“Would you like to add anything else, miss?”

“No, that would be all.”

“Then that’ll be ₩1580.50. Cash or credit card?”

“Cash. Here.” As she handed out the cash, her wallet flung open and out came her credit cards, along with her identification cards, stumbling down to her feet. She mutters an unintelligible curse as she starts to crouch down, until a pair of hands swiftly race past hers to grab the fallen items.

She stares back at the other. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No. I—I just.. You picked it up so fast, I haven’t even had the time to bend.”

“I just have this habit of picking up things. I’m clumsy too.”

“I guess you just have nice reflexes. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” And just like that, the helpful stranger just walked away, roaming about the supermarket. She wondered. It’s a good thing there’s still a bunch of good Samaritans like that these days. She felt fortunate.

“Um, miss?” The cashier hands over her change.

“Oh, yeah.” She gets the change and just stuffed it in her purse. She grabs the paper bags securely.

“Thank you for shopping with us, miss. Have a nice evening!”

---

“Aish, that boy..” She rings the doorbell twice. Repetetively, she starts making a pattern. Ring ring ring, ring ring, ring, ring ring, ring ring ring. And still, no response from her son. It’s been roughly 2 minutes for her standing out on the front porch like that. She starts to get impatient.

If he doesn’t open this in 5 more minutes, he’s grounded for a week, she thinks to herself.

 “Hey?”

“Honey, could you open the door for me? Please don’t be asleep.”

“Honey, it’s really cold outside. The milk cartons are heavy too.”

“Kyungsan, open this door!”

“Kyung—“ and she stops as the door swings open.

Out there, on her doorstep, stood little Kyungsan. She smiled in delight. He stood there, holding a little cake with his little hands, balancing it with a card tucked in his right armpit, and a slightly wilting flower on his mouth.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, mom!”

“My little man did all this for me?”

The boy simply nodded. He was shy.

“You just made me the happiest woman tonight.” She carefully got the cake on Kyungsan’s hands and placed it on the shelf, near the flower vase. She picked up Kyungsan and carried him. She held him tight.

“I love you, mom.”

“I know, baby. I love you too.”

“Why are you crying?” Kyungsan wiped her eyes with his shirt.

“Nothing. I’m just really happy. Let’s go to the living room. I’ll check out your gifts after I put these on the fridge.”

Kyungsan runs towards the couch and settles the flower and the card on the table. He almost forgets to get the cake. Deciding that it was far too much for him to handle, he makes a second trip to get it just to be sure he would be able to bring it to the living room safely.

“Now, where were we?” She walks towards him, having two plates, a knife, and two forks with her. She gently places them on the table as well.

“I picked up this flower in school. I’m sorry it got messed up, I put it in my bag when you came in my room.” He hands her the flower. It was a sunflower, with its petals complete. Its stem was slightly bent, like a C-shape. Its leaves were torn off, leaving uneven marks. The petals were slightly wilted at the top.

“Oh, so that’s why..” She briefly recalls the instance awhile ago as she entered his room before she went to the grocery.

“I made this card for you too.”

She picks up the card. It was simple and neat. It had a bunch of drawings of him and her, doing stuff they’d usually do. And just before the bottom of the latter part of the card, lies a drawing of the three of them together, smiling and holding hands.

He started pointing out the figures.

“That’s you, mom. This is me, and that’s mommy too.”

She sees a bunch of giraffe stickers at the side. “This looks like the day we went to the zoo.”

“It is!” He smiles in relief. He was nervous in showing his artworks to his parents; he wanted it to be perfect all the time. It was the little perfectionist in him that embodied every bit of his pride. He wanted his parents to be proud of him, even though they were always, no matter what he did. Kyungsan just felt the need to return the favour all the time. Feeling special and loved by two mothers has been the center of his life all these years. It seemed like a life-long purpose to him.

“I wish your mommy was here to see this.”

“You miss her, don’t you?”

“Yeah, every day..” She turns quiet.

“I miss mommy too.”

“Don’t be sad. I’ll take care of you for mommy.”

“You don’t have to. That’s my job, isn’t it?”

“But I promised her I would. She told me to be the man of the house whenever she’d go out. I promised.”

I remembered this familiar quote from a book I’ve just read. It said:

“Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said.

"Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.”