Gary went back to sleep shortly after Jihyo left, since there was about an hour before the kids wake up.

Jiyoung woke up first, at around 8. When he saw that Jihyo wasn’t around, he instinctively called out for her.

“Eomma!” he called, but there was no reply. The familiar sizzling and aroma from the kitchen was also absent. Curious, he went down the bed to look for his mother. His parent’s bed were too high for him to step down, unlike his own, but he knew how to get down. He slid off the edge of the bed on his front, then scampered to the kitchen to find Jihyo.

“Eomma?” he called again, getting frustrated. Jihyo was almost definitely in the kitchen every time he checked, but she’s not there today. He wanted to enter the kitchen to search more carefully, but their gate was locked.

He then tried the playroom, as well as the toilets, and even the study room, but Jihyo was nowhere to be found.

Frustrated and helpless, he plopped down on the floor and started to cry. His cries were rather soft, so Gary didn’t hear. But Daeyang did. He went into the study room and his tears away. Jiyoung put his arms round the dog and cried. Daeyang barked to attract Gary’s attention. Hearing the barks, Gary was awaken from his sleep and quickly when to find out what’s wrong. He found the toddler sitting on the floor it their study room and carried him up to hush him. Jiyoung buried his face into Gary’s chest and continued to cry.

“Eomma…. Eomma…” he mumbled incoherently.

“Eomma went to work, remember? We told you yesterday!” Gary said, patting his back to calm him down.

“No… no…” he continued to cry.

Gary carried him back to their bedroom and sat down on the bed. He didn’t want to leave the room, in case Ji-ohn wakes up and starts to cry too, if she was left alone. Sure enough, Ji-ohn woke up a few minutes later. Like Jiyoung, she whined for Jihyo as soon as she woke up. At the same time, she moved towards the source of crying, recognising that it’s her brother’s.

Seeing that she’s coming over, Gary reached out other hand to guide her over.

“Appa,” she greeted.

“Good morning, Ji-ohnie,” he said, smiling at her, glad that she’s not crying. Yet.

“Why?” she asked, putting her hand on her brother’s back, wanting to know why her brother was in tears.

“Ask him,” he answered. They always encourage their children to speak more and find out what they want to know by themselves.

“Oppa, why are you crying?” she asked, putting her face close to his.

“Eomma’s not here,” he sobbed.

“Eomma eodina?” Ji-ohn asked her father.

Gary shifted so he carried a child in each arm. Ji-ohn put her arm around Gary’s neck, ready to be carried. Jiyoung was still sobbing a little, so he left his arms by his sides. Gary then walked out to the living room. “Eomma went out to work, remember?” he reminded Ji-ohn as he carried them out.

Ji-ohn tilted her head to one side, trying to recall. “Eung,” she finally said slowly. “So appa is taking care of us?”

“Keulae, appa will stay at home today,” he affirmed, pleased that Ji-ohn is taking this well.

“Why doesn’t appa have to work?” she asked.

“Because I finished mine.”

“Eomma neun?”

It took a while for Gary to understand what she was trying to ask.

“It’s a new work for eomma, so she hasn’t finished her work,” he explained.

Ji-ohn nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answers for now. Jiyoung has already calmed down quite a bit, so Gary put the kids down in front of the sofa, and Daeyang immediately went over to join them.

“Play by yourselves for a while, okay? I’m going to make our breakfast,” he told them.

“Ne,” Ji-ohn nodded, but Jiyoung was still moody, so he didn’t respond. Gary let him be, since he felt sorry for him too.

Gary went into the kitchen to prepare the breakfast. It was a simple one- toast with eggs and sausages. Meanwhile, in the living room, Ji-ohn was trying to figure out how to turn on the CD player to watch their all-time favourite cartoon, Robocar Polli. It was just a few buttons to press, but because she wasn’t familiar yet, she couldn’t recognise those by touch.

“Appaaaa,” she whined, wanting him to turn it on for her.

Gary turned his head around to see Ji-ohn pointing to the TV. He knew that she wants it to be switched on, but he was frying the eggs then.

“Wait for a while, ok? I’m cooking!” he said. Ji-ohn pouted but she didn’t whine anymore. Instead, she tried to press the buttons by herself, to no avail. Seeing his sister struggling, Jiyoung went over to help her. He took her hand and guided her to the correct ones, like how their parents always teach her, before pressing it for her. Soon the sound started to play.

“It’s here!” she exclaimed, hearing the theme song of the cartoon. “Oppa gomawo,” she added. Jiyoung smiled proudly as he went back to his seat. Ji-ohn followed closely behind.

“Oppa, are you sad?” she asked.

“A bit.”

“Wae?”

“Eomma bogoshipo.”

“Nan do,” she answered, pouting slightly. “Keunde… appa isseo,” she said after a pause, pointing to the kitchen where Gary was. Jiyoung shrugged. Ji-ohn suddenly stood up and walked into their playroom, and she dragged out Jiyoung’s toy cars set.

“Don’t be sad,” she said, pushing the box to him. He smiled a little as he took out the cars one by one and arranged them nicely in a line.

Following the storyline in the cartoon, they imitated the accident and rescue as per the show. Gradually, Jiyoung forgot about being upset about Jihyo.

Soon, breakfast was ready. They started to keep their toys, because Jihyo always made them do so before their meals.

“Kwenchana, just leave it there first,” Gary said, not knowing that it was what Jihyo taught them. “You’re going to play with it later anyway.”

“But eomma says we need to keep it,” the children answered at the same time.

“Oh is it? Arrasseo, then keep it,” he said. He didn’t want to contradict what Jihyo taught, if that’s the case.

When the children are done, he opened the gates for them to take their utensils. “Can you climb up your chairs by yourselves?” he asked.

“Ne,” they answered. They lifted a leg up the step first, then swung the other over their table. Next, using their hands to push themselves up, they stepped on their seat before sitting down.

“Whoa, jalhanda,” Gary praised, as watching them carefully as he took out the food from the kitchen.

“Jal meogget subnida,” they all said, before tucking in. Gary helped them open the jam bottle and taught them how to spread the jam. He passed them the plastic knife that was smaller and without the jagged edge, while he himself used the normal knife. Despite making a mess, Jiyoung was able to imitate his actions rather accurately. However, Ji-ohn required more help, so he held she hand to guide her, only letting go after she got the hang of it.

“We made this jam in the strawberry farm, do you remember?” he asked. The children only nodded, too concentrated in spreading their jam to reply.

He smiled as he watched them eat. After the kids successfully made their first toast, Gary helped them with their second, since it was faster and cleaner.

After eating his second toast, Jiyoung reached out to take the knife and jam.

“You want more?!” Gary asked surprised, but still passed him the items.

Jiyoung shook his head. “I want to make for eomma, too.”

Before Gary could even reply him, Ji-ohn spoke. “Then appa?”

“Later,” Jiyoung told her, concentrating on the bread.

“Then I’ll make for appa,” she said, reaching out for the jam. Jiyoung helped her move it closer.

Gary found himself feeling more touched and emotional than he should. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find his tongue and just watched them in silence.

“Appa,” Ji-ohn said, passing the bread to him.

“Gomawoyo,” he said caressing her cheeks. “You two are so sweet. From where did you all learn to be so nice,” he said, praising them. It was meant to be just an expression, but the children interpreted it as a question.

After pondering for a while, Jiyoung answered, “From you.”

It took Gary by a shock then he actually started to tear a little. The children didn’t notice as they were eating their sausages. It was then Gary realised that each and every action he does, the kids will learn and emulate. Because he always fed Jihyo, even though he was just playing with her, the kids still followed him. It made him feel proud; he never thought that such small actions would be noticed by them.

Wae, oppa? Jihyo thought to him as she felt his emotions.

Your children are such angels, he thought back.

Jihyo smiled on the other end, but she tried to stop herself, because she didn’t want to seem strange smiling at nothing.

“What are you smiling at?” Byun Yo-han asked her, walking up to her and giving her the drink.

Oppa, I’ll talk to you later, she quickly thought to him. “Nothing,” she answered her co-actor, quickly brushing his question off.

Back at home, the children finished their breakfast. Gary cleaned them up because they made quite a mess. He then washed the dishes, while he passed Daeyang’s food for them to feed him. After he was done, he kept the dog food and played with the children for a while. Then he proceeded to clean up the house.

He took out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the carpet.

“Kkokili!” Jiyoung squealed, when he saw the vacuum. Ji-ohn too, turned her head towards the sound. She was familiar with the loud sound, because Jihyo used it often, so she wasn’t afraid.

“Mwo?” Gary asked, confused at first, but then he realised that the hose of the vacuum cleaner did look like the elephant’s nose.

He laughed, and pretended to use the vacuum to chase after them. “The elephant is chasing after you,” Gary said in a low voice, making a grunting sound. The kids squealed and ran around, enjoying the playtime with their father. They then took turns at using the vacuum cleaner to pretend to be the elephant. It was fun but soon the kids got tired from the chasing and running. They sat down to rest, and kept themselves entertained by playing their cars and blocks. Gary then took the time to resume his housekeeping activities.

By noon he was done, and it was time to prepare fish porridge for their lunch. After lunch, it was close to their nap time and they were getting grumpy, and started whining for Jihyo. Even Ji-ohn, who was okay with not having Jihyo around in the morning, wanted to have her mother back now.

Relenting, he finally said that he would try calling Jihyo. Yeobo, are you free now? The kids are whining for you, he thought.

Oh, right, it’s almost their naptime. It’s not my scene now, I can call you.

Soon after, his handphone started to ring.

“See, eomma is calling,” he told the kids, trying to stop them from crying. Getting interested, the children stopped and peered over for the closer look. Gary let Jiyoung swipe his phone to pick up the call.

“Eomma!” he said, in his whiny voice, grabbing the phone tightly in his hands.

“Jiyoung-ah,” Jihyo called out.

Wanting the phone too, Ji-ohn reached out and snatched it away. “Eomma,” she called too.

“Yes, Ji-ohnnie,” she said, missing her children already.

Jiyoung whined, wanting the phont back. Seeing the children beginning to fight, Gary stepped in.

“Don’t snatch the phone, let appa hold it,” he said firmly. Ji-ohn was unwilling, but she knew better than to disobey when Gary uses the tone, so she gave it up, pouting.

“Are you guys being naughty again?” Jihyo asked, knowing that they kids must be fighting over the phone. Gary put her on loud speaker so everyone could hear her.

They ignored her question and whined instead. “Eomma, bogoshipo,” they said, one after another.

“I missed you too,” she replied.

“When are you coming back?” Ji-ohn asked.

“I will come back at night, Ji-ohnnie,” she said.

“Will you go out again tomorrow?” Jiyoung asked. “I will miss you.”

Jihyo felt sorry for him, but she still had to answer. “Yes, honey, I’m going out again.”

“Why?” he asked back.

“Because there is a lot of work,” she answered.

“Jihyo eonnie,” someone called from the other end of the phone.

“Oh, I have to go now,” she said, feeling reluctant to hang up.

“Eomma…” the kids whined again.

“Be good, okay?” she said. “Saranghae.”

“Saranghae,” the three of them replied, and she hung up.

“Appa, why can’t eomma not go to work?” Ji-ohn asked.

Gary thought for a while. “Hm… do you know what eomma’s job was?”

The kids shook their head.

“Appa’s job?” he asked.

This time the kids nodded. Jihyo taught them before. “Singer,” they answered.

“That’s right,” he said, ruffling their hair. “Eomma’s job is acting; she’s an actress. Appa likes to sing, and eomma likes to act. So last time, when appa was doing what I liked, eomma looked after you. so now when I’ve finished my job, she can work and I look after you two. Do you understand?”

Ji-ohn thought for a while, and then rebutted his statement. “But doesn’t eomma like being with us too?”

“Why are you so good with words, Ji-ohnnie,” he sighed as he pinched her nose. “It’s not that eomma doesn’t like looking after you,” he explained. “She loves you two very very much, that’s why she stayed at home for the past three years looking after you. But sometimes, she likes acting too, so now there’s a chance for her to act again, we should let her do it, right?”

The kids look at him blankly. That was too deep for them to understand.

Gary sighed. “In short, you love eomma don’t you?”

The kids nodded.

“When eomma acts, she is happy. Do you want her to be happy?”

The kids nodded again.

“Keulae. So, you shouldn’t whine and make eomma worried, understand? Otherwise, she wouldn’t be happy.”

“But eomma is happy with us too, right?” Ji-ohn asked again.

Gary sighed. It’s hard trying to explain things to his children. “Yes honey, she is. But…” he tried to come up with an analogy. “Okay, you like strawberry right? And you also like grapes. So, sometimes you eat strawberries and sometimes you eat grapes. Eomma too. She likes you, and she likes acting too. So sometimes she stays with you and sometimes she goes out to act. Understand?”

The children nodded, finally decided to stop their questioning. They were also getting very sleepy. Gary carried them into their room and patted their back to make them sleep. He too, fell asleep shortly after.

About two hours later, Ji-ohn woke up. She wriggled out of Gary’s arms, and climbed on top of him, shaking his arm.

“Appa, appa, wake up,” she whined.

“Eung….” He grunted, eyes still closed. Not relenting, she bounced up and down on his tummy.

“Ah!! Apeo!!” he exclaimed, jolting awake. Gary carried her and put her on the bed. Ji-ohn grinned, glad that her tactic worked.

“Wae, wae?” he asked.

She just shrugged. She wants to be entertained. Gary brought her out to the playroom and they took out the blocks to play Jenga. They piled up the blocks together for a while, but she soon got distracted. “Oppa,” she said, scampering towards the door.

Gary looked up, thinking that she meant Jiyoung had woken up. But Ji-ohn meant that she wanted to wake Jiyoung up.

“No, no,” Gary chased after her, carrying her back. “Don’t disturb your oppa.”

“Wae? Let’s play together,” she said.

“Let him sleep a bit more,” he said.

“But eomma says if we sleep too much now, then we wouldn’t be able to sleep at night,” she countered effortlessly.

 Gary sighed. “Really, it would be a waste if you don’t grow up to be a lawyer or something,” he murmured to himself, finally letting the girl go to wake her brother up.

“Don’t jump on your oppa!” he called after her.

After Jiyoung woke up too, he carried the children to the living room and played with them for a while. Soon, it was nearly 6 in the evening and he went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. After dinner, he brought the kids and Daeyang down for a walk, like always. Except that today Jihyo wasn’t with him. Usually, even when he was working, he made it a point to go home for dinner. But he knew while he was in control of his work schedule, Jihyo wasn’t able to control hers. He missed holding her hand and admiring the night sky with her, even though it had only been a day.

After their walk, he bathed the kids. Then, he showered too, and then put the kids to sleep. Tonight as well, he let them sleep in the master bedroom with him.

“It’s only for today, ok?” he reminded them as they snuggled up against him.

“I don’t want to sleep yet, appa,” Jiyoung said, even though he was lying down already.

“I want to wait for eomma,” Ji-ohn completed her brother’s sentence.

“Eomma will be home late,” Gary said.

“But I miss eomma,” Jiyoung whined.

“Arrasseo,” Gary said, propping himself up and letting Jiyoung sit on his legs. “Shall I read you some stories while waiting for eomma?”

They nodded, sliding off the bed to get the books. They couldn’t read hangul yet, so they just took the books randomly. They ended up bringing over quite a few, so Gary shortlisted some for them. He leaned against the headrest of the bed, and Jiyoung laid on his left, while Ji-ohn was on his right. By the time he finished the second book, Ji-ohn fell asleep. He was getting drowsy too, so he closed his eyes for a moment and unknowingly fell asleep. Jiyoung watched his father sleep and didn’t wake him up. He flipped the pages by himself, enjoying the illustrations. Gary and Jihyo read them some stories so many times that he could already memorize the storyline. Furthermore, the illustrations were colourful and detailed, so he kept himself entertained with it.

Jihyo reached home at close to 11pm. The lights in the living room were switched off, so she thought they must have slept. It has been an hour past the children’s bedtime, anyway. However, Jiyoung wasn’t asleep. It was about 20 minutes after Gary dozed off. Jiyoung’s eyelids were getting heavy too. But when he heard the lock clicked, he knew Jihyo was home. He quickly slid off the bed and ran out.

“Eomma!” he squealed, running to hug her.

Jihyo, originally very tired, broke out into a smile as she carried him up. He rested his head on her shoulder.

“Why are you still awake?” she questioned as she patted his back.

“I missed you,” he said, sounding a bit sad. Jihyo felt her heart ache a little. She ruffled his hair and kissed him. “I missed you too, sweetie. Is appa asleep? Ji-ohn too?”

He nodded, yawning.

“I made a bread for you just now,” he said, sleepily pointing to the refrigerator.

“Oh, I know, appa showed me just now… gomawoyo,” she said rubbing his cheeks.

“Mmm…” he mumbled, dozing off already.

Jihyo carried him to their bedroom and laid him down on the space between Gary and Ji-ohn. Gary was awaken by the movement.

“Oh, you are home?” he said, closing in for a kiss. She kissed his cheeks.

“Eo, he waited for me,” she smiled gratefully, gently caressing his sleeping face.

“He was awake alone? Aigoo, I must have fallen asleep and he didn’t wake me up,” Gary said, feeling guilty.

“He must have known that you were tired too,” she said.

Gary nodded. “He’s a nice boy,” he said, kissing his forehead gently. 

This must be the longestttttt chapter ever lol!! I wanted to break it up, but i didnt know which point. Hope you enjoyed! and leave a comment!!!(: