16th April, 2.30am, 12°C

Tiffany couldn’t sleep that night. She had been crying in bed for the last few hours over the thought of not being able to see her daughter again. She had contacted her lawyer earlier that night to see if there was anything that she could do.

“Since, you have violated the joint custody agreement that we have accepted in January, I’m afraid there’s nothing can be done. He will have full custody.” Her lawyer said. “Your ex-husband has the right and responsibility to determine every major’s decision in Emily’s welfare.” Her lawyer added.

“My concern is not her welfare. I know with all my heart that Nick will decide the best for Emily. My biggest concern is..” Before Tiffany could finish her sentence, her lawyer had interrupted her.

“Visitation.” He said. Tiffany didn’t say a word back. “Tiffany, you may still be granted visitation rights with Emily. Whatever that is happening right now, she is still your daughter and you are still Emily’s mother. Whether it is supervised or not, or regular or not, it still depends on the both of you.” He further explained.

“If Nick is still willing to discuss, then maybe we could work things out on preparing a schedule. Maybe you could visit Emily during the weekend or alternate weekends.” He continued. “But let say if the both are you were unable to reach for an agreement, then the court will decide.” He said.

Tiffany knew how Nickhun is. She knew the guy would do everything to keep Emily away from her. But at that point there was nothing more she could do. She had made up her mind that she would wait for Emily for as long as it took her.

Tiffany was sitting on the bed looking at her old phone that she finally got back yesterday. Nickhun was the one who took her phone and her car keys away the moment she agreed to all the terms of the joint custody earlier that year. She was staring at the phone silently with her puffy eyes.

She took the phone and straightaway switched it on. After a few seconds of waiting for the phone to start, countless of text messages and miscalls were coming in. Her tears were flowing down her cheeks the moment she saw most of the text messages were from Sooyoung. She didn’t even have the guts to read it since the texts were all received dated back in January. Tiffany knew how badly she had hurt the girl and maybe there was no explanation that she could offer to her that would make things right.

She braved herself and clicked one of the messages that was sent on 14th of January.

From: Sooyoung
Message: It has been 12 days without you here. I hope that you are okay. I pray that you are okay. There are no words that I could say to show how badly I am missing you. I long for the day that you would come back to me. Please be well. I love you.   

After reading 4 messages, Tiffany put her phone aside. She just couldn’t control her feelings. She was crying so badly. “God, please give me strength to go through this.” She mumbled in between tears.

*****

“Alright everyone, listen up. Opportunity like this doesn’t come every day.” Kyung Ho started to speak using the microphone. He was in a bus with his staff as they headed their way to Jeonju. The time was around 8am and the workshop was scheduled to start around 2pm later. “I know it’s last minute, but think of the benefits that you would gain from this workshop.” He smiled.

Sooyoung was seated alone at the back of the bus as she was staring outside the window. Ever since she saw Tiffany again the other day, she had been distracted. She wasn’t even listening to what her boss was saying in front.

“Hey Sooyoung, are you alright?” Suddenly she was startled the moment someone came to her. “Huh?” Sooyoung quickly turned to look at the person when the person sat next to her at the empty seat.

“Are you okay Soo?”

“Yes boss. Sorry.” Sooyoung responded with a smile. Kyung Ho had always been concerned about her and she was so very grateful to have