“Are you feeling better now?”
Baek Woojin, holding the wet apron, entered the room. Only then did he take off the coat he was wearing.
“Yes, much better than this morning. Oh, right. I forgot to take my medicine…”
I was about to quickly go out of the room to take medicine when I turned back to ask Baek Woojin.
“What about dinner then…?”
“Dinner is fine.”
After giving me a brief answer, Baek Woojin approached me with big strides. I instinctively stepped backward, but Baek Woojin grabbed the door handle and closed it with a thud. The faint TV sounds disappeared and silence came.
“Woojin-ssi…?”
When I quietly turned my head, Baek Woojin was looking at me with the same gaze he had shown at the front door.
“Just looking at you… makes me feel full.”
“Pardon?”
What exactly did he see that makes him feel full…?
That’s when Baek Woojin grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. I followed along like a paper doll being swept away.
“May I hug you?”
That’s when Baek Woojin asked suggestively close to my ear. I flinched and looked up at him.
“Suddenly…? Are you… grateful…?”
Is he grateful that I washed dishes? It didn’t seem like I was much help…
“Because I want to hold you.”
Right after that, when Baek Woojin was about to grab my shoulders.
BANG!
A heavy crash was heard from outside the door. Baek Woojin, who also didn’t expect it, was surprised and flung open the closed door.
Hyeol was standing in front of the door.
“Oh, Hyeol…? What’s wrong?”
When I hurriedly approached Hyeol in confusion, Hyeol glared fiercely at Baek Woojin and said,
“I changed my dream starting today.”
“Huh…? Dream? Suddenly…?”
I was bewildered by this unexpected dream change story.
“I don’t want to get married.”
Hyeol continued, gripping my collar tightly.
“I want to live with Dad, forever.”
I was greatly flustered by Hyeol’s words.
Not getting married, and for his whole life at that…?
Crash, the happy wedding march of Hyeol and Kkotsu that had unfolded in my mind shattered into pieces.
Meanwhile, Hyeol was still sending hostile glares toward Baek Woojin behind me. Baek Woojin was the same. I wondered if this was the second round following their first meeting.
“Hahaha! Hy-Hyeol must love daddy too much…!”
I quickly hugged Hyeol tightly to try to defuse the situation.
“Hyeol, shall we talk about this just the two of us…?”
I whispered softly in Hyeol’s ear and quickly escaped from the room. I glanced at Baek Woojin and mouthed that he shouldn’t worry about it.
When we went out to the living room, Kkotsu was asleep. He was half-lying on the sofa, sleeping soundly despite the noisy sounds coming from the TV.
“Hyeol, just a moment.”
I asked Hyeol for his understanding, then carefully lifted the sleeping Kkotsu in my arms and laid him down on the bed in his room. Kkotsu frowned while groaning, but when I gently patted his chest with my hand, he soon fell back into sleep with a peaceful expression.
“Aren’t you sleepy, Hyeol?”
When I asked Hyeol in a small voice, he just nodded.
“Hyeol, why did your… dream suddenly change?”
I carefully brought up the earlier topic. But Hyeol remained silent and didn’t explain the reason. Since he didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t want to force it out of him. I decided to respect Hyeol’s wishes.
“…Daddy wants to live with Hyeol too.”
When I reached out my hand and spoke, Hyeol came close to my side.
“…For life?”
At his question, I withdrew the hand that had been patting Kkotsu’s chest and stroked Hyeol’s head.
“Yeah, for life.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Promise?”
I nodded while meeting the eyes of Hyeol who kept asking.
“Yeah, I promise.”
That was sincere.
Living together with such a lovable child until old age would be a blessing. Surely there are many parents who would want to do that. But just like other children, Hyeol too would forget the promise he made with me as time passes, and his feelings would change. Then he might get annoyed and ask why I’m being so bothersome.
Just thinking about it made me feel a bit lonely, but I decided not to mind. Because worrying about such things would just let this happy time slip away.
“Wait a moment.”
Just then, Hyeol rummaged through his pocket and took out his kids’ phone. I watched to see what he was doing, and Hyeol turned on the recording function.
“I want to record it.”
I wondered if we really needed to go this far, but thinking about the relationship between Chae Seungyeon and Hyeol so far, I decided to understand.
“I, Chae Seungyeon, will live with my son Gwak Hyeol for life.”
I spoke into the kids’ phone and made the promise as Hyeol said.
“Then will Hyeol promise too?”
“…Me too?”
When I held the kids’ phone toward Hyeol, the flustered Hyeol opened and closed his mouth before clearing his voice.
“I, Gwak Hyeol, will also live with… daddy for life.”
When a recording file was created after that promise, Hyeol showed a faint smile on his lips as if satisfied.
“Shall we go now?”
“Daddy.”
I was about to leave after looking at the sleeping Kkotsu. Suddenly Hyeol called me.
“Yeah?”
“I want to stop going to kindergarten.”
“What?”
I raised my voice in surprise, then caught myself. Fortunately, Kkotsu didn’t wake up.
“Hyeol… did something happen at kindergarten?”
Or did something really happen with the young master?
“……”
Hyeol silently turned his head to stare at something in response to my question. It was the communication notebook placed on Kkotsu’s desk.
“No, that place looks more fun.”
Ah… Now I understood. Though he didn’t show it outwardly, he must have been secretly envious of Kkotsu inside. I’m really sorry to say this to Baek Woojin, but I wanted to transfer him somewhere else instead of that strange kindergarten if possible. But since Hyeol brought it up first, I thought it was really fortunate.
“Okay, let’s do that.”
Since my son said he wanted to quit, there was no need to hesitate. I easily agreed and caressed Hyeol’s soft hair.
“I want to sleep now…”
In that brief moment, perhaps because he was sleepy, the child blinked his eyelids and leaned his cheek against me.
“Okay, let’s go to sleep.”
I got up first to take Hyeol’s hand, but suddenly Hyeol stretched out both his arms. It meant he wanted to be carried to bed like Kkotsu. A laugh escaped me.
Turns out you’re quite the baby, aren’t you?
“Up we go.”
I hugged Hyeol and laid him down on the guest room bed. When I kissed the child’s round forehead with a peck, Hyeol grabbed my collar. I held his hand instead of the clothes, and with one hand I patted his chest just like I did with Kkotsu. Before long, Hyeol breathed comfortably and fell asleep quickly.
*
When I put Hyeol to sleep and came out to the living room, Baek Woojin was sitting at the dining table in comfortable clothes. What he was holding in his hands was Kkotsu’s communication notebook. The way he was seriously examining the communication notebook looked like a profiler examining criminal evidence.
“Woojin-ssi, you were quite surprised earlier, weren’t you? I’m sorry, Hyeol… seems to still be anxious.”
When I apologized and sat across from Baek Woojin, he held out a water cup and medicine packet in front of me, having prepared them at some point.
“Even if your body has recovered, it’s good to finish all the prescribed medicine.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
I quickly took the medicine as he said. Meanwhile, Baek Woojin still hadn’t let go of the communication notebook.
“Kkotsu is cute, isn’t he?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
