6

"How long have you been together?" Nayeon asked her as they sat down for a cup of coffee at a famous cafe near Cheonggyecheon stream.

"Two years." came her curt reply. They've been together for two years, have shared the bed for a year and a half. Uneasy thoughts started to pester her mind.

"If you tell me you've been waiting for marriage, I'm gonna hit you!" Nayeon said in annoyance.

"I'm not waiting for anything! We've done it numerous times already!" She said her voice rising, her tone shaking and her palms beginning to sweat.

"Then why the heck is there no baby news yet?" Nayeon asked with an unsteady but alarmed voice.

"I DON'T KNOW!" she shouted. Her pent-up frustration suddenly taking control over her rational nature. Tears began to flood her eyes.

"Have you guys tried getting fertility tests?" Nayeon suggested while gently patting her hand.

'What the heck are you implying Park Nayeon! I very well know that I’m fertile! I've been pregnant three times in my first marriage remember?!" she shouted pulling her hand away from her best friend's touch. The memory of her miscarriages and her one-year-old daughter's death came rushing back to her. Her little Jiyoung who died in her crib. It was sudden infant death syndrome the doctors said. But no! She was sure it was her ex-husband's fault. He did not take care of Jiyoung well enough!

"Look, I hell know that you're fertile. It's not you I'm referring to. Come on, think Ji-hyo. He and his ex-wife have been married for 5 years! That's even longer than you and Suho oppa being together. But they had no baby news!" Nayeon pointed out.

"What are you trying to say?" she asked sitting back down.

"Maybe there's something wrong with Jin?" Nayeon answered.

"The camellias look beautiful don't they?" She asked her nurse. She had been confined to this bed for 5 years. Her constant companions are her books and magazines.

"They are, maybe they're the reason why you're health has been improving." her nurse answered her. She merely smiled. White camellias accentuated by blue hydrangeas. They were beautiful, like the one she had always dreamed.

"Flowers again?"

She turned around to see her daughter in law Ha-young coming in bringing fruits. This woman has been her only constant visitor for the past 5 years. She didn't count her own son who only came to tell her news that she doesn't like to hear. He has been handling the company ever since she was hospitalized. She was not allowed to be stressed according to her doctor, and he had suggested a hospital stay and no work. She was grateful for it. At first, she hated it not being able to do anything. But as days transcended to months and years she soon found her flow. She had slaved away most of her life to a clan that was never even hers. Now she had finally found time to enjoy life and just relax.

"Yes." She replied with her smile her eyes beaming with delight.

"So Jisoo is back?" she asked casually. Her daughter in law looked at her stunned.

"How did you know? Did Yeoun-jun slip business magazines again?!!" Ha-young asked alarmed. Her daughter in law was the only who sincerely cared if she was well or not. Her daughter went off to the States again. Her grandchildren didn't give a cent to her.

"I just know. Send her a cake, will you? One that says congratulations on your new book." she commanded with mirth.

There was only one person in the whole world, who knew that she loved camellias and blue hydrangeas.

"Oh, grandma that looks pretty!" Jisoo remarked peering at the drawing that she was checking out.

"It's pretty right. I always dreamed of someone sending me bouquets of white camellias and blue hydrangeas," she told her granddaughter in law.

"Why grandma?" Jisoo asked curiously as always.

"It's what my husband used to send to his lady love back in Mokpo. I always envied her his mistress. My husband never gave me anything." She said with sad eyes. Like Jisoo and Jin's wedding, she had been forced to marry her husband Il-sung. At the age of 11, she married him, but he loved someone else. She looked at Jisoo and gave her a hug. She would never let Jisoo experience what she had gone through.

Her husband never gave her anything, except beatings and berating. He had spent all his days with his mistress in Mokpo. And had let his wife and his son experience destitute life. They had a roof over their heads but they were impoverished. It was not after social services had found out the abuse that she had encountered that things got better for them. Her husband got cut off from the Kim Clan because of his insubordination to his parents. His affair had caused a scandal that shamed the Kim name. And he made her suffer for it. Hye-mi her daughter was born out of marital after he accosted her on the home that she and her son was staying at. Then he died suddenly, and she became the head of the clan. All her life she had lived in the mercy of others. The puppet controlled by her parents, who used her to gain connections to the wealthy Kim clan. Treated like trash by her own husband. Disregarded by her in-laws and her husband's relatives. But suddenly she became the head of the Kim. She finally had something to call her own, a role that was hers. It was hard getting all the Kims approval but she showed them. Through her hard work and perseverance, she made their business grow from a traditional cooperative into a massive corporation. Finally, she had acceptance, respect and the love she had yearned for.

"Don't worry grandma. I'll send you those flowers!" Jisoo told her while giving her a back hug.

"I have done that child wrong." She said to herself. She had been blinded by her love for her position and the clan, that she had forgotten her own promise to herself. She would not let anything happen to Jisoo. The memory of those simple trips to the cafe with Jisoo during the first years of their marriage resurfaced. She had decided to honor her husband's promise to the Kims because it was the only letter Il-sung had given her. The only time he remembered her and even entrusted her with something.

"I was wrong Ha-young. I should have never honored that bastard's promise!" she muttered angrily.

"Mom stop it! Your blood pressure is going to shoot up. And besides, I am happy that you honored that promise because I got to have a daughter like Jisoo. The only things I don't approve of is how you treated Jisoo." Ha-young answered her.

"I know I was so wrong. But fear got the best of me! I couldn't accept that the clan was going to end. The Kims were going to end. And it was all because of my leadership. I was the cause of the family's end." she stated as she stared at her hands. They weren't pretty like those of other clan matriarchs. Hers were work-worn, from making dishes and scrubbing pots and pans, from all the spices and sauces she had to grind. And damaged from all the slave-like treatment she experienced under her husband's family. Most of those who had treated her badly was dead now. And only the younger generation who saw her as a tigress remained.

"It's not your fault. It's those idiots who didn't breed." Ha-young answered, then added, "You shouldn't have blamed Jisoo!"

"I know! That's why send the cake so that child would know that I'm no longer mad at her!" She shouted jovially. Then looked at her daughter in law. She used to hate Ha-young because she had something she never had. Her son loved his wife, and she never had to go through hardships because her son pampered her. It was something she could only attain in her dreams, so she heavily envied her daughter in law, for all the good that she had. But, now she knew that it was irrational. Now, if only her own daughter and her would reconcile.

"Let's do the test. I'm not marrying you if you don't agree." Ji-hyo told him. He couldn't believe that she was questioning his manhood.

"The hospital is just 10 minutes oppa. What reason can you have for not doing it?" Ji-hyo asked or more like demanded from him. He saw in her eyes that she was dead serious. He had no choice but to say yes.

24 hours was all it took to get the results. The doctor called them into his office. Ji-hyo fid