Epilogue: Finale

It hasn’t dawned on Yonghwa and Joohyun how hard it is to have a baby until a little after a month of Joowons arrival. They knew it was hard but not this hard. The first month was bearable as their mothers would take turns staying with them to help take care of the new born child but come 2nd month, they were dropped like a hot potato at the curb and was only left with

“You’re missing out on all the fun!”

It was fun alright. A lot of sleepless nights. Lots and lots of them. Joohyun was working at home while Yonghwa tries to clock out as soon as the clock strikes 6 PM, if he can get away earlier he would. His secretary would usually find him dozing off in the middle of the day. There are days when his dad would ask him out for lunch but he would decline just to catch some shut eye during lunch break. At night they would take turns whenever Joowon would cry so they ended up putting his cot inside their room. It was during these times when Joohyun understood what Yoona was saying about not looking human at all, she feels she looks half sloth half armadillo, and she can’t even picture out how that one look like.

Yonghwa on the other hand had shed galloons of tears, for some reason after Joowon was born he was emotionally unstable and is always upset over little things. He cries over dramas and while taking care of his son. One time, Joohyun found him on their bed with tears on his face while caressing Woonies cheeks while the baby sleeps on his chest.

“I feel so much love for him Joohyuna I can’t describe what I’m feeling, it feels so overwhelming” as he continued to tear up

Joohyun look at him bewildered. She was aware of post partum blues but shouldn’t she be the one experiencing it and not her husband?

They learned parenting the hard way, it’s not that it wasn’t explained to them but first-hand experience is always the best teacher.

This was Yonghwas first learned lesson, after he fed Joowon and the baby cleaned out his bottle, he was so ecstatic

“Wah uri Joowonie wants to get big already?” as he carried his son and danced with him. The next thing he knows he was showered with baby formula on his face from his sons mouth.

“Good morning handsome! Who had a nice sleep??” as Joohyun cooed at her son as she places him on the changing table. She had a toothbrush in while she work on removing the old nappie when Yonghwa breezed in

“Hon”

Joohyun turned to him who was standing by the door

“ have you seen my-“ his eyes then went wide as he sees a miniature fountain starts to spray his wife. Half of his wifes face and her new clothes.

Joowon had colic on his first 2 weeks thus making it extra difficult for everyone to put him to sleep. Even his Aunt Jess who had one day of babysitting duties almost went home crying from exhaustion. Yonghwa took over as soon as he cleaned himself from work since Joohyun was at the office taking care of some paperwork’s from her maternity leave. He cradled the baby who just stopped crying and was singing softly to him. He was standing at first then he got tired and just chose to sit, when he was about to sit down his son cried again making him abruptly stand up and swayed side to side. They stayed like that for 2 hours. When he finally was able to get him to sleep, he gently placed him in the cot and stretched.

“AHhh!!! That was tiring!” he exclaimed as he massaged his arms………thus…..waking his son up.

The couple was watching TV in their bedroom with the baby in between them on the bed when they heard a very light sound coming from him. They look and found him fist clenched and face almost red and tight lipped.

“Oh uri adeul doing number 2?” Yonghwa joked while Joohyun laughed. He stood up to get the baby wipes, powder and a new nappy as his wife continued to watch their son. When Joowons faced relaxed they began to clean him together, Yonghwa was just securing the sticky strips when Joowon went red again and started to push.

“Oh” were the only thing that they were able to say

Eventually during their sons 4th month, he was able to sleep all through the night with minimum disturbances allowing Joohyun to return to work full time half home base half office base with the assistance of their mothers.

“Hon, I need to swing by the office for about an hour or two, there’s an emergency meeting with the CEO and all editor needs to be there”

“Okay, what about Woonie?”

“That’s the thing, eommas are away with their ajumma friends from their baking class”

“Oh yeah I forgot” Yonghwa paused for a bit thinking of what to do “… bring him to me I can watch him till your done, I don’t have anything really important for the rest of the afternoon”

“You sure? He’s fuzzier than this morning, teething shouldn’t be this hard, eomma said he also might catch a fever so I’m really worried”

“Of course, just bring him here, do whatever you need to do, better yet we’ll pick you up if ever you’ll get caught up, we all know any meetings with the CEO won’t finish in an hour”

Joohyun was already on the phone to call a cab service when her brother Donghae came by to bring side dishes from their house. He’s been out and about the whole day because of his wedding with Dara and offered to take the mother and son to his brother-in-law.

Yonghwa was playing with Joowon on his office couch when his secretary Sumong told him about an emergency teleconference from one of their target investors. He has nowhere to leave Joowon except for his dad whose office is just right down the hall. He left Joowon with him while he did the teleconference and was able to close the deal in 30 minutes. He called their legal department to finalize the contract so that he can proofread it and submit it to his dad for final approval. He didn’t fine Mrs. Lee, his dads secretary in her table so he knocked instead, when he opened the office door he didn’t find anyone inside.

“Oh Yonghwayah, your father is in the meeting room with Joowonie” Mrs. Lee sat down on her table. She had been with the Jungs since the beginning and had treated his father and mother as her dongsaengs.

“Huh?”

“The department heads just need to discuss the Jeju branch, they were thinking of selling it since we will be moving to a bigger location or keeping it since we are already established there. Sumong told me that you were in a teleconference so they just began the meeting without you, you can just go in there.” He went back to his office and that’s where he found his secretary’s note about the ongoing meeting. Sumong has been working for Yonghwa ever since he became the Vice- President of the company and is Mrs. Lee’s nephew.

He strode briskly to the right wing of their building as he was about to enter the meeting room, he caught sight of his father on the big glass window, his dad had the baby carrier strapped on him and was cradling the sleeping Joowon. He was tapping his grandchild lightly while he talked in front of his subordinates.

He stood there rooted as he looked at his father and son with an unexplainable feeling.

“Your father is inlove with your son do you know that?” Mrs. Lee spoke from behind as she herself stared at the scene “His table is full of his pictures. His laptop wallpaper and screen saver are all pictures of Joowon. He speaks his name as if he’s some god that needs to be worshipped.”

Yonghwa was trying his best to not tears fall as he smiled at the elder

“You really have made your father and mother happy by marrying the woman you love and now building your own family. At a time they were worried about you and your decisions but they love you too much to control and you have always been a good son”

“Gomawoyo Immo”

“Go on inside before they finish”

The meeting was over in a little over 15 minutes that Joowon didn’t have the time to even stir. He bade his dad goodbye and gathered his son’s baby bag and headed for the car to pick up his wife who is true to his words