A soft scratching came from the shaking box and Yoon Hee felt her eyes widen. Just what was inside that box?

“Mommy what was that?”

“I don’t know. You stay right here and I’ll just get to the bottom of this.”

Soo Jin nodded and satisfied when her daughter stayed put Yoon Hee moved towards the box, her hands closing on the lid. She took a deep breath and slowly lifted the lid. A small smile toyed with her lips at the sight of the little white kitten. It was a cute little bundle of fur with the biggest ears she had ever seen on a cat. The little kitten stared up at her with bright green eyes and Yoon Hee couldn’t resist reaching into the box and pulling out the kitten.

“A kitty!”

Soo Jin rushed to her mother and peered at the kitten before turning enchanting brown eyes to her mother and Yoon Hee knew that whoever had sent that kitten must, in some weird way, knew about her daughter’s weakness for furry animals. The question was: who sent the kitten?

She handed over the kitten to her daughter just as there was a knock on her door. Leaving Soo Jin to cuddle the now purring kitten Yoon Hee went to the door and opened it. She felt the air whoosh out of her lungs at the sight of Lee Joon standing in the hall. Her eyes narrowed and she felt the ice in her heart grow colder and more frigid when he smiled at her.

“I have nothing to say to you Joon.”

Yoon Hee turned and was about to close the door when Joon pushed against it. “Wait!”

“Did you leave the kitten?”

“What? Oh! Yes I did it. I thought Soo Jin would enjoy him.”

“I see.”

With that she used all her strength to close the door in his face.

Joon stared at the closed door and heard the lock click into place. This wasn’t how he imagined seeing Yoon Hee again after being gone so long. He had expected her to be happy to see him, but this icy attitude was quite the opposite. He wondered what had caused her to become so cold towards him.

Thoughts ran through his head as he began pounding on the door, calling her name, hoping that she would heed him and yield and allow him to come inside. His throat began to burn with the effort of calling her name again and again, but he kept on, his fists beginning to mirror the burn in his throat as he continuously beat on the door.

On the other side Yoon Hee leaned against the door, each time Joon’s fist met the old wooden door she felt it vibrate throughout her body. She was furious. How could he show up this way all of a sudden? How could he believe that everything would be okay when he hadn’t even made an effort to keep in touch? What did he expect from her?

All these questions warred in her mind as she pushed away from the door and settled herself down beside Soo Jin. “Why didn’t you let Joonie in Mommy?”

She glanced at her daughter, but instead of answering her she gestured at the kitten curled up in her daughter’s lap playfully swatting at the ties on Soo Jin’s hoodie. “Have you thought of a name for him?”

“His name is Toki because he looks like a bunny rabbit.”

The pounding on the door grew fainter and finally ceased and Yoon Hee assumed that Joon had given up for the time being. She lifted her eyes from the kitten and stared at the door. How long would he persist? Would he even try figure out why she had turned against him?

In that moment Yoon Hee was too angry to care one way or the other what he did. Her heart was in tatters and encrusted in ice and for the time being she couldn’t have cared less. Her anger was that great. How could he not call, not even once? Was it so tiresome to press a few buttons and send a text message just to let her know that he was okay? What kind of person confessed his love and then left for over six months without a single word?

Yoon Hee knew that he had been working, he had told her that was the reason why he was leaving to begin with, but surely there had been some time when he could have found a few spare minutes to contact her. A sense of abandonment had settled in his absence and she didn’t know if she could take that feeling again. She had already been there and done that with Soo Jin’s father, her family, and she didn’t want to suffer the heartache all over again and now Soo Jin was old enough to feel the loss of someone she loved and Yoon Hee would be damned if she let her daughter feel the hurt that she had.

Days passed in repetition; during the time when he wasn’t working his schedules or appearing as a guest for one show or radio station he was always found sitting outside Yoon Hee’s apartment. Sometimes he got to see her when she came in from he didn’t even know where and most times he would be graced with a smile from Soo Jin when she came home from school, but never once did either of them say a single word to him.

It was tearing him apart not knowing just what it was that had turned his girls against him. His heart ached with the knowledge that they may never allow him back into their lives, but he was determined to keep trying until Yoon Hee told him to never darken her doorstep again. That’s where he was at the moment, his hands freezing in the chilly hallway, his body shaking against the wall he was leaning against.  He checked his watch and knew that Yoon Hee and Soo Jin was due home at any moment and he felt his heartbeat begin to race, his cold hands becoming sweaty as he pushed himself to his feet when he heard chatter coming from the stairwell. Within seconds Yoon Hee and her daughter appeared in the hallway.  

She froze when she say Joon once again outside her apartment. It had been going on for days and never once had he relented. It was becoming like clockwork. The sight of him angered her, but at the same time she felt her heart soften more and more with each day that passed. She sighed as she led Soo Jin down the hall and let her inside the apartment before she gestured for Joon to enter.

He didn’t wait to be asked twice. Joon entered her apartment and waited while she closed the door and slipped her shoes off. When she gestured to the table he sat down and waited again while she settled herself, never once saying a single word too afraid of losing his first chance of being able to speak with her. He watched her, glancing at her face and saw no signs of the earlier anger that had settled into her features each time she saw him, instead there was a weariness that shadowed her eyes.

Finally she looked at him, saw the hurt in his eyes and felt a moment of guilt for being cold towards him, but the feeling of abandonment was still there despite the guilt and so she tamped down on the guilt. “Joon why are you here?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“I thought I made it clear that I had nothing to say to you.”

Okay so she was still angry. However he was determined to get to the bottom of it. “What did I do? Tell me if I did something wrong so that I can fix it.”

Yoon Hee sighed. Deep in her heart she wanted to forgive him, but she was just so afraid of going through the pain again. She figured that the least she could do was give him the reason why. “Why didn’t you contact me like you promised? Surely you had some spare time at one point or another when you could have called or sent a simple message to let me know you were okay.”

Realization dawned on him then and he felt like a jerk even though it wasn’t his fault. “Our phones were taken from us by our manager so that we wouldn’t be distracted. He wanted maximum concentration from all of us. I would have called had I been able. I’m sorry Yoon Hee.”

So that was the reason. It seemed to her that it couldn’t be helped, but still the feelings remained. “I thought that…it doesn’t matter what I thought.”

He knew what she had been about to say, knew about what had happened earlier in her life and understood why she felt the way she did. “I should have forewarned you of the possibility of our phones being taken from us. It’s my fault. Can you forgive me?”

The hurt, but hopeful look in his eyes melted the ice around her heart, but the chill of it still remained. She knew it was going to take time for her to get past the feelings again, to let them go and trust in him, but she was willing at least to give it try. “You’re forgiven.”

“Yay!”

Soo Jin’s delighted declaration had both adults jumping. She had been so quiet that they had forgotten she was there. Now the little girl was wiggling her tiny body into Joon’s lap and hugging him tightly around his neck.

“Joonie I missed you. I thought that you forgot about me.”

He smoothed the flyaway hairs from her face and smiled at her. “I could never forget you Soo Jin just like I could never forget your mom.”

She snuggled into the warmth of his arms and held on to him tightly. Yoon Hee watched the pair with a warming heart. She was happy that Soo Jin no longer had to miss Joon, that she, herself, no longer had to keep coming up with one reason or another as to why Soo Jin couldn’t see him. A quiet 'meow' came from the fluffy, white kitten that had come out from under the dresser to wind its away around Joon's feet. It sounded almost as if Toki agreed and as silly as it was the kitten's 'meow' of agreement was enough to settle the nerves jittering around inside her. Now that they were reunited Yoon Hee wondered just what would happen next in the mini drama that was their lives. She was weary, but ready and willing to find out what the next day would bring.