YoungGuk

"Daddy can we yell surprise when we see mommy?" Iris asks holding two "I LOVE YOU" balloons in one hand while holding my hand in the other.

"Of course, mommy will be so surprise."

"YAY! I want to find mommy fast."

"We have to go talk to the nice man over there first." I pointed to the security man.

"I miss mommy so much daddy!"

"Mommy hasn't been around this week right? I miss mommy too."

Iris beams up at me and quickens her pace. There was a couple of deadlines this past week and writers were sending in their work this week at the last minute so Ha-eun been working fourteen hours every day. I only see her in the morning for twenty minutes and Iris gets a glimpse of her if she's up early. Iris lets go of my hand and runs to the security guy at the desk.

"Well hello there little one." The security man smiles down to Iris. He had to lean over the desk to be able to see her.

"Hi! I'm here to see my mommy."

"Well I will need your mommy's name to call her down."

"NO!" Iris shook her head. "We are surprising her."

"A surprise?" The man asks in awe making Iris more excited. "Okay I won't call her down here then, let me just check to see if she's in the building. Now what is your mommy's name?"

Iris looks at him confused. "Mommy. Her name is mommy."

I walk up behind her chuckling. "Bang Ha-eun"

The man quickly types the name into the computer system and then called her office. The man looks at us like something was wrong then quickly thank the other person on the end of the line and hangs up. He looks at me. What happened? Is Ha-eun okay?

"It seems Mrs. Bang had left the building due to a family emergency."

"What, family emergency?" I ask confused.

What was going on here? I pull out my phone to check if she had called me but my notifications show nothing. Iris pulls my pant leg. I look down at her and see she's worried and disappointed at the same time. I crouch down to her level pulling on my biggest smile to ease her.

"Daddy needs to call mommy and see what happened okay? Why don't we go sit down over there by the big windows?" I point to the lobby chairs and Iris nods holding my hand.

I place Iris in a chair and she begins taking her coloring book out from her backpack. I step away from her to make the call. My eyes are on Iris as the connection went through and it starts ringing. The call went straight to voice mail and I dial again. After four rings Ha-eun picks up.

"Hello?"

"Ha-eun" I breathe out feeling like a tone of weight has been lifted off of my chest. "Are you okay?" I ask worried.

"Hey, sorry I didn't call you. I'm okay. My dad was taken to the emergency room because of a heart attack. I just...I just...sorry, I was so worried I just came here without calling you."

"It's okay, how's your dad?"

"He's okay now, recovering. I'll be here for a few more days just to keep an eye on him. My mom is stressed and Ye-eun is out of town."

"As long as your father is fine I'm okay with it. Take good care of them."

"Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me Ha-eun, they're your parents it's your duty to take care of them."

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Don't worry about anything here at home. Mrs. Nam is here and willing to take good care of Iris. You just take care of your parents."

"Tell Iris I love her and I'll call her before bed time."

"I will."

"I have to go YoungGuk."

"Okay, bye."

I put my cell back in my pocket and walk back to Iris. She's looking up at me waiting for me to tell her good news.

"Mommy has to go visit grandma and grandpa for a little while so we can't surprise her today."

Iris frowns. "Why did mommy leave? Was I bad?"

"No princess, you have been good. Grandpa is not feeling well so mommy is there to take care of him."

"Grandpa? He's not nice."

"Iris, that's not nice to say about your grandpa. He's a real fun guy once you get to know him. You just haven't spend enough time with him to know yet."

"Okay, sorry daddy. When can we go see grandpa and mommy?"

"In a couple of days. Daddy has to work."

Iris pouts again. 

Ha-eun

After three nights in the hospital my dad was finally discharge. Ye-eun and YoSeob was back from their trip and volunteer to bring him home while I take mom to go get the house ready to welcome dad home. She's the one suffering the most out of all of us so Ye-eun wanted her out of the hospital before she ended up in it as well. Dad is recovering well but he still needed to rest. He wasn't too happy to see me in the hospital but after one day he began talking to me. He's my dad, he might get mad at me but he'll always be my dad no matter what. He even asks about Iris. Deep down I know he's sorry about what he said but its okay, I'm okay, I know why he did and said what he said. I hold nothing against him and if he wants to know Iris and accept my little family back into his life I won't mind it at all.

Mom and I cook dad's favorite dinner and had it ready for him when he got home. We had a family meal for the first time in years but it felt empty without Iris and YoungGuk. Mom took dad to their room after dinner since he was feeling tired and YoSeob went out to take a phone call leaving me and Ye-eun in the kitchen by ourselves. We clear the table and clean the dishes in silence. I don't remember doing this with her as teens but I'm pretty sure we did do these chores together, her mother was always trying to get us to bond. Of course it never worked. She always ended up angry to be stuck with me and me, at first I didn't mind it but then after a while I got the message she was trying to send to me. She didn't like me and would never. We didn't have a good relationship with each other but there were rear times where we did laugh together.

I brew some tea after we have the kitchen clean and we both sit down to quietly sip on it.

"How was your trip?" I ask to take away some of the awkwardness between us.

"It was good. We got some new clients."

"That's good."

"How's Iris?"

"She's becoming such a daddy's girl it scares me."

Ye-eun laughs. "Like you?"

"I was not a daddy's girl...maybe..."

Ye-eun an eyebrow at me.

"Okay okay fine yeah I was but I'm not as bad as Iris. I mean she points and he gives. I always end up being the bad guy when I tell her no."

"I bet it playing the bad guy all the time."

"Yes it is."

"YoungGuk is a protector so I can totally see him spoiling Iris rotten. He'll always want to see her happy."

I nod. "He's a great father."

"I'm glad everything is working out."

"Me too" I sigh. "I really miss them."

Ye-eun smiles at me. "I'm sure they miss you too."

I turn to look at the clock on the wall. It was bed time for Iris already. "I have to make a call to Iris, I told her I call before she went to bed."

I retreat to my old room and call YoungGuk. He was in Iris's room waiting for my call already with an excited Iris in her pink bed. She really wanted to see me so we switch to a video call where she could see me. She told me about her day at school and showed me a picture she drew for me. When it was time to say good night she refused to turn off the call and pouted with tears on the rim of her eyes.

"I'll be home soon sweetie."

"I miss you mommy." Iris sniffles. "Come home fast."

"I will." I blow her a kiss and she did the same back. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight mommy."