Two weeks prior to Wheein’s birthday, I’d been driving from Jeonju to Seoul then back to Jeonju everyday. Two hours drive to Seoul and the more than two hours back to Jeonju was very exhausting that after we finished eating dinner I would go straight to bed, dropped my body, and succumbed to slumber. Wheein was really worried because I’m a very light sleeper, but she still managed to take my clothes and put pajamas on me without waking me up.

Wheein had been complaining and scolding me that I should just sleep in our penthouse instead of taking the effort to drive back here in Jeonju. And I told her that that won’t happen because my fiancée and daughter were staying in Jeonju. I also told Wheein that if we moved back to the penthouse then I would love to sleep and live in the penthouse again. Between the two of us, I’m the more stubborn one so Wheein agreed to move back to the penthouse with Nabi.

What she didn’t know was I’d been planning to do that all along. I even asked permission from her mother if it’s okay if we would move back to Seoul. Wheein can’t stay here forever. I couldn’t stay here forever. Both of our jobs were in Seoul and it would be impractical if we’d stay in Jeonju. Her mother understood the situation and was even surprised that it took us so long to move back in the penthouse. The day before Wheein’s birthday, I told her to pack her clothes while I packed Nabi’s clothes too.

On the day of her birthday, I purposely woke up earlier than Wheein and sneaked out of the bedroom. She’s been doing really well now. She still has nightmares but they didn’t occur on a daily basis, which is a major improvement in just a span of six weeks in therapy.

I went out of the bedroom and headed to grab Nabi who was still sleeping in her crib. I pulled her out of her crib and carried her in my arms, which instantly woke her up. I showered her cheeks with kisses while walking to the kitchen and grabbed the cupcake I hid in there. I placed a single candle in there while Nabi squirmed in my arms. When she saw the cupcake in my hand, she stayed put and looked at the cupcake.

“What?” she asked, her voice still hoarse from sleep.

I kissed her cheeks and told her, “It’s a cake. We’ll be giving this to Mama because it’s her birthday”

She looked at me, face still sleepy, while blinking her eyes at me. “Huh?” she asked, unable to process what I’m saying to her yet.

I chuckled and showered her tummy with kisses while she giggled at me. “This is for Mama”

“Mama?” she asked me, a little bit awake now.

“Yes, baby. We’ll wake up Mama then give this to her. Will you help me?”

I think she still didn’t know what’s going on but she nodded her head nonetheless. I gave Nabi the cupcake and let her carry it while I carried her and walked us to the bedroom. Her eyes were on the cupcake and was concentrating on holding it with her tiny hands.

When we got inside the bedroom, Wheein was already stirring on the bed and scanning her eyes around, probably looking for me. When she saw us, she sat up right away and smiled at the cupcake in Nabi’s hands.

I walked to her and sat on the edge of the bed with Nabi on my lap. I kissed Nabi’s head and whispered to her, “Give it to Mama, baby”

She handed the cupcake to Wheein with a huge smile on her face. Wheein smiled at her and accepted the cupcake from Nabi before kissing her forehead.

“Say happy birthday to Mama, Nabi” I whispered to her again.

“Happy!” she shouted, jumping up and down on my lap while we both laughed at her.

Wheein grabbed Nabi from me and showered kisses on her tummy before she sat Nabi on her lap. “Thank you, baby” she whispered to Nabi. “Where’s my I love you?” she asked Nabi, pouting at her.

“I love you” Nabi said in her cutest voice before she kissed her Mama on the cheek.

“I love you too, baby” Wheein whispered to her before hugging Nabi tight while I just looked at them with a huge smile on my face. She placed Nabi down on her lap once again and motioned for me to move closer. “Where’s my I love you from you?” she whined while pouting at me.

I shook my head and laughed at her. “You’re pretty whiny and pouty today”

She pouted more and whined some more, “I’m entitled to be whiny and pouty. It’s my birthday”

I leaned forward, almost touching my lips on her, but I pulled back and grabbed Nabi from her lap. I stood up with Nabi in my arms and ignored Wheein whining on bed while I whispered to Nabi, “Let’s go, Nabi-ah. It’s bath time”

“Bath time!” Nabi said excitedly in my arms while Wheein whined on bed and said, “Where’s my kisses and I love you?”

I continued to and walked out of the bedroom while I showered kisses on Nabi’s tummy.

“Yong!” I heard Wheein groan from the bed, which made me laugh out loud while I walked to the other bedroom to give Nabi her bath time.

All our suitcases and bags were already loaded in my car after lunchtime. I was still inside the bedroom putting on a black long-sleeve v-neck shirt while Wheein was dressing Nabi in the other bedroom. I tied a blue silk handkerchief scarf around my neck and pulled my hair on a high ponytail before I headed out of the bedroom.

Wheein and Nabi were already in the living room. I scoffed when I saw a red with black striped beanie on Nabi that matched the one Wheein was also wearing. Wheein also put on a navy blue knit sweater on Nabi over her jumper that also matched the navy blue turtleneck knit sweater she wore. She would always dress our daughter so she could match their clothes that’s why she would always volunteer to put clothes on Nabi.

I scoffed once again before I walked to Ma who was by the kitchen and hugged her as I whispered, “Be careful and take care later, Ma”

“Of course. You too. It’ll be a long drive, Yong” she whispered to me before pulling from the hug.

I smiled at her and nodded my head. “I got used to it by now. Don’t worry. Want to say goodbye to Nabi before we head out?”

“Of course. Even though I’ll be seeing that kid soon, I missed her already. I missed all three of you already” she said to me as we walked to a struggling Wheein who was putting shoes on Nabi while Nabi kept on pulling her beanie down.

“You could always visit us. You know that, right?”

“I will, but you two are already doing a good job as parents to Nabi. You should take advantage of that while Nabi is still young. Time flies so fast that you won’t even realize it until she’s already dating someone” Ma said while laughing at how hard I shook my head at her.

“Let’s not talk about that yet” I said to her, dismissing the thought of my daughter meeting someone already.

We both reached just as Wheein finished putting shoes on Nabi. Ma grabbed Nabi from Wheein’s arms to say goodbye to her while I stood in front of Wheein, lacing my arm around her waist before I pulled her beanie out of her head.

“What happened to you?” I asked her just as I pulled out the beanie from her head.

“Our daughter happened to me” she replied then looked up to look at me. “Oh, you look beautiful” she said, looking so surprised as if this is the first time she saw me.

I rolled my eyes at her while I fixed her hair. “This is not the first time you saw me. Why did you look so surprised?” I removed my arm around her waist and placed the beanie back on her head.

Wheein pouted at me and said, “I still hadn’t gotten my kisses and I love you from you yet”

I laughed at her and said, “I’m sorry. I was just teasing you earlier. You looked so cute being all pouty and whiny”

She pouted hard when she heard that while she cupped her own cheeks. I grabbed her hands and put it down before lacing our fingers together. I kissed her pouting lip and whispered, “Stop being a big baby. We already have Nabi for that part”

“But I’m your first baby” she said, narrowing her eyes at me.

I closed my eyes, shook my head, and said, “You’re ridiculous.”

“I’m just telling the truth,” she countered.

“Fine” I muttered before kissing her dimpled cheek. “Now, come on” I said to her and was about to release her hands but she held them firmly.

“I still haven't gotten my I love you from you” she whined once again.

I laughed softly and kissed her lips. “I love you, Wheein” I dropped her hands and cupped her cheeks and kissed her again. “I love you” I whispered before pulling back to look at her smiling so wide. “Let’s go. We still have places to go”

She leaned in to give me a peck before she said, “I love you” before completely pulling away from me and walked to her mother to say goodbye to her.

We went to the garage, Nabi in my arms, and went to the backseat to sit her on the car seat that I finally installed in my car. We intentionally chose to drive back to our penthouse after lunch because Nabi usually sleeps at that time. It would be better if she would just sleep for the whole drive. The long drive to Seoul might bore her out.

When I secured her in the car seat, her eyelids were already dropping heavily on her eyes and she was yawning a lot already. I kissed her forehead before I pulled back and made room for Wheein. I waited by the passenger seat while she checked Nabi’s seat belt and made sure that she would be sleeping comfortably even after I secured our daughter in her seat myself. It was more of an action to get rid of her anxiousness rather than an action to show her distrust to me.

When she was already satisfied, she kissed Nabi on her cheek as well before she pulled back and gently closed the door. I opened the passenger door for her and waited for her to get settled in her seat. Wheein would still have that initial nervousness when she climbed in the car so I waited for her to calm down first before closing the door.

When she breathed out heavily, I asked her, “You okay?”

She smiled and nodded her head at me as she said, “Yup”

I smiled back and kissed her cheek before I closed her door. I walked around the car and climbed in the driver’s seat. I fastened my seat belt and glanced at the rear view mirror to check on Nabi before I started the car, pulled us out of the garage, and started the two-hour drive back to Seoul.

Nabi was already awake when we reached the building that held my parents ashes. I parked the car before Wheein and I climbed out. I headed to the backseat and reached inside the baby bag to grab Nabi’s bottle of milk while Wheein went on the other side of the backseat to pull Nabi out of her car seat. I passed the bottle to her before grabbing the white magnolias that we brought with us.

Wheein carried Nabi in her arms while holding the milk bottle that Nabi was drinking from. I walked beside Wheein and placed an arm on the small of her back while I held the flowers on my other hand.

“Don’t be nervous,” I said to Wheein while we were climbing up the stairs.

“I’m not,” she replied.

“Then stop fidgeting on Nabi’s bottle. You’ve been turning it around in ” I said to her while I pointed at the bottle.

She immediately stopped the fidgeting as she sighed loudly. I leaned down and kissed her shoulder while I rubbed a hand on her back, hoping to calm her down.

“Don’t worry, okay? It’s your birthday. They won’t be mad at you today” I whispered to Wheein just as we reached the floor for my parents.

“Yes, and when this day ends, they’ll go back to being mad at me?” Wheein said, looking at me while raising both her brows.

I chuckled at her and kissed her forehead over her beanie. “No, they won’t. They would never be mad at you” I said to her just as we got inside the room.

I removed the wilted flowers that we placed here before and threw it on the nearby trash can. I placed the first bouquet of white magnolias in front of my parents’ urns. Then I walked back to Wheein and hugged her from behind while I rested my chin on her shoulder.

“Mom, Dad…” I whispered. “We brought our daughter this time,” I said excitedly in front of my parents’ ashes. “Wheein’s with me too. She’s doing really good now” I added before I kissed Wheein’s cheek.

Wheein released a shaky breath before she said, “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Kim. I would like to apologize again. Yong… she said she still loved me…”

“I do. I love you” I whispered right into her ear, cutting her off.

“Thank you” Wheein said to me before she faced straight again. “And I love her,” she said to my parents. “I love her so much and I promise to always take care of her and our daughter too”

“And you’re doing a good job already,” I said to her as I tightened my hold around her waist.

I started swaying us while we stayed standing in silence in front of my parents’ ashes. We never bothered to explain to Nabi what we’re doing here since it would be hard to explain it to her, but mostly because she never asked. She was busy drinking her milk with her eyes closed.

After a few minutes, we said goodbye to my parents and headed to the stairs. But instead of going down, we went up a flight of stairs and headed to another room. I placed the last bouquet of white magnolias in front of Nabi’s biological mother’s ashes.

Wheein told me weeks ago that no one claimed Nabi, as well as her biological mother’s dead body. Dr. Song volunteered to handle everything and decided to place her ashes in the same building with my parents. We still have no idea who our precious daughter’s biological relatives are. When the right time comes, Wheein and I will introduce Nabi to her biological mother. For now, we’ll have to settle with visiting her during Nabi’s birthday or when we’re here to visit my parents, and thank her for allowing us to take care of her daughter.

When we walked out of the building, I carried Nabi with me while Wheein walked beside me, carrying Nabi’s