Within the half hour a crib started coming into shape. The entire time Sehun’s father called out to the men to be more careful, is this shape right, this leg doesn’t look sturdy.

From the start Namjoo had been wary of him. Now she saw him as a father overjoyed about this new experience in his life; obtaining a daughter-in-law, learning he will soon have a grandchild to spoil. Playing along had been awkward for her. She had constantly been too absorbed in how the affection showered on her made her nerves tingle uncomfortably. At every opportunity she wanted to slink away.

But that was just Sehun’s father. A father with a giant heart. Asking for nothing in return but her joy and happiness.

None which Namjoo could wholeheartedly do.

She couldn’t give the family anything.

Left alone when Sehun’s father guided the men out to retrieve the crib bed, Namjoo traced her fingers over the white frame. An emptiness wallowed through her. There would be no baby. Not from her. How heartbroken would his parents be to learn she was a phoney?

Everything was starting to rub her the wrong way. Ever since the wedding dress incident Namjoo could no longer live with herself. Doing this to Sehun’s parents. Seeing Sehun’s mother cry was the worst of it.

They were so sincere about her.

“Why do you keep doing that?” Sehun asked at the dinner table that evening.

“What?” She lifted her head to find him staring at her.

“You keep stirring your food.” He noted. “Is none of the food good?” Taking a bite from his spoon he said, “I think it tastes good.”

On the other hand, Sehun didn’t get it. He didn’t seem to understand the impact of his deceit. Understanding the fact that Elder and Madam Oh were his parents he could easily brush off his scheme. Fix his problematic behavior by introducing his girlfriend. “This is the real girl who will be having my baby. Whom I will marry.”

They would sigh. Under all circumstances despite their wounded hearts, because Sehun was their son, would forgive and reopen their arms to another girl. And Namjoo would fade to the back of their minds.

Knowing she had hurt them would bruise her for a long time. They would never forgive her, a no-nonsense girl who’d appeared out of nowhere claiming she was pregnant.

Who was she?

What kind of place had she come from?

Who had raised her so horribly to be so conniving?

But telling him this would not do anything. Sehun had no capacity of comprehending the level of regret she would face. All he cared about was getting his girlfriend here.

“It’s nothing.” Namjoo murmured. Lowering her head, she forced a spoonful into .

“I heard a delivery came.”

She thought about his father. The roar of laughter bubbling up from the pit of his stomach because he was so excited. “Your mom ordered a crib.”

“A crib?” he repeated in disbelief. Sighing he massaged his forehead, “She’s really going to the extremes.”

“I know, right?” Namjoo faked a jeer.

A heavy sigh pressed down on her heart when she headed upstairs after dinner. She would shower, maybe, then call it a night. As the door caked open revealing the bed, Namjoo’s gaze landed flat on the new bouquet on the blanket.

Strange. Nothing had been there when she left earlier.

She walked up to the mattress curious. Taking the flowers, she held them to her nose.

“Like them?” Swiveling around shocked she found Sehun standing at the threshold.

Realizing it was the flowers, she immediately held them lower kind of embarrassed. She spat, “What?”

“You seem down lately. I thought they could cheer you up.” He said.

She flushed. Marching to the door she told, “Stop observing me.” and shut the door in his face.

She huffed wondering what was wrong with him.

But that night as the lights went out, all the doors closed, everyone turned into bed, Namjoo paced her room restlessly.

It was now or never.

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Honestly on the way home he had had many second thoughts about the flowers. Seeing how the first flowers had cheered her maybe second ones would do the same. He planned to leave it as a surprise for her to find after dinner.

It was quite amusing to find this girlish side of her.

When he woke up that morning Namjoo’s bedroom door was still closed. Always first to the dining table, Sehun sat down with a cup of coffee. Waiting, watching as the cook slowly filled the table up with one dish, another dish, two more sides.

“Should I go wake the Mistress?” she asked once finished.

“No, I’ll go.” Sliding his chair back he took the stairs up.

What was up with Namjoo? There was no reason for her to be acting rebellious. They hadn’t had any disagreements. He’d bought her a laptop. Let her drive his car. What other tricks was she conjuring?

Knocking on the door he called, “Namjoo. Breakfast is ready. Come down.”

No reply.

He waited a beat and knocked again. “Hey, I said wake up. Breakfast is ready.”

Still nothing.

Frowning, he touched the knob. It twisted. He was about to find out why. Majorly he expected to find her in bed back to him, the volume on her phone blaring all while pretentiously ignoring him.

The room was barren. No person in bed. Just empty.

The flowers he had bought for her yesterday still lay on the bed. The flowers he’d previously bought were wilting in the vase on the bedside table, his baby picture still tucked underneath.

The quiet thrummed around him. Walking closer to the bed he also noticed the phone he’d bought her alongside a note.

I’m going. Please tell your mom and dad I am sorry. You should be kinder to them. Your mom and dad who adore and wish for you to have everything, only want the best for you without asking for anything in return. If you find the chance, you should tell them the truth. I believe they will find it in their hearts to forgive and understand you.

I don’t want the money anymore. I know there are still quite a few weeks left, but at the expense of your parents’ sincerity I wish to call this off. If we happen to see each other again, let’s pretend we don’t know each other.

Namjoo didn’t even bother to sign the note. He couldn’t really tell how that made him feel.

Crumpling the note up he wheeled around swiftly returning to the kitchen. Swiping his blazer off the back of his chair he stomped out.

“What about breakfast?” the cook rushed after him, but he’d already slammed the door shut.

At work he spun around in his chair. Throughout the day his eyes darted toward the clock at the lower right-hand corner of his computer. It was almost time to call Namjoo. Check up on her. Have a few words with her before she hung up on him. “Bye.” He could almost hear her saying whilst cutting his sentence off leaving him with the dead dial tone.

But then that phone was at his house. And no one would be answering or hanging up.

When he opened the door that evening the silence was almost earth shattering. The tv was abandoned. Up the stairs and no one occupied the bedroom one room away from his.

“Just prepare dinner for one.” Was the strangest thing he’d said since the past two weeks.

At the dining table no one nitpicked about the food or warred with him over their share. There was no one to talk to. Nobody purposely trying to rile him up or say something ridiculous.

It was so quiet.

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“Where the hell have you been?” her mother scolded slapping her back.

“Ow, mom!” Namjoo complained at their tiny square table. Rubbing her injury, she whined, “I’m eating here.”

The table was decked with dishes courtesy of Moonbi who was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

“What the hell are you eating?” Jina’s high pitch voice shrieked pointing at the dozens of white cartons of food on the table Namjoo was pigging out of.

“But there was nothing to eat and I’m hungry.” Mouth full Namjoo complained.

Crossing over to the stained white fridge, her mother peered inside. “There is food in the house!”

“I didn’t want any of that.”

Her mother hissed at her. Hand on hip she demanded, “Moonbi said you were coming back with money.” Holding her hand out, “Where is it? Give it to me.”

Dropping the plastic white spoon in her hand, Namjoo slid down from the chair and ran down the hallway. “I should get some sleep before heading in for work.!”

“Kim Namjoo!” her mother yelled after her.

Pushing the door close Namjoo put the lock in place and sighed. Now she regretted making noise about that two-hundred-thousand. Then on the other hand, she hadn’t completely come back without anything.

In one stride she reached her plastic shelf of clothes. Digging inside she pulled out the wad of cash from the first night she met Sehun. First was Moonbi’s but now it was hers.

Kissing the thick roll, she plopped down onto her twin bed. After several weeks she was finally back in her cramped room. Her life, no worries.

Dropping the hand clutching the money into her chest she closed her eyes and sighed.

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Mom and dad wanted to have him and Namjoo over for dinner. It had only been three days since she left. They were anxious having heard nothing from them after the crib got delivered.

Sehun didn’t know what he planned to say on the way to the manor. Namjoo had urged him to come clean in her letter. Maybe he could.

It would be good news to prepare for Jin’s return. His parents had met her before. They liked her, too. Only her absence had grown a hole in their adoration for her. Sehun could wait, but his parents were getting older and impatient.

If he followed Namjoo’s advice and explained everything, maybe it would be ok.

Food was steaming from dishes on the dining table, a signal that he had arrived too soon. The cause of his jittery nerves for being overly anxious. How would he explain Namjoo?

His usually grim father’s expression brightened from where he sat. Eyes darting from him to behind him. “Where is the daughter-in-law?”

Hearing voices his mother shuffled into the room from the corridor connecting to the kitchen. Her long dress swiveled around her legs prettily. Gripping her hands together expectantly, a pink-red smile perched on her face, she asked, “Why are you alone?”

Like his father, she, too, stretched her neck right and left searching for the missing Namjoo.

“Let’s have dinner first.” He suggested.

His father appeared disgruntled. “Is she not feeling well?” Speaking to his mom now, “She was resting when the crib was delivered. I’m telling you she’s not well. Should we prepare some medicine?”

Attention on him now, his mom inquired, “Did you take her to the doctor?”

His mouth started opening. Nothing. He tried again yet a wide range of uncertainty spanned through his chest.

“Um…” the pressure of their watchful eyes pressed down on him. “Namjoo went back home.”

His mom gasped such a deep sound anyone might have mistaken her for choking on her breath. Shaky hands hovered in front of her lips. “What does that mean?”

Elder Oh’s hand slammed against the table. The sound was so aggressively loud the entire room including the next dining room quaked. Sehun couldn’t help lowering his eyes. Despite the entrées separating him from his parents Sehun felt like he was standing right beneath the fangs of a bear.

“You!” the elder man bellowed. His face turned tomato red then darker. “You drove her away, didn’t you?! You worthless son!”

His father’s arm flung out throwing the dishes near him off the edge of the table. His lips tightened, twitching strangely, and then coughed a strange noise.

“Honey!” his mother screeched when the old man’s head hit the table on the way down to the floor.

“Dad!” Shoving his chair back Sehun ran over. Dropping onto his knees on the floor he hesitated touching his father. A man writhing and struggling to breathe. His mother wailed beside him, clinging onto her husband’s hand.

Sehun yelled over his shoulder, “Someone call an ambulance!”

This sudden turn of events had been completely unforeseen. Sehun spent the rest of the evening waiting in the hallway while waiting for nurses and doctors, who left the room one after another, to properly give his father medical care.

His father’s high blood pressure had caused a premature . He being the cause of the incident was inconclusive. Late in the night when the last doctor left after a health check, Sehun had heard his father angrily screaming he didn’t want him in the room.

Anxiously stepping out toward him, his mother seemed to pause as if her own troubled heart could not forgive him. A bit of a sigh and, “You should go home. It’s getting really late. I’m sure you have work early in the morning.”

“What about dad?” Sehun peered into the room, but couldn’t see his father protected behind a curtain for privacy.

“He’ll be fine.” She glanced uneasily into the room then back to him. “How long will Namjoo be gone? It’s almost time for the wedding.” Touching his arm, she sympathized, “You haven’t even found an outfit. Oh, what about the baby?”

He opened his mouth but, again, nothing came. Just, “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

He went to work. He checked the social media platforms he used to often venture just to talk to Jin for any news of her. Her last posted was dated a month ago. Exactly when her calls became irregular.

Nothing.

Sehun didn’t know how to reach her. Her phone had been stolen three months ago, so she often borrowed another student’s satellite phone to call him. On the way to class, she always informed during the calls, because the student friend was with her.

Giving up he closed the tab and resumed work with a heavy heart. After work he went back to the hospital. The doctor was keeping his father under strict observation for a week. Ensure he was taking his medicine and maintain his diet.

His father was up when he arrived. Watching something on the monitor across from him. His mother was sitting at the foot of the bed laughing. They looked like two happy kids relaxing right in their home.

“What’s so funny?” Sehun asked.

His father immediately turned grumpy. Flopping onto the bed he turned his back to him. The laugh on his mother’s face vanished and she slid down.

“Tell him to leave. I don’t want to see him.” his father grunted.

“Dad.” Sehun called out, but the elder man ignored him.

Touching his arm his mother urged him out. “How was work? You must be tired. Why did you come?”

“What do you mean why did I come?” Sehun asked flabbergasted. He couldn’t believe her.

Patting him on the bicep she assured, “Don’t worry about anything here. And have you heard from the daughter-in-law? Your father wants to talk to her.”

He opened his mouth, but nothing came. He ended up with, “Then I’m going home.”

Headache. Everything was causing him one very big headache. As fast as the pain erupted in his head it dissipated even quicker when he opened the door to his house.

Emptiness.

A big shroud of it rolled toward him like one giant gray cloud following an explosion. Remaining in the doorway his eyes swept over the entire house he’d been sharing for two weeks. Jin had been gone so long Sehun had forgotten how it was be in someone’s company until Namjoo came.

That regardless the bantering between them he was no longer lonely. He wasn’t alone 24/7. Life here hadn’t always been bland and boring, listening to his own breathing every day. Trying to come up with trivial activities to busy himself. Namjoo brought it out of him. The emotions that made him feel human.

He was in the bedroom with the crib. Having walked inside whilst his mind ran around itself. Stepping up to the full set crib Sehun stared at it. At the corner toys dangled toward the bed. Must’ve been the work of the deliverymen. Could’ve been his father.

Sehun tapped the plastic arc and watched the toys swing around. Catching sight of a switch he flicked it on. A musical lullaby filled the room as the toys slowly floated counterclockwise.

Perhaps the mention of a baby had motivated his parents more seriously than he intended. Had Namjoo felt guilty this entire time? She must have freaked seeing the crib.

He didn’t blame her for leaving before their promised timeline. The longer she stayed the more his parents pinned their hopes on her, the more difficult it would be to come up with a baby. She was still young. He imagined there were more important experiences she wanted to have than pretending to be pregnant for his sake.

The conclusion he’d come to backfired when he went back online the next day. Scrolling through Jin’s profile to find a way to contact her. His messages were left unread, but he stubbornly refreshed the pages continuously hoping for some change.

And then…a picture.

Sehun recognized that building right behind her.

The bookstore with a cute yellow awning above the square four-paned window.

It was located right here in the city.

***now he's starting to kind of miss her and now his parents are attached to her and want him to bring her back. and maybe he will bc Jin is back in the country and he doesn't know???