Irene returned to an empty house. Nobody was around but her mother’s bedroom light was on. Professor Choi has dropped her off and left after Irene assured that she won’t run anymore. It was time for her to face this reality.

Irene stood outside her mother’s bedroom. She wondered if she should go in. After all, she misses her mother so much. The whole mess caused their relationship to strain. She was hoping she could end this stupid cold war once and for all.

Her fingers lingered on the doorknob; contemplating if she should turn it. She bit her lower lip and tears were already filling her eyes. The pain started to build even before she could utter something. Erika Kim came into her mind almost immediately – her heart was halved between feeling sorry and angst towards the woman for abandoning her and her mother for the last 20 years.

But she didn’t expect to see Erika Kim right in front of her. Before she could open the door, someone from inside had already turned and pulled the door open. Irene’s breath stopped when she saw Erika Kim staring at her with her shocked eyes.

“Irene....?”

Irene was completely confused. Her mind urged her to run but her feet stood rooted to the ground. Where did she come from? Why was she here?  Irene Jung was not ready to face this nemesis.

“I’m sorry, I have to go.”

Irene decided to run off again but Taeyeon grabbed her arm. She held on tightly.

“Hang on. Please.”

Irene stopped struggling but she didn’t turn to face Erika. Her eyes focused on the floor.

“Irene, please. Give me a chance to explain.”

Erika’s voice was quivering and weak.

“What do you want to say?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You have said that a lot of times.”

“I really mean it when I said I’m sorry.”

“I’m trying hard to accept this but I cannot do it.”

“I’m not forcing you. I just wanted to apologize to you; face to face.”

“What if I cannot accept your apologies at all?”

“It’s okay with me as long as I’ve said my apologies to you. You have the right to choose whether you want to accept it or not.”

Irene sighed. She had promised Professor Choi that she wouldn’t run anymore. She slowly turned and her eyes met with Erika’s. She was amazed at how similar they both of them looked like. But it was awfully awkward to be alone with Erika without her Mommy.

Erika slowly let her arm go when Irene seemed to be calm than before. She gestured to the sofa in her mother’s room and Erika nodded. The two of them sat together but far apart. Both were not willing to invade each other’s space just as yet. And Erika couldn’t help but stealing glances at her daughter. The girl focused on the floor instead.

Erika swallowed hard; not knowing what she should say. But she knew she had to say something but her daughter beat her to it.

“I was with Professor Choi yesterday. I spent the night at her place.”

Erika was surprised but didn’t say anything.

“Professor Choi has always been saying good things about you; trying to put good words for you and I wondered why she would want to do that.”

Irene finally turned to look at her mother – that one lady who abandoned her when she was a baby. She took a good look at the older woman. She mentally compared her to the photo when Erika was at the lowest point in her life. Her face has evidence of hardships and Irene couldn’t ignore the fact that she actually felt sorry for her Omma.

“I wanted to hate you for coming back after 20 years. You messed up everything. I resent you for turning up when Mommy was slowly accepting me in her life. I was so worried that it would trigger bad memories on her mind and she would hate me all over again.”

Erika shook her head.

“Your Mommy could never hate you.”

Erika enunciated every single word to get the message through.

“Your Mommy loves you the most no matter what people said. She has fallen in love with you when you were still in her tummy.”

Irene’s eyes started to water. And Erika was so tempted to wipe them away. She eventually did and was relieved that her daughter didn’t push her hands away.

“I could still recall how much she would sing to you every single night. She would sit on the rocking chair and rocks with you in her tummy. She loves you dearly, Irene. She loves you more than anyone else could ever do. And I – I did nothing but to hurt her; to break her heart; to rob her happiness from her world and strain your relationship with her. It never occurred to me how much pain I’ve put your Mommy through and in return, hurting you in the process.”

“You’re one woman who’s really lucky.”

“I am. I’m truly lucky to have your mother as my wife.”

“No, I mean your luck with woman is more than just selfless love and sacrifices for your happiness.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mommy loves you for the last 20 years. She might still love you right now even though it seems like she prefers Yoona omma. But the fact that she loves you for so long is already something.”

Erika nodded in agreement.

“And there’s another one lady who did everything for you. She’s willing to sacrifice her youth; her love and her strength on you.”

Erika frowned.

“How could you not be aware of a lady who has been by your side when you were at your lowest moment?”

Irene needed to know the truth. She felt sorry for Professor Choi as well.

“You mean Soo Young?”

But Erika seemed to be aware.

“You knew?”

Erika broke into a small smile.

“Of course I do. I’m not blind.”

“Then why couldn’t you accept her?”

“I couldn’t because I still owe your mother.”

“I still don’t understand why it took you so long to face reality.”

“I’m a stupid woman, Irene. I’m afraid. I’m too scared to take that step forward.”

“And you made two women waited and wasted their youths on you.”

Erika smiled sadly.

“You hate me even more, don’t you?”

Irene looked away.  Her anger was slowly building up but she made that promise to her professor. She just steered away but nevertheless managed to answer.

“I saw your photo when you were beaten up by some thugs.”

Erika was taken aback.

“Professor showed your photos to me. You were so different. You were so skinny and I couldn’t recognize you.”

Erika was ashamed of her past. She fidgeted about on the sofa; her fingers gripped tightly at the hem of her dress.

“I – I actually felt sorry for you when I saw your photos. And Professor told me your story and it made me realized that I’m still lucky to have Mommy and y – you with me.”

Erika’s eyes started to water.

“You must have been punished during that time. You were probably at the lowest point of your life. And you were forced to be removed away from your family.  It was probably the most painful thing ever happened to you.”

“No – not only that. Losing you; losing your Mommy; running away from the both of you – that was the most painful and stupidest mistake I have ever done. I struggled to live. I felt like dying every single day. At one time, I thought it was useless to live and attempted to end my life. But Soo Young was there. I’m eternally grateful to her. And I’m aware of her feelings for me but I cannot hurt another woman anymore. I have broken one woman. And that was enough.”

“I don’t really know what else to say. I heard your story. I haven’t really heard Mommy’s side of her story.”

“It’s my fault.”

“I don’t want to be biased.”

“Irene...?”

“I’m not promising anything but I need to know why Mommy treated me like that when I was a child. I mean, I’m not angry with her but I have the right to know.”

“Your Mommy loves you, Irene.”

“I know and I presume you love me too, right?”

Erika nodded profusely.

“But it’s only fair if I should listen to Mommy’s story too. She changed her name and moved out from your hometown. She became a cold, vicious and arrogant woman at one point. She was a broken woman once and I really would like to know how she felt back then.”

“Will that help you? It might hurt you.”

“I’ve always known Mommy loves me. She shows it in her own ways. But I would like to accept you as my Omma one day. So the best way is to listen to Mommy’s story and we will move on together.”

Erika was stunned. First it was Soo Yeon who had forgiven her whole-heartedly. And now her daughter was going to give her a chance to prove herself.

“You might need a lot more effort to win me over.”

“I will do all I could to prove that to you!”

“You can do that by going for treatment.”

“Irene...”

“You have to live longer so that I can have a chance to know you better.”

Erika broke down and cried.

-

Jessica’s eyes watered when she heard what Irene said. She just got home and was surprised to find Irene sitting in the same room with Erika calmly. Initially she wanted to barge in should Irene blow her temper once again but to her surprise, Irene was calm and gentle.

She overheard what Irene has said. She knew her daughter would come around somehow. She stood at the door; listening into their conversation. A smile broke on her face when Irene urged Taeyeon to go for treatment.

It was supposedly a perfect ending but somehow it wasn’t. Taeyeon suddenly collapsed and Irene was helpless. Jessica rushed in immediately.

“Mommy! Mommy, Omma fainted!”

Irene was hysterically screaming at Jessica but the older woman was more focused to get Taeyeon to the hospital.

“Call Yoona Omma and grab Mommy’s car keys!”

Irene calmed down and listened to her Mommy’s instructions. She took out her phone and dialled for Yoona as she grabbed the car keys on the counter table. Jessica was already carrying Taeyeon on her back as she ran down the stairs.

“Yoona omma! Erika Omma fainted! Mommy is rushing her to the hospital!”

“What? Okay, I’ll see you there. Just update me okay?”

“Okay, but what can I do?”

“Follow Mommy. And then call Tiffany and Yuri Mommy too. Keep your Mommy calm.”

“Okay, okay!”

Irene followed Jessica closely and helped her with the door. Jessica looked at her daughter.

“Someone needs to hold her.”

“I will hold her.”

“Okay, place her head on your lap.”

Irene did what her mother told her to do. When Irene was comfortable enough, Jessica finally closed the door and ran towards the driver seat. Taeyeon was still unconscious.

“Taeyeon, hang in there. I’ll rush you to the hospital!”

Irene saw the panic look on her Mommy’s face. She was so much paler than she was before like as though someone has drained her blood out.  Her lips were extremely dry and Irene finally realized that her Mommy still cares for the woman on her lap.

Irene glanced down and stared at Erika. Her face was pale but she was still breathing.  Well, she was struggling to breathe. Irene felt her heart aching. She suddenly felt terrified watching her Omma struggling to stay alive. She held the woman’s hand tightly and cried out.

“You must hang on. Mommy needs you. I – I need you too.”

-

Tiffany was shocked when she heard Irene crying on the phone. She initially thought something happened to Jessica but when she said Erika, Tiffany feared for the worst. Yuri was already rushing to the hospital. The couple was on a movie date when the call came.

“Calm down.”

“Irene is crying. She’s crying for Taeyeon.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is but why must it be like this?”

Tiffany was crying but Yuri managed to pull her closer.

“Listen, you must not give up now. Jessica and Irene are probably going to be in a panic state. We have to calm down so that we can be there for her.”

“I’m scared, Yuri. What if God decides to take Taeyeon now?”

“Don’t think of the bad stuff. Pray for good things. Hang in there, I’ll speed up.”

-

“Sunny, we have to go to the hospital.”

“Huh, why?”

“Seohyun just called. Taeyeon’s in the hospital. Jessica and Irene are there.”

“What?”

“Let’s go, we need to rush there. Bring Wendy.”

Hyoyeon and Sunny rushed to the hospital with Wendy in tow.

-

Yoona managed to contact Soo Young. The woman was already rushing. She was stunned because she had just dropped Irene at her house.

She was relieved to learn that Irene was with her but why did God put them through another test?

“God, please. Please save Taeyeon’s life. She needs more time to make up to her daughter.”

-

Yoona drove to the hospital at a racing speed.  The nightmare was about to begin. She already had something in place. She had planned about it carefully.

She gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“Kim Taeyeon, you cannot die now. Wait for me. I’ll save you.”

Tears brimmed in Yoona’s eyes.

“I’ll do anything to save you and Jessica.”

Yoona was determined.

-

Dr Shim was on standby. The moment Jessica arrived with Taeyeon, they quickly wheeled her into the operating theatre. Irene followed her Mommy closely and both glanced down with worries on their minds. Taeyeon looked so fragile behind the gas mask. The wires that linked up to her chest were intimidating.

“Kim Taeyeon, please.. please don’t give up on me tonight. Please, Taeyeon.”

Soo Yeon continuously whispered in Taeyeon’s ears. Irene was holding on tightly to Taeyeon’s hand.

“You have to survive tonight. You have to live longer. We need to know more about each other.”

Irene spoke up softly, hoping Taeyeon would hear her somehow.

Well, Taeyeon was listening. She could hear her wife’s tender voice and her daughter’s pleading words.

She knows she has to survive tonight.

She must survive tonight somehow.

-