Chapter 7. Confusions and Questions

“Besides, we want to see our angel again.”

Yonghwa would have laughed when the woman asked like they were going to kidnap her baby if his aunt did not look at him that way. He rolled his eyes because he knew for sure the game she was playing. His loving aunt want him to see their angel again like she was expecting him to feel attached to the baby.

He could almost laugh at that as well.

While waiting for the nurse to come, the older woman maintained her maternal role to the younger one already reclining on her bed. She kept her head low but still managed to answer in small voice whenever his aunt asked her something. Yonghwa remained by the window as well, he didn’t really know where to place himself. He knew too why she wanted the woman to rest and why they needed to go back later that day.

He sighed. It was good though, perhaps she’d be able to think things through— to realize how absurd her idea was.

His thoughts were distracted when a small knock came by the door and his aunt rushed to meet the newest arrival. As expected, she gushed all over the baby.

“Oh, sweetheart, look at you!”

Hyeon Ji took the baby from the nurse and stared at her for a moment before giving her to her mother. She sat beside them on the bed and helped Seohyun get into a more comfortable position. “Now, what are we going to call this little flower here?”

Seohyun smiled as she brushed her thumb on her baby’s almost non-existent hair, “Euna.” She looked up at the woman with a smile, “I want to call her Euna.”

“Euna!” Hyeon Ji clapped her hands and gave Yonghwa a knowing look, “What a fitting name! Isn’t it, Yonghwa?”

He grimaced. Well, hell, his mother is Eun Suk. It really is fitting.

Hyeon Ji laughed softly at that expression her nephew was wearing but when she noticed Seohyun’s confused look, she cleared and continued cooing at the baby, “She is getting prettier…”

“She is…” Seohyun finally said with a smile as she gently laid her lips on her baby’s cheek inhaling her distinct scent.

“She looks just like you…”

“Thank you…”

Yonghwa scoffed. Didn’t she just say the baby looked like him when he was a few hours old? That thought made him turn towards the source of noise. But the sight stopped him on his track. There was this same very weird feeling that crawled through him— like the very first time he laid eyes on that little thing. He swallowed hard but he couldn’t move. From where he stood, he could only see the little limbs that were peeking from the fabric she was bundled in and his aunt was also blocking his view.

The need to get closer was getting stronger. His hands fisted on his sides as he closed his eyes.

Seohyun’s gaze drifted towards the man on the far end of the room. His eyes were close but there was this tightness on his expression. He must have hated her for bothering him. She winced and was about to look away when he suddenly opened his eyes and his sight landed straight to hers. Sweet, sorrowful tingles spread through her. She looked away.

Yonghwa grimaced realizing that the woman probably saw that expression. Looking at her, it seemed that there was this silent sadness in the smile she was giving her baby. Was it because of him? He shook his head and decided to just face her— face everything that his aunt shoved into him.

“How are you feeling?” He asked the moment he neared the bed.

“A little better, thank you…”

She gave him only that polite answer without even looking at him. He hated the feeling. He hated the feeling that he could not understand what he was actually feeling. Then his attention shifted towards the tiny bundle. The little one's eyes roamed all over the ceiling like she was seeing dancing fairies hovering above her. Maybe she did. The thought made him smile. opened and her little tongue darted out. A small sound invaded the silence of the room. It was one small sigh from the baby and the two women laughed. But Yonghwa, he couldn't laugh from this unrecognizable emotion. He took a step back and mumbled, “I… I have to go.”

Seohyun looked at him again. His voice softened like he was unsure— like he didn’t really mean it. She could only manage a smile, “Thank you… for everything. And I’m sorry—”

“Stop it. You said it already.”

“Yonghwa…”

His aunt scolded softly, it must have sounded different from what he meant. He shook his head with a sigh, “I mean, you don’t have to apologize for anything. Just— just take care of your baby and, and… be healthy…” It sounded like a question. He has always been eloquent— he knows the right words to say and when to say them, but right that moment, he felt like words failed him.

Hyeon Ji quietly listened to this very, very awkward quasi-conversation between these two young people. She had been in the delivery room before and she knew that the experience could be life-changing. Could it have changed these two lives as well?

She hoped so.

But for the time being—

“We really should get going,” she smiled and gave the young woman a soft kiss on top of her head then whispered, “You did really well back there in the delivery room. Yonghwa said so himself.”

Seohyun was left tongue-tied with that as she watched the two people she barely knew walked out of her definitely expensiv