Chapter Twenty Four:

The weeks go by and the growing of the small baby is occurring. Everyday something new is being developed; everyday my baby is getting bigger and stronger so that he can face this world. This world isn’t always the nicest, or friendlies place to be at times, but I’m going to do my best so that he will see the bright side of life.

‘Mrs Hwang, you can’t be serious right?’ Soomin sighed, throwing her hands in the air with annoyance and anger.

‘I sure am serious. That last apartment is the best choice,’ Mrs Hwang said, pointing at an image of the house on the laptop screen.

‘How is that the best house? It’s on the other side of town from work,’ Soomin went again.

This has been going on for the past couple of weeks now. First, they argued about moving houses. Mrs Hwang said that this apartment would not be safe for a baby growing up – too many ‘baby hazards,’ she had claimed. That was an explosive argument.

Back and forth, back and forth. Soomin and Mrs Hwang would not give up. Soomin wasn’t particularly happy about Minhyun siding with his mother to make the move. They had recently moved in together – she had sold off her own apartment and made it official that she was living with him permanently.

Also, Mrs Hwang demanded that Minhyun’s new house would be one that had a bedroom ready for her and Mr. Hwang whenever they came to visit. You can probably already see the joy that Soomin will be experiencing with each and every visit.

Initially Minhyun didn’t want to move, after all he adores this apartment – but mama knows best. And he was just sick of the bickering from the two. He promised Soomin a grand vacation before the baby is due though, which slightly consoled her from her loss.

So with the agreement to move, the next part of the equation is where to move.

‘It’s closer to Kyung Mi though,’ Mrs Hwang pointed out.

They have deuced it to two possible houses/apartments. The first one is one that is close to their current place – around 5 minutes away. 5th floor, 3-bedroom apartment. One for the couple, one for Mr. and Mrs Hwang and finally one for the baby.  It’s actually a little bit smaller than this apartment but then again most apartments are.

The last one, which is the one that Mrs Hwang is bidding for, is one that is much closer to my apartment. It’s around a 10 minutes drive from mine with bad traffic but it’s a walkable distance as well. It’s much nicer than my own basic and small apartment. In terms of practicality, the two places are basically the same – the location is what really differs.

‘And it’s 40 minutes away from work, that is 40 minutes one way. Mrs Hwang, you can’t possibly believe that we would chose that over a 15 minute commute?’ Soomin tried to explain her point.

‘Yes I can believe it. It’ll be too great of a distance to Kyung Mi,’ Mrs Hwang retorted.

‘What is wrong with a 35 drive for a visit?’ Soomin raised her voice to another decibel level and tone.

‘Well then what is wrong with a 40 minute drive to work?’

‘You cannot seriously believe that anyone would want to drive 40 minutes to work with possible traffic?’

‘If traffic is such an issue, take the train then’ Mrs Hwang suggested and shrugged her shoulders.

The two women continued their hot and heated argument in the kitchen, each going back and forth – never relenting to the other.

‘So how are you doing? Do we need to go on another shopping day?’ Minhyun asked, plopping down on the couch next to me.

‘