SYJ x HB : The Stories Behind (Book Two)

After the Storm

The sound of Lilo’s soft coos was enough to make Yejin smile and cry at the same time. Even when she knew that her husband could rescue their daughter, and of course he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her it still felt surreal that she is right next to her baby.

Her baby who she could really claim is her mini-me.

So, getting up from her bed, she turned to where her daughter was placed beside her. Picking her up, her eyes moistened this early morning. Joy, love, pure bliss engulfed her whole senses as she looked at her daughter. Smiling, Lilo held her cute arms up, as if asking her eomma to pick her up.

‘Hi, baby. How are you?’ was all Yejin could muster. Holding her close to her chest, Lilo somehow buried her face on her mother’s bosom. Oh, was she hungry this early.Yejin fed her, while brushing her cute head full of hair. She was too immersed in the moment then she realized the letter Bin left her.

‘He slept in the study,’ she thought. ‘Why?’

Trying to recall if they had a misunderstanding the previous day, it then occurred to her that they didn’t talk from the moment they got home. Which was actually supposed to be a fresh recollection of what just happened the day before. She must have chosen to block that part of the day and focused instead on another thought. 

Soon as she finished feeding Lilo, she quickly washed themselves up and prepared to go to where Bin was sleeping. She felt something was still missing- her little boy whom they left with her in-laws. She thought it was a smart move from Bin so he wouldn’t be able to see what happened in their house yesterday. Pooh, as young as he is, is quite an inquisitive kid who would really love to find out what went on.

‘Are you ready, love?’ she asked her baby who gave her cute coos once more. Yejin’s smile returned, and it was her first genuine smile after what happened yesterday. 
Come to think of it, it was her first real smile after the ordeal that they faced as a family.

‘Let’s go find Appa?’ she said as she picked her up and went out to go down to the study. As they approached the stairs, a wafting scent of galbi-jjim invaded her senses, filling the entire hall with the sweet scent of the food she knew only her husband could make. Clutching her daughter closer, she went down the stairs hurriedly but carefully. She went directly to where the scent came from and there stood in front of her the broad back of her husband covered in that sinful white shirt that only he could pull off. Neatly tied behind him was the waistband of the apron that she bought for him that she thought would fit his sense of style. Placing Lilo down on her cot just beside the dining table, she then went to where he was and immediately gave him a back hug, while burying her face on that seemingly ocean she wanted to swim right now.

‘Oh you’re up,’ she heard him say, which reverberated throughout her auditory system. How she loved to hear that baritone voice every time.

‘What time did you come home?’ she asked, face still buried on his back, trying to cover the tears that fell. Hormones probably? No, she was just happy that the people she loved were back home safe and sound.

‘Around midnight. Chae Yoon said she told you to go to sleep without waiting for me,’ he replied as he closed the lid of the pot and allowed the food to simmer down. He turned around and faced his wife, who by now was wiping the tears that fell.

He placed the pad of his thumb on her face, brushing off all those liquid that accumulated on those crescent eyes that he so loved to look at. Planting a kiss on her forehead, her hand then automatically went behind him while she rested her face on his pacific-wide chest. He smiled through the small gap and held her closer, staying that way for a few minutes savoring the morning together after the most unusual night that they just had.