Here’s a little surprise for you, even though it has been less than a month, and even though I have so much going on right now. I guess I needed a break from all these work and writing (a story) seemed to be the best way to relieve myself. But don’t get your hopes up. I don’t know how this would turn out....

After the recording was over, Gary and Jihyo went to find their children who are playing among the camera staff. They each picked up a child.

“Baegopa,” the two children spoke simultaneously, causing their parents to laugh. They knew the kids weren’t really that hungry, they had been snacking throughout their filming- the food wrappers on the ground were a dead giveaway.

Gary smiled apologetically at them. “Mianhae, we still have an interview to do. 15 more minutes okay?”

“Jjinja baegopa ya,” Ji-ohn repeated, as if knowing that their parents didn’t think they were really hungry.

Jihyo shook her head. “This girl…” she sighed, laughing a little. “Arraso, I’ll give you some milk,” she said, putting her down. She took out a packet of milk from her small bag and put in the straw for her. Gary did the same for Jiyoung, and also took out a bottle of baby biscuits for him.  

Soon after, a man came towards them. Seeing that they were busy with the kids, he stood away from them but Gary noticed him quickly. He nodded at him and the man nodded back as he approached them.

He bowed politely when he was closer, and Gary and Jihyo bowed back. “If you don’t mind… shall we proceed to the room for the interview now?” he asked. Gary nodded, while Jihyo informed the children and the staff playing with them.

“Are you not going to stay here?” Ji-ohn asked, listening to the conversation.

“We’ll be going into the room there,” Jihyo said, using Ji-ohn’s hand to point in the direction so she would roughly know where it is.

“Kajima,” she told her, hugging her leg.

Jihyo chuckled, pulling her away. “We’ll be fast, just 15 minutes.”

“Can’t we come along?” Jiyoung asked now.

“No, honey,” Jihyo said. The interview would be in a much more enclosed area as compared to the filming set. They might make too much noise. “I promise we’ll get this done soon and then we can go eat dinner, okay?”

The kids pouted, but let them go anyway.

“Ah… I’m sorry,” the interviewer apologised, once in the room. “They must have been hungry, it is almost 9 now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jihyo said. “The staff there have been feeding them.”

The interviewer smiled. “They are so cute; nobody could say no to them.”

The couple smiled and thanked him.

“Okay, let’s start the interview now,” the interviewer said. They nodded. “Who do you think your children resemble more?” he asked.

“Jihyo,” Gary said first. “They look more like her, thankfully,” he laughed at himself. The other two chuckled a little. “And they can sleep anywhere!”

“Ya!! Oppa!! They are more like you… high maintenance and require so much attention,” she answered giggling.

“Ya, you are the one that always need more attention!” he countered, hitting her lightly.

“No, I don’t,” she replied, trying to hit him back, but he swiftly grabbed her hand and interlocked their fingers. She giggled again and hit his hand but held on.

The interviewer smiled at their interactions, how it never changed since the Monday couple days.

“I think Jiyoung is more like Jihyo,” Gary said, now in a serious tone. “He is much more introverted, and he doesn’t speak much. Sometimes, he doesn’t ask for help even if he needs it…”

Jihyo sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if it is because of us… I think we paid too much attention to Ji-ohn, and…” she didn’t continue. Gary squeezed her hand. Don’t think of it like that, he thought to her.

“Ah… we are all sorry for Ji-ohn too. It is such a pity that she…” the interviewer trailed off, wondering if he had accidentally said the wrong thing.

Gary smiled. “Don’t be… she can’t see but she still has the other 4 senses to look at the world. It may not be such a bad thing after all…” He paused for a while. The interviewer was about to proceed with another question, but Gary continued. “When we first found out that she was blind, we were quite shocked. We blamed ourselves. ‘Why is this happening to her?’, ‘Why can’t it happen to us?’, ‘Why is it does this have to happen in our family?’ We asked a lot of questions, and naturally, it all went unanswered… but eventually, we realised that there was no point in asking ‘why us’ because it already happened. We just had to work around it,” he said, glancing at Jihyo. Her heart ached a little at the memory, but they were all over that phase of self-blaming.

“Both of you are very strong,” the interviewer commented.

“Aniyo. Ji-ohnnie is the strong one. She’s strong and bright,” Gary smiled. “Like her mother.”

Jihyo smiled and looked away shyly.

The interviewer nodded. “What do you think was the most significant change when you became a parent?”

“Jihyo never sleeps past noon now,” Gary laughed and Jihyo tried to cover his mouth. The interviewer smiled, glad that the mood is now lightened.

“It’s true!” Gary emphasized, pulling her hand off and she sighed.

“Eo, because I have three kids to look after!”

Gary ignored her comment and continued. “She used to be a real sleepy head. And a daredevil. Now she’s always like, ‘Young ah, careful!’, ‘Ji-oh ah, don’t eat that!’, ‘It’s dangerous, don’t do that!’, ‘Ya! Kang Jiyoung!’” he said, mimicking her.

“Opppaaa!!!” she whined, covering his mouth again. “Stop joking around!” she mock-scolded him. He pretended to pout, making her giggle.

“I… I start to understand my parents’ more,” Jihyo said. “In the past, when I was young, I got annoyed at them, I got upset at them. But, no one can understand a parent’s heart until they become one themselves… And… while taking care of them, I start to fear that one day I might have to leave them. So now, I want to give the best things to them. I want to teach them everything that I’ve learnt. I think my parents must have felt this way too. Each day the child is growing up, the parents are growing old. And sometimes, as children, I think we fail to notice this… we take them for granted…” she ended, with teary eyes.

“How about you, Gary-ssi?” the interviewer asked.

Gary had a faraway look in his eyes. Something in what Jihyo said had triggered his memory about his own parents. He didn’t reply. Jihyo nudged him and jolted him back to reality.

“I...” he began, but stopped.

Jihyo read his thoughts. He must have been thinking about his own parents. She squeezed his hand.

“I…” he said. “I lost my parents when I was a child. And as a child, I sometimes blamed them. Why did they leave me alone, why didn’t they stay to protect me… But as a parent now, I feel ashamed of my thoughts back then. No parent, if they ever had a choice, would want to leave their child alone to fend for themselves. They would do whatever they can to protect their children, so that they can have an easier life. When I see Jiyoungie and Ji-ohnie smile at me, or when they run up to me and call me ‘appa’, I feel a sense of pride and joy that I never felt before. I look forward to seeing them growing up, going to school, taking their exams, dating, getting successful, getting married, having children… and my parents…” he paused again, his throat getting constricted. Jihyo put her hands around him and hugged him tightly.  “My parents must have felt the same way too… but they are not here to see all of this...”

He broke down. Jihyo hugged him as he sobbed into her shoulder.

“Let’s stop here,” she mouthed to the interviewer. He nodded and promptly exited the room.

“Hush… hush…” she whispered into his ear. “Oppa…”

“I can’t even remember much about them, Jihyo-ah. I feel so unfilial…. I don’t even have the chance to repay… to repay them…” he sobbed.

“Oppa… oppa… It’s okay,” she said, rubbing his back like how she always did to the children. “We never expect Jiyoung and Ji-ohn to repay us for what we’ve sacrificed for them right? We only want them to be happy and healthy. So do your parents, oppa… Knowing that you’re happy would be the best repayment for them…”

His sobs slowed down and he pulled away. He immediately looked around for the interviewer.

“He left,” Jihyo said, rubbing his teary cheeks with her thumbs. “What else could he have done?” she laughed a little, pressing her forehead against his and letting their noses touch.

You are really high maintenance, aren’t you? She thought to him, smiling.

You still chose me anyway, he thought back, tilting his head to kiss her.

Gary have always been the one comforting Jihyo… here’s a switch… hehe. Bye! Good luck for my finals sigh ><