just a few centimeters away from his face. “Just for about five minutes or if she starts to cry put her back on the bed.”

“Yes, mommy.”

Seohyun smiled bending to plant a kiss on her daughter’s head. Her heart rapt on her chest that millisecond when she was about to straightened that it only occurred to her how close her lips was to his own. When her eyes drifted to him, she noticed his smirk.

Seohyun hurriedly slipped off the bed and out of the door.

“Your mother is queen paranoia…”

She shook her head but she was smiling when she heard what he said as she headed downstairs.

A few minutes passed, he emerged in the kitchen dropping Euna’s carrier on the counter. With the last plate of side dish on the table, Seohyun checked her baby and saw her droopy eyes and her pouty lips, “Hey, why are you still awake? You’re sleepy but you don’t want to sleep yet?”

“Wow…”

Yonghwa’s nonchalant comment at the spread she had on the breakfast nook made her laugh but she spoke rather guiltily, “I only scrambled eggs and cooked the rice. The side dishes are from your parents. I think we can finish all of them in the next four days.”

He shook his head noticing her tone but decided to put her mind at ease, “You’re good at budgeting… don’t worry apparently I have budget for weekly groceries. Let’s eat while she’s not yet crying…”

As if on cue, Euna started whimpering so Seohyun pulled the carrier closer to where she sat and rubbed her chest lightly as she spoke looking at him, “Then I better eat fast.”

“You don’t have to,” he shrugged pointing at the baby.

Seohyun sighed as her baby simply closed her eyes. She thought she needed feeding but she just fell right into sleep. They fell into a comfortable silence as they ate as well and Seohyun somehow felt giddy that he basically ate all the scrambled eggs she made. It wasn’t much really but she wanted to do something for him and she couldn’t probably do all those grand gestures of thanks and he definitely wouldn’t accept her verbalizing it all the time so she might as well do the little things.

Just as they were about to finish, a middle aged woman called out a greeting from the living room and Yonghwa stood taking his empty plate to the sink. “That’s ajumma. I called her last night and asked to buy some groceries and explained about you and Euna. She said she can also help you with her so you can rest.”

“I’m okay, you don’t—“ she stopped when he groaned.

“Can you not argue with me on this?” Yonghwa sighed, “I know what’s in that mind of yours…”

“You do?” She scowled.

“I have a clue,” he muttered. He knew she would be like this but, just like everything else, he needed to use his convincing superpowers so he went on, “Come on, Seohyun. Mrs. Kim’s here on weekdays but only between nine and two. Normally, she only comes here for two or three days since there isn’t much here to be done. She’ll help you with the laundry and mostly the cooking. Take this opportunity at least to do something for yourself during the hours she can look after Euna. You have to rest too, be healthy… for Euna if you don’t want it for yourself.”

She nodded. After all, she shouldn’t get angry but be thankful. Mrs. Kim appeared in the kitchen and Yonghwa introduced them. Seohyun reckoned that she was in her early fifties but unlike her landlady, she seemed subdued and quiet.  However, the moment she laid eyes on Euna, her face brightened and assured her that she would look after her daughter like her own granddaughter.

Yonghwa excused himself to get ready for work and they started putting out the groceries that Mrs. Kim brought. At that time, she got into conversation with the older woman and she realized why she was a bit indifferent when she first arrived. Seohyun realized that Ajumma was not very happy with the idea of couples living together without marriage and she fully understood that it was still frowned upon in their society. Although it made her feel uncomfortable, she realized that somehow it was another good reason for her to agree with the set up since it would be even harder if she was known to be as a single mother.