P.O took Min Ki down the hill earlier than usual and explained that we were going to be picking him up late. He somehow charmed the ahjumma into doing this favor for me and I wondered just how often he used his cuteness to his advantage.

I was spacier than usual at work and the kids had to ask me several times if I was okay. I was so on edge that I accidentally cursed at one of the kids. Luckily I was able to bribe them into not telling on me, but I was starting to get angry with myself. Just because CAP and Baro had suddenly shown up gave me no excuse to check out.

P.O. was waiting for me when class was over. We walked back home and I told him all about the visit from the day before. None of what I said seemed like news to him and he admitted to talking to the guys when I was at work. He tried to apologize for getting me caught but I shook it off. It wasn’t his fault that he called when he did. It was Murphy’s Law taking over my life again. As soon as I’d started feeling comfortable, things were bound to mess up.

We got to the gate and P.O. stopped me. “Uh, noona. I have something to tell you before you go in.”

“Yes?”

“They’re here.”

“What?!” I exclaimed loudly. He winced and I tried to gather my wits. “What do you mean they’re here?”

“I brought them here. I know you and you’re kind of a flight risk. Sorry noona, but I thought it was best.”

As soon as I got the time I was going to strangle that kid and I told him as much. I knew I had to face them but did it have to be now? I couldn’t have like half an hour of peace or something? Taking a deep breath, I followed P.O. into my house and to my fate.

“Hey,” I said quietly to Baro and CAP. They were sitting on the couch in the same position as they had the day before. They greeted me and I noticed how strange it was to see such a serious look on Baro’s face.

“P.O. told us most of what we’ve been wondering about,” Baro said after a moment, “but we still have a few questions.”

“Okay.” I sat on the love seat with P.O. “Shoot.”

“Did you have any intentions of telling me?” CAP asked.

I nodded. “I was going to tell you after I told Sunwoo, but after that didn’t go well I wasn’t really thinking straight.”

“Why didn’t you write it in the letter?”

“Is that really the kind of news you want to find out in a letter? It didn’t seem like a good idea to me.”

This isn’t going too badly, I thought.

“Why didn’t you let me explain that day?” Baro asked. “You just ran away…”

He sounded so hurt it made me tear up a bit. “I panicked. Gongchan was acting all suspicious and guilty and then I see you and her…it didn’t look good.”

“But why not stay? You could have yelled at me or tried to beat her up…something, anything besides run away.”

“I was three and a half months pregnant, terrified that I had to confront my boyfriend about it and tell him that he may or may not be the father because I was sleeping with someone else that I’d started to develop feelings for. Did you really expect me to be rational!?”

P.O. grabbed my hand and rubbed circles on the back of it in an attempt to clam me down. Saying my little rant lifted a huge burden off my chest, but I was glad to have the younger boy there.

“You were questioning our relationship?” Baro asked.

“No. You’re not listening. I came to tell you everything because I valued you that much. I wanted to be able to talk to you and…” I stopped talking. What the heck was I saying?  “Let me try this again. I knew I’d messed up, possibly, and I cared about you enough to try to tell you to your face.”

“Tell me now,” he said quietly. “Whatever you were going to tell me,” he glanced at CAP, “whatever you were going to tell us then, tell us now.”

“Minsoo, why don’t we go in the other room?” I suggested.

He nodded and followed me into my bedroom. I sat down on the bed but he stayed by the door. I smiled a little to myself. It was as if I’d been transported back in time. I patted a spot next to me and waited until he sat next to me before taking a deep breath.

“CAP…I’ve been struggling with this for the longest time. I think I love you and I really don’t want to. You’re a great guy, I like being around you, but I’ve already met my soul mate and I don’t think I could give that up to try us. On top of that, there’s something else I need to tell you.” Damn I was as nervous as I imagine I would have been had I done this in the first place instead of running away. “You may or may not be the father of my child.”

“And if I am?”

“Then now you have the son you said you wanted.” We were quiet for what seemed like an eternity. “Say something,” I pleaded.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Could you handle this right now? I mean, it’s a lot harder than you’d think to be a parent.”

“I honestly don’t know, but if he’s mine I want to be there for him, for you. I think my mom would be really happy about it too.”

“I don’t want you to think you owe me anything. There’s a lot between us and I know just this short amount of time isn’t going to fix anything, but I really do care about you Minsoo, despite everything.”

“That’s the first time you’ve called me by my name, Anna.”

It was weird hearing CAP call me that, but it seemed right. “I could say the same for you.”

“Sunwoo…you really like him, don’t you?” CAP suddenly asked.

 “When I was younger, I just knew he was the one.”

“And now?”

“Right now I’ll be happy with him not hating me.”

When CAP left and Baro came in my heart started beating double time.

“You’re supposed to be in Japan,” I said.

“I’m flying back in the morning, which is why we really need to figure all this out.”

“Gongchan told me that she was just another singer. Was that true?”

“Do you really think that’s the most important thing right now?” he asked.

“Seeing how I ran away after seeing you with her, yes, I think it’s a pretty important part of the chain of events.”

He sighed hard. Why did I get a feeling that I actually didn’t want to hear this? “She featured in a track for our album. Our parts were kind of intertwined so we were practicing before going to record that night.”

“And…?” I prompted when it seemed as though he wasn’t going to finish.

“She kissed me. I tried to tell her about you but she wouldn’t listen. I tried to escape when I heard the door which ended up being you and you know what happened after that.”

“She kissed you?”

He nodded.

“How could you just let her kiss you and you not stop her? It’s not that hard to avoid someone’s lips!”

“Do you really want to go there?” he asked, his voice dropping a little. “At least I could brush off a kiss. You got a lot more than a kiss from Minsoo.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t talk about that like you know. This is about us.”

“Doesn’t that have to do with us? If it weren’t for him then we wouldn’t be in this situation. We wouldn’t be fighting right now. We would be happy together with our child.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Does it make a difference? I love you. I’ve missed you so much in the past few years. Anna, right now it doesn’t matter if Min Ki is mine or Minsoo’s. The most important thing is that he’s yours.”

Those words were way too familiar. Isn’t that what Paek Sang Ki said to my mother about me? Dammit, why did Baro have to be so effing perfect?

“You should go,” I said quietly. “You need your rest for the show.”

“Anna-”

“I’m going home. When you get back, we’ll all get this over with. Min Ki deserves a father.”

“You promise? This isn’t just some ruse so you can run away again?”

“I promise. No more running.”

********

It was strange to be back home after being away for so long. Everything was overly familiar yet strangely foreign at the same time. My first stop was to Chan Hee’s place. Just like when I left, no one had a warning that I was coming back, so Jin Ae was more than a little surprised to see me leaning against her desk.

“Yaya?” she squeaked out like she wasn’t sure if I was really there or not.

“It’s me, but I’m just Anna now.”

“You little brat, do you have any idea how worried I was about you?”

“Sorry. But I’m back now. Is Chan Hee in his office?”

She nodded. “Where else would he be?”

I made my way to the office door and knocked three times before being told to come in. I opened the door and stood there, waiting for him to lift his head.

“Don’t just stand there. Come in and state your business.”

“After all this time I don’t even get a ‘hello’? Is that how it is?”

His head snapped up from the form he was filling out. “Yaya?”

“Hey.”

“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the chair in front of him that I usually occupied.

“Actually, could you come up front? There’s someone I want you and Jin Ae to meet.”

He looked at me quizzically but followed me out. He waited with Hin Ae in the lobby while I got Min Ki from P.O. who was waiting outside with the cab that had brought us from the train station. P.O. left to his dorm and I promised we would talk later.

“Min Ki, this is Jin Ae and Chan Hee. They’re mama’s godparents. Say hi.”

Usually Min Ki likes people but he was pretending to be shy at the moment. He buried his face in my pants leg and peeked out at them. I looked at their faces and Jin Ae’s eyes were shining with tears. Chan Hee had this stupid look on his face that showed his amazement.

“Jin Ae, Chan Hee, this is my son, Min Ki.”

“He’s so cute!” Jin Ae exclaimed. She commenced trying to get him to pay attention to her while Chan Hee gave me a ‘look’. You’d think being damn near 25 years old I’d be impervious to the look but that wasn’t the case.

“Sunwoo gets back on in the morning and it takes like 3 days for the results to come back,” I said, answering his unasked question.

“Come here little one. Come hug me,” Jin Ae continued to talk to Min Ki who was starting to warm up to her.

“How does CAP feel about this?”

“He’s being patient. That’s about all I can ask for I guess.”

Min Ki took a few tentative steps towards Jin Ae. “Have you been to see your mom yet? Of your father?” Chan Hee asked.

I shook my head. “No. I’m going to meet them both later.”

“Are you sure you’re holding up fine?”

“I’m fine. I promise.”

Min Ki had decided that Jin Ae was not a threat. It also helped that she offered him a treat. I made a mental note to teach him not to accept food from strangers. At least he wasn’t in danger now though. We stayed and hung out for a while before I went to eat lunch with my parents.

Lunch wasn’t a big emotional thing like some drama. I mean, my mama was excited. Sungmin tried to act indifferent, but when Min Ki was showing how he could write his name in both Hangul and English, I saw a proud little smile on his face. Min Ki’s grandparents were thoroughly in love with him and by the time we got back to the hotel where we were staying I felt like I’d gotten a lot accomplished. Of course, there was a reason we were here, and Baro would be back soon. By the end of the week, we would know who Min Ki’s father was and then a whole new set of events were going to take place.

Oh joy.