Chapter 23

“But Hyunnie wants to go with you, mommy.” He said, ready to cry.

Yuri kneeled down to his height & tapped the tip of his nose, “Mommy can’t let you go this time. Hospital isn’t a place for a little boy.”

“But you said that I’m a big boy.” He said, looking down at his red mickey mouse sneakers, “Mommy don’t love Hyunnie no more. Mommy hates Hyunnie.”

She tilted her head, “Hyunnie.” She said in a disapproving voice, “What makes you say that? I love you more than anything else in the world.”

“But you won’t let me go with you.” He walked past her & up the stairs. Yuri got up & watched him climb the steps. Just to the third step, he gave up & sat down with his palm on both of his cheek.

Yuri smiled & walked over to him. She sat down beside him & nudged his arm softly, “What’s wrong?” “Hyunnie sick because mommy wouldn’t let Hyunnie go to hospital with her.”

“Then let’s go to the hospital to get you a doctor.” She said, with that smile on her face.

He looked up at her with a grin, “Really?” She nodded. He happily got up & kissed her cheeks. She laughed, took him in her arms & walked out of the door. First time he had ever been so happy about seeing a doctor & she was just playing with him. She drove Doyeon’s car to the hospital with Taehyun talking about his big but fake headache.

Luck brought her when she entered the room & found no Jaejoong. A smile of relief appeared on her face. She walked over to her sleeping mom & moved the hair on her face away. Taehyun sat down on a chair & put on his puppy face, “Jae isn’t here today?” He asked, swinging his legs.

Yuri turned to Taehyun with a frown, “No, & don’t call him that.” She said, a little too harsh.

“But why, mommy? He says I can call him that. I think it is a lovely name.”

“Hyunnie.” Yuri said, lowering her voice, “You will listen to me & not call him that. Do you hear me?”

His lips began to shake, “Yes, mommy.” A tear dropped from his eyes & down his cheeks. He quickly brushed it away. Yuri saw it but tried to ignore the tear & fixed her mom’s blanket. A hiccup escaped from him. She sighed but still ignored him. Already has Taehyun begun to ask about Jaejoong & she won’t know how much longer will he forget about him.

“You want a drink?” She asked him, after a few more hiccups. He nodded his head. She poured half a cup of water & handed it to him. He took it & gulped it all away. Handing the cup back to Yuri, Taehyun went back to his silent crying. He was hoping to find that funny guy that he had met that day but unfortunate to his luck, the man didn’t show up.

“Mommy.” He said, breaking the silence.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“When will we go back home?”

Yuri looked at her son with her head tilted to the right, “As soon as granny gets well. Do you miss home already?”

He shook his head, “No. I want to stay here. Hyunnie like here better with gramps & granny.”

She opened the window, letting the summer hot air in. Somehow, part of what Taehyun had said had hurtled her decision four years ago. He loves his newfound grandparents & she was going to take him away soon again. If only her little boy understands her problems. She turned back & kneeled down in front of him, “Tell you what, sweetheart? By the end of this week, let me see.” Yuri counted her fingers & made Taehyun laugh, “Today is wednesday so saturday, to make you feel better, we will go sightseeing on saturday. I still remember this city pretty well.”

His face brightened up & he began to clap his hands, “Really?” She nodded, “Can aunt Min go?” She nodded again, “Can uncle Yonnie go?” Again, she nodded, “What about gramps & granny? Can they go?”

Her expression seemed to turn upside down. She took him from the seat & sat on it with him on her lap. Clapping his hands together with hers & kissing his forehead, she said, “Granny will still be sick then but we will see.” Yuri clicked her tongue, “Unless, we can get granny’s doctor’s permission to let her out of the hospital that day. How about that?”

Taehyun grin, “You are smart, mommy.”

“& you are too, to convince me to do this.”

He grinned bigger. Mrs. Kwon moved her hands & opened her eyes slowly, “Good morning granny. We are here to see you again.” Taehyun said excitedly. He got out of Yuri’s lap. Mrs. Kwon, still confused, sat up with Yuri’s help, “Mommy, mommy. Tell granny what we are planning. No, I will tell granny.” He said, trying to climb up the bed by himself.

He calmed down his temper, counting down from ten to zero but it turned out like the usual, “Once again, are you going to visit my sister or not?” Doyeon asked his wife.

She turned around sharply to meet him, “Since when did I have to go see your sister? Since when did I have to do what you tell me to do?”

“Since I married you, Ahjoong.”

She crossed her arms across her chest, “That’s always your excuses.”

“& it wasn’t my fault.” Said Doyeon.

“Neither was it mine.”

“Are you going?” He asked, changing the subject to Yuri again.

“I will see about that. My time is tight this week.” She seemed to be thinking again, “Maybe this friday. Happy?”

“It’s the two families gathering then & I’m sure you will definitely meet her there. I want you to welcome her back before friday.”

“Doyeon Oppa.” She said, “I really don’t have time. Understand me please?”

He grunted in responses, “Today’s wednesday & it’s already too late to go see Yuri now. That leaves tomorrow.”

“Dammit Oppa!” She hissed, & got up, “I promise I will go & see her when I have time! What’s up with you wanting me to see your sisters?!”

He shot her a glare, “Watch your mouth, Ahjoong. You are part of the family & I expect you to act like one, not a child.”

“I’m acting like one, Oppa. It’s you going off on your temper again.”

“Never mind about my temper. You always say that you don’t have time. Where do you go exactly everyday?” Her spine straightened, “Tell me?” He walked closer to her, “Why do you always come home late in the middle of the night like a sneaky burglar? Where do you meet up with your lover? In his house? In his bed? Where?” She got the urge to slap him but stopped herself, “I’m a wife, Oppa!” She said in an angry voice, but yet, crying voice, “& I keep my words of the vows that I had made to you! I’m a wife that respects my husband even though I can never stand every second with him in a room!”

“But you are a wife that will never want to touch your own husband. Tell me why? Why Ahjoong?”

“Because I don’t love him.” She said, keeping her self-confident high.

“The same goes to your husband, too.” He said, & made a spin, not wanting to look at her face, “& he lives with her all these years after that disaster because of his vows. He’s planning not to break it.”

“I missed him as much as you did, Oppa.”

“Wrong!” He roared, “I still miss him while you go off & laugh around, having fun! Is that what you call missing your own unborn baby before he was even born to see the world around him?!”

“It wasn’t my fault.”

“No, it wasn’t.” He whispered, “It was my fault. I killed my baby, the one that I married you for.”

She didn’t say anything but kept her arms cross. He stopped talking & stared at her. The silence went on. Ahjoong slowly swallowed, afraid that he would see. To tell the truth, she didn’t care about the baby. She married the man because of Yuri. Taking another tight swallow, she walked to the door but his hands on her wrist stopped her.

“Where are you going?”

“Anywhere to get away from you.” She said, not caring about his hold on her.

“Where exactly?”

She returned his hard glare, “My parents place. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“I’m not.” Doyeon replied quickly. He let go of her hands & it dropped lifelessly to her side, “Be back home before ten.” He turned away from her & walked into the kitchen. She grabbed her black satchel handbag from the hall table, mumbling & cursing him. Vows; she hated them. They interrupted her life too much.

Mr. Kim frowned, “What was Ahjoong doing here a while ago?”

His wife shrugged, “She said that she wanted a cup of water & left after drinking half of it.” Mrs. Kim sat down on the bed, “Something is always wrong with her & Doyeon.”

“I know.” He said, with a sigh, “The loss of the baby seems to change him more & Ahjoong can’t have anymore children.” He scratched his head, “I’m worry about them.”

“Me too, but I’m sure they will work it out somehow.” Mr. Kim gave her a look of doubt. Mrs. Kim shrugged, “Yuri seems to be having a happy life after all of these years. We doubted her wrong, Seungheon.”

He grunted a yes, “Seungheon.” He grunted again, “Look at me.” He averted his head & rose an eyebrow.

“I’m a mother but you might think that this is wrong.” She laughed uneasily, “You saw me giving you the look before Yuri came home, right?”

Mr. Kim’s lips thinned. He averted his whole body to face his wife, “What are you getting at?”

“Why did Geonwoo & Aecha never tell us that Yuri remarried & got herself a son?”

Mr. Kim shook his head, “I don’t know, darling. Maybe after what Jaejoong had done to Yuri, they decided to keep it a secret.”

Mrs. Kim shook her head, “They will never do that to us. We are friends & we were still friends after what had happened. Besides, how could Yuri have remarried so fast after learning about the real men? Hyunnie is three years old.”

He gave her the look, “I can never answer those questions that are unknown to me. All that I know, you know.”

“Yuri couldn’t had remarried, Seungheon.”

“Nari. Didn’t you see the hurt in her eyes when she spoke of her late husband? She wouldn’t lie to us.” He said, “But the look I gave to you wasn’t about her husband. It was about Hyunnie. A mother should know this.” “What is it?”

“Hyunnie, he looks like Jaejoong. Before you say anything, just let me explain it.” Mrs. Kim took out a picture under her pillow, “Look at this.” She said, handing it to him.

Mr. Kim took it into his hands & saw a picture of Jaejoong when he was about the age of Taehyun. His eyes widened, “You can’t be serious, Nari. Yuri remarried &...& had Hyunnie.”

“Hyunnie looks exactly like Jaejoong when he was small, Seungheon. I don’t believe Yuri ever got married.” She said, putting an arm around his shoulder.

“She would had told us if…”

“Hyunnie is Jaejoong’s.”

Mr. Kim turned to look at his wife. He shook his head, “You can’t be certain about it.”

“Seungheon!” She exclaimed, surprised by her own voice, “Just looking at that picture, I know that you know that Hyunnie can & might be...Oh, gosh. I got to do something about this.”

She got up but he caught her by the hands, “Where are you going, Nari?”

“To call Jaejoong.”

He shook his head doubled times, “I know that you are worried but you can’t be certain about this. Yuri remarried & had Hyunnie. Her husband died. How could we know that Hyunnie looks like his father or not? Yuri will never lie to us no matter what had happened years ago. If she was pregnant with Jaejoong’s child, we could had known but she wasn’t.”

“But I…”

“Sit down, honey.” He said, patting the bed beside him. She sighed & obeyed, “Even if you are that certain, you need more proof than this picture.” He waved it up in the air, “We can be wrong but if you tell Jaejoong now, his coming up wedding will be ruin.” Her eyes looked up at him, widened. She covered , “If you tell everyone, everything will be ruin, even if Hyunnie isn’t Jaejoong’s. Now, honey.” He tilted her chin up, “Promise me that you will leave this alone until we really have enough proof. Not one word out. Jaejoong can figure it out. I’m sure of it. If he doesn’t, he don’t deserve to know his own son after what he had done to Yuri.”

“But.” Mrs. Kim said, looking into her husband’s eyes, “He’s our grandson.”

“No. He might be our grandson.” Mr. Kim corrected her. As much as he wanted to know the truth, he doesn’t want anymore pain to go into his ex-daughter-in-law.