Chapter 5. When Opportunity Knocks

He brushed his palms together and put them near his nose. The scent of the sanitizer still clung to his skin and the memory of what just transpired brought a mixed feeling of awe, fright and amazement. His sister-in-law, his friends' wives and even some of his girl friends have been through that but it was like an eye-witness account for him. It was something very admirable to this specie he used to just play around with.

It was very astonishing that he could not contain from smiling to himself.

The door to the room opened and some personnel went out talking amongst themselves of another successful evening and some looked to him with sympathetic joy written all over their faces. It was weird but he felt the pride somewhere inside him. When the voices and the footsteps disappeared by the hallway, he ran his fingers through his hair only to notice that he was still wearing the cap and even the hospital uniform they made him wear. He almost laughed with the idea that everybody thought of him as the father.

The idea of suddenly becoming a daddy sent shivers down his spine.

“Yonghwa!”

His aunt’s voice made him stood up straighter and instinctively ran to the woman whom he regarded as his second mother, “Gomo! She had the baby and it was really amazing! You should have seen that!”

Hyeon Ji was perplexed on how her nephew looked and the news he just broke, “What in the world, Yonghwa? I thought you hit someone...” then she grimaced and eyed him sharply, “Yonghwa-ya... you hit someone in a different way?”

Yonghwa's smile faded in a second, “What?”

“You had this girl pregnant and she just gave birth,” she lowered her glasses by the bridge of her nose.

“What— No!” He burst into laughter when it dawned on him. But then, he scratched his head thoughtfully, “Everybody here is thinking the same thing too...”

She listened to him as he detailed the whole story. Maybe it was just her but Yonghwa looked very different—not only by the way he looked but something about him was so not him. Like the little boy who was just arguing with his father hours ago just transformed into this man recounting how a new life came to be while he was holding the mother's hand.

But something was not right.

“It was really wonderful and... and...”

“Yonghwa, Yonghwa-ya, you said this woman is alone and she looked like she was really heading to the hospital already. Why? I mean, where's her family? Her husband?”

He stopped to give it a thought. With everything that just happened, his aunt’s questions were surely not as trivial. He frowned as his mind started asking the very same questions. Then he shook his head remembering what he noticed a while back, “I... I don't know... I think she's not yet married.”

“How did you know?”

“I know it's a silly presumption but she's not wearing any ring.”

Hyeon Ji stopped for a bit. Her mind tried to process what he said. Slowly, almost absentmindedly, she sat on one of the benches by the lounge. “This could be an opportunity,” she said thoughtfully to herself.

“Opportunity for what?” He sat beside his aunt curious of that look on her face.

“She has no ring so she must be a single mother. She is not with any of her family or even a single friend so she must be all alone. All alone like she intended or she really has no one to turn to— nowhere to go to.” She continued then stopped for a few bit then looked straight to Yonghwa, “What if you take them both in? Listen… that was not just an empty threat your father threw your way. Pretend for a while that the baby is yours and he will be off your back.”

“What?!That is ridiculous!” He stood abruptly, “How can you even think that way?!”

“Yonghwa... I was just suggesting...” Hyeon Ji looked around and bowed an apology to a couple who passed by in front of them then turned back to Yonghwa, “who knows, she still needs your help and it will not only benefit you but her...”

“No, no... no... no,” he scowled, “I did what I can already. For her— for them. That's all, and besides, that would be lying to my...”

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