“Mother, are you ready?”

“Yes, all packed. Let’s go home, Joohyun-ah.”

They walk down the streets with their stuff all neatly wrapped. Suddenly, Ms. Son starts coughing. She takes in deep breaths.

Joohyun looks at her with worry. “Mother, are you okay? Are you sick?”

She waves her off. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a cough. It’ll go away after a while. No need to worry.” She stops then looks at Joohyun. “And you can’t tell Seungwan. She’ll make a fuss about it and watch me like a hawk.”

Hearing this made Joohyun chuckle. "Sometimes I wonder who's the real mother. You or her."

Mrs. Son chuckles. "I know."

"Setting that aside. Why won't you tell her?"

“I just don’t want to worry her.” Ms. Son says.

“I know.” Joohyun says before wrapping an arm around her mother-in-law’s shoulder.

They continue walking.

…

Seungwan left work early and somehow wandered towards the lakeside. She sits under a tree lost in her thoughts. She thinks back to what Dr. Jung had told her.

FLASHBACK:

Seungwan heads out to meet with Dr. Jung.

They sit by the window.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Seungwan asks.

Dr. Jung takes a deep breath and looks at her with a serious look. “Seungwan-ah, I’m sorry but I have bad news for you.”

Seungwan frowns. “What’s going on? What are you talking about?”

“It’s about your mother.”

“My mother? Is she okay? Is she hurt?”

“Seungwan-ah, you must brace yourself for what I’m about to tell you.”

“Okay? What's going on?"

“Seungwan-ah, your mother has lung cancer.” Dr. Jung reveals.

“What? How? When?”

“She came a few weeks ago saying she had a bad cough and wanted some medication but after further examination, I found that she has cancer."

“No. No. It can’t be.” Seungwan shakes her head in disbelief. 

"I'm sorry to tell you like this." 

"It can't be true."

“It’s true. I promised her to tell you but I felt like I owe it to you for saving my life.”

Seungwan grabs his hand and looks at him with pleading eyes. “You can fix it, right? I mean, you have to.”

He places a hand over hers. “I’m sorry but she’s already in stage 4. There’s nothing we can do at this point. The cancer has already spread to other organs.”

“No. No. I can’t lose my mother. What will I do?” she looks at him with tears in her eyes. “I can’t live without her.”

He pats her hand. “I’m sorry.”

Seungwan gathers herself and takes a deep breath. “How long does she have?”

“I don’t know. All I can tell you is be prepared for the coming days. It’ll get worse.”

Seungwan breaks down into tears. She tries to muffle her cries.

Dr. Jung gets up from his chair and gives her a hug to comfort her but he knows no comfort is going to make her feel better.

Seungwan tries her best to hold it together as she looks at Dr. Jung. “What can I do?”

“All you can do now is make sure she’s happy and comfortable.”

She nods. “