Chapter 30

“You are going to be fine tomorrow, mom. I promise you.” Said Yuri, pulling up the cover to her mom’s chin.

“I know, sweetie. Don’t worry.” Even though the surgery was coming up early tomorrow, the days will still be bright later on. With each confident Yuri puts on her shoulder, she was able to tell her mom the results would be fine. Though the whole family would be there tomorrow, waiting for hours, Mrs. Kwon still felt as if she would never go through it but with her family, she was ready for anything, “Go home. It’s late already.” “Okay. Dad will be here any second. Just wait for him. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

With a kiss she gave her mom on the cheek, she walked out of the room & turned off the lights. First thing before she headed home, she stopped by the grocery store. She remembered the store well. Every weekend, Yuri will go there & buy something just to fill their refrigerator, hers & Jaejoong’s refrigerator.

Three straight days had passed & not one single time had she laid eyes on him. Not only was she glad but she was more than happy never to see him again, but the more days she hasn’t seen him, the more days Taehyun cried about his Jae. What was she supposed to do? Call him over? Never. Yuri tried every way to cheer him up but nothing ever worked. She couldn’t possibly said anything more then wait.

Yuri entered the grocery store & looked around. Things had changed. She took a cart & walked over to the milk section. This was where they had always fight about which milk to buy. Milk with vitamin b & c or the milk with vitamin d. Yuri sighed & took the vitamn d. She never ask herself the question why but walked over to the cereal section.

So much reminded her & so much she didn’t want to be reminded of but this was the closest grocery store to their house. After picking up the things she needed, she walked over to the egg section, the last thing on her list & there, it was the most time they spent in the store, checking to see if the eggs were broken or not & if they were just the size & color he wanted it.

Yuri opened a dozen box of eggs & soothed the surface; too rough. She opened another box of white eggs but found a cracked one. Opening the third, she picked an egg up & looked at its color; too brown. About to pick up another box of dozen eggs, Yuri heard a throat clearing from behind her. She averted her head & saw a man in sweat clothes. He was sweaty from forehead to who knows where. His hair was damp from sweating & surely, he looked as if he was in a hurry.

“Excuse me. Can I get my dozen of eggs before you go through all five of them?” He asked.

Yuri raised her brows. She muttered an o when noticing what he was talking about, “I’m so sorry. I...Oh sorry, I’m moving.” Yuri grabbed the handle of her cart & moved out of the way.

“Thank you.” He mumbled, & walked up to grab his eggs. After opening one of the boxes that Yuri had put down, declaring that it wasn’t good, he closed it & put it into his cart. Passing her a smile, he moved on.

Yuri sighed & brushed her hair away from her face. How much longer would she be like that? After looking through five more boxes of eggs like the man had said, Yuri finally found the perfect dozen. She paid, drove home & parked at the driveway. Getting out, she grabbed the paper bags & walked to the door. With no hands to knock or ring the doorbell, Yuri kicked the door lightly three times. The wooden door opened & Mina appeared.

“Hi. Here, let me help you.” Mina grabbed two bags from Yuri’s full hands & walked back inside. She closed the door after Yuri entered.

“Where’s Hyunnie?” Yuri asked, wondering where her big hug was.

“Watching television. He still wouldn’t talk & ate little this morning.” Yuri nodded, understanding her son. They got into the kitchen, placing the bags down on the table, “Can you put the stuff away for me?” Yuri asked.

Mina nodded. Yuri straightened out her black point collar with v-neckline ny collection long-sleeve shirtdress, sighed & strolled into the living room. There, she found him watching mickey mouse. His eyes & ears were glued onto the television, not hearing or seeing Yuri standing at the living room doorway. She cleared , “Hyunnie.”

He averted & glanced at her but then turned back to mickey mouse. Yuri smiled. So, mickey mouse was more important than his mommy? Walking up to him, she sat down on the floor with her legs crisscrossed. He glanced up at her again, & then turned back to mickey mouse, “You don’t love mommy anymore?” Taehyun stood up & stood in front of Yuri. His lips began to tremble. Yuri tilted her head, “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Taehyun stretched out his arms & circled them around Yuri’s neck. He kissed her forehead, “Hyunnie bad boy everyday.” He said, “Hyunnie love mommy. Hyunnie miss mommy.”

“Oh, sweetie.” He pouted & sat down on her lap. She kissed his the top of his head & pressed his back to her chest, “Tell mommy why you had been a bad boy?”

“Hyunnie spilled his cereal this morning & aunt Min had to clean up. Hyunnie help but Hyunnie made bigger mess.” He sniffed, “Hyunnie didn’t drink all his orange juice today.” He sniffed again, & rubbed his eyes, “Hyunnie want to see Jae.”

Yuri closed her eyes & opened them back up after some time passed. That name, “Did aunt Min punish you?” He glanced up at her & shook his head, “Mommy punish Hyunnie?” She tilted her head & nodded. He pouted further & crossed his arms.

“Get up, big boy.” She commanded. He stood up then Yuri. She held onto his hands & walked into the kitchen, “You will finish your dinner tonight, no excuses & you will eat your broccoli. Do you hear me?”

He nodded with his head down. She pulled out a chair from underneath the table, picked Taehyun up & sat him down, “Sit there while mommy & aunt Min cook.” Yuri took out an applesauce cup from the refrigerator & opened the lid, “Here’s your applesauce & finish it alright?”

He nodded his head & grabbed his wee spoon from the folded napkin. Yuri watched him as he dipped the spoon into the applesauce & then took a sip of it. He made a face, “Sour, mommy.”

“That’s one of your punishments, Hyunnie. Now, eat up.” She saw him nodded & then turned around to help Mina with the dinner. The only reason she had punished him was of his missing Jaejoong. She can’t go on living like that with Taehyun crying for Jaejoong everyday, “He can’t go tomorrow. Someone has to watch over him.” Were the first words she said, before reaching her sister.

Mina took a glance at Yuri & then turned back to wash the broccoli, “I will stay.”

“No, you had been watching over Hyunnie ever since we got here.” She let out a sigh, “I want you to be there with mom when she’s having her surgery. I guess we will just have to hired a babysitter.”

“That’s too much, Yuri. I will just stay with Hyunnie. I don’t mind.”

“But...are you sure?”

“Of course. We will go to the hospital early in the morning to see mom before the surgery & then I will come back home with Hyunnie.”

She smiled, “Thanks Min. What would I have done without you?”

Mina chuckled, “Nothing.”

Yuri gave her sister a look & then averted to find Taehyun gone. She dropped the carrot cutter into the sink along with the carrots. Walking over to the table, she found his applesauce cup empty & his spoon neatly placed back on top of the wrinkled napkin. Yuri frowned, heard giggling coming from the living room & turned her back to the kitchen. Appearing at the doorway of the living room, Yuri saw Taehyun talking on the phone. He glanced up, seeing his mommy & giggled again.

“Mommy’s here.”

“Hyunnie. Who are you talking, too?”

“Jae, mommy.” He said, waving his hands at her. Yuri’s jaw dropped open. She walked to Taehyun & snatched the phone away from him, “Mommy!” He cried, trying to reach out for the phone.

She stared at it & pressed the off button & stared at Taehyun. Her anger raised seeing Taehyun crying for his true father. She held her hands which had turned into a fists by her sides, “What did I tell you, Hyunnie?” “Hyunnie talk to Jae. Hyunnie…”

“Hyunnie, I told you to stay in the kitchen & stay put in your given seat. Why did…?”

The ringing phone interrupted Yuri’s sentence. She stared at it, kneeled down & pulled the phone plug from the socket. Averting her attention back to Taehyun, Yuri tilted her head & asked, “What were you doing out here & resigning your punishment?” He started to cry silently with little hiccups but she didn’t dare pull him into a hug, even though her heart was aching, “Talk, Hyunnie.”

He rubbed his eyes as his lips trembled, “Hyunnie answer phone only.”

“I didn’t hear the phone ring.”

“But mommy, it ring.”

She sighed, looking down at the floor, “You should have told me, Hyunnie, & not get out of your seat without my permission.”

“Hyunnie wanted to talk to Jae.”

“Well, from now on, you won’t talk or see him anymore. Do you hear me?” A hiccup escaped from him, “Hyunnie, I said, did you hear me?”

He nodded his head, “Hyunnie hear mommy. Hyunnie sorry.”

Mina appeared at the doorway with her hands on her hips, “What’s going on here?”

“Nothing.” Replied Yuri quickly, “Hyunnie. Go to the kitchen with aunt Min & do whatever she tells you.” She wiped his tears away, “Don’t let mommy see your tears again, alright?”

He nodded his head with a sniff & turned around to Mina. She took his small hands into her bigger ones & walked into the kitchen. Yuri let out a breath she didn’t know that she was holding. Taking a look at the socket, she plugged the phone plug back in. Her intentions were never to dial him back after unplugging the phone plug but she needed more than a word with him.

The tone ringed only one time then someone picked it up, “Hello?” It was him. She recognizes his voice anywhere.

“Why did you call earlier?”

“I needed a word with you, Yuri.” He said in a calm voice.

“Say it & get it over with.”

He hesitated at her testy voice. The time when he called her, the phone ring for eight times before someone actually picked it up; & that someone was Taehyun. The time when the phone clicked on him after Taehyun called his mommy’s name, he tried to call back but there was no answer. Three times he tried but three times she didn’t answer & then he got his answer from her.

“We will be there tomorrow, Yuri.”

That was what he had called her for? “My mom can go through it with us there. Your family doesn’t have to waste their time coming.”

“Our family includes your family.”

‘By blood.’ Yuri thought. She shook her head, “Do whatever you want. Come & waste your time.”

About to hang up, his voice stopped her, “Don’t be angry at Hyunnie for talking to me, Yuri. I wanted to talk to him. It was my fault.”

She was silent, thinking. This man had somehow known that she was mad at her son but how? She guessed he knew it by her angry voice & the more he comes closer to Taehyun, the more he will know, “Listen, Mr. Kim. I had said this more than one time already. Leave my son & me alone. If not me, leave Hyunnie.”

“If this is all about the past, I can’t leave Hyunnie. I know I did wrong to you, Yuri, but Hyunnie isn’t included in this. Leave the matter to us & not Hyunnie.”

‘Wrong Jaejoong Oppa.’ She thought, ‘My son is the past. He’s included in everything that had happened & will happen. We can’t leave him out. If we do, we are leaving him & me out. Your life can continue with your going-to-be-bride.’

“Yuri?”

She pushed the phone away from her ear & hung up. Before deciding to walk back to the kitchen, she unplugged the phone. She walked into the kitchen, seeing Mina setting dinner down & Taehyun looking down at his hands on his lap. Turning her gaze away from her son’s back, Yuri walked over to helped Mina. Every now & then, she would see Taehyun looking up to take a peek at her. As she put the plate of boiled broccoli on the table, Taehyun grumbled.

“What did you say?” Yuri asked.

“Hyunnie say nothing, mommy.” He replied, still looking down at his lap.

“Do you want chicken, pork or both?”

“Chicken.” He mumbled shortly afterwards.

“Hyunnie. What did I say about mumbling to other people & me?” She said, placing her hands at her hips, “& don’t look down when I’m talking to you.”

“No mumbling.” He said, & gradually looked up at her. Never had his mommy been this strict to him but this week he had surely been a bad boy. He had failed to impress his mommy again. How could he not be bad when his new best friend wasn’t with him? But if a mother is a guidance counselor at school, a mother is a guidance counselor at home.

She placed five little brush of broccoli on his plate & shoved it over to him, “Eat up. I don’t want to see any crumbs of those little, green dots on your plate at all.” Said Yuri, mentioning the tops of the broccoli. She sat down & turned to Mina. Her sister shook her head, indicating that she was being too harsh on Taehyun. Yuri cleared & began to eat her longest dinner in history.

A/N: one last chap. for tonight before i go to sleep since its already 11:02 pm so see you guys again tomorrow morning ^^