“Hello?”

Woohyun’s body jolted as he heard the familiar feminine voice. He felt guilty about not calling her for a long time. In fact, they hadn’t seen each other in a while. It wasn’t that they had fought or anything; Woohyun had simply been too occupied with other things.

“Hi mom, this is Woohyun.”

There was a small pause at the other end followed by an exclamation.

“Woohyun! I can’t believe you abandoned me as well, just like my other son.”

Her voice was wry but Woohyun knew the pain she was hiding behind her attempt at humor. He suddenly felt so very horrible and Sunggyu leaving him was suddenly very justified.

“I’m so sorry mom, I was…busy.”

“Fitting excuse.” She laughed and Woohyun enjoyed the warmth of the familiar sound. “But tell me, are you abroad? The number…”

“Yeah I’m calling from Paris actually.”

She made an understanding sound.

“So you two are having fun? Romantic, isn’t it?”

Woohyun felt his heart crack. He tried to keep his voice steady.

“No mom, it’s just me.”

“But…” she sounded confused.

Woohyun knew that he and Sunggyu being away from each other was unthinkable to many. He even accompanied Sunggyu on his official trips. The truth was, he couldn’t stay a single day away from Sunggyu and he made a point to make sure he was always with him, by him.

And yet here I am, it’s been 10 days.

He himself was surprised that he had made it for so long.

Sighing, he explained to her all that had happened. He didn’t leave a single incident out and for the first time, he didn’t feel any awkwardness or hesitation in sharing the story; she listened patiently, not interrupting him. By the end of it, he was exhausted from trying to hold back the tears.

“It’s okay to cry son. You’ve been through so much...”

Her voice was soothing and Woohyun felt the heaviness lifting off of him slowly. He felt a lot better than how he had felt when he had entered the airport. She always had this effect on him – like a sponge, she seemed to soak up all his sadness, giving him room to harbor other feelings.

“I don’t know what to do, mom.”

“Do you love him?”

“Yes,” he cried into the phone, ignoring the looks people were giving him. He didn’t care about anything at the moment. He was an adult, crying at a foreign airport and yet he felt nothing wrong about it. The important thing was to get it off his chest and reply honestly.

“No Woohyun, do you love him now, after what he has done to you? After he left?”

He tried to process the question. Did she expect his love to change? Did she expect Woohyun to feel differently now? After all, Sunggyu had done something horrible and he wanted to break off their relationship. But the question was, did Woohyun still love him, despite everything he had done?

He realized that this was an important question right now, whether his affection for Sunggyu had changed or not, would he be able to forgive Sunggyu or not. Closing his eyes, he let his mind wander for a minute. He tried to reach deep within his heart, where the answer to this immensely difficult question was hidden.

When he opened his eyes again, things started to look surprisingly clear.

“Yes mom, I do love him,” he said confidently.

She sighed audibly, but it was a happy adoring sigh. He could picture the fond smile on her face.

“Then you’ll find him son, you definitely will.”

Woohyun believed it – he believed her words. He felt that his heart was echoing what she had said. It was the only truth in front of him now.

“Thanks mom, I will need your blessings,” he said in a choked voice.

He could hear her sniff.

“I will give you one - Sunggyu loves you Woohyun, he still loves you.”

I want to believe it mom, I want to believe it so much.

It was as if she had just given him an anchor to hold on to. He focused on the thought. They loved each other, and love gave birth to little miracles all over the world.

But he couldn’t help asking her, just to be sure.

“How do you know mom?”

There was another pause, a much bigger one. She then finally sighed.

“Woohyun, a mother always knows. Always.”

He could hear her crying now, her sobs becoming louder. Woohyun tried to say something to comfort her but thought against it. He waited for her to continue. “I love Sunggyu, I gave birth to him. And even though I haven’t seen him for a long time, despite our misunderstandings, I love him.”

She hung up, leaving Woohyun feeling hugely guilty. He knew Mrs. Kim’s pain well enough. She and Sunggyu had never been very close, and Sunggyu blamed it on his older sister, Jieun. He felt that his mother loved Jieun more than him. As a result, he had a virtually non-existent relationship with her until three years ago when Mrs. Kim had moved in with Jieun.

That was the last straw and he never saw her again since then because he believed that it blatantly proved that she loved Jieun more than him.

Woohyun however knew the real reason – Jieun was always frail, not strong like Sunggyu. That was why Mrs. Kim had attached herself to her daughter, to guard her against the world. That had caused her to give less time to her son but never had she been negligent of him. Sunggyu however had taken it all wrongly. Three years ago, Jieun’s heart was broken by a man and after that, depressed and hopeless, she had become suicidal, which led Mrs. Kim to make the decision of moving in with her, in order to prevent anything bad from happening.

Even though she had tried to describe it to her son, Sunggyu wouldn’t listen. So instead, she had asked Woohyun for help, who had tried to explain the situation to him but he wouldn’t hear a word about it. He accused Woohyun of taking his mother’s side instead of his, so Woohyun had given up to ensure that Sunggyu doesn’t start thinking of him as an enemy. Apologetic and understanding, he had kept contact with Mrs. Kim, or as much as was possible without Sunggyu knowing. He knew Jieun was much better now but she still needed Mrs. Kim, at least more than Sunggyu.

“And Sunggyu has you, so I don’t worry,” Mrs. Kim had told him once.

If Woohyun was sure about one thing, it was that Mrs. Kim knew her son. And if she said Sunggyu loved him, then he most definitely did. In fact, that was what he had believed when he had started this journey. He knew he could build their home again, brick by brick from the beginning, if need be.

I will get him back.

He stood up with a new determination. Feeling a little ashamed that he had even doubted his intentions in the first place, he walked purposefully to his airlines office and gave the woman at the counter his passport.

“I want to change my ticket. I’ll be staying in Paris for another week,” he said in English.

The woman looked at him as if he had just called her something very unpleasant. She had a narrow face and thin lips and her eyebrows were knitted together constantly. All in all, she didn’t look like the kind who would be co-operating.

“Argh these people, changing their minds so much,” she muttered, taking Woohyun’s passport with distaste.

Woohyun tried to smile at her but she paid no attention to him and he was glad when it was over. She had been mumbling all this time about people who changed tickets and didn’t know where they wanted to be. He eagerly accepted his passport back from her and thanking her quickly, he turned around, walking briskly towards the opposite side.

Puffing out his cheeks, he went through the impromptu list he had made up in his mind on the things he had to do: he had made up his mind about what he should do with a little help from Mrs. Kim, he had changed his ticket, he had started feeling better.

What was the other thing…

He faintly remembered something else that he was forgetting. It was definitely important but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He looked around the vast place all around him, racking his brain for what he was forgetting. Walking a few paces, he found himself face to face a family hauling their luggage. And suddenly, it came back to him.

Key, I almost forgot about him!

Briefly scolding himself for forgetting Kibum, he thought about sending him an email, explaining what he had done. He couldn’t believe Kibum would like the idea of him staying in Paris for another week; he had always been against this plan.

But he’s my best friend, I should let him know.

He looked in his pocket for his cellphone but to his utter amazement, it wasn’t there anymore. He had just talked to Mrs. Kim and after that he had only been to the airlines office.

Did I leave it there?

He rushed back to the office where the grumbling woman sat behind the counter, watching her screen sourly.

“Excuse me,” he panted. “I think I left my -”

The woman got up abruptly, not letting him finish. Muttering something under her breath, she brought a black box from a shelf nearby and slammed it onto the counter in front of Woohyun, who knew enough French to read the ‘Lost and Found’ sign on it.

“Merci,” he said gratefully, opening the box. He found his cellphone near the top. He grabbed for it when something else caught his eyes. The box was full of strange objects - tissues, phones, bills, wallets and other things people had left at the counter – it looked like a curio shop. But a familiar red and white design intrigued him the most and he picked the object up.

It was a handkerchief, plain white except for an initial sewed onto one corner.

The design and the initials were familiar. Very familiar.

KSG…