Hi! Sorry for being MIA.
The girls are coming, so I got caught up with tix madness >.<
However, it's not so busy anymore like two weeks before, so I'll try to update regularly, again.

This update is not really like what I expected it to be, but I think it would better if I post this first nonetheless.
Sorry if you notice mistakes.
I didn't proofread yet >.<

***

"How is she doing? Still not talking?" Jinkyu asked her older sister via international call. She had to go back to Kuwait eight days after Sunny's admission to hospital.

A sigh could be heard from the other end, "No progress. She answers only when she's asked. Pretty much like the first week when she broke up with Sungmin, you remember? Only worse. It's scary to see her like this. Really."

Jinkyu nodded her head while listening to the explanation, "How's the psychotherapy?

"The progress is so slow. But the therapist came to me yesterday and tell me that she started to open up. But again, she said it takes time."

"But at least she's showing some progress. What about her pregnancy?"

"That gets me worried the most. She doesn't eat. Even if she eats, it's only a little. You should see her now. So skinny. The doctor afraid that the baby will suffer from malnutrition, which will affect his growth. So he prescribed a set of supplements she needs to take each day. But she still needs to eat real food time to time. That's why he asked us to encourage her as well."

"Talk to her, Unnie. You had gone trough maternity stage. Knock some sense into her thick skull."

"You think it's easy? She's like a living dead these days, you know. And it has nothing to do with her being stubborn. She seems to have no more will to live."

A loud long sigh was again heard from the line across, "What had happened to that kid. Really."

"I don't know."

The two went silent for a moment. Then Jinkyu slowly mumbled, "Did Sungmin do something to her?"

The older sister contemplated for a while before answering, "What are you implying?"

"Well, you know... He did something out of her consent which actually explained why she acts like this now."

"Don't beat around the bush, Jinkyu. What do you mean?" Eunkyu got a bit irritated by the roundabout way of her younger sister.

"Huff... I don't know, Unnie. Really. But have you ever think of . . . ?" Jinkyu uttered the last word with low voice, as if the word would explode if it was let out bluntly of .

"Yah! Mind your tongue! You downright accuse him, don't you think?" scolded Eunkyu.

"Hey, I already said 'I don't know'. I really don't know, Unnie, but there might be a possibility, considering how she acts these days. Remember when you told me that she cries every time she saw Sungmin?"

Eunkyu was left baffled. She stared into the boys and girls who started to emerge from their classes and into the school yard. Her eyes spotted her son-which was now a P1 student-with his little backpack, running into her while locking his hand with his little sister-who has noon class as she was in her preschool age. Both had big bright eye smiles on their faces, something hereditary.

"I don't know, Jinkyu. Really, I don't want to think that way. I'd rather wait for the therapist to dig something out of her."

"But what if, Unnie?"

"I hope there are no such ifs," she responded right before she was rounded by her children.

"Can I have happy meal for lunch?" "Look at my drawing." "Who's on the phone?"

"No. You had yours last week. Wait for next month for another round of happy meal, okay," she reminded her son and turned to her daughter to say, "Aww... Look at that picture. Is that mom and dad and your brother and yourself? What a pretty drawing, sweetheart. By the way, who wants to talk to Jinkyu Imo?"

"Me! Me! I want!" Both of the kids screamed happily. They were jumping up and down excitedly.

"Alright. Alright," Eunkyu smiled at her kids behavior. She spoke through the phone again, "I'll put them on the line, okay. By the way, I'll send the ultrasound picture of your soon new niece. It was taken when she was 2.5 month old. I forget to send the picture to you."

A laughter rang through the line, "We don't know yet if she's a she or he."

"I'd like to think it as a she though."

"Whatever. Send me the picture, although I bet I cannot tell which part is head and which part is toe," Jinkyu smiled against the speaker. "When is the next scheduled ultrasound?"

"It's by the end of this month," replied Eunkyu.

"It's kinda ironic right, how we are more excited about this baby than her own mom."

The older sister smiled sadly, "She'll come around. She definitely will come around. You know how she likes kids."

Right then, she felt repetitive tugs on her skirt. Her son and daughter were grinning expectantly, waiting for her to pass the phone to them. She grinned back at them before talking through the speaker, "Your niece and nephew demand to talk to you right now. I'll pass the phone now."

The older kid took the phone from his mom's hand after she put it on loudspeaker. They talked animatedly, unaware that their aunt could not see them. She smiled once again. Soon, she thought. Your little one will join this group of noise. They will be the perfect trio or rascals. Whatever it is, snap out of it, Soonkyu. Soon. We want to have you back.

***

Mrs. Lee had been setting the three simple side dishes on the dining table when Mr. Lee came in. He took a seat at the head side of the table, his usual place which symbolized the head of the family altogether. His face looked dazed and and distracted as he put his elbows on the table and his chin on his folded hands.

"What's wrong?" Mrs. Lee asked her husband. She came back to the dining table with a small clay pot of still boiling soup. The hot steam from the soup smelled delicious, yet it was not enough to wake the real appetite of the spouses. Mrs. Lee took an empty rice bowl and scooped some for her husband.

"I'm thinking about our daughter."

Mrs. Lee sighed, "I know you always avoid this topic, but what should we do about her? I think marrying her to Sungmin is the best way out. I'm afraid she's going through hardships should she stays unmarried yet pregnant. Not to mention the road ahead. You know how people are."

Mr. Lee was quiet for some time before replying, "So, you think it's better to marry her off to someone she doesn't love anymore?"

"I don't say that. I mean, they loved each other. I don't see why can't they stay in love or fall back in love with each other. You see how they were indulged with each other, right?"

"Yes, but that's the point. They loved each other. Loved. It's already in the past, dear."

"I know, but . . . I just want to make this easier for her. I don't think abortion is the right way out, although most families with similar cases to ours might chose that path. I'm a mother who ever lost her baby. I know the grief and the guilt even though it was miscarriage. If it is done purposely, I think her guilt will eat her alive. While keeping the baby without father will be another excruciating experience for her because of the social stigma that will stick to our daughter and her child forever." Mrs. Lee hung her head. By merely thinking of the possibility already made her in the brink of tears.

Her husband reach across the table to squeeze her hand. "I know you mean well. However, marrying her to a guy who she doesn't love is never wise. Marriage is not something one should agreed to and throw away easily. You know that I'm talking about the life-time commitment. We taught them about that. Marriage without love will lead to divorce. Then marriage will be meaningless."

Mrs. Lee wiped her cheeks with her free hand. She knew that all her husband was saying were true. She also wanted her children to experience the marriage life they had. Content and peaceful, although disagreements and misunderstanding might arise now and then.

"I want the best for her," Mr. Lee continued. "I want her to be happy. So, for this matter, I will let her choose her own path."

Mrs. Lee just nodded.

***

It was a warm afternoon when they had their daily walk on the hospital park. The sky was in color of turquoise. Ever since she was allowed to walk longer, her therapist always took her out for a walk as a change of scenery from the boring and confined hospital room. It was also a shared silent knowledge that the walk was one of the way to raise her trust in the therapist.

"So, it's been a month. I heard that you'll be discharged soon. But the sling will remain, right? When can you remove it?"

"Two months again." Sunny answered shortly.

The therapist was around her age, so they chose to speak informally. Or rather, the therapist chose to speak informally and Sunny followed suit.

"How's the baby doing?"

Sunny didn't respond.

"Hey, whatever happened, it would be better for you to. . ."

"I know. Just give me some time."

"Alright."

They strolled the path again in silence. The afternoon sun shone on their faces. Warm seeped under their skin. The hospital garden was quite large. It has pathway that went circular yet curvedly. The grass were carefully trimmed and the short flower bushes were carefully tended. 

"Are you feeling tired? What if we take a seat?" the therapist gestured at the white bench on the side of the path. "Such a lovely weather, don't you agree?"

"Have you tried enough?" Sunny snapped.

"What do you mean?"

"I know my family pay you for this. But I don't need any of this. So don't you think you should better stop trying to "fix" me?"

The therapist was slightly taken aback, although she concealed it. Not by the words, for she was used to rejection when it came to the third party request of therapy, but more for the sordidness in her patient's words. Being one of the popular figures in business world, Sunny often appeared on screen in many public occasions. Her personal observation to those appearances concluded that she was a warm woman who always had positive attitude towards life. Well, it might change though, she thought. Or it may not there in the beginning and it's all just her persona. I'd better not judge now.

"It's true that your parents pay me for every therapy session we have. If you think you don't need these therapies, it's fine by me. You're an adult anyway, you decide. But please remember, unexpressed emotion will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. Sorry to say, that you just had experienced one of its outcomes. So, before it gets any worse, you'd better let it out, either to me or to anyone whom you trust."

The two fell silent. No more words exchanged. The therapist glanced at her patient's direction and saw in the slightest moment and knew that her patient were experiencing a battle inside, yet she greatly covered it. She swallowed back any emotion, repressing it down under the bottomless pit of human heart, her own heart.

The therapist could only sighed. She gave her own thighs a soft tap before rising to her feet. She turned her head to her patient, "Let's get you back to your room."

"Can I just stay here a little longer?" Sunny asked without looking at her therapist. Her eyes were focused to a young patient of around five years who were having his afternoon walk on that hospital park.

The therapist followed Sunny's gaze upon that little boy. Hands forward, he was walking carefully yet excitedly. It was when a woman of early thirties running to his aid. While she held his hand, she reprimanded the little boy lightly. "Didn't I say you shouldn't walk around without me?"

"Sorry mum, but the smell of the grass is just so nice. And I can feel the sun on my skin, which is also nice."

The boy gave his mother that innocent smile of his, but his eyes were not right to her mother's eyes. A slight inclining head from Sunny didn't get unnoticed.

"He just completely lost his vision," the therapist explained.

"Why?" asked Sunny. Her eyes never left that wee boy.

"The doctor in charge said that the cause is hereditary. He is a tough little guy though," the therapist noted. "Always smiling, always giving support to his parents, always being positive. It's good to be a kid, right? Everything seems so simple."

The later stayed quiet.

"I'll leave you now, Don't be away too long, okay."

Sunny just nodded her head. The therapist made her way into the building, leaving Sunny to have her own time. Just before she went through the automatic glass door, she glanced behind her shoulder to where her patient was sitting. She seemed to be deep in thought. After leaving a note to one of the station nurse to keep an eye on her, the therapist returned to her office.