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This is a special chapter because instead of Kwangmin’s POV, it’s going to be someone else’s :) 

Today is my birthday. I woke up exceptionally early today to the sound of MiEun crying and was unable to go back to sleep from the excitement. I scampered out of bed like I do every year during my birthday and burst out of my room, only to see Appa dashing down the hallway towards our room, his hair in frenzy and a blank look on his face. He carefully picked me up and shut the door behind him. Settling me down on my bed again, he rushed over to MiEun and patted her gently on the back like he always does to soothe her crying. As soon as she became quiet, Appa heaved a sigh of relief and slumped back on the bed frame. “JunHyun uh,” Appa said, “why are you up so early?” Clasping my hands together, I asked Appa if he remembered what day it was. He stared at me for a moment, looked at his watch before looking back at me with a funny smile on his face.  “Ermmm…. Tuesday?”

Shaking my head, I crossed my arms and instantly felt tears build up in my eyes. “No…” I replied, disappointed.

“Hmmm… Christmas?”

“Hmph ! APPA!!!!!”

“Alright alright….. Our JunHyun’s…  birthday?” Satisfied with the answer, I stood up and clapped my hands in celebration, bugging him to take me to the amusement park after school. He nodded his head and I began to cheer in an even louder voice. He shot up from the bed immediately and placed a finger over his lips, which meant for me to be quiet. Cupping my hands over my mouth, we stared at Mieun for a while as she twitched in her sleep but quickly fell deep into sleep again. Appa placed a hand over his heart, indicating that he felt relived before we looked at each other again.

“Amusement park…. Promise?” I mouthed instead and Appa agreed, hooking his pinky onto mine. Happily, I jumped up and down on the bed once more except this time, Appa joined in with me as he jumped about on the floor, as though he was just as happy as I was. He is the best Appa in the whole world!

School ended and alongside my friends, we dashed out of school to the school gate. I skipped along as I held on tightly to the present that MinKi, my best friend got for me. As I caught sight of Appa waving frantically to me, I flashed him the biggest smile and ran towards him with all my might. Panting, I fell straight into his arms as he picked me up and swung me around. “How was my little boy’s day at school?” I enthusiastically explained in detail what I did, ate, went and of course, about the present that MinKi gave me. After which, I begged Appa and Eomma to let me open the present that MinKi gave me. They agreed and as soon as I was strapped to my safety seat, I pulled the box out of the bag and began ripping the wrapper apart. I ripped it bit by bit and as fast as I can with my really tiny hands as I can’t wait to see what was in there. MiEun kept her eyes locked on my present as well so I think she is interested as well. I began to chatter on non-stop and explaining to MiEun how it was my birthday and that I received presents and she looked at me, amazed, like she always does. Of course, it’s because I was her older brother. Finally after minutes of tearing the paper apart, I observed the toy car carefully placed in the transparent case as happiness began to overflow. I cheered as I raised the box in the air and exclaimed, and I heard Appa and eomma laugh. I wonder if it’s about me…. Pulling it out of the box, I couldn’t stop playing with it, rolling it all over the car seats and over MiEun’s head which caused her to look at me slightly angry, but it’s okay, she’ll get her turn… I think. This is really the best present ever…. Until I saw that.

I hopped off the car excitedly, the toy car still in my hands as I grabbed onto Appa with my other hand and skipped towards the amusement park, constantly hurrying Appa along. Finally, when we set foot into the amusement park, I let go of his hand and ran forward. I stared in awe at the magnificent view of children running about, the cool rides, the games, food and toys. Without further ado, Appa picked me and MiEun up and headed for the store selling headbands and bought one for each of us to get things started, with Eomma waddling on weirdly behind us.

It has been a really long time since I last came here, especially after Eomma fell sick. For some unknown reason, we stopped going out so often and even our weekly family outings were cancelled week after week. Appa also became a little obsessed with taking care of Eomma like she is a baby. A big baby, when MiEun and I should have been the one taken care of. But it’s alright now, since we got to come again, and for today, Appa and Eomma are all mine. Even though, this time, it was a little different, because Eomma no longer played with us. Instead, she just sat on the bench and watched us. But even so, I was happy. How I wish everyday was my birthday…

After a long day, we finally headed for a bench not far away from where we last rode the ride and sat down, as I felt a relief in my two legs. Swinging it about we watched as Eomma inched towards us, a brilliant smile on her face asking if I had fun before clumsily taking a seat next to me. Taking her hands into mine, I snuggled closer to her and told her how I wished everyday was my birthday. Eomma chuckled and ruffled my hair. Just then, from the bench beside of us, I noticed a few ladies looking at Eomma from head to toe. It is a little odd, to observe people like that. And as they spoke with a muffled voice, I overheard them saying something about Eomma’s legs and how she walked differently, as though they had never seen it before. Slowly, I shifted my gaze from Eomma to the people around me and indeed, they do walk differently. But then again, I can’t even really remember seeing Eomma ever walking perfectly normal. Then… why does Eomma walk like that? I turned back to look at the ladies again, only to see them casting weird looks in our direction. I looked up at Eomma and saw her smiling at me again before I looked back at them again. Turning my head away with her hands, Eomma explained, “Don’t look at people like that, it’s rude.”

“But eomma,” I tried to reason, “They were looking at you and pointing at you.”

“Were they?” Eomma said calmly, her eyes locked onto mine, not at all shocked by that, nor did she turn to look at them to confirm it. Maybe she already knew. But why didn’t she tell them off then?

From afar, we saw Appa and Mieun approaching with food in their hands. Excited, I waved to Appa and gestured for him to hurry up. The two then started jogging towards us.

After a satisfying meal, we finally headed home. By then, MiEun and I were both too tired to even take another step, and hence we begged Appa to carry both of us back to the car, which he did. I observed Eomma walking slowly behind us in her usual manner and I looked over to where the ladies were once again, before turning to face Appa. “Appa, why does Eomma walk like that? And why are those ahjummas talking about her?” Appa tilted his head slightly to catch a glimpse of those ladies seated there, but not stopping in his footsteps.

“Well, they probably just haven’t seen anyone walk like Eomma.”

“Then why does she walk like that?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity. I just had to know.

“Because eomma is sick.”

“I don’t walk funny when I’m sick.” I reasoned and Appa chuckled.

“There are many forms of being sick.” Appa said, and he turned to look at me. I looked into his eyes with a quizzical look, obviously because I didn’t know what he was saying.

“But why are people talking about her and laughing?”

Appa smiled, and in a calm tone he answered, “Because to them, this is weird and funny, and they fail to see beyond that. But even if Eomma walks like that and can’t do things normal Eommas do, don’t you think she’s beautiful?” I looked behind to see Eomma tracing behind and as soon as she saw me looking, she smiled and waved at me. I smiled back.

“Yes she is.” I answered and hid my face into the crook of his neck. I still didn’t understand though, what appa meant. Eomma had always been beautiful, I just didn’t understand why she had to walk like that. Ever since eomma fell sick, she had been walking funny and doing things differently. She rarely made me lunchboxes to bring to school, drew pictures with me or lifted me high into the air, drop me then catch me again. Instead, whenever I asked her to do it, she would just apologize to me and said that she was too weak to do those for me again. I don’t understand why the Eomma that was once so energetic and warm could turn like this: slightly crippled and lifeless.

Or was it that she doesn’t love me anymore that’s why she refused to do such things for me now?

Tightening my grip around Appa’s shoulder I quickly shut my eyes and tried not to think, as I finally drifted off into sleep. 

So here's a different chapter. Writing from the point of view from a 5-6 year old isnt easy so we hope we did it well or at least up to your expectations :) We hope we conveyed the message of this chapter well. We are constantly trying to improve our language skills so do bear with us ^^ Thank you so much ! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and do rememeber to comment and subscribe !!!!!! ^^ We will try to update regularly ^^ 

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