Little piles of snow were heaped by the sidewalk like scoops of vanilla ice cream, not really white anymore. There was a bustle on the streets and in the homes that was infectious. The malls were dressed up, the streets festooned with strings of fairy lights and the kids had a special smile on their lips. However, Choi Young Do looked in on this bright world with the detachment of a saint. He considered himself immune to anything that was sentimental. He understood sincerity, affection and loyalty but desisted from giving in to the banalities of a commercialized holiday season. Nonetheless, he was here, in the middle of it all, looking like any other man, who hated to be out and about, in a mall.

He had to shop for just one person. The rest, his loyal staff, always received the same gift, year after year- gift cards. Well, gift cards were sensible, definitely less tacky than plain cash, stuffed into white envelopes and yet used just like cash. On the other hand, his mother was a difficult woman to shop for. Choi Young Do had to keep his ears to the ground from late summer to figure out what would be an appropriate and yet surprise Christmas gift for her. Books were always on that list. This year he had decided on buying her some travelogues of far off places.

He stood in the middle of the huge bookstore and tried to locate a sales associate. That was critical part, in order to make it an efficient shopping trip. None was available right away but he knew with the mind of a gifted and savvy businessman that he was bound to find more than one in the children’s section. That section was always busy. He located the children’s section from the sign hanging overhead and in a moment he was walking down an aisle crammed with colorful books. He headed for the cluster of little tables and chairs that sat in a circular bay, thronged by children and their parents, poring over their possible purchases.

He would have made it there in seconds but for the fact that he suddenly felt a weight attach itself to his left leg. He felt a ‘chain’ go around his custom tailored trouser clad leg, which stopped him mid stride. Both hands still stuffed in his coat pockets, he slightly bent his upper body to the left and curiously looked down his left side to see a child hanging onto his leg. The ‘chain’ were two little arms clothed in a bright yellow fuzzy sweater. The child was looking up at him with an angelic smile that seemed vaguely familiar to him. Young Do cocked his head to the right and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Alright, child, just who are you and how do you know me?” He looked about to see if any of the parents gathered at the tables was showing signs of panic yet. He looked down at the child again and asked, “Where are your parents? Mom? Dad?”

The child seemed to register the word ‘dad’ rather quickly and still hanging onto Young Do’s leg, hugged in tighter and repeated the word, not as a question but as a statement. Young Do’s both eyebrows arched up in amusement. “Ya! Is this a trap? Are you out to ‘shop’ for a ‘dad’? I am not in the market. Got it?”

And then he heard it- that voice that he had left behind so many years ago. He registered the voice before he registered the words and yet without seeing the face that went with the voice, he knew with certainty that he did not want to be there anymore. But it was rather difficult to make a run for it with a child clinging to your leg. So, ‘flight’ being out of the question, he straightened his shoulders and decided to ‘fight’.

She was getting closer, her voice agitated and with a touch of panic in it. She kept calling out, “Sunny! Sunny! Where are you? Don’t make mom worry. Sunny!” And as she rounded the corner, Choi Young Do saw her. Her face was still the same, only her eyes were wide with panic, the lips half parted and slightly panting, the hair- it was different. She was wearing her long hair in a low ponytail. Dressed in a simple blue dress with a navy pea coat, she looked very much like the girl that she was in high school. The girl who had crash landed in Choi Young Do’s life and turned it upside down.

Cha Eun Sang’s eyes were focused on her child as she approached Choi Young Do, lightly remonstrating him for straying from her side. But her voice showed her relief at finding Sunny…..who was holding onto a stranger’s leg. So she raised her eyes to the face that went with those legs. Choi Young Do managed to hold his stare, hoping to project a neutral, casual look. But it was unnecessary, for it was immediately clear that she was stunned to see him. She just stood there like a deer caught in the headlight.

“Choi Young Do!” she said to no one in particular. Her eyes unblinking, she could only stare at that face that was once the bane of her life.

Choi Young Do felt the years fall away and something inside him resorted to the flippancy that was his ‘go to’ weapon in high school.

“Ya! You forgot to add my title…..the Mighty Choi Young Do. Yup, still the same, still handsome and my enemies do still refer to me as ‘dangerous’.” She was still speechless and it was difficult to retain eye contact in front of her unguarded shocked expression. So the next ‘weapon’ was ‘causing distraction’, he was pretty good at that too.

He tilted his head to indicate the child still hanging onto him and said, “I assume this one belongs to you.” He looked down at the child and met his gaze. For one second, he was nonplussed by the frank adoration that was written on that tiny face.

That statement seemed to shake her out of the thrall that she was in and she reached out to grab the child by the hand. She had to actually pull him a litt