“No, Young Jae, if you eat any more cotton candy your teeth are going to fall right out.  And then – ” Sora hauled her nephew up for one fierce hug “ – you’d be stuck with stuff like smashed bananas and potatoes.”

“Popcorn,” he demanded, grinning at her.

“Bottomless pit.” She nuzzled into his neck and let the love flow over her.

Sunday was precious, not only because of the sunshine and balmy spring temperatures, not only because there were hours and hours of leisure time left to her, but because she had the afternoon to spend with the most important person in her life.

He even smells like his father, Sora thought and wondered if it were possible to inherit a scent.  Still holding him, with his sturdy legs wrapped around her waist, she studied his face.

Essentially, it was like looking in a mirror.  Sora and her brother, Jae Hwa, were twins. Young Jae had black wavy hair, dark brown eyes, and a face that promised to be lean and rather elegant once it had fined down from childhood.  At the moment, it was sticky with pink spun sugar.  Sora kissed him firmly and tasted the sweetness.

“Yum, yum,” she murmured, kissing him again when he giggled.

“What about your teeth?”

Arching a brow, she shifted his weight to a more comfortable position. “It doesn’t count when it’s secondhand.”

He gave her a crooked smile that promised to be a heartbreaker in another decade.  “How come?”

“It’s scientific,” Sora claimed.  “Probably the sugar evaporates after being exposed to air and skin.”

“You’re making that up,” he told her with great approval.

Struggling with a smile, she tossed her long smooth hair behind her back. “Who me?”

“You’re the best at making up.”

“That’s my job,” she answered primly.  “Let’s go look at the bears.”

“They better have big ones,” Young Jae stated as he wriggled down. “Great big ones.”

“I hear they’re enormous,” she told him.  “Maybe even big enough to climb right out of the cages.”

“Yeah?” His eyes lit up at the idea. Sora could almost see him writing out the scenario in his mind.  The escape, the panic and screams of the crowd and his ultimate heroism in driving the giant, drooling bears back behind the bars.  Then, of course, his humbleness in accepting the gratitude of the zookeepers. “Let’s go!”

Sora allowed herself to be dragged along at Young Jae’s dashing pace, winding through the stream of people who’d come to spend their day at the Seoul Grand Park. This she could give him, she thought.  The fun, the preciousness of childhood.  She wanted to give him freedom, to show him what boundaries you could leap over and the ones you had to respect.  Most of all, she wanted to give him love.

She loved and wanted him, not only for the memories he brought of her brother, but for himself – his uniqueness and odd stability.  Though she was a woman who ran her life on a staggered routine that wasn’t a routine at all, who enjoyed coming and going on impulse of the moment, she’d always needed stability – someone to care for, to nurture, to give her back some portion of the emotion she spent.  There was nothing like a child, with its innocence and lack of restrictions, to give and take of love.  Even now, while he raced and laughed and pointed, caught up in the day and the animals, Young Jae was feeding her.

If Sora had believed Young Jae was happy living with his maternal grandparents, she could have accepted it.  But she knew that they were smothering all the specialness that radiated from him.

They weren’t unkind people, she mused, but simply set in their thinking.  A child was to be formed along certain lines, and that was that.  A child was a duty, a solemn one.  While she understood the duty, it was joy that came first.  They would raise him to be responsible, polite and well-read.  And they’d forget the wonder of it.

Perhaps it would have been easier if Young Jae’s grandparents hadn’t disapproved of Sora’s brother so strongly – or if Young Jae hadn’t been conceived in youthful defiance and passion… and out of wedlock.  Marriage and Young Jae’s birth hadn’t eased over the strain in the relationship, nor had the tragic and sudden accident that had taken her brother and young sister-in-law.   Young Jae’s grandparents would look at the boy and be reminded that their daughter had married against their wishes and was dead.  Sora looked at him and saw life at its best.

He needs me, she thought, and ruffled his hair as he stood staring wide-eyed at a lumbering bear.  Even when her heart wasn’t involved, she’d never been able to resist a need.  With Young Jae, her heart had been lost the first time she’d seen him – red and scrawny behind a hospital glass wall.

And she understood that she needed him.  To have someone receive her love was vital.  She thought of Jungsoo.

He needed her, too, she thought, as a small secret smile touched her lips.  Though he didn’t know it.  A man like that needed the ease that love could bring to his life, and the laughter.  And she wanted to give it to him.

Why?  Leaning against the barrier, Sora shook her head.  She had no solid reason, and that was enough to convince her it was right.  When you could dissect something and find all the answers, you could find all the wrong ones.  She trusted instincts and emotions much more than she trusted intellect.  She loved – quickly, unwisely and completely.  When she thought about it, Sora decided she should never have expected it to be otherwise.

If she told him now, he’d think she was lying or insane.  She could hardly blame him.  It wouldn’t be easy to win the confidence of a man as wary or as cynical as Park Jungsoo.  With a smile, Sora nibbled on some of Young Jae’s popcorn.  Challenges kept the excitement in life, after all.  Whether Jungsoo realized it or not, she was about to add some excitement to his.

“Why are you laughing, ajumeoni?”

She grinned down at Young Jae, then scooped him up.  He laughed as he always did at her quick, physical shows of affection.  “Because I’m happy. Aren’t you? It’s a happy day.”

“I’m always happy with you.”  His arms went tight around her neck.  “Can’t I stay with you? Can’t I live at your house – all the time?”

She buried her face in the curve of his shoulder – a tender place – knowing she couldn’t tell him how hard she was trying to give him that.  “We have today,” she said instead.  “All day.”

Holding him, she could smell the scent of his soap and shampoo, the scent of roasted popcorn, the hot, pungent scent of the sun.  With another laugh, she set her nephew down.

“Let’s go see the snakes.  I like to watch them slither.”

* * * * *

Just a short update before I make a long one. I am really happy with the comments ♥ Thank you very much.  Please keep it coming ^__^