Chapter 53

“Do you have any specific place that you want to go tonight, hon?” Jejung asked, jolting Tiffany awake from her thoughts. She smiled sweetly at Jejung & shook her head, “Where do you want to go?” Jejung laughed, “Hey, I asked you first.” Tiffany thought for a minute & a place instantly popped into her head, “Can we by any chance go to?” Tiffany shook her head, “Never mind, you will never let me go now.” She dismissed the idea as quickly as it came. Jejung sneaked a look at her, turning his eyes towards her for a brief second, “Where is it? I can think about it.” Tiffany bit her lips, wondering if she should tell him or not. She really did want to go to that place though, since she hadn’t been there for many months now, “Come on, tell me & I will consider it.”

“I want to go to our treehouse.” Tiffany finally blurted out quickly. Jejung smiled, “Sure. I kind of wanted to go there myself. It’s been so long since we have been back there.” Tiffany shook her head again, “No, remember I can’t climb up the ladder with this big belly now so I won’t be able to get up.”

“What are you talking about? I can carry you up.” Tiffany turned her head towards him, her blank eyes looked stricken as she stared at him with shock. Jejung pulled into the parking lot of roses park, “You can’t carry me. Not at this time. I weight way more than a ton. You are going to break your back & legs & every bone in your body.” She shook her head furiously. No matter how much she wanted to be at the treehouse, she couldn’t risk damaging his health for her. He laughed. Her expression was just priceless. Her concern for him never ceased to amazed him, “Surely, you are exaggerating.” He said affectionately, sweeping a stray tendril of hair away from her face to tuck it behind her ear, “We should just go home & curl up by the fireplace where its all nice & toasty.” Jejung got out of the car & helped her out from her seat. Once she was out of the car, he put his hands around her waist & leaned forward to brush his lips against hers, “You weigh practically nothing, dear. Come on, let’s go.”

To prove his point, he lifted her up in his arms, sweeping her off her feet. Tiffany let out a little yelp of surprises, clinging tightly to his neck, “Jaejoong Oppa, be careful. I can walk, you know?” He shook his head, “One of my favorite things to do is to carry you in my arms so indulge me a bit.” Tiffany smiled at those words. Before they knew it, they had already arrived at the hedge. Tiffany reached out with one arm & felt for the flower. Jejung held his breath as she reached in between those flowers & produced the key to their own private sanctuary.

For the millionth time in his life, Jejung sent a prayer to the heavens, thanking the good lord for giving him such an amazing beautiful wife. Her blindness never seemed to deter her from anything. If anything, it made her stronger & more capable. He felt his heart swell with pride whenever he thought of her accomplishments. Tiffany reached down & unlocked the hidden door. She pushed it open & he carried her inside, kicking the door shut behind him with his feet. Tiffany suddenly gasped as she heard the door shut behind her, “Yeobo, how are you going to carry me up the ladder? I can’t climb it right now since my belly is too big & you can’t carry me on your back because of my big belly also & you can’t carry me in your arms since you won’t be able to grasps the sides to the ladder.” She struggled to get down, “Come on, let’s go home. It was a bad idea anyway. We will always have time to come back here after our child is born, right?”

Jejung shook his head, “Yes, we will always have time to come back here after our baby is born but we will always have time even when you are with a child. You give up too easily.” He walked with her towards the treehouse & chuckled at her confused expression. When he reached the bottom, he pulled a rope that was hanging down & a set of stairs were produced. Tiffany turned her ear towards the sudden noise & movement, “What’s that?” Tiffany reached her hand out & gasped when she felt the wooden staircase, “Where did this come from?” She asked in awe.

Carrying her up the stairs, he pressed a kiss on her cheek, “I have been coming here after my time at the studio for an hour or eight each day, installing these stairs. I have been waiting for you to request to go to our treehouse for the longest time. I knew that you wanted to come back here but because of the constraints you had with our precious child, I also knew that the rope ladder would pose a problem so I came up with the idea of the pull down stairs like the ones that you have for most attics.” Jejung laughed as he saw the tear slipping down her left cheek. He kissed it away, “You are getting all misty eyed over a set of stairs.” Tiffany shook her head, “No, I’m getting all teary because I have such a sweet husband.” He tapped her nose affectionately.

“& don’t you forget it.” He sighed, “Okay, let me put you down now so that we can cuddle on the blankets.” As he was setting her down, two notecards slipped from her black quilted puffer maternity coat pocket. He bent down & picked them up once Tiffany was on her feet again, “What’s this?”

Tiffany stiffened. She felt her coat pocket & felt it to be flatter than usual, ‘One of the notecards must have fallen out.’ She thought. Jejung stared at the notecard quizzically. He felt the dots on it, “It’s typed out in braille. What is it?” Tiffany let out the breath she was holding with relief. He didn’t know how to read by the braille system. For once, she thanked god that she was blind & that she knew a knack that Jejung didn’t know. Jejung saw the sign of relief on her face & realized that something was wrong with the notecard but she wasn’t willing to tell him about it, “Oh, it’s nothing. One of my previous teachers is holding a lecture about louis braille so she typed out an invitation card for me.”

“Was there one for me, too?” He asked, pressing her further, “No, she invited you along on my invitation.” It was then that he knew she was lying since the invitation would have only required one notecard. It didn’t explain the other one. Tiffany reached her hand out for the notecard, “I will show you where your name is.” Jejung reluctantly gave her back one. Tiffany took his hand & randomly but his fingers over a set of dots. She tried not to wince as she felt what the words actually meant, “See right here, that’s where your name is.” He looked at her with an odd expression. They all looked liked dot codes to him. As soon as he lifted his hand away, she pocketed it in her coat pocket along with the other notecard that she had received in the past few weeks. Jejung pocketed the one he was holding, letting her keep her secrets now. He will find out more about this later. For now, as he helped her to the blankets & pillows & wrapped his arms around her, he only allowed them to think about themselves & their unborn child.

Tiffany leaned against his strong chest, feeling so secure. She suddenly felt a kick from the child & then another. She smiled & placed Jejung’s hand over her belly to where the baby was playing soccer it seemed & they both just enjoyed the moment of the life that they had created, “Oppa, so what would you like to name the baby?” He pondered deeply over that question, “If it’s a girl, I want it to be named Sora Kim & if it’s a boy, he will be named Seungheon Kim.” Jejung said, as Tiffany agreed to go with those names since she like whatever her husband chooses.

For the whole night, they talked about their future children, starting with the baby inside now, setting plans & Tiffany then suddenly said out of the blue, “Wouldn’t it be great if the baby is born on our anniversary day?” Jejung smiled secretively which she couldn’t see. He kissed the top of her head, “That would be great, huh? Our first anniversary will sure be one to remember.”