In retrospect, Sung Gyu must have missed a lot of signs along the way. When she’d gotten unreasonably impatient and irritant, he hadn’t thought much of it. When she’d returned home too tired, when she’d slept in late, skipped meals, drifted off to sleep in an unusual way, he had thought it was the exhaustion of work taking a toll on her. When she had demanded some of her favorite food, ate too much or sometimes ate very little to none at all, he thought it was strange little perks of her eating habits that he’d previously missed. But on Friday morning, when he woke up to the sound of her retching into the toilet bowl, Sung Gyu became really concerned.

He found her there, down on her knees. arms resting on the commode seat as she heaved her insides out. Sung Gyu acted fast, quite scared for a moment, yet being as calm as possible as he gathered her hair in one hand and rubbed her back with the other. He helped her clean up then, helped her back into their bed. She flopped down, threw the covers over her head and refused to move at all costs.

He sat beside her on the bed and caressed her hair. His initial thought was that work was doing badly for her. She was quite fine the previous night. In fact, they had wine and brought italian take out then watched this drama that they’ve been following for a while. She didn’t show any signs of illness at that time. So he assumed it was the food or the wine.

“I think you should take a day off today” Sung Gyu told her, gently running his hand through her hair. “And we should go to the hospital if it doesn’t get better”

“I’m fine” She groaned, her voice muffled by the sheets. The tone of her voice said that she definitely was not fine. 

“Do you think it’s a tummy bug, maybe?” He rambled on, as he knew no other way to keep his worries at bay. “It would probably get better after a bit of a rest, right?”

Hyerim only hummed in response. 

He sat there for a moment, desperately racking his brain, trying to think of what he can do. He decided to call his mother then, for she was the resident caretaker in medical emergencies at home. Her opinion was that it was nothing very serious and some people didn’t take to different types of food very well.

“Give her some warm tea. Avoid coffee or milk for a while because that could make it even more intolerable”

Sung Gyu and Hyerim both were coffee people, so the only kind of tea that they had was chamomile which they’ve received as a gift a while ago.

“Would that do?” Sung Gyu asked her.

“Any kind of tea is fine,” his mother replied. “It’s to gain some energy. Make her some warm porridge when she’s ready to eat”

Sung gyu did make the tea and carried it over to their room, but she was so sound asleep that he hadn’t the heart to wake her up again. He made a mental note to make his secretary call the police station to inform that Hyerim would have an off-day today and perhaps tomorrow as well. While he dressed for work, then, he put her a bowl of warm porridge together. He hadn’t the time to wait until she woke up to get her to eat, so he placed it on the table, covered the stone pot and left it there with a note reminding her to eat. Come that evening, however, when he returned home, she was up and working again, and had Dong Woo over, both of whom were making calls and going through the bills together.

“What is happening?” he asked, moved to Hyerim and caressed her head. “Are you okay now?”

“I gained a lot of energy to work after having your salty porridge” She told him, quite cheerfully and squeezed his hand. “Thank you, sweets”

Dong Woo snorted when he responded with a pout.

“Anyway, come sit” She patted on the table beside her. “Dong woo had gone to the flower shop today. Thankfully they have had the billing information, what flowers had been used, what papers were selected, all that lot” She placed a sheet of paper on the table before him. “And you’re right. It shows no delivery information. It had been a pick-up, so you must have given it to her yourself”

Sung Gyu picked up the billing information and  traced its content. The flower arrangement was of white tulips, yellow roses and eucalyptus. He had no idea what any of them meant or who even selected those. There was also a purchase of hand made paper with a custom written letter, a letter that he probably wrote himself.

“Do those flowers mean anything?” Sung gyu asked them. 

“Tulips for forgiveness, Roses for friendship and eucalyptus for strength and protection” Hyerim explained in perfect precision. While he had no idea of any of them himself, he assumed that Yeri must have instructed her friend how the arrangement needed to be, given the situation. She was the one who bought it for him.

Sung Gyu gave a lowly whistle. “I didn’t think you had an abundance of flower related expertise”

“It was not me” Hyerim replied distractedly and looked over at Dong Woo, who shrunk into himself in embarrassment. 

“You know...my wife and I take flower arrangement lessons...as a hobby”Dong Woo replied.

And he looked a little ashamed to have shared this information, but being flower enthusiasts themselves, Sung Gyu tried to make light of the situation.

“That’s interesting,” Sung Gyu told him, glanced over at Hyerim. “Maybe we can do flower arrangements as well”

Hyerim snorted at this, telling him how he didn’t exactly have the patience or the nimble hands for that, and the rest of the evening went well. They talked about what they can do next, talking to Doyeon, how they will talk to her, what they will tell her and made plans to go down there, the three of them together.

“But I don’t think she should meet Hyung yet,” Dong Woo told them. “We need to build that kind of trust first, and we need to see if she still remembers him. She did say she developed PTSD after the incident, and one of the major symptoms of it is that she’d remember some parts of it very well, and some she wouldn’t remember at all”

“True, agreed,” Hyerim nodded. “I think I will talk to her first...again. She’d trust a woman to talk about things like this”

Sung Gyu gave her a look of concern. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

She gave him a look of distaste. “I am willing to”

Sung Gyu could only give her a smile and squeeze her hand.

They had dinner together that night, but she deliberately avoided any drinks, convinced that the bad morning she woke up to was a result of the wine she had the previous night. They hit bed early after sending Dong Woo off, in plans of going down to Daegu the next day. But they wouldn’t end up going there after all.

Hyerim got sick again that morning. He helped her to the bathroom to throw up again, and she returned to the bed, sickly and weak, then fell asleep right away. So Sung Gyu had no choice but call Dong Woo and tell him that they would have to go a little late. Dong Woo agreed, yet he also sounded concerned. 

“Are you sure she’s alright?” Dong Woo was telling him. “She’d appeared quite...ill lately I think. Once we were out at the Gangnam police and she claimed she was feeling faintish. I had to let her lie down for a while”

Sung Gyu was sitting in their room, on the bed as she lied beside him. He gingerly caressed her head as she slept away. “She did…” He sighed, concerned. “I think I should take her to the hospital now. She appeared alright sometimes and she’d decline again. I thought it was just the stress”

Dong Woo was quiet for a moment, except for a small hum. “Hyung” He called after a while. “I’m not trying to pry or anything...but my wife was quite the same...before she had the babies”

Sung Gyu heart stopped for a bit, so did his hand in her hair. “What does that mean?”

Dong Woo made an awkward little laughter. “She says that all women don’t show the same signs. Some don’t show anything at all but those who do...the signs are kind of the same. I am not implying that it certainly is the case. But I talked to my wife about it, especially about how Hyerim-Ssi was tired all the time, and she suggests...that maybe…”

“But-but we’ve been careful” Sung Gyu stammered, his heart pounding so hard now. “We’ve been careful all the time and…”

“You know what they say, 99 percent success, it’s never a hundred” Dong Woo replied. “Don’t think too much about it, hyung...just check and see”

Even after the phone call ended, Sung Gyu sat still on the bed, his head in a whirlwind. He wasn’t certain of what he felt at that moment; terrified, if anything, but a part of him was desperate to find out. What if it was indeed the case, what then? What would she want to do, what could they both do? The case...had finally found a turning point, they had better hopes for it to change. In that sense, did he think that he was ready for it? Will he ever be?

Sung Gyu suddenly recalled the words his sister had told him. ‘You would never be ready’

He wasn’t thinking straight when he reached for his jacket, reached for his wallet and left the house. They did have a few tests lying around that Yeri had bought, but he didn’t think they were in good condition to be used. So he ran down to the pharmacy of the apartment complex and purchased not one but two of it. It was something that Yeri used to do. To be extra certain, she would use two. And that was all he knew about them. When he hurried back home, Hyerim was finally up and was in the kitchen, now perhaps a little better, looking into the fridge while Momo rubbed herself against her feet. Sung Gyu didn’t realise that he had run so fast until that point as he stood in the middle of the kitchen, the plastic bags in hand, breathless.

“Oh, um, hi” Hyerim greeted him, appearing confused. “Where did you go? I was looking for you”

He heaved a deep breath, then another, and grasped the backrest of a chair. 

“Did you throw up again?” He asked her as he tried to catch his breath.

Hyerim slowly shook her head.

“Are you alright now?”

“A little dizzy” She admitted. “But I’m fine”

He nodded, took a deep breath and made a step towards her.

“Hyerim-ah, I have an awkward question to ask from you,” He said.

Hyerim looked perplexed, and looked at him with widened eyes. “Err..okay?”

He swallowed hard. Never in his life did he think he’d have to ask her this. “Hyerim, when was your last period?”

Hyerim closed the fridge door and nearly dropped the things that she had in her hands. “My last...period?” She reiterated, now in a smaller voice, then looked up at him in horror. “I-I actually don’t remember. I have irregular pattern, something to do with hormones, and it usually gets late when I’m stressed and-,”

When she realised that she was rambling without a point, she stopped and looked at him, her eyes widened, carrying an emotion that he could only interpret as terror. “Do you-do you think…?” She started, and she couldn’t exactly word it out to him, but he understood. He nodded slowly, and raised the bag he was holding in demonstration. 

“I got the, um...tests” he told her, his tone awkward and quiet. “Do you want to...check, maybe?”

Hyerim nodded, he nodded in again and swallowed hard. Hyerim rounded the table and gingerly took the tests from him.

“But I hardly missed the pill, did I?” She asked him, more from herself as they traversed the way to their room.

“You did...sometimes” Sung Gyu reminded her, recalling back to the occasions where he’d had to remind her himself. “And you know what they say, it’s 99 percent protection, never a hundred”

Together, they went into their room, and before Hyerim stepped into the bathroom, she stopped and looked over at him, She reached out and took his hand. “It’s only a possibility, okay?” She whispered, and he understood what she meant. For him who’d been somewhat desperate to have a child of his own, this moment meant so much, and she understood him. He nodded and squeezed her hand in return.

“There’s two...tests” He muttered, struggling to breathe. His heart was inflated like a balloon inside. He felt like he was floating.

“Okay” She whispered, a gentle smile on her lips.

He nodded and took a deep breath. “Then I’ll-I’ll wait…”

“It doesn’t take long” She told him and kept the door ajar as she disappeared inside. 

Sung Gyu could hardly stay sane for the next few minutes. He didn’t know what that feeling was, but whatever it was, it didn’t allow him to sit or stand in one place. He sat on the bed, rubbed his hands together, cracked his knuckles, stood up and walked to the window. Outside, autumn had arrived in full fling. The trees were a beautiful golden brown, the sky quite gloomy and heavy with thick grey clouds. It would rain a little in the mornings with bright and sunny afternoons, only to start raining again come evening. He tried to stay composed, gazing down at the city below; the parking lot, the brown and jade green specs of leaves in the park, and the children’s playground where they first kissed. It all felt surreal now, so far away.

The door of the bathroom creaked open, and he turned to her almost too soon.

“Well?” He raised his brows, heart pounding.

“Now we wait,” Hyerim sighed, gave him a smile. He had never been in this situation before as Yeri never had him involved in it, lest he became hopeful. For her, the test showing positive results was the negativity, and she tried so hard to keep it as one line. Sung gyu had no idea, therefore, how this system worked.

Hyerim rounded the bed and walked towards him, and he welcomed her with open arms. They didn’t say anything as they held each other, her head against his pounding heart, his fingers gently caressing her hair and her waist. He kissed her head for the longest time, closed his eyes and basked in her warmth. She rubbed his back and swayed them gently, side to side. With the dull autumn sun seeping in through the obscure white curtains, in the backdrop of the windows as the city remained tranquil beyond them, Sung gyu and Hyerim waited for ten minutes of uncertainty that they held.

“I think it's enough waiting,” Hyerim whispered and extricated herself from him. She held his hand nevertheless, caressed his face with the other. “Do you want to see?”

Although he desperately wanted the answers, Sung gyu didn’t think he had the strength to see them for himself. So he shook his head.

“Okay” Hyerim muttered, moved in and kissed him, just below the corner of his lips. “I’ll be back”

Sung Gyu could hardly move as he waited, watching Hyerim going back the way she came. it didn’t take too long for her to emerge from the bathroom, both the tests, now used, gripped in her hand. He didn’t notice in the beginning that it trembled, not until he saw the way her eyes filled, and slowly, she nodded her head.

Sung Gyu could swear that he died for a moment, that his heart stopped.

He hurried towards her, rounded the bed and stood before her. “Is that-is that a yes?” he asked, his voice trembling, meekly.

Hyerim nodded again. “Yes” She said, and burst into tears.

There were moments that felt so unreal no matter how much you’d try to believe, and for him, it was one of them. The thirty six years of his life, up until that point, had only consisted of downward slopes. He had lost so many people, made so many mistakes, messed up so many times. Months ago, his life had been so uncertain, him standing on a cliff's edge, the fall a bottomless oblivion as his fate lay dark and ambiguous beyond him. When Hyerim came to him in an unlikely moment, he hadn’t thought she would be a ray of sun in his dark days. He had never had those in his life; nobody he had ever met had made him feel a semblance of happiness, an ounce of comfort, so he hadn’t believed the same with her. But Hyerim was like a storm for him, in a good way. She flipped his world around, held him in place whenever he was about to fall. For once in his life, he saw hope again. For once in his life he felt like he was given a second chance. At that moment when he gathered her in his arms and held her, everything still felt unreal for him, for he had never thought he would be that so happy again. He had never thought that this would be his life.

So many feelings at once; happiness and disbelief, fear still embedded somewhere in there but pure bliss. He buried his face in her shoulder and he didn’t realise that everything he’d felt at that moment would hit him in full force and come out in the form of tears. He hardly ever cried, no matter how many times life threw hurtful stones at him. But at that moment, in the moment when he felt the happiest, like he was on top of the world, Sung gyu didn’t even stop himself. He cried.

“Sung Gyu?” Hyerim called him, albeit gently as she rubbed his back, rubbed his head and held him. “Are you alright?” 

Her voice was thick and tearful as well, but she held on much better than he did. He only nodded, but when he sobbed hard, Hyerim let out a quiet laughter.

“Oh Sung gyu, oh no” She muttered as she pulled away. He was embarrassed when she saw his tear rimmed eyes, yet held her gaze as she wiped his cheeks, smiling.

“You went through hell and back the past few months, but this is the moment you broke apart, hm?” 

Sung Gyu raised his head and tried to keep his tears at bay. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. 

“You’re really the gentlest” She muttered, pulled him into her arms and held him again.  “You’re going to be the best father in the whole world”

It didn’t feel real until she put it into words like that. It was only then that the reality hit him; his job, the possibilities that current circumstances held, how his life could turn around completely in a matter of days, her profession and their arrangement; parenthood on top of that. They’ve been together for barely two months, they haven’t even made plans ahead. Were they really ready yet?

Sung Gyu gently pried her off of him. “I shouldn’t get ahead of myself,” He said.

“What...what do you mean?” She asked, concerned.

He took a deep breath and placed his hands on her arms, holding her. “It's all too sudden and-and unplanned and...if we take the responsibility and decide to...go forth with this, the most pressure will be on you. The decision should be yours, Hyerim, not mine”

He scanned her eyes, the glimmer of hope within them. “Do you think you’re ready for it?”

“It’s not only me” She whispered and shook her head. She placed her warm palms on his face, holding him. “We’re in this together, aren’t we? What about you, do you think you’re ready?”

Sung gyu smiled at her, and his heart, at that moment, inflated and blossomed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be...but I want this. And if you are too, I would be with you every step of the way”

Hyerim too, smiled warmly in return. It could have been the spur of the moment, but he thought it was the most beautiful that Hyerim had ever been. “I want this too. I’ll probably never be ready as well, but with you, I would want nothing else”

“Okay” He whispered, moved in and embraced her again. It started raining outside, and he kissed her gently on her head.

“And Hyerim?”

“Hm?”

He took a deep breath. “If we are doing this, I will have to marry you”

There was a moment of silence. Hyerim raised her head and looked up at him. He met her eyes. “Will you marry me, then?” She asked him.

Although it was already decided, her very words had him going weak in her embrace. “I say yes” He muttered, leaned down into her and kissed her gently on her lips. “Yes, a thousand times”

Dong Woo was the first person that they broke the news to, for he called them to check again if Daegu was happening. Sung gyu couldn’t think straight at that moment, feeling like he was dreaming, floating through the time. His head felt light, like he was walking on clouds. He didn’t realise he’d had his mothers number opened, yet to dial as he rambled on to Hyerim anything and everything that he could. He had realised by then that he may have fairly lost his mind. 

Dong Woo probably asked her if they were planning to go to Daegu on that day, and Hyerim, seemingly without a second thought, informed him; “We just found out we’re going to be parents!”

Every time he heard it, put into words in different forms and ways, Sung gyu thought he would spontaneously combust. Words couldn’t describe how he felt at that moment, and for the first time he was seeing prospects of a future that was not so bleak and felt the determination to keep it that way. 

“Honestly I have no idea what we’re going to do next” She went on, laughing. “But I sure as hell know that we’re going to go to Daegu today”

Sung Gyu set his phone aside and looked over at her. He knew that nothing he could say would change her mind. She was stubborn and determined like that, she was strong and unwavering like that, and not even him or even motherhood could change who she was. They were like puzzle pieces, he would think on the odd days that they lied in bed, her asleep, him wide awake, still somewhat in disbelief that he had her. Whatever Sung gyu lacked; courage, persistence, fearlessness, Hyerim had in her, and perhaps he was the more sensitive one out of them, and that, somehow kept her grounded, that seemed to bring out that gentleness and vulnerability of her that she showed to nobody else. 

In the end, they did drive to Daegu that afternoon. Sung Gyu and Hyerim drove over to Dong Woo’s place first, where he met his baby twins for the first time. Hyerim was indeed right about them looking more like Dong Woo. They were pretty, with Dong Woo’d wide, curious eyes and cheery smiles. They were still very small, a cloud of gentle weight, and he held one of them in his arms. it was hard to believe that he was to get his own moment soon too, to hold them, comfort them, watch them grow. It still felt unreal for him. 

The drive from Seoul to Daegu was approximately 4 hours including the occasional and mandatory stops along the way. Since Hyerim was probably below her first trimester, according to Dong Woo’s wife, she would feel sick often, and long distance travel easily wore her out. He drove the way as he couldn’t possibly burden Dong Woo with the task as he’d done too many times, but it wasn’t easy, especially to find the way even with the help of GPS; its been months since he drove around on his own. They stopped about two times, both times for Hyerim to use the bathroom, and for them to catch a late lunch. By the time they arrived in Daegu, it was past three in the evening and it had started to drizzle. The two of them decided to stay the weekend while Dong Woo took the train back to Seoul, so they stopped, first, at the guest house that they were to stay at. Initially, Hyerim wanted Sung Gyu to stay back at the guest house and have time for himself while they met Doyeon, but he insisted that he came along and stayed in the car. Hyerim hadn’t the sheer patience to argue him on that. (She usually did have patience, but Dong Woo said that pregnancy made women easily irritable) He drove them to the cafe they were meeting Doyeon at, in the end, and waited outside, expectant and impatient for the whole thirty  minutes that the meeting went. 

It was also the first time that Sung gyu saw Doyeon after eight years. It’s been so long, and for very good, and perhaps, psychological reasons, he had forgotten what she really looked like. She was a small woman, not conventionally beautiful but in her own way. She had short cropped hair, and a stoic expression which was unreadable behind her face mask. Seeing her now made him feel increasingly guilty. Things could have gone differently had he taken her side and attempted to protect her in the first place, and he acknowledged and understood this very well. It would have gone even better if he hadn’t been involved at all, like he preferred with most cases. Like Dong Woo had said one of those days, he was put in a very bad situation where everything had gone awry for their lives to collide this way.

The meeting didn’t take as long as Sung Gyu had imagined it would, so he assumed it was yet another fruitless encounter. That was how things were like with many reinvestigations and retrials. They were the kind of things that people choose to put behind in their lives, and to be called in, yet again, with the sole purpose of bringing back to the surface something that they have chosen to forget, they would indeed all behave in the way that Doyeon did. In order to convince her, they needed a strong, perhaps emotional reason.

Hyerim and Dong Woo returned to the car with bleak, empty faces. It was always difficult to read what Hyerim would be thinking as her expressions were like a closed mask. But he could tell by how Dong Woo appeared, that things hadn’t gone too well.

“She did not want to speak,” Dong Woo told him as he climbed into the seat beside him. “As expected, because she does not want to be involved in it anymore. She’d been approached by the prosecution and the media, she says she’d very much like to be left alone”

Sung Gyu let out a heavy sigh. “Looks like we would have to go only with the bills then”

“But-,” Dong Woo started, making him face the other. He had an odd expression as he glanced at Hyerim who had buckled up and sat in the backseat with her arms folded on her chest. “Hyerim might have been able to sway her a bit”

Sung Gyu widened his eyes and turned to her. She was the most spontaneous woman he had ever met, and what’s concerning was that she was never afraid to break a rule or two.

“Please don’t tell me it’s something illegal,” He said. Hyerim rolled her eyes. 

“Geez, mister righteousness, I did not bribe her”

“Then?”

Hyerim smiled and patted on her stomach. Sung Gyu was confused. It skipped his mind for a moment that she was implying her possible pregnancy. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, mildly panicked. 

“She told Doyeon that you were her husband and that she’s pregnant and as she’s a police officer, she can't be a single mother so she couldn’t let you go to jail” Dong Woo explained with a cheery laughter.

“That’s manipulation, Hyerim” Sung Gyu told her, shaking his head in disapproval. The odd thing was that Sung Gyu may have perhaps already known that she would say something like that. She had the ability and the tendency to.

“What?” She raised her hands questioningly. “It’s not like I lied”

That, somehow made his heart pick up pace. While her resilience was admirable, the way that she went above and beyond to protect him would always leave Sung Gyu rendered speechless. Perhaps, for him, it was an assurance that he and his possible child were both going to be in perfectly good hands. Someone that he could rely on and he knew that he could. On the other hand, the thought burdened him, for he wasn’t certain if he too could match up to the strength and resilience and care that she was capable of giving, if he had enough love to give.

Sung Gyu sighed heavily, yet he did not know that he was smiling, not even as he reached out and started the car.

“I’d be surprised if it works,” Sung Gyu told them.

“My acting was top notch” Hyerim replied haughtily, and he was mildly concerned when Dong Woo nodded in agreement.

“Her face changed...completely. While I feel bad for doing that to her, we had no other way”

There was a sense of hopefulness in her voice, although the chances were still minimal. 

“Now, what do we do?” Sung Gyu asked as he pulled out of the driveway.

“Now we wait,” Dong Woo replied.

They dropped Dong Woo off to the train station and waited until he boarded, chatting amongst themselves. Once they’d seen him off, Hyerim informed him that she was feeling rather tired, and would very much like a nap. They returned to his car, she sat down next to him, and he reached out to take her hand.

“Hyerimmie”

“Hm?”

He scanned her face. She appeared a little pale, eyes sunken, but there was still a brilliant shine within them. 

“We can just drive back to Seoul if you want” He told her. “I can drive slowly, and then we can go to the obstetrician, see what you can do to feel...less tired like this”

Sung Gyu, personally had no idea how things worked. He’d thought they could go to whoever the obstetrician available, that they would give prescribed medication and painkillers if needed. But judging by her expression, it really wasn’t how things worked.

“You’re really doing this for the first time” Hyerim said gently and squeezed his hand. He didn’t know what to say in response.

“I’m not prying, but...didn’t Yeri ever try to get pregnant with you?” She then asked him.

Recalling back to that time, it felt so far away. They were like two ships sailing in the same ocean yet in different directions, Yeri and him. They were married, but they both had their own lives. There was very little that connected them; the odd conversations, dinner outs, meeting family and attending different functions together. But everything else, Yeri would do by herself. She was very keen on family planning. He’d gone with her for a couple of appointments, been there -half listening- to the discussions, and most of her decisions on that were not ideally discussed. She would mention it, he would merely agree. He had, however, asked her about having children in the early years of their marriage, but it was always the same response; ‘We’re not ready’. Yeri would do her own thing to stop unplanned pregnancies, and he would let her. At some point he had stopped attending her meetings with their family planner, and that’s how it had been the whole time, even after Yeri started expressing her interest and Sung Gyu had refused.

He explained all of it to Hyerim, as he now deemed that there was no point holding them in as it was all pretty much in the past. And she listened attentively, a hearty discussion that he couldn’t have with Yeri before. Hyerim did not come off as someone who would be interested in planning everything ahead, although it was important that they did. What happened should be for just one time, he understood this, for it would be difficult for him and her if they allowed an unplanned pregnancy to happen yet again. After all, children were not dispensable. They shouldn’t be born and put to that place. It was yet another thing of importance that they talked about on their way to the hotel again.

Once they were back in the comfort of their room, Hyerim changed into comfortable clothes and immediately dozed off. Sung Gyu allowed her to, and made sure that she was comfortable before he went in to have a bath. He was yet to call his parents, and he couldn’t do so as the day had been just too hectic. So as soon as he stepped out of the shower, he rang his mother.

“I’ve got news that you would like very much,” Sung Gyu informed her. 

“Did judge Ryu get indicted?” His mother asked him hopefully. He was surprised that she’d ask him this as they would have ideally heard it on the news first.

Sung Gyu laughed in response, his head lowered as he played with the hem of his shirt. “Not that….it’s-it’s nothing to do with the...case”

There was silence, and “I’m not sure I’m following, Sung Gyu”

He nodded as if she could see him on the other end, and took a deep breath. “Mum, Hyerim and I, we just found out that we’re pregnant”

Yet again, his words were followed by a long moment of silence. For a moment, he thought he’d been disconnected until he heard her, a smallest, quietest sob.

His heart fell through the floor. “Mum? Oh mum….don’t-don’t cry…”

His mother hardly ever cried, perhaps having been married to a man for whom she always had to keep her head held up; so whenever she broke into tears, and whenever he was the reason behind it, Sung gyu wouldn’t know what to do with himself. 

She sobbed louder this time and let out a heavy, audible breath. “Where are you now?”

“Us?” he asked, and he realised that she probably meant the hospital where any regular couple who had just learned of  their pregnancy would be. But they weren’t a regular couple after all. “We’re in Daegu, actually” He replied.

“Daegu?” His mother reiterated, confused. “Why would you be in Daegu?”

Sung gyu, as briefly and quickly as he could, explained their reason. However, she didn’t sound like she was really following him. 

“Did you find out while you were there?” Was what she was interested in knowing.

“No, we did in the morning…” He sighed and glanced at Hyerim who was still sound asleep. “We were supposed to meet someone in Daegu today...so even after we found out, Hyerim wanted to come”

His mother still sounded tearful as she spoke. “How is she?”

“A little tired” He reached out and rubbed her arm, upon which she soundly hummed. “She sleeps a lot,” He laughed. “And seemed a little sick lately, so that’s why we checked, and-”

His mother took a deep, shaky breath. “What are you going to do?”

Sung Gyu knew exactly what he meant. There weren’t many possibilities; just the two, and they’ve both already decided what path to take.

“What else?” He smiled, mostly to himself as the thought scared him and gratified him at the same time. “I’m going to marry her”

There was silence again, and he could hear her crying. He had expected that reaction, somehow, deep inside, although he’d always thought that they didn’t exactly care much. He’d always felt that way, since he was a child, that he was the one that they cared the least about; the disappointment, the odd one, the runt. But as it appeared to him now, he’d been wrong all along.

“Mum, don’t cry” Sung Gyu told her, yet again, in a small voice. “It’s a happy news, you should be happy”

“I am happy” His mother replied. “I-I can’t describe how it feels….its just, unreal, Sung gyu, I didn’t think you would…”

“Want children?” He asked her.

His mother took a deep breath. “Hyerim and I, we have talked about...things” She finally let on, her voice a little more stern now. “And she’d been telling me that you’ve had a lot of negative thoughts about your life. Lots of disappointment, loneliness and unhappiness and-and she’d been telling me how she wanted to make them all go away, you know, because she was very fond of you and just as much as I did, Hyerim wanted to make you feel less lonely, less unhappy….and now-now I can genuinely hear it in your voice…”

Sung Gyu’s heart broke a little, and he looked over at Hyerim, the woman who’d made everything possible, the one who made him believe in second chances. Before Hyerim, he wouldn’t have thought, for a second, that he would ever be happy to the extent that he was now; irrevocably, indescribably. The reason for his happiness was her.

“Mum…” he muttered, looking down at the crumpled sheet below him.

“Tell me this, Sung Gyu, are you happy now?”

He thought about it for a second, and he realised that he didn’t even have to be asked. “I think-I think I am”

“Do you think you’re ready for this?” She pushed on.

It was something that he’d put a lot of thought on ever since they found out that morning. It was going to be a massive commitment, bigger than any commitment he had ever done in his life. When he thought back now, he had never settled down in life; all this time, he’d been running and chasing after a perfect, acceptable image of himself, attempting to reach standards that he himself knew that he couldn’t be. It had come to a point now, after all that chasing and running, that he had finally come to a stand still. his life was pretty much a mess right now. He was still on trial for a crime he never committed, his job and a large portion of his life still stood barely balanced on the edge of a cliff. However, he now had something more to live forward to, he now had a chance to slow down a little and catch up on life again, being the exact person that he had always been.

But that didn’t mean he was ever really ready for a child. 

Sung Gyu laughed. “I don’t think I will ever be” He sighed then, lied down on the soft covers and looked up at Hyerim who was still sound asleep. “But I think I’m ready to try”

After the call ended, Sung Gyu set his phone aside, slid over to Hyerim and slipped his arm around her waist, buried his face in her shoulder and held her warmly from the back. She was small and comforting and beautiful in his embrace, the familiar lavender scent of her hair filled his every breath. Inside the room, it was tranquil and quiet, save for the rustle of leaves and the mingle of the city in a distance. For the first time in years, he actually felt he was alive.

“Sung Gyu?” Hyerim’s quiet, sleepy voice came after a while. He didn’t realise until then that she had woken up. 

“Did I wake you?” 

Hyerim shook her head and turned around in his arms. They lay there for a while, face to face, tracing the quiet thoughts in each others’ eyes.

“I had a dream” She told him after a while.

“Hm? About what?” He asked her.

“It was kind of strange” Hyerim laughed, her eyes turning into crescent moons. “But there was Momo, and we’ve had the baby. I think it was a girl?”

“Mmhm” Sung Gyu gently rubbed her waist. He hadn’t let on to her in the beginning, but he had thought, way before they found out that she was pregnant, that his first child would be a girl.

“And Momo, she gets upset that she’s not the only daughter anymore that she decides to pack up and leave...we search for her everywhere, and she was actually in my flat!”

He let out a quiet laugh, ascended his hand up her back to run his fingers through her hair. “That’s...actually how we first met, do you remember?”

“The bags are still scratched the same” Hyerim went on, laughing as she reminisced five years into their past.

“I thought you were pretty strange back then” Sung Gyu told her. “I mean, I would have been angry if someone’s cat did that to me, but you weren’t”

“I would have been” Hyerim agreed. “But you were ridiculously handsome that I could think about nothing else”

This, just like it did all the other times, made it difficult for him to breathe.

“I wouldn’t have thought for a second that I’d end up having children with you” She went on.

“Why not?” He pushed on.

“Well for one, you were married” She laughed. “And you were married to someone like Yeri; she’s beautiful, she’s elegant and I am-,”

“Beautiful too,” Sung Gyu cut in before she could say anything else. “You are very beautiful, Jung Hyerim. And you’re strong, charming, spontaneous-,”

“You’re just exaggerating,” Hyerim replied, her cheeks flushed pink.

“I’m not” Sung gyu replied gently. “I’m being very honest right now, and it’s not easy for me to be honest like this”

Hyerim smiled, her eyes tracing him, every inch of him, and he could see the way they moved, held his gaze, and slowly but surely, how they smiled. Then she moved in, laid her head on his chest and buried herself in his arms. He hugged her back, his heart and mind in an indescribable state of tranquility, as if everything in his life had finally fallen into place.

“I love you” Hyerim told him, her voice muffled against him.

Sung gyu couldn’t say it in return as his throat felt thick with emotions that he couldn’t put into words. He just held her, kissed her softly on the crown of her head, breathed in the lavender of her hair and closed his eyes. ‘This is life’ he thought, holding her, loving her like that. ‘This is it, this is life’

The next morning, Sung Gyu woke up to the sound of Hyerim’s phone ringing. It was lying on the side table, on his side of the bed while she slept soundly on the other side. He glanced at her, thought twice if he should awake her before he reached out for her phone. They were a couple now, and it certainly wasn’t prying on things. She could be missing something important if he didn’t pick up, so he took it and checked the caller ID first. The caller was saved as ‘Kim Doyeon - Belle Vie’

Something cold settled in his heart. Sung Gyu and Hyerim had spoken about Doyeon enough times for him to know that Doyeon had never contacted Hyerim from her end. It had always been Hyerim who’d reached out to her and spoken to her, while Doyeon herself had been mostly unresponsive. He didn’t want her to miss this call, so Sung gyu glanced at Hyerim one last time, and not having the heart to wake her up, Sung Gyu took a deep breath and accepted the call. It would be the first time in eight years that he’d be interacting with Kim Doyeon.

“Detective Jung?” Called her voice, quite small and timide which he could easily associate to the Kim Doyeon he had seen before. 

“I’m afraid she’s not reachable at the moment” He said, trying not to reveal himself. He didn’t think she would recognise his voice. After all, she didn’t even know him.

There was a moment of silence and “Is this Attorney Jang that i’m speaking to?”

He realised that, aside from her, it was Dong Woo that she knew.

“Yes, it’s me” He replied. It was probably wrong to pretend to be somebody else, but it was Dong Woo, and he could talk it out with him at a later time. 

“Um, I was hoping to speak to detective Jung, but it’s okay, if you can pass on the message to her” She continued in a shy voice.

“Yes, surely, Doyeon-Ssi”

A moment of silence, and he wondered if she’d realised it wasn’t him, but then she replied. “Well...if you can, please let her know that I would like to testify? After I met her yesterday, I actually thought about it a bit...and I remembered that there was a letter...and I was able to find it. It is with me, and I think it would be important evidence for her”

Sung Gyu’s heart skipped a beat. “A letter?”

“Yes” The sound of a rustle which he wondered was paper. “Well...it had actually skipped my mind, but there was a letter on a hand made paper, it doesn’t show who its from but Detective Jung mentioned it...and I think it might be important to her”

He tried not to sound too eager and excited while in reality, he wanted to leap out of bed. “That does sound like important evidence” Sung gyu cautiously replied. “Hyerim-Ssi is out for a little while, but she will certainly be back. I will pass on the message to her”

Doyeon hummed in response. “And please ask her to call me”

He let out a heavy sigh’ of relief, of contentment. The letter would not assure his redemption, certainly. But It would indeed be a start. “Certainly, Doyeon-Ssi,” He replied. “I certainly will”

Sung Gyu set the phone aside after Doyeon had disconnected, took a deep breath and tried to recollect his thoughts. He had very little memory of the flowers, the letter, all of which Yeri had coordinated to ease his guilt. He could remember how the aftermath of it had left him unreeling, and although he might attempt to change the course of it eight years later, the initial wrong doings would never fade away. He would still be in the wrong, he would still be in the guilt of letting that man walk free. But at least now, eight years later, he would be able to set some things right. If anything, the ual assault would probably be on retrial after so many years, and hopefully it would end with better results; a hefty compensation to Doyeon and her family perhaps. He knew that it wouldn’t change anything much. But at least it would hold the right people accountable in the end.

As soon as Hyerim woke up, which was a few minutes after Sung Gyu had washed and cleaned up (She really did sleep a lot now) Sung Gyu, first of all, apologised for taking the call while she was asleep, and explained everything that he was told over the phone. Hyerim laughed, a massive smile appeared on her lips. She leapt into his arms and he held her. She was so small that he nearly picked her up off her feet. She pulled away only to inform him, quite haughtily so, that; “The single mum thing worked!”

Sung Gyu threw his head back and laughed in response. “You’re ridiculous, Jung Hyerim”

“I bet I drove her to tears” She went on, her tone an octave higher, of happiness, excitement.

“You should call her and see,” Sung Gyu told her after they both came down from their high.

“Mmhm, I will see if we can meet her today itself” She said, picked up her phone and walked out onto the balcony. 

Their call seemed to go on for a long while during which time he just sat back and went through his own phone, looking at the recent updates. The petition from the ladies who admired him had reached their goal of signatures by now, but it was quite unlikely if it would be considered. Yet he would be wrong to say that he wasn’t moved by the gesture, to know that there still existed people who looked up to him. On top of that, there were a few of his college alums who were giving interviews to media people on him and his interaction with girls that he’d shared classes with. It wasn’t one of his proudest times, for he had gone out with and been with a lot of them, but it was surprising to see that all of them had a lot of good things to say. The grass root organizations had now shifted from demanding his retirement for nepotism to demanding his retirement in the light of the acquittal, but the numbers that protested outside the building had lessened over the days. According to Minister Baek, they’d be loud only as long as they had something to be loud about. They would not respond but continue to stay cautious of the trial proceedings, for, according to her, any time, anything could change.

“Right!” Hyerim called, returning from the balcony. She sat down on the bed next to him, he set his phone aside and glanced over at her.

“I spoke to her,” Hyerim said.

“And?”

She looked up, reached out a hand and gently fixed his hair that fell over his eyes. “She says that she thought a lot about it, and then went home and told her husband about it. She’s...she’s expecting too, apparently, which is why I think it worked”

Sung Gyu didn’t know what to feel about that.

“That’s…” he started, but he had no words to follow up with. She seemed to understand his sentiment. Doyeon had put that past behind, she was indeed living her life, and to the best; it was wrong of them to approach her this way.

Hyerim hummed and leaned her head against his arm. “I feel bad about it now, but I wanted to protect you”

Sung gyu threaded his hand through hers. “You meant well”

She let out a sigh. “She understands. Her husband had been supportive to her all this time, he hadn’t really told her about what’s been happening, so she hadn’t known about you. Since the incident, she had avoided seeing the news at all costs”

“Must have been so tough for her,” Sung Gyu muttered, recalling the look in her eyes from yesterday. There must have been so many tales that she hadn’t told anyone but she wished she could. 

“Unimaginable” Hyerim shook her head, and finally looked up at him. “She’d found the letter. She’d kept it with a tulip from the bouquet pressed inside a book. She says time was really tough for her and she’d found comfort in it. She couldn’t recall your face apparently. She said you probably wore a face mask or she just couldn’t remember. But you know what the funny thing is?”

He raised his brows. “What?”

Hyerim’s hand lifted his own and gave him an odd smile. “She says she remembers your hands”

It took a moment for Sung gyu to register what she said. “My...hands?”

She nodded as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. “See, Doyeon is a hand massage therapist, because of this, somehow, she’d first notice people’s hands before anything else”

“But how does she remember mine?” Sung Gyu returned, confused.

“She has PTSD,” Hyerim continued. “And the incident is her trigger. While it's different for each patient, some of them remember certain things particularly while they forget others. She might not remember you as a person, but as she’s someone who notices people’s hands, she said she could remember the hands that delivered her the flowers, so that would be you”

Sung Gyu allowed a moment for it to sink in. As unreal as it sounded, he couldn’t say that couldn't be the truth. He himself hardly remembered anything; not the flowers, not the letter, not even that he had delivered it himself, but had it been him who received them, there would be a fragment of a memory that would have stayed with him; that’s probably what it was for her. 

“Wow” He muttered in the end, still in disbelief, and turned to Hyerim. “So you’re telling me, if she sees my hands, she’d recognise me?”

“Probably” Hyerim nodded. “It’s not certain. However, she has the letter, we have the bills. It can be a huge factor to turn things around and we don’t need her recognising you, not necessarily”

Even as he responded to her, he sounded distant, dreamy. He didn’t think he could accept this fact quite easily. “Yeah...it can be”

Hyerim later informed him that they should meet her before they left. It was something that they both wanted to clarify, although it wouldn’t play a significant part. On the other hand, Hyerim believed, if Sung Gyu yet again had the chance to apologise to her in person, she would be able to get a closure and perhaps even be more motivated to testify for him. Therefore, before they left back to Daegu, that afternoon, Hyerim contacted Doyeon again and asked if she would be able to meet her husband. She had been reluctant in the beginning, and Sung gyu asked her, gently, not to push it. But in the end, Doyeon agreed.

They planned to meet up at the same cafe that they did the other day. Sung Gyu was anxious the entire time, as if he was a criminal finally about to meet his victim after years apart. Perhaps it was indeed what it was and what he felt at that moment must be what people in his position felt everyday; guilt, shame, anger at himself.

“You’re okay?” hyerim asked him as they made their way to the entrance of the cafe. It was a chilly afternoon of that autumn, the air already skin biting cold. Hyerim reached out a hand and took his on her own. He swallowed hard and glanced down at her.

“Just a bit worried” He sincerely admitted.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you” She told him gently, a smile donning her lips. “But if you aren’t ready, we can always tell her”

“No” He shook his head. “She needs this. So do I”

When they finally went inside, Doyeon was already there, sitting by herself in a circular table, looking out the window, deep in her thoughts. The two of them cautiously approached her, and she easily welcomed Hyerim, who greeted back with a quick hug.

“And I didn’t know about you expecting too, Doyeon Ssi” Hyerim informed her. “I’m really sorry that I’ve been troubling you at a time like this”

“You’ve been the same as well,” Doyeon replied, her tone gentle, warm. “It is no trouble at all” 

She glanced over at Sung Gyu, and he greeted her in return.

“My husband and I stayed over in Daegu, actually” Hyerim explained as they settled down around the round table, “We haven’t been able to do much, but-,”

They chatted for a while, about their days, about the weather, the atmosphere in the region, and Sung Gyu was able to understand that they had quite an easy going relationship. The small talks didn’t last for too long as Hyerim soon launched at the important discussion.

“Doyeon-Ssi” Hyerim started in a gentle, quiet tone. “Do you have the letter with you? Can I see it?”

Sung Gyu, who stayed quiet and apologetic the whole time finally looked over at the other, his heart picking up pace.

“I do, I brought it with me…” She replied as she reached into her bag and pulled out what appeared a hard back novel. She opened it, and inside was a dried white tulip, discoloured and falling apart over time and a piece of paper, folded into two, discolored just the same. She picked up the note, cautiously so as not to break the dried old tulip, and handed it over to Hyerim. It smelled...old, of tulip and in between papers of books. Hyerim opened it, looked at Sung Gyu for a briefest second and back over at the letter. He held his breath. Sung Gyu had messy but distinct handwriting, and Yeri had always said that he had a way with words when he wrote. He could easily identify it, the letter was indeed from him.

Sung Gyu leaned in and both he and Hyerim read the letter quietly in their minds. It was of his most sincere thoughts; a profound apology, deep regrets and hopes that things could have gone differently. His wishes for her for a better future and brighter days and prayers that she would be able to get closure some day and move on from that dark phase of her life.

‘I’m sorry’ He had written at the end. ‘I’m so sorry that the world is so cruel to you. I wish you well’

There was a moment of silence as Hyerim stared long at the letter, but her hands shook, so slowly Sung Gyu took the note from her. She took a deep breath and looked over at Doyeon.

“Thank you….it-it means a lot to us”

Doyeon nodded, a small tight smile on her lips. “The letter...it’s given a lot of comfort to me back then. It was...really hard; losing my job, losing friends, having to come back here...and for a while I thought maybe I was in the fault, maybe I shouldn’t have….let that happen”

Doyeon’s voice broke at that moment, and Hyerim stood up, rounded the table and took the seat beside her. She took her hand, rubbed it gently, comfortingly, just like she had done for him in his own difficult times.

“It must have been so tough for you...I’m sorry” Hyerim told her gently, and Sung Gyu took a few paper napkins and passed them over to Doyeon, which she took with a nod. He was so guilt stricken; that shame, that regret that he had felt eight years ago had resurfaced by then, and in full force. 

“But it was comforting to know that...that there were still people who believed in me.” Doyeon continued, not meeting their eyes. “I remember the flowers...and the letter. I didn’t know who it was from...and even when you reached me I didn’t know what it was about. I just wanted to put everything behind and move on in life, but…”

Sung gyu nodded, looked down at his clasped hands and took a deep breath. He realised, then, that it was his moment to do exactly what he hadn’t done back then all from the beginning. He shouldn’t have done what he did in the first place, but it happened, he did what he did. All he could do now is apologize, sincerely, profusely, and do whatever he could do now to fix what can be fixed.

“Doyeon-Ssi…” He started, and finally met her eyes. “I just want to say...I’m sorry, I truly, deeply am. I...I did not do what they accuse me of doing. I did, however, get involved in acquitting...the criminal, and I did wrong in doing that. I regret it immensely, and I know that I shouldn’t have done that and I shouldn’t have let that happen” he breathed hard, playing with his hands, playing for time. 

If it had been months ago, before he had let Hyerim into his life, he would never have found the strength to do this. But now, as he looked over at her, he felt her radiating presence, her encouraging smile, the motivation that her mere existence has given him. So he continued. 

“As a judge, my responsibility should have been to protect you, and for failing to do my responsibility for you and for a lot of people who would be put into your place...I regret nothing more. Although I had failed back then, I promise not to fail you again” He looked up at her and met her tear filled eyes. “Doyeon-Ssi...we will do our best to bring you justice this time. Although it’s too late,  although it’s after the right time has passed, we’ll make them accountable. It is the correct thing to do”

Doyeon stared at him for a moment, and he saw her grasp Hyerim’s hand. She put an arm around the other, held her in a brief hug and patted on her back. 

“Thank-thank you...SungGyu-Ssi…” Was all Doyeon could say in response, but it was enough for him. Sung Gyu felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off his back, like the inflated bubble in his heart had burst open. He stood up and bowed to her deeply in apology, and she accepted it, and he felt like he’d set some things right. Not all of it, but at least it was a start. As he sat back down again, he realised; Kim Doyeon was another Hyerim for someone, another Jieun, and somewhere in her life, she would be another mum like his own. It shouldn’t be about whether he got acquitted from the case or not, but bringing justice to her and thousands of women who’d been put into her place because of the flaws and injustices of the system. Judges like Ryu Wonho, prosecutors like the one responsible for the case, Police officers like those of the Gangnam station and even naive, push-over judges like himself should no longer exist, and it was his responsibility as the vice minister of the legislation and a representative of the citizens to set things right. 

“You were so cool, Yeobbo” Hyerim told him after a while, making his cheeks feel warm. He knew that it was her attempt to make light of the situation, to make Doyeon feel better, but the way that she emphasised on the ‘Yeobbo’ made him feel...things.

Doyeon laughed lightly, even as wiped her tears. Sung Gyu reached out and handed her some more paper napkins. It started drizzling slightly outside; it was a rainy autumn this time around, and as they both hadn’t brought umbrellas with them, they had no choice but to wait even longer.

“It's raining…” Hyerim muttered and glanced over at him. “I think it's calling for a cup of hot coffee”

He understood what it meant. Doyeon needed time to pull herself together, so it's time for him to leave the girls for a while.

So he asked what each of them wished to have, then stood up and first walked into the men’s. He needed a moment to himself as well, for he felt like he was floating for a while. He had never poured himself out like that, not to a person who was very much a stranger. He must have been able to do so on a letter eight years ago, but feelings were easier dealt on paper than in spoken words. He was still quite shaken inside, the rush of adrenaline yet to wear off. He went to the sink, washed his face and stared at the mirror, at his own reflection. Gazing back at him was a different person. It was still him, but perhaps a little stronger, perhaps a little more confident and certain of himself. He had never felt more grounded and courageous before. A part of him knew that it wasn’t really himself or his doing; a large part of himself did. If not for Hyerim who’d come into his life at the right time, Sung Gyu sometimes thought his and Youngmin’s fates would have been the same.

A life that he had thought had no prospects of change; no brightness, no positivity, had altered completely. Now he was a husband again, and a father. And he was someone who had set some wrong of his life, right. 

He walked outside and towards the counter after a while, feeling more of himself again. He placed their orders, took the buzzer and waited in a nearby chair, waiting for his order to come. He didn’t want to interrupt the ladies’ time yet, and on the other hand, Sung Gyu needed more time for himself.

By the time he carried the tray laden with their orders to the table, Hyerim and Doyeon were engaged in a hearty conversation between themselves, both talking animatedly, and he felt better that things were back to normal again. He set the tray on the table and Hyerim looked up at him.

“Yeobbo, Doyeon-Ssi had found out she was pregnant only recently as well” Hyerim told him as he placed her piping hot mug of coffee before her.

“Is that so?” he asked, picked up Doyeon’s cup of tea and carefully set it on the table. 

“I think the babies will be only months apart!” Hyerim carried on. Sung Gyu didn’t want to get ahead of himself yet, as the only results they had were of two store-bought pregnancy kits, but he didn’t want to break her bubble as well. He smiled and sat on the other side. When he looked up, he saw that Doyeon was keenly looking at his hands. He immediately became self conscious, and he didn’t mean to ball them into tight fists, but it happened.

“Um, I’m sorry...Sung Gyu-Ssi….but I think-I think I really do remember your hands” Doyeon said. Sung Gyu unfisted them and merely gazed at her.

“It’s just that-I know it sounds strange but…” Doyeon stammered, sounding embarrassed, but Hyerim reached out and placed a gentle hand on her arm. “You told me in the morning...how you remember them” She said.

“I did have a vague memory of it,” Doyeon nodded in response. “The flowers, the hands...Sung Gyu-Ssi, he…” She glanced at his hands again. “He has rather distinct hands”

Sung Gyu glanced at Hyerim who had an expression of something between glee and contentment. “What’s distinct about them...which made you certain?” She asked conversationally.

“I remember the small mark on his hand...the one near his thumb...on the back”

He looked down at his hands, both of them, and she was right. There was a mole on his left hand, on the back, near the thumb. It was so distinct that it was almost always where they put the seal when he went to the voting centre. 

Hyerim reached out and took both his hands, she too saw the mark and she gasped. “You really do remember hands” She said.

Doyeon smiled shyly and looked at both of them. “So, um, do you think it would help? In the court?”

Hyerim sat back and gave the other the warmest smile. “Would you be alright to testify?”

Doyeon nodded in response. “I want to”

It was then a brilliant smile of absolute relief and contentment appeared on Hyerim’s lips. She moved in and pulled Doyeon into a warm hug. “Thank you…” She muttered as he could only watch, rendered speechless. “Thank you so much, Doyeon-Ssi”

Sung Gyu drove back to Seoul later in the afternoon, and on his way, he received a call from a rather excited Jieun, who was crying vigorously just like his mother had. He had a hard time responding to her, muttering again and again, asking for her not to cry. But thankfully Hyerim was awake and bubbly and her usual self, so she took over for him, and for a long time they talked about the kind of things he’d otherwise have no knowledge about. Jieun suggested the obstetrician clinic that she’d been going to, and taking yoga and other new-parent related classes to prepare pre-birth. He had never thought of the complexities of it, although he was completely aware that the journey ahead was not simple. After the call ended (That lasted about two hours until Yoonho started crying in the background) Sung gyu reached out and took her hand as his eyes stayed on the road, his other hand on the wheel.

“When are we going to the clinic?” he asked her.

She was concentratedly clicking away on the phone, setting appointments. “Would tomorrow be fine?”

He tilted his head thoughtfully. “I can spare a few hours in the morning,” He said. Thankfully it was not a trial day, and work at the office was a little less hectic compared to before.

“But...will it be alright?” Hyerim asked him.

“What will?”

“You know…” She hesitated for a moment. “People already knew...that you were married and-and you going to an obstetrician with a different person is...”

Sung gyu mulled it over for a moment. In his father’s perspective, it would be the kind of a crime that would rip him off his dignity, respect and social status. How dare he find happiness with another woman after a failed marriage? but he was not his father, and after all, his life was not in the right shape to begin with.

“I’m on trial for insider fraud, sweetheart” Sung gyu reminded her with a chuckle. “I don’t give a flying for what they’d think”

They were able to confirm it on monday. At the obstetrician, after the initial tests were done, they sat hand in hand as the obstetrician’s office, a pleasant young man with gentle features and a perpetual smile, announced that they were indeed about to become parents.

“You’ve already entered your first month, Hyerim-Ssi…” He went on, “Every woman reacts to their first pregnancy differently and…”

It felt surreal to be sitting in the doctor’s office and hear about children...about the child that he was about to have. Even as they walked out of the clinic, it felt unreal, like he was still dreaming. Not once in his life had he thought that he would be in that moment, in that place. It felt like he was living the life of a different person. As soon as they returned to the car and climbed in, before Hyerim could buckle herself up, Sung Gyu leaned in, took her face in his hands and kissed her. She hummed and she smiled as she pulled away from him. He let his hands remain on her neck and gazed into her eyes; the eyes that held his whole world within them now.

“Hyerim-ah” He called, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.

“Hm?”

“Let's get married”

Hyerim laughed lightly. “I thought we’ve already decided that”

“We did, but” He sighed. “We haven’t discussed anything on that, and-,”

“My lease is ending in two months” Hyerim cut in, informing him. “I’ll move in after that. We’ll renovate your guest room to a baby room and-,”

He leaned in and kissed her again. “That sounds perfect to me”