Another month or so has passed since this little episode and things seemed to have gone back to how they used to be during those five past months.

Hyemi and Byunghee were officially dating and things were going very well between them; and just as promised, she stayed in touch with Matilda giving the little girl the chance to come across the new man more times than she would’ve liked.

There was still some reluctance coming from the young one and both adult could see it; for the man himself, he knew that it was going to be a long while before the girl would warm up to him and he was okay with that. Even when he would constantly be given the cold shoulder, he still kept trying because he knew how important she was to his new girlfriend.

With Matilda still wanting to see Hyemi, Minyoung slowly grew out of her jealousy while Changsun did everything to avoid the situation, still not over the sudden breakup. He went back to focus on his work, emphasizing on the status of ‘workaholic’ he already had, drowning completely while pushing aside the broken heart he had to carry.

He might have thought that she got quickly over him by meeting someone else but what he didn’t know was that the break up hurt her just as much. For the first few weeks, she had stay locked inside her apartment. She called in sick at work and skipped her night classes, not wanting to deal with anything else. With the upcoming holidays, she went to her parents on the countryside, hoping it would’ve done the trick but barely; she would still slip and think of him more and more.

She hated herself for breaking his heart the way she did but she knew that it was for the best; those were the words she kept repeating to herself over and over again, to console herself from possibly having lost what could’ve been the One.

After meeting Byunghee, she never thought that he would be able to numb the pain she felt for every second he spent by her side. Maybe it was the reason why she gave in so quickly into letting him stay so they could spend the night together. Whatever the reason was, she didn’t regret it. She liked him a lot and was hoping that she wouldn’t ruin his life like she did with Changsun.

The scare that fell upon her made her slowly fear the concept of commitment, but those thoughts were quickly washed away with the newcomer, tending gently to her broken heart.

Through the time being apart, she slowly got back to her routine with her work at the library, her internship and school, leaving her no space for any free time. This was until her friend was the one to propose for Hyemi to try out for a blind date with ‘a friend of a friend’, hence meeting Byunghee and hitting it off on the first try.

She knew that Matilda was still hurting about the abrupt ending of her father’s relationship, letting her little mind trying to figure out what happened, but just like the innocent child she was, nothing made sense to her and it made her more perplexed.

Never the less, she still had a relationship with Hyemi and for now was content with just that.

“Mrs. L-Lee.”

“It’s good that I ran into you Miss Park. We have a lot to talk about.”

“O-oh?”

“I owe you an explanation about what happened. Let me buy you a cup of coffee so we can talk?”

“H-hmm, yea, su-sure…”

From standing in front of each other by the sidewalk, the next moment lead them inside a coffee shop as they sat at a small table, their cups of coffee in their hands while an awkward silence danced around them.

Hyemi was looking down at her drink while Minyoung was carefully staring at the woman, while her mind worked an opening sentence to start a conversation; in the end, she decided to aim straight for an apology.

“I wanted to apologize for my attitude towards you.” The younger one lifted her head back up to Minyoung, as she continued to voice out everything that felt heavy inside her heart. “I didn’t like seeing Matilda with another woman, especially since she grew so fond of you and so quickly… I got scared.”

“Scared? Scared of what?”

“That you’ll take my place, that she’ll replace me with you as her new mother figure… I got jealous of your closeness with her because we aren’t even that close, not anymore anyways…”

“But… Matilda doesn’t see me that way-”

“I know… I heard you two speak back at the library.”

“I-Is it why you wanted me to stop seeing her? What about Changsun?”

“I have nothing against you dating him. I was actually glad to see that he was able to find someone. You did much more good to him than I ever did and I knew him since we were in high school. It’s been about Matilda since the beginning and with your connection to Changsun, I didn’t want to be replaced.”

Hyemi’s fingers were playing with her cup, her eyes back down at the surface of the table as she tried to form words on the tip of her tongue, to many of her thoughts wanting to come out all at the same time. Minyoung noticed her frown and let out a quiet sigh, barely relieved from her confession. “I’m sorry for having lied to you but when it comes to Matilda, I’m very protective of her.”

“I-I understand, it’s okay, really.”

“You don’t hate me? I’ve ruined your relationship with-”

“I don’t think it would’ve worked out anyways.”

“I thought you loved him?”

“No, not really ‘love’ per say, but I did have feelings for him, I’m always going to have something for him but... y-yea, things were moving to fast already and-”

“You were scared?”

“Mhmm.” With a soft nod from Hyemi, her eyes wandered towards the window on the other side of where they were sitting.

“What are you scared of?”

“I don’t believe in marriage. Knowing him, I knew he was getting to ahead of himself. I think that I would’ve broken up with him either way.”

“Is it because of your parents? Matilda told me about it a little…”

She took a sip of her drink before looking back at Minyoung. “I guess they are part of the reason. It’s just mainly… I don’t know I just don’t see the point. I do want to have a family and everything with it but the concept of marriage itself… I don’t see it. Not for me anyways.”

“And Byunghee is okay with that?”

“He doesn’t know. And to tell you the truth, I’m afraid to tell him… I know it’s way to early in our relationship but I really like him and I don’t want to lose him over something like this.”

“When Changsun and I got divorced, I never thought that I’d get married again. My first marriage wasn’t even that great. Yes, we loved each other, but the main reason why we got married after graduation was because of Matilda, and I guess with time, we were still on that page so we never really worked out our relationship after high school. But then Doojoon came into the picture and he’s the one that changed my mind about it. Maybe Byunghee is going to be the one doing the same for you. You shouldn’t judge so quickly about marriage just because you’ve lived through a bad time about it.”

“What about the second time? How is it?”

“It’s great. There’s still some adjusting between Doojoon and Matilda but they’re getting there. But with this aside, I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier than when she was born.”

She was about to reply when Hyemi’s phone started to ring. Excusing herself, she picked it out of her pocket, and smiled once she saw the ID caller. The grin didn’t go by unnoticed from Minyoung as the woman gently smiled back, knowing the fluttering feeling of the heart when that kind of moment happens. “I have to go anyways.” She got up and was ready to leave when she turned back, speaking her last words before walking out. “If its okay with you, I’d like it if we could hmm, hang out together. If you want, of course-”

“I’d love that.” Minyoung smiled and nodded her head, finally feeling guilt free from her mistake towards the young one. “And you can still have that happily ever after Hyemi. Don’t let that fear crowd your judgment about marriage. It’s not all that bad.”

“I’ll try… Thanks.”

“Anytime.”