About You: Love & Sacrifice

Simple Sentence

"Today, it's still the same. One more line."

Mirae looked at her husband, Jinan— during the quiet atmosphere in the dining room. Only the clangs of the sound of spoons and forks clinging to plates interrupted their chatter. Occasionally Younha glanced, not intending to eavesdrop on the household conversations of others, but now the position of Younha eating with them and escaping from hearing was impossible. Younha turned her attention to Seojun who was eating biscuits on her lap occasionally taking the fourteen-month-old baby to talk.

Sometimes he also looked at Jinan who was gulping water. He knew the chat that Mirae was straightening out and he felt misplaced so confused himself to take a stand.

"Why grieve if God doesn't want to?" Jinan asked as she clasped Mirae's hand which looked down, sad, and agitated. "What's wrong, Mirae, means we're not perfect parents. There's still a lot to learn. Don't worry too much about it, be patient. I'm afraid you're stressed."

Mirae raised her gaze and went straight to Younha and her two sons who were right across from her dining table. His gaze seemed to harbor sadness as well as an incredible freshness.

Her twig hand slowly grasped Seojun's tiny hand which was on Younha's lap. Mirae stroked the tender hand lovingly with a slightly bitter smile tucked away from her eyeball.

Younha just blinked. Don't know what to do. "I think.... Seojun want to go with Aunt Mirae?" Younha persuaded her son to put out a hand. Mirae smiled then as the boy spread out his hands. The small body is carried slowly to move the lap.

"Well, Mirae, you can think of Seojun and Yeonjun as your own children." Tukas Younha gave one small biscuit.

"Thank you Younha." Mirae replied smiling.

While taking the baby on her lap, Mirae thought to herself. It is not that she wants to compare, but it is not fair that God would leave a child to Younha and her husband. They let Seojun and Yeonjun down, leaving their children here and there, lacking affection and attention. While Mirae can even give all her love for her son later.

Mirae breathed a long breath. Sometimes he is upset, but he knows that his regret is not fundamental.

"I'm not as lucky as you Younha" said Mirae as she stroked Seojun's hair full of sadness. "Therefore I'm glad that you would leave them to me. They can cover my sadness and loneliness. So don't hesitate, just leave them to me, okay?"

Younha sees Yeonjun who is busy with his own world—play fried sausage with a fork beside his seat. Then to Seojun who was in Mirae's lap. Seojun's age children do need more affection and time with his family which he now cannot accept from Younha and her husband.

Younha is grateful that Mirae loves Seojun and Yeonjun very much. At least they don't feel lonely.

"If you don't mind, I'll leave them to you while I work." Younha's decision instantly made Mirae smile and enthusiastic.

"Seriously? Thank you Younha." said Mirae full of happy twinkle. "It's okay if they stay. If you allow it, I don't mind at all."

Jinan patted his wife's shoulder slowly. "Seojun is still a baby, he should always be close to his mother. It won't last that long."

The rebuke from her husband seemed to make Mirae aware and rectify her speech. "I'm sorry. I'm too excited."

"Hey, why apologize?" Younha tried to melt the atmosphere. "Seojun must be fussy huh. He will cry when he starts to get thirsty."

"At first I was nervous when Seojun cried, I even contacted my mother-in-law. Asking how to soothe a crying baby, I also hesitated to carry it because a child of Seojun's age had not been too strong. Even my mother-in-law came to teach me how to hold a baby." Mirae continues with a crisp tone of story, as if explaining that she is very happy to be able to love Yeonjun and Seojun like her own children. "But now it's okay, over time I understand and begin to understand."

Younha simply nodded, forcing the stiff muscles around her lips to smile. Inwardly he said can he say if Younha is actually jealous of Mirae?

Mirae is loved by many. Husband, in-law, brother, relatives, neighbors, and Younha himself. He also wants to be like Mirae whose existence is indeed considered and needed not like it. Younha always faced all her own life. No support, no affection, no one thought of it.

Younha was just tired, he wanted to lean on someone's shoulder for a moment. As before when he often leaned on Jinan's shoulder. Ah, is it possible to happen again? Jinan now has a partner in her life. Younha remembered, what would happen if he chose Jinan's hand at that time?

Memories are just memories. Now the palm of the hand has reached out to someone else.

...*****...

"Mama, does the Tooth Fairy exist?"

Sweet but curious, a blanket that covers up the waist with both palms on the stomach. Yeonjun looked at the mama sitting beside his bed with a twinkle of curiosity.

Younha smiled as she patted Yeonjun's bangs. "Why did you suddenly ask me about Tooth Fairy?"

"Oh yes, brother forgot. There's something you want to show mom." Yeonjun immediately got up from his sleep, grabbed the blanket and then his tiny legs began to run to pick up an object from inside his bag that was on a table full of fairy tale books. Younha just looked on in surprise, letting his hero show him something without being helped.

While slowly approaching Younha, the two tiny hands hid something behind her body.

"No!!!" Yeonjun exclaimed out a small plastic box containing his teeth while showing off to Younha a row of teeth that had been missing one from his place. "Gigi's sister's been taken away."

"Well, now you're a big brother." Sahut Younha is proud. "But it must be crying, right?"

"Hehe, yes." Yeonjun was singing his lips. "But mom don't tell dad that you're crying. Later brother scolded father and could not get a gift from aunt Hyejin."

Instantly Younha's smile began to fade after hearing Hyejin's name called. Her husband's lover loved Seojun and Yeonjun as much as his own son. But behind the affection was tucked worry in Younha's mind. Not knowing the affection is genuine or just a guise to be closer to her husband.

Younha pulled up Yeonjun's blanket as the boy began to lie down again. Close the bolster next to the small body did not forget one of his favorite Rabbit dolls. "But you know who the fairy tale Tooth is from? aunt Mirae?"

Yeonjun. "From dad. Last afternoon my dad called and told me about the Tooth fairy when my brother said his teeth were dislodged."

"Well phone?"

"Hm."

Younha's heart was a little relieved to know that her ex-husband still often contacted his son even though through Mirae number. Lee Jihoon—the ex-husband knew that Mirae was taking care of her son every day while Younha was working, so contacting her best friend's wife was more effective than Younha who was rarely with her own child.

Jihoon was actually attention, only sometimes misplaced attention so as to cause mistakes.

After fifteen minutes of reading the fabled Yeonjun, now the four-year-old boy has been peacefully exploring the dreamland. Younha dyed his son's forehead briefly before moving on. The main light of the room is turned off, not to forget also Younha closed the door of his son's room.

Time continued to crawl, the air was also getting colder. Actually Younha is tired. His eyes were heavy and his body was limp but he had to finish some of his work.

After making sure her little baby was sound in her crib, Younha stepped into the kitchen counter— picked up the coffee that had started to cool down. His step towards the middle room with a laptop and a pile of files that are still loyal there.

...*****...

Vibration and a lighted mobile phone screen distracts Younha from the radiation of the laptop— screen behind his minus glasses the name of the contact is still very clearly legible.

Younha glanced at the wall clock at the kitchen counter. Eleven o'clock in the evening.Enearly entered the early hours and there is a reason why her ex-husband called. Younha had ignored, so her ex-husband thought she was asleep. But calls came in many times.

The green icon is shifted, Younha presses the loudspeaker button and continues to struggle with her laptop.

"Not slept?" murmured a heavy voice khusky across.

"You think?" Sahut Younha who is still focusing on his laptop screen. "Old, there's a report I need to finish. Tomorrow set to the boss."

"I haven't either, I want to hear your voice." 

Younha. "What do you mean?"

"Eh, I mean want to hear a story about a child." Jihoon chuckles. He smiled faintly in the middle of his dimly lit apartment.

Younha sighed, sipping his coffee slowly. "Didn't you call her this afternoon? Yeonjun told me that."

"Yes, Yeonjun said his teeth were dislodged. Jagoanku has grown up, yes" said Jihoon. "It feels like just yesterday I fed him porridge."

"His body also grew tall and heavy. I'm a little not strong when I'm holding her."

"Well, you must have taken care of it very well." Jihoon's smile could be seen from that dark room. "They grew up well with you, thank you."

Younha spontaneously shook her head even though her ex-husband could not see that.

"You're also the father's son, ma'am." Younha lowered her voice as if holding back her heart. "Your existence is also what helps their growth."

"That night, sorry I really had an urgent business."

Younha sighed for a moment, actually still incoherent with the events of that night. But does he always have to be angry? What he was facing was his own son. It was impossible for Younha to ignore them.

"It's okay, I get it."

Jihoon rubbed his nape hesitatingly wanting to say something. "Hm, can I stop by this weekend?"

Younha's fingers stopped for a moment from her laptop keyboard. "Don't you always come without permission?. Younha chuckles. "Even in the middle of the night."

"Sorry for that, it's your fault that you didn't lock the door properly. Good thing I got in what if the gorilla." Jihoon laughed softly. "So how?"

"Yes, the kids are at home on weekends. You can take him out."

"What about you?"

Younha frowned, somewhat incomprehensible to Jihoon's question. Now the man has a lover and is it possible that Younha can go out with him even for the children? While Hyejin was like a stamp to Jihoon. Stick where.

"I think Hyejin's always happy to take the kids." Tukas Younha nodded doubtfully. "She must have missed Seojun and Yeonjun too."

Spontaneous Jihoon gnashed uneasily at Younha. Actually Jihoon was always looking for a way to be together with Younha. But the woman always surprises Hyejin, even though Jihoon knows that Younha is holding back her own feelings.

"Hey, I asked about you?" Lirih Jihoon melted the atmosphere. "Can't you?"

"Actually my lunchtime weekend, but—"

"So?" Jihoon.

"Yes?"

"Well, I'll pick you up for the weekend. Oh, picking up the kids means."

"What about Hyejin?"

"Do I have to send him to Japan first?" Reply Jihoon chuckled. "Don't worry, he's going to Japan tomorrow. He said he misses mom."

"So this is a silent invitation?"

"I guess."

"Basarr." Younha's voice was a bit wrong. "Already close the phone, I don't want to be considered a destroyer of people's relationships."

Jihoon chuckles. "I'm alone."

Unknowingly the smile slowly extended from the thin lips of Younha hearing the joke from the ex-husband made her somewhat palpitating and arrogant. Was the man always looking for a way to quietly contact her?

"Don't be too late to do your job, cold nights don't forget to wear warm clothes. And.." Jihoon somewhat paused his sentence. "Good night."

Tutt's..

Call disconnected Jihoon. Younha looked at the screen of her phone that had changed lockscreen photo Yeonjun was hugging Seojun making her automatically review the smile. But his mind was struggling with one sentence Jihoon earlier.

"Good night" was the most beautiful sentence that accompanied him in his own silence. Simple words that will be the support of tomorrow.

...*****...