The next morning, Mr. Jung woke up earlier than Daehyun. He looked to his side to find his only son was sleeping soundlessly with his head was put on top of his right arm. Although he didn’t look like he was comfortable in that position, it seemed like he was too tired to care about anything. Mr. Jung smiled to see Daehyun’s sleeping posture. How he missed the old times where he would be coming to Daehyun’s room every night to check if he had gone to sleep or still awaked. Last night’s memory suddenly recalled by itself in his mind.

In his deep sleep, he could hear a recognizable but rare-to-be-heard voice calling out for him. But he was afraid to reply the voice because he didn’t want his hope to crash down as he decided to remain quiet. But it bothered his mind when the voice didn’t stop yelling out his name; no. It wasn’t his name but it was the name that he had been longing to hear.

“Dad!” no, it couldn’t be his son. That was what his mind kept telling him. But there was none other person that would call him as ‘dad’. But then, he swore he could hear the voice everywhere around him; on his right and left; in front of him and behind him which made him feel like running away but he didn’t want to stop listening to the voice because it was something that he had been longing to hear.

He hesitated to answer the voice even though the voice didn’t stop calling out his name. Just when he was desperately wanted to reply the voice which he strongly believed belonged to his son, he could not. He didn’t know why he couldn’t. He wanted to scream badly but he couldn’t do that either. That was it until another voice greeted his ears.

“Daewon, I’m here.”

He knew that voice very well. He even recognized the voice more than anyone else would. It was the voice of his one and only angel that he would never replace even though 1000 angels came to him. The voice belonged to his wife that he cherished very much; Lee Misook.

“Misook! Where are you, my lady?” Daewon frantically searched around for his wife but he couldn’t find her anywhere. Where was her? Didn’t she know how much he had been missing her days and nights? Why didn’t she show herself in front of him? Didn’t she miss him too?

“I don’t want you to be thinking of me, Daewon. That’s why I can’t appear in front of you. This is all I can do; which is to talk to you without seeing each other. No matter how much I want to run into your embrace, I really can’t. Besides, I’m not going to talk about us,” Misook told him.

“What do you mean, Misook? Then?” he required.

“It’s about our son, Daehyun. It’s time, Daewon. It’s the right time for you to show him that you really care and love him, to prove that you can be a father that he looks up to and to improve your role as his father. And there’s only a thing that I wish from you, and that is for you to stop those illegal doings you’re doing right now. Look at what happened to you now, Daewon. You almost got killed. Are you just going to sit and watch if such thing also happens to our son? Let me tell you something, if our Daehyun gets hurt in the same way as you, you’ll be the last person that I’ll forgive,” Misook harshly remarked. She loved their child very much and she wanted him to be protected no matter under what circumstances. Albeit she knew that her son was capable to protect himself and people around him, but as a mother, she really didn’t want her son to be hurt because it’d also hurt her yet even more.

Daewon froze to hear what his late wife was telling him. He knew that Misook really loved and cherished their son but it was shocking that it was to a point where she wouldn’t forgive him if Daehyun got hurt. He had the same thought with his wife, he didn’t want Daehyun to be hurt as well. It hurt him to see a fragile and weak Daehyun and he always questioned his role as Daehyun’s father. Was he a good father to Daehyun? He showered him with wealth, but what about love? Ever since Daehyun was a little kid, he was always busy and had to leave Daehyun with Misook. Was he that bad as a father?

“I know you well more than anyone else in this world, even more than Daehan. And I also know Daehyun more than you and even everyone. I really beg you, please take care well of our son. He’s the only treasure that we have, Daewon. Give him more love and make him feel loved that I couldn’t give him enough. I want him and you to be happy. I want to see him and you living like a normal father and son. Is it that hard to fulfill my request? Don’t do it for me, do it for Daehyun and you. The both of you should really stop being stubborn. Do you know that he inherits his stubbornness from you? Well, he basically inherits everything from you. Do cherish him more, Daewon. Behind his coldness towards you, it’s hidden the huge love that he never gets to show it to you,” Misook softly told her husband. She really wanted to see her husband and son to be in a very good term. It frustrated her when her death became the reason why her son and husband started to be in a cold term. Was she the one to blame?

Daewon slowly nodded to what his wife told him, “I’ll try my best, Misook. That’s all I can promise you. I’m afraid if Daehyun doesn’t want to—”

“No, he won’t. Trust me, he’ll start to cherish and appreciate your presence more than before. And before I leave, I just want to tell you that I love you very much, Jung Daewon. And do tell our son that I love him as well. Our son is waiting for you right now, don’t you hear his voice calling out for you? You should wake up now, husband,” with that the demure voice was gone and didn’t come back yet it was replaced with another voice; the voice that he had heard it before.

He felt his hands being squeezed as a voice spoke, “I’m sorry, Dad. I’m really sorry.”

With all the force he could gather, his eyelids fluttered opened and the first thing that caught his gaze was a crying boy right next to him. He knew the boy; it was his son. He wanted to comfort him badly at the moment and his hand moved up to touch the top on Daehyun’s head. Even though his hand was shaking, he finally made it.

And when his son was looking right on his face, he gave him a small smile as he spoke, “Daehyun, my son,” and that was when Daehyun threw his arms to hug him as he called Daewon with a name that he had been missing to hear, “Dad!”

He smiled in relief to remember what happened. It felt like a dream but it didn’t want this to be a dream. He knew it was real. As he was so into staring at his son’s face, the door was pushed by a hand as it opened widely. Daewon’s eyes widened in shock to see the person. He couldn’t bring himself to speak anything at the moment even though he wanted to call out for him.

“You’re finally awake, Daewon,” the person said to him with a smile.

“D-Daehan, it’s really you?” his voice came out more to a questioning way. It shocked him to see his twin that he hadn’t been seeing for years.

The elder twin softly smiled at the younger. He knew it was shocking for him to take all this, “Yes, it’s really me, your elder twin, Jung Daehan.”

Daewon didn’t know how to react well to this sudden meeting. Of course he was happy to meet his twin after years of separating but what if Daehan was still with his plan to ruin his life? He couldn’t let that to happen again especially when he was trying to rebuild his life with his son.

Daehan knew what was going on his brother’s mind so he decided to take a step forward. He saw how Daewon was being cautious on his presence as he chuckled, “I’m not going to hurt you, Daewon. I just want to have a talk with you, is that wrong?”

The younger brother looked at Daehan; searching for his genuineness as he said, “Fine then if you say so.”

“Let’s take a stroll outside, shall we? Our conversation might wake Daehyun. He seems to be so tired so let him sleep all he wants. Since you’re not strong enough, I’ll push you on a wheelchair,” Daehan suggested as he took a wheelchair that was put in the corner of the room.

Daewon frowned to see the wheelchair, “I don’t think I need the wheelchair. I can walk by my own,” he stubbornly said when Daehan showed him the wheelchair.

The doctor could only shake his head at his brother’s stubbornness, “Still with the same stubborn head. I’m a doctor so I know my patient well and not to mention, I’m your twin so I know you well, Jung Daewon. Come on, being pushed on a wheelchair is fun, okay?” Daehan continued to persuade his twin.

“Your wish is my command,” Daewon said as he let Daehan to slowly move him from the bed to the wheelchair.

Daehan could only smile as he started to push the wheelchair out of the room. He noticed that Daewon was throwing one last look to Daehyun who was still sleeping and didn’t seem like he was going to wake up anytime soon.

“Your son is not going to run away, you know.”

“Shut up.”

/

The twins found themselves to end up at the hospital’s yard, under a big green tree. Comfortable silence engulfed around them before the elder decided to speak up first, “How is life, Daewon?”

“What do you think?” the reply wouldn’t suppose to sound cold but it seemed like it became that way.

A sigh was heard from Daehan before silence fell between them once again for a few minutes. Daehan knew this conversation wasn’t going anywhere if the both of them decided to stay mute. Besides, knowing how stubborn his younger twin was, he was the one who always had to speak up first over everything.

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry, Daewon,” Daehan unexpectedly apologized amidst of the silence.

Daewon kept quiet at Daehan’s apology. To be honest, he didn’t know what should he reply him. He was afraid if he used a wrong choice of words so he’d let his twin to say everything he wanted to tell to him.

Daehan felt like giving up at Daewon’s continuous silence and coldness. Couldn’t he accept his apology? “I know it might be hard for you to forgive me when I’ve done so many wrongs towards you. I ruined your life, I made our parents despised you, I tried to steal Misook away from you and on top of it, you even had to take care of my child when he wasn’t your child. I’m sorry, Daewon. I did uncountable sins towards you, I know. When I was finally successful in my work field, you were struggling hard to make a living with Misook. You couldn’t achieve your dream because of me, your own twin who was so stupid to be enjoying your pain. I know I can’t turn back the old times with a simple sorry but I hope you acknowledge how I really hope for your forgiveness. I’ve got my son, and now is it too much to ask for my brother’s forgiveness?” he genuinely said. He regretted what he had done and there was no right word to describe how he hated himself for destroying his own twin’s life.

Seeing how Daewon was still keeping himself quiet and didn’t even spare a look at Daehan made the latter felt broken, “What should I do to get your forgiveness, Daewon? Do you want me to beg on my knees or maybe you want to kill me? Just do it if that what you really want, Daewon. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” Daehan slowly made his way to be standing in front of Daewon and he was about to lower down his body before a trembling hand stopped him.

“Don’t do this, Daehan. You don’t even need to do anything. I’ve forgiven you for a long time. I swear I don’t even keep any revenge in my heart. You’re my brother, my twin, the closest person to me, how can I hate you even though if you try to kill me? I’ve never got angry at you even though you had done so many things that I don’t want to remember anymore. How about if we let the past leaves us and rebuild our life together as one family?” the younger twin sincerely told the elder as he looked straight in his eyes before forming a smile on his face.

Daehan broke into tears to hear what Daewon told him. With an ease heart, he immediately hugged his twin as he thanked him numerous times, “Thank you, Daewon. Thank you so much for forgiving me. Thank you for not hating me. Thank you for giving me a chance to make it better. Thank you, my brother,” his tears were pouring down like a heavy rain because he was too happy that he was finally reunited with his twin.

Daewon could only smile to hear how his brother kept thanking him. He knew Daehan was such a sensitive person that was why he didn’t care much when Daehan cried on his shoulder even though he was sure his cloth was soaked with wet tears. He was glad that everything started to turn better for him and everyone around him.

Just when the twins were having some siblings moment together, two voices intruded them as both of them turned their heads to look at the voices.

“Dad!” the two young males called out for their respective father.

Daehan and Daewon both laughed at their sons which were Baekhyun and Daehyun. Just then, Daewon stopped laughing as he questioned, “Right. I still didn’t know how you found out that Baekhyun is your son, Daehan. And since when did you two stop quarreling?” he asked as he pointed at Daehyun and Baekhyun.

The three males looked at each other before laughing at the confused Daewon.

“Hey come on! Don’t leave me hanging like this!”

Sorry if this is late. My grandma passed away last Thursday :'c