There she was, standing rooted to the ground as she stared at the big photo of a beautiful child named Kim Yerim.

Kim Yerim.

That’s a name that would forever be etched in Hayoung's mind.

Hayoung had never imagined that she would be so affected by Yeri’s death. Her heart was aching, and she wanted to cry. Tears were fighting to escape but she wouldn't let them.

The paralegal felt a warm hand reaching for her wrist, slowly sliding down to intertwine their fingers together. The paralegal glanced at Namjoo, and the doctor gave her a comforting smile.

After paying their respects, the two left the memorial hall, walking hand in hand. Hayoung's steps were slow, and heavy.

"You can cry if you want to Hayoung," Namjoo told Hayoung in a gentle voice.

Hayoung stopped in her tracks and looked at Namjoo with an unreadable expression. She wanted to ask for a hug from the doctor. She opened , only to close it back a second later.

The paralegal sighed internally. Forget it. She just shook her head instead and held Namjoo's hand even tighter.

First, Sooyoung. Second, Yeri.

Who's going to leave me next?

That question replayed in Hayoung's mind like a broken record.

Staring at the grey tomb in front of her, Namjoo held back her tears. She bent to gently lay down a bouquet of flowers.

“A kid I love passed on yesterday,” Namjoo said softly. “I went to the memorial hall to pay my respect to her. And the atmosphere feels so familiar, and recent. It feels like it was just yesterday when you left in your sleep.”

She took a deep breath. “I miss you, Hayoung. It’s been two thousand days since you’ve been gone.” She ran her hand along the tomb and sighed. “I met him yesterday too. He’s married. And he has a daughter. A beautiful daughter, I have to admit. His child mistook me for her mother. You have no idea how terrible I felt after she called me ‘Omma’." Her tears eventually spilled, as guilt filled her with such force that she gasped for breath. "I killed my own child, Hayoung. And I’ve never stopped feeling guilty and horrible about it.”

“I know you told me to stop blaming myself because I was young at that point of time. But I can’t, Hayoung," Namjoo said in an almost inaudible whisper. “I robbed my child of its opportunity to see the world.”

Namjoo was so choked up in her emotions that she stopped talking and just let herself cry. She cried until she lost track of time. Once she felt that there were no more tears left in her to bleed, she gradually calmed herself down.

“I met someone special. She has your name too. But she isn’t as lively as you,” Namjoo chuckled. “When I first met her, I kept seeing her as you. I know, it’s wrong of me. She bears a striking resemblance to you, and I ended up treating her the way I treat you... Until she gave me a stalk of rose.”

A faint smile formed on the doctor’s lips. “I doubt she knows what it means. But her gesture made me realise how wrong I’ve been to treat her like she’s you. So I started to see her as her.”

Her gaze drifted up to the clear sky. "I've never wanted to protect someone so much as I want to protect her. And I've never wanted to shower someone with love as much as I want to love her. There’s something fragile about her. Her eyes. She seems so vulnerable underneath the tough exterior. It's the opposite this time round, Hayoung. You saved me last time. And I want to save her this time."

Namjoo inhaled sharply, as her eyes travelled back to the tomb. “Hayoung, I think I’m in love with her.”

The doctor stayed there for another hour until she decided it was time to leave. “See you again, baby.”

As she walked to get to her car, she caught a familiar figure standing by a tomb, not far from where she was standing. Her mind was telling her to approach the person, and in her subconscious, Namjoo did.

“Hayoung?”

Hayoung craned her neck and was caught off guard to see Namjoo. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her tone accidentally coming off as rude and hostile.

Despite being taken aback by the curt response, Namjoo managed to quickly regain her composure. “I-”

“Sorry,” Hayoung uttered, cutting off the doctor. She felt bad for being so impolite towards Namjoo. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s okay,” Namjoo assured the paralegal with a smile. “You didn’t mean it.” Her eyes flicked to the name engraved on the tombstone: Park Sooyoung.

“You visited your late girlfriend?”

Namjoo nodded. “Your friend?” Namjoo asked as she pointed to the tomb.

“Yeah,” Hayoung mumbled. “Are you heading back to work?”

“Yep,” Namjoo responded. “I take it that you just got here,” she added, noticing the bouquet of flowers in Hayoung’s hands.

The paralegal nodded and said, “Get to work safely.”

“Drive safely too, Hayoung.”

“Based on your palm, I can see that your future can’t get any brighter than it already is.”

Bomi instantaneously retracted her hand. “Stop ting around,” she scowled. “I need to know my future.”

“I thought you don’t believe in palm reading!”

“I do now!” Bomi fired back. “Now, stop fooling around and tell me the truth.”

Eunji sighed dramatically and reached for Bomi’s hand. She turned over the latter’s hand to look on her palm. She kept a straight face while reading Bomi’s palm. Nervousness seeped into terror as Bomi waited for Eunji to be done.

“Be careful with the people you mix with. They’ll bite you back if you make the wrong move.”

Bomi’s stomach tightened as if worms were crawling inside of it. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ah, seriously,” Eunji groaned. “Am I never clear with my explanation?”

“What you said is just not sufficient,” Bomi retorted.

Eunji clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Is that why you and Chorong unnie are a couple?”

Bomi furrowed her brows in bewilderment. “Huh?”

“Oh, she didn’t tell you?” Eunji asked, in slight surprise. “Now I know why we still haven’t have our trio meal together,” she chortled. “Okay, so back to the story, I met her the other day and told her about my broken heart but she said I didn’t explain enough.” The brunette pursed her lips. “Anyway, I offered to read her palm afterwards but she refused.”

“Why did she refuse?” Bomi inquired.

“She thinks I lack credibility,” Eunji scoffed. “But,” she frowned, “you know, her reaction was kinda weird. I kind of absentmindedly mentioned that she’s scared in case whatever I read on her palm won’t turn out good, and she had this odd, indescribable expression on her face afterwards.”

Bomi’s heart sank like a brick as all her doubts came flitting back in a shoal of shadows.

Upon realization that Bomi hadn’t uttered a word, Eunji nudged the brunette and spoke, “Are things okay between you guys?”

“Y-yeah,” Bomi stuttered, uncertainty clear in her voice.

Eunji only gave a mere nod as she didn’t want to pry into the couple’s private affairs. “Do you think I should be worried?”

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