“Jisoo, I love you and all. But have you gone crazy?”

Jisoo chuckles at her friend. Her attempt at whisper shouting makes her cute rather than intimidating.

“Maybe this relationship thing isn’t for me.” Jennie frowns at that. “I‘m going to break up with him today.”

“And I still don’t understand why. He’s the most decent guy I know. And you know that’s big coming from me.” Jisoo understands. Jennie initially didn’t like him and for her to defend him now? That’s something.

“There’s just no spark. No something to look forward to. I like talking to him and he’s nice, but I just don’t feel anything, you know?”

Jisoo sighs and looks ahead. She can feel Jennie staring at her, but she really isn’t, like she’s thinking deeply about something.

“This is about what your father said, isn’t it?”

Jisoo smiles at her best friend, proud that she understood her well.

“Yes. It isn’t even love at first sight. And it’s not love after a month either. Does it make sense?”
 

Jennie just nods, and Jisoo pretends not to hear her mumble “not really” to herself.

---

Wendy uses the rest of her lunch break to draw on the first page of her new journal. She decides that if it’s something that would remind her of her tearful past, she might as well use it to help her heal.

The first thing she draws is a young boy floating to the sky. It was supposed to be the little prince but no one else would get the reference based on her drawing. Regardless, it’s still her son anyway.

She draws a stethoscope. Because, she’s proud that Chanyeol made it. Their past put a strain on both of them. It took Wendy a long time to recover, and she knows her ex-fiancee had a hard time, too. As how she knew him, he probably used that time to study hard, all in his quest to get answers about their lost baby. He is not only a licensed physician now, but is also engaged to an obstetrician-gynecologist.

She only knows all this because Seulgi tells her. Seulgi would argue that it’s so Wendy won’t overthink. It’s so Wendy won’t regret. Surprisingly, it helps.

Wendy draws a bubblegum pink rose at the bottom right corner of the page. She draws other smaller roses around it. But that rose will always be the prettiest. It might find someone else to care for it, but no one will ever understand how much Wendy had loved that rose.

She closes her notebook. She decides it was enough for now.

---

Jisoo’s hand tingles when Jinyoung holds it that afternoon. He doesn’t seem to notice how clammy her hands are, or how nervous she is inside.

She leads him to a playground a few blocks away from school. When Jisoo sits down on one of the swings, she smiles to herself, suddenly remembering an out of town trip with her family. She was seven, and had only recently gained confidence and skill in riding swings on her own. Her father, very proud and happy, sat on the swing beside hers, knees sticking out because of how tall he was, and asked her to teach him. Little Jisoo jumped off and told her dad to follow her lead. She walked backwards as far as she could. Kicking off the ground, she showed him a big smile. He returned the smile but pretended to fumble with the swing and whined about not being able to do as well as she could. She jumps off the swing again, and surprised him with a hug in an attempt for comfort.

As she relives the hug she shared with her dad, the sound of Jinyoung’s shoes bring her back to reality. He’s standing a bit closer to her now. When the wind blows, the only sounds they hear are the rustling of the trees. Jisoo chances a glance at him and suddenly, the atmosphere changes. It wasn’t just Jisoo who had something important to say.

She coughs, ready to spill her break up speech, but Jinyoung speaks up first.

“You’ve been distant.” Guilt clenches at her insides. Many things make her feel heavy lately. She wonders if they’re all connected.

She expects him to say the words she’s repeating in her mind. But now, pain is stronger than her determination. Apparently, ending a relationship hurts both ways.

His next set of words surprises her.

“How are you feeling?” Even though he has never looked at her with anything but fondness, this will go down in history as the softest gaze anyone has ever directed to her.

“Huh?” Her speech flies out of her mind in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“About your dad. Your walls are too high up because you want everyone to know you’re fine. I know you’re strong, but it doesn’t mean you should keep everything to yourself.”

“It’s been a year. I am doing fine.” Jisoo is quick to answer his question. “I am…”

Jinyoung sits down on the swing beside hers, and it’s so reminiscent of her father’s presence that it just becomes excruciatingly painful.

“You can talk about it. I will listen.”

A tear rolled down Jisoo’s cheek before she could stop it. “I miss him.” She wipes the tears forcefully before Jinyoung stops her hand and gives her a handkerchief instead. “I miss seeing him in the house. When he comes home, I’d be the one to open the door. His dress shirt smells like his perfume mixed with the air freshener of the car. He would enter the dining room just as the rest of the family goes down for dinner. He would kiss mom first but we would spend most of dinner with him asking my siblings and me about our day…“

Two hours pass and she’s still sitting on the same spot with her eyes puffy and her voice shaking. She has ten missed calls from her mom now and all she could respond was that she’d be home soon.

Jinyoung stays by her side and this time, she’s the one who reaches out to him for a comforting embrace.

Her mother opens the door with the icy glare other people fear so much. She hears Jinyoung gulp beside her before doing a 90-degree bow while apologizing and promising to bring Jisoo home before dinner next time, if he does get a next time.

He does. And Jisoo would have to wait to thank him and apologize for that night until they see each other in school.

Because right now, she’s getting her phone taken away by her mother who looks so worried lines started to form on her otherwise youthful face. Jisoo wishes she faced her mom’s wrath instead because Irene’s frown doesn’t lift up no matter how much she explains herself.

---

When Irene walks into her daughter’s room on Monday morning, Mina is already awake.

“Good morning, mommy!” Mina ran to her so fast she had to brace herself before lifting her baby up. The little one continues her rambling.

“I saw daddy in my dream!” Irene smiles, glad that Sehun’s spirit is alive in her kids too. “We went to a big place with candies and toys and slides! He played with me and then he hugged me before I rode a car to the house. He didn’t go with me and I don’t know whose car it war. But the car is so pretty too. It’s pink and a unicorn is driving it!”

“It seems like you had fun!” Irene gives her daughter an eskimo kiss before they go and wake up her other daughter. Yeri, overhearing part of the conversation, had already woken up. She rubbed her eyes sleepily as she walked out the bedroom with her hair sticking out.

Irene glances back at her own bedroom. For the longest time, Sehun would be the first to get up. She smiles sadly at the memory. His kisses were much better than her alarm clock.

---

“How are the kids?” Wendy’s smile is bright, a stark contrast to the expression she had the last time they saw each other.

As a mother, it was instinctive for her to talk about how great her children are - about their achievements, from taking their first step to school awards, and their bright personalities. But Irene still couldn’t shake the pain she felt knowing about what Wendy had gone through. She had quit her job to have Jisoo because h