Chapter 16

Yuri opened her eyes on alert. She averted her head to look at Taehyun’s crib. She was sure she had heard a coughing noise from somewhere inside the room. Her eyes never blinked as she kept looking over at him. Yuri let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Her eyes closed but reopened when a small cough was heard from his side. Panicking, Yuri got up & walked over to his crib. She looked down at him & brushed strands of hair from his oval-shaped face. He coughed again, & started to whine with a cry. She bend down & picked him up from his sleeping position.

“Oh sweetie, you are sick again.” She whispered, holding the back of his head over her shoulder.

Taehyun’s arms circled around Yuri’s neck & started to cough again. She closed her eyes, still soothing her son’s hair, “Mommy.”

“Yes sweetie, I’m here. Don’t worry.” She whispered, & kissed his forehead. She rubbed her cheek against his & sighed. He was always catching the flu early summer. It wasn’t the allergy that caught him but the usual symptom.

Yuri walked out of the bedroom & into the kitchen in the dark. Without disturbing Taehyun, she quietly opened the refrigerator & took out his liquid medicine. She entered the living room & sat down on one of the couch. She supported his head at the back of his head & silently said, “You are going to get well, Hyunnie. Be a good boy & drink this for mommy.”

Taehyun whined again, but slowly, opened his mouth milliliter by milliliter. Yuri gradually poured the liquid into this mouth. When finished, she wiped the edge of his mouth with a napkin she grabbed from the coffee table.

“That’s my good boy.” Said Yuri. She idly leaned back & looked down at her son. A flash of the face she never wanted to see again, flashed into her head. She pressed her lips together & closed her eyes lightly. Seconds later, Yuri opened them back up & looked back down at Taehyun. Why did she have to see that face just looking at her son? She had already forgotten him since four years ago but every time when she looked at her son, she sees him. Taehyun had inherited his features, smartness & charm but hopefully, he won’t inherit his father’s inequities.

Her worries were the most when he asked about his daddy. Her heart dreaded the most when he talked about other students’ daddy & how he doesn’t have one. The only answer she had for him was to lie, to lie that his daddy wasn’t with them anymore & was watching over them from above. She hated to do this to him but what else could she say? Should she have told him the truth about his unfaithful daddy? No, that would have worsened things. She had taken her son away from him. Why would she tell Taehyun that his daddy had cheated on her & he had never known about his own son?

Yuri hated the man since her four years of living in the states. She didn’t want to know about his life. She didn’t want to know about his lover. She didn’t want to know if he had remarried or not. She will never ever want to know about him anymore than she wants her son, too.

The deceiver was all that she knows.

Letting out a big sigh, Yuri got up & walked to her bedroom & placed Taehyun on her bed. Enough was enough. She walked over to his crib & picked up his milk bottle. She lay it down on the nightstand & got into bed. Pulling the blanket over them, Yuri looked at Taehyun & felt his forehead. Her heart tilted on its side. No matter how many times he was sick with the same flu & at the same season, she will never feel relax. Taehyun was the only thing that had kept her alive all these years. She could have never gone through the disaster without him. He was the only key to open her treasure & shut it completely. The one that she thought was to do that had broken his key already.

She kissed his forehead with bitten lips & closed her eyes, praying that Taehyun would be well soon & that she would go to sleep.

“Yuri. Yuri, wake up. You are going to be late for work.” Mina’s voice ringed through her ear.

Yuri opened her eyes in a flash. She looked towards the place where she had placed Taehyun to sleep last night, “I put Hyunnie in his crib. I woke up this morning to find him sleeping beside you.” Mina said, pulling the blanket from Yuri & then folding it.

She quickly got up from her sleeping position & half-ran & half-walked over to his crib. She felt his forehead & whined, “He’s still sick!”

“Yeah. The first touch with his skin this morning, I almost cry out. He’s sicker than normal.”

“I...I got to take him to the doctor.” Yuri said in a panicking voice, picking up Taehyun. She hugged him close & patted his back gently.

“But you have to work, Yuri.” Mina said, & walked over to them, “I will take him to the doctor.”

“No. I will stay home today.” She walked out of the bedroom, followed by Mina, “Do me a favor & get his medicine from the refrigerator, Min.”

Yuri sat down on the couch & looked down at her sick son worriedly. She could feel the heat coming from his body through his blue typhoon boom box pajamas. His eyes rolled back & forth under his lids. His lips were opened into an o while his hands & legs were cuddle together.

“Hyunnie. Sweetie.” She whispered, “It’s morning & time for you to wake up. Mommy is here.”

She kissed his forehead & pulled back to find him forcing his eyes open. She touched his cheek, “You are going to be well soon, sweetie. Just let me give you your medicine & then you can go back to sleep. Alright?”

Taehyun blinked his eyes in confusion, “Me sick?”

Yuri smile, “Yes, but you will get well soon. Just be a good boy to mommy & she will promise to take you to the zoo next week.”

He nodded his head. Mina came back & handed the bottle of liquid to Yuri. She poured the liquid into the given spoon & then carefully poured it into his opened mouth. As soon as Taehyun swallowed it, he closed his eyes back up again.

“Go back to sleep, Yuri. I will take care of him.” Mina said, & put her hand on her shoulder, “You had been up all night yesterday, right?”

She shook her head, “I will be fine. You can go back to sleep.”

“Are you sure?”

Yuri nodded her head in response. She listened to Mina’s footsteps as she walked back to her bedroom. She cuddled Taehyun closed & prayed.

Jaejoong popped onto the loveseat with his night clothes on. He drunk from his cup, full of milk & leaned back on the seat. Closing his eyes, he thought of the questions the media had asked him the morning before. The question wasn’t only asked once but the months after they had gotten engaged. He had tried to push it away but the more he did, the more the question will pop up.

The marriage he had had with Yuri was wonderful but he didn’t know he was going to find another woman that he thought was better than her. Delaying his question of asking Jessica if she will marry him was more than heartbreaking for him to wait but as his parents & everybody else had said, he needed to get to know her better. He knew Yuri more than he was supposed to before they got married & that didn’t change anything but there was more to it then wanting to know Jessica better. He wanted to make sure that no woman would change his mind again, before it was too late & too sure of it, Jaejoong knows that Jessica was the one for him. Yes, he was sure that Yuri was the one for him before but now, things had changed. One year of dating her & one year of marriage with her was different from four years of knowing Jessica & who knows how many years they will be marry together. The wedding will take place in only three months & he knows he was doing the right thing.

The only thing he was worry about was his sister. Ahjoong looked like she didn’t mind about the loss. She had changed since the notice of her pregnancy. Not for the better but for the worst. Her modeling career was going the way she wanted it to but the life she was living with now wasn’t. He could tell that she was hiding that dreadful & dark regret behind her after all the years that had passed. He wanted her to have the happiest life ever but she declined it & kept that proud smile to her face.

Jaejoong rubbed his face with his eyes still closed. Why was half of his life going wrong & the other half was going right? He wanted to live a peaceful life in the near future with Jessica & no mistakes like the last. What else could disturb their upcoming wedding?

“Nothing.” He whispered, to the silent room, “Nothing at all.” He whispered again, with image of Yuri smiling face flashing through his mind.

Quietly, Ahjoong slipped into the bed, careful not to disturb her husband. Tired, she was & she didn’t want to wake him up.

“You are home.” He spoke up.

Ahjoong froze in mid-way of pulling the blanket over her body. His cold voice, she didn’t like it. His body next to her, she didn’t like it more but she was the one who wanted to marry him, “Yes, I am.” Ahjoong replied, & fully pulled the blanket over her. Doyeon still hadn’t moved from his sleeping position. His back was sharply facing her & his eyes were glaring into the dark of their room, “You were waiting up for me?”

“No.” Was plainly his only answer.

“Good.” She said, & turned away.

Doyeon closed his eyes. Everyone knew how much he hated this marriage but he married her because of the baby, “The baby.” He whispered, as if it could kill him. There were no cries in the apartment as he had wanted it to be. There were no laughter as he had wanted it. There was no baby, the only thing that he had married Ahjoong for. The fight, the miscarriage, the loss of the baby, happened at the same time.

He could still hear the cries of Ahjoong when she fell down those steps. The blood had still given him nightmares. He still cried his soul out every day & night. Not only five months into the marriage with Ahjoong & the unforgettable miscarriage happened. The only reason he stayed married to her was because of his parents high hopes of having another baby but he doubted it. There would never be a grandchild for them from him again. He couldn’t bear to touched her nor would she want to touch him either. No matter how much he wanted a child to brighten up his days, he will bear the despicable life he was living.