My eyebrows twitched as I stared at my wife, confused at what she said. I leaned back to have a clearer view on her face while she continued to lean her weight on me.

“Can you repeat that again, Yong?” I asked, still unable to grasp the information.

“He paid all the expenses when you attended medical school”

“How did you know that?” I asked, pouting my lips slightly at her. “How did you know it was him? I didn’t even know who it was”

Mom wasn’t capable of sending me to medical school. I was able to accomplish my pre-med course because of a scholarship, but my scholarship was only up to my pre-med course. I basically applied every single scholarship I could find but there’s no single organization, foundation, and even private agencies that have a program related to paying school fees for a struggling med student. Hospitals have programs but they were only offered to the doctors of their institutions and not to students.

I felt hopeless and I even told Hyejin that she’ll just have to pursue our shared dream by herself because my family was financially incapable to send me to med school. I’d have to work first before I could study medicine. Not until Mom told me that she found someone that would be my sponsor, but the sponsor refused to tell me their name.

“He told me,” Yong said, reaching a hand up to squeeze my cheeks.

I held her hand and let it rest on my cheek as I caressed my thumb at the back of her hand. “Why didn’t he tell me? When did he tell you?”

She sighed before she closed her eyes. She started chewing her bottom lip to concentrate as she tried to remember. I leaned forward and kissed her forehead and her temples. I kissed them repeatedly while I waited for her to recall.

“I think it was in your birthday?” she asked me, not sure of it herself.

“You don’t have to remember everything, Yong. Your head might hurt from too much concentration. Don’t force yourself, babe” I whispered to her gently as I continued to kiss her.

She sighed deeply again while I felt her eyebrows furrowed with my lips. I sighed as well, wanting to stop her but I know I couldn’t. My wife’s the most stubborn patient ever and would still do whatever she wants because she thinks she’s capable of doing it. That she’s fine doing it.

“It was definitely your birthday” she said with absolute certainty this time.

She opened her eyes again and I saw how she slightly flinched and held her breath. That was definitely a sudden shot of pain in her head and she’s acting as if nothing happened.

I pulled her head to rest on my shoulder again and gently massage her head as I instructed, “Close your eyes and breathe slowly”

“I’m fine now” she whispered while I only kissed her forehead, not wanting to argue with her anymore. “It was on the same day that we moved back to the penthouse. Your Mom was there and even Dr. Song too. I noticed how they would stare at each other when the other wasn’t looking at them”

“Such sharp eyes” I whispered, chuckling softly as I felt so impressed by her.

She smiled so wide and winked at me, making me laugh louder. “When Ma went home first, I talked to Dr. Song and told him about this. Then he told me that they love each other but they didn’t got to be together because Ma got pregnant and wanted to focus with raising you”

“You knew?! All this time you knew about the two of them?” I exclaimed.

I could not believe this. Maybe I’m the only one who doesn’t know about them too. Dr. Song even sacrificed loving Mom and being together with her when he encouraged Mom to focus on raising me. If not for that, I don’t know what would happen to Mom. I don’t know if I would still be here with Yong right now as well. I don’t even know if I could have the chance to be on this earth at all.

“Dr. Song didn't want to tell you about it because you might find out about the anonymous sponsor who helped you attend medical school” she said, ignoring the shocked state on my face right now.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whined, pouting at her while she just pecked my pouting lips and leaned her head on my shoulder again.

I saw her closed her eyes before she sighed deeply. I repositioned her on my lap so she’d be sitting more comfortably before I rubbed a hand on her back. I felt her lips on my neck, kissing me there before she pulled her head to look at me again. I cradled her head with my hand so she wouldn’t exert too much energy just by keeping herself upright.

“He told me to keep it a secret”

I furrowed my eyebrows, confused by this, before I asked, “Why are you telling me now?”

“Because I want you to have a strong reason to bridge whatever gap created after your misunderstanding. I want you to have that want to talk to him and stop avoiding him, so that the two of you won’t be awkward anymore”

I pulled her closer to her and rested my head on her shoulder this time while keeping her in a sitting position. Even with her current state of being so weak, she still ended up finding a way to help me fix a problem I caused myself. She would always set me straight and give me direction when it feels like I’m stuck with nowhere to go.

It’s always better having her here with me.

“You know, I remember that I told him that he should be together with Ma since you’re all grown up now. He only told me that he’s content knowing that Ma loves him after the times he was shy to confess to her. Then I told him that he could have been your father”

“What did he say?” I whispered, feeling my tears making their way to my eyes and started pushing out of my closed eyelids.

“If Dr. Song and your Mom got together, he said that we couldn’t have a Wheein right now. We couldn’t have you right now. He’s so happy that you treated him like your father despite not being your biological father”

I held Yong tighter as my shoulders started to shake when my tears freed themselves from my tightly shut eyes. It was now Yong’s turn to rub her hand on my back and kissed the side of my head.

“I didn’t mean it when I said that he’s not my father, Yong. I was shouting at Lee Juwon’s face when I saw him when I closed my eyes.” I shook my head, rubbing my forehead on her shoulder, while I begged Yong to believe me, my voice shaking from my cries. “I didn’t mean it, Yong”

“I know” she whispered tenderly. “But shouldn’t you say that to Dr. Song and not to me, Whee?”

I nodded my head, agreeing with her as I pulled my face away from shoulder, hiccuping from my never-ending tears. She cupped my cheek then wiped my tears before I leaned forward and quickly kissed her.

I lifted her again and sat her on the bed, making sure that her head was elevated. I climbed out of her bed and wore my shoes again. I tucked her under the blanket and said, “I’ll be back”

“Take your time” she said, her eyelids slowly closing as she sunk deep on her bed.

I leaned forward and kissed her forehead before I headed out of the room. I wiped my tears with the back of my arm as I walked towards Dr. Song’s office.

The first time I went to his office to apologize, I was so nervous that I was hesitating whether I should continue to do it or not. Right now, I just felt the need to go to him and apologize to him. I want nothing but to go back to how we interact like before. I don’t care if he pinched my cheeks so hard or ruffled my hair to ruin it. I want my Pa back again.

I was sniffing back my tears when I ran towards Dr. Song’s office while I wiped my tears with the back of my arm. I never bothered to wait for the elevator anymore and just took the stairs, wanting to keep my body moving. I took two steps at a time when I climbed the stairs and was breathing heavily when I reached the floor of Dr. Song’s office. I didn’t take a pause to catch my breath anymore and just continued running.

“No running in the hospital hall…” a nurse scolded me but stopped when he recognized who it was. This is the second time I was scolded for running in the hallways but got away because of being a doctor here. “Dr. Jung?!” the nurse exclaimed, sounding so alarmed. “Anything we could help you with?”

I ignored his concerns as I waved my hand when I passed by him.

When I reached Dr. Song’s office, I didn’t pace in front and contemplated whether it’s a good idea to go for it or not. I didn’t even knock on his door and just grabbed the door handle, turned it, and pushed the door open.

I could feel sweat all over my body and strain on my legs. That was probably the most I moved since I reached my teens. My throat feels so itchy from how dry it was. I breathed deeply as I leaned both my hands on my knees, coughing from the dryness and itchiness of my throat. While my tears and sweat started to mix together on my face.

“Wheein?”

I looked up and saw three people looking at my direction. One pair of eyes looked so worried while the other two pairs just looked confused. I ignored the confused eyes and focused on the worried ones.

I stood up and walked towards Dr. Song while my lips started trembling when I saw his face. I sniffed my tears once and took a few steps before I narrowed the distance between us two when I jogged towards him behind the desk. I threw myself at him and buried my face on his chest. I even ignored that he’s in the middle of a consultation. I’m not being disrespectful, maybe I am, but I really couldn’t wait. This apology has been long overdue. Way overdue already.

“Is there something wrong? Is Yong fine? Why are you crying? Is there something wrong with Nabi? What’s wrong?” he mumbled all those questions, feeling both confused and nervous while he patted my back to make me speak.

“Pa… I’m sorry” I whispered to him, my voice shaking from my cries.

I felt him relaxed on his seat as he sighed. Then I felt his arms around me next as he chuckled softly while I just cried and wet the front of his shirt with my tears. I miss hearing his belly laugh and his strong arms around me. I simply miss being a daughter to him.

“Excuse me Mr. and Mrs. Seok. I need to have a moment with my daughter first” he told his patients, which just made me cry harder.

He stood up while his arms remained around me before he whispered, “Let’s talk outside, okay?”

I nodded my head before I pulled away from his chest and broke the hug. I wiped my tears as I turned to face his patients. I bowed to them and mumbled my apology before Dr. Song held my shoulders and gently pushed me out of his office. He opened the door for me and let me walk out first while he followed behind me.

When we were finally outside his office, I wiped my tears as I turned around and pouted at him, my shyness and nervousness showing up once again after the rush of adrenaline died down. He chuckled when he saw the pout on my lips before he grabbed my cheeks and pinched them so hard.

“Ow! Ow!” I exclaimed, smacking his arm while I moved restlessly from the pain. I take it back, I don’t like it when he does this, but this is definitely better than being awkward around with each other. This just means that we’re back to normal now.

“Ow!” I shouted as loud as I could from the searing pain while he just laughed at me.

He suddenly stopped laughing and looked at me with longing in his eyes. He caressed his thumbs on my cheeks, easing the pain from his pinch. “I’m sorry too” he whispered softly before he kissed the top of his head, making me sigh in relief.

He pulled me in a hug while I wrapped my arms around him as well, planting my face back on his chest. “We’ll talk later, okay? Let me just deal with my patients then I’ll go straight to Yong’s room after. Don’t barge in next time. You know that’s disrespectful” he said, playfully scolding me but still chuckled at me.

“I couldn’t wait anymore” I whined at him.

“I’m glad you did.” He broke the hug only to ruffle my hair while I just closed my eyes and sigh, expecting this to happen already but didn’t mind it. Not even the tiniest bit. “Go back to Yong. Don’t leave her there by herself. I’ll go down there once I’m done”

“Okay” I said, nodding my head as I sighed deeply. “I love you, Pa”

“Love you too, Whee” he said. And I swear, I saw him tearing up but turned around right away as he patted my head and opened the door to his office again, not giving me a clearer view of his glazing eyes.

While waiting for Dr. Song’s shift to finish, I was assisting Yong to walk around the hospital hallways, which would serve as her daily exercise to improve her blood flow and to prevent her from having pneumonia and constipation. I placed an arm around her waist while holding her IV stand with my other hand. One of her arms was on my waist as well while she leaned most of her weight to me. Nabi was on her other side, walking with us while holding her Mommy’s hand and carrying her puppy with her.

“What happened to her kitten?” Yong whispered beside me as we slowly went back to her room.

“She didn’t use it anymore. I placed it in a cardboard box, including the ones that our biological father gave to her”

“You already threw all of them?” Yong asked, grunting from difficulty.

I adjusted her in my arms, hearing her sigh deeply, before she slowly leaned her weight back to me again. I kissed her shoulder before I said, “Not yet. I wanted