“I can’t believe you just left.”

“Well, I did.”

“Without saying anything? Without letting anyone know where you are going?”

SKyler wore a strained expression. She had been undergoing her brother’s cross-examination for the last half hour and she was weary of it. “I’ve told you I was in San Francisco.”

“How were we supposed to know that?”

“You weren’t” Skyler shouted. “That was the point. I wanted to get away by myself for awhile. Last time I check, I’m an adult. I didn’t know I needed anyone’s permission to take a vacation.”

Dami held up her hand to silence her husband’s next contribution to the argument.”

“We understand and appreciate your need for a vacation, Sky. But you must admit that your timing was a bit off.”

“Impulsiveness is one of my traits, eonnie.”

Why didn’t they just go home and leave her alone, she thought. She still didn’t feel like seeing anyone. She certainly wasn’t up to justifying her most recent escapade. She couldn’t reconcile her reason for fleeing Jiyong’s house to herself, much less to explain it to anyone else.

“You deserted Jiyong when he needed you the most. Without a word. Without the courtesy of a formal resignation or a simple goodbye, you walked out. I don’t raise you up to be this irresponsibility, impulsivity be damned.”

“Jiyong will survive. He told me so himself. Before I left, he said he could do anything. I believe him.”

“But your job wasn’t finished. He still needed you.”

Sky shook her head adamantly. “Not me. A therapist. Any therapist would do. He’d had an attitude turnaround. He was doing amazingly well. Before I left, I stopped by to see Dr. Choi. He assured me that he could find an excellent replacement immediately.”

“From what I hear, Dr. Choi came through,” Dami told them. “By all reports, Yong-ie is doing exceptionally well. He’s even resumed control of his corporation.”

“There, you see,” Skyler said, “all’s well.”

“That still doesn’t excuse you from being irresponsible in your duties.”

“So don’t pay me. I got a great vacation out of it. I have a great time.”

“Don’t be flippant with me, Sky.”

“Then don’t be so bloody self-righteous,” she snapped. “I got tired of being stuck up there on that tropical mountain. I needed a change of scenery.”

“So why San Francisco?”

“I’d never been there. I wanted to see it.”

Actually that was the first city she’d come to after her midnight flight from Honolulu. It was as good a place as any to lose herself and nurse her misery. She’d seen very little of the city, spending most of her time in a hotel room. But she didn’t want them to know that.

“What were you doing there all that time?” Dami asked her softly.

“Having a wonderful time.”

“Alone?” her brother interrupted.

“I didn’t say I was alone.”

“You said you went there to be alone,” he stated incredulously.

“So I changed my mind,” Skyler said testily.

These days, Skyler’s control over her temper was tenuous at best. Her dark mood hadn’t improved when, immediately upon her arrival home, her brother and sae-eonnie had showed up on her doorstep.

“What business is it of yours if I spent the time in San Francisco with one man or with a dozen men?”

Shane let out a gasp of outrage. He didn’t expect to see how irresponsible his younger sister turned out to be. He always knew her to be impulsive but to take off while still on duty, that’s just the last straw. Especially to run out on his younger brother-in-law, his wife’s younger sibling.

“Yeobo, don’t be upset. It is not good for the baby when the father is upset.”

“How can I keep from not getting upset? My totally irresponsible sister has been on a two-week-long ual spree in San Francisco. What’s the matter with her?”

“PMS?” Dami teased.

“Yeobo.”

“You know what? I have an excellent idea,” Sky interrupted with false sweetness. “If the two of you are going to discuss me as if I were invisible third party, I wish you’d go home to do it. I’m tired. I want to unpack. I need to call the hospital and tell them I’m ready to go back to work.”

“To be blunt, I want you to leave.”

“Fine,” her brother grumbled.

“Okay Sky. But first, I need to use your bathroom first.”

“Help yourself, eonnie,” Skyler indicated the way with a wide sweep of her arm.

After Dami had left the room, Skyler turned and discovered that her brother was studying her closely. She sat down opposite him but found his stare disconcerting.

“What?”

“What happen over there, Sky? What had transpired between you and Jiyong? I know you hated him but I know my dongsaeng well enough that she is not as impulsive and irresponsible as you put yourself out to be.”

“Mianhe, oppa,” Sky let out a weak smile.

Shane leaned back in his chair and linked his hands behind his back.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me your reason. But you know what? I noticed something strange.”

“What is it, Oppa?”

“That you’re so touchy tonight, coming off a vacation and all.”

“Travel is tiring.”

“No, the strangeness is the coincidence of it. I’ve spoken to that strong-headed brother-in-law of mine numerous times in the last couple of weeks and each time, he’s been real touchy too. He doesn’t sound happy but he tells me he’s happy. In fact, it seemed important to him to convince me and Dami of his happiness. Kind of like you’ve been with me tonight.”

“I’m very happy.”

“Uh-huh,” Shane said with a guileless smile towards his sister.

“And whatever has made you so happy must be the same thing that made Jiyong so happy. In any event you two are just about the happiest people I ever saw. What I’m wondering is why you’re going to such great lengths to make sure everyone knows it.”

“Seriously Sky, what happened?” Shane said, looking compassionately at his dongsaeng. Skyler felt like running to him and cry there and then. But she didn’t have chance.

Dami stepped between them and calmly announced, “My water just broke.”

They both jumped as though she had opened fire on them with a bazooka. Shane bounded to his feet and gripped her shoulders.

“Are you sure? Are you all right?”

Dami nodded with tears in her eyes.

“We should go to the hospital and have a baby,” she told him, laughing.

“Sky, Seungri is with Nathan and Natasha. Please call and ask if he would mind spending the night with them.”

“Sure, sure. Anything else?”

“Yes, pry your brother’s hands off my shoulder. He’s cutting off my circulation,” she joyfully laughed.

Skyler laughed at her frozen Oppa.

Despite it being her first child, Dami-eonnie gave birth to a baby girl shortly before dawn the following morning.

A/n: How my lovely readers today? I was tempted to not update today or even tomorrow. But I don't want to let the angst remain. Hahaha... Anyway this story is ending soon!! Like FINALLY!!