In Seven Days

Thursday 4:48 PM

Jin wiped the sweat off his forehead with his forearm, careful not to spread the dirt on his gloved hands on his face. The sun had started to set but the effort from gardening for the past hour had sucked Jin of all his energy. He was as limp as the dehydrated azalea plant he forgot to plant yesterday.

Thankfully enough, Byulyi and Seokmin were still away from the sun, snacking on cupcakes and sipping on coffee Mrs Seo made herself. While the little one was busy inhaling his carrot cupcake, Byulyi sipped at her cup as she talked with Mrs Seo, brows crossed slightly, lips set to a hard line.

Jin could barely make out their voices nor the shape of their lips but he knew what they were talking about. What other topic would warrant such a solemn look on her face?

He could only think of one.

He still couldn't get their last conversation off his head—if it was even a conversation. She made a remark that had Jin feeling like he wanted to slap himself in the face. And that was it.

But the stiffness in Byulyi's shoulder and her hesitance to look at him as they walked to the Seo's told him that he wasn't the only one who can't easily shrug off the words she said earlier.

He should have been there to hear how loud he cried or learn firsthand how he liked being lulled to sleep or watch the first time he called Byulyi mama. Fuck, he should have been there in the hospital and every month leading up to it.

But he wasn't.

Deep down he wondered whether he tried looking for her hard enough.

Perhaps there was a part of himself that didn't want to look for Byulyi for fear of what she would tell him. Never in his wildest dreams would he ever think this is what he found yet there was still apprehension in what could happen next.

Perhaps there was some cosmic superpowered being that punished him for not knowing sooner. Perhaps if he was more attentive to her than his own career then he would have known sooner.

"A picture would last longer oppa," a sweet and soft voice told him, making Jin whip his head around to find the source of the voice. His eyes landed on Soojin who was kneeling on the ground some steps away from him as she patted the soil around the azalea she just planted.

"Huh? What?"

She chuckled quietly to herself. "Unnie's a bit distracting, isn't she?"

"No, no. I just um" —Jin swallowed thickly as he looked anywhere but Byulyi— "there was a bee. I was worried that it would sting Seokmin."

Soojin felt it fit to reply not with words but with a knowing smile.

His eyes drifted to Seokmin again who seemed to participate in the conversation between two ladies with the continuous opening of his messy lips. Jin could just hear his voice proudly announcing gibberish nonsense, even as he sat observing them several meters away.

He began to prod the soil with his trowel, a show of casualness in front of the young girl. "Was—was Seokmin really loud when they first moved here?"

"Oh yes," Soojin replied immediately, "I remember because I used to wake up in the middle of the night. It's a quiet town too so whenever he cried, neighbors would always hear it." She stabbed the soil with her trowel as she shrugged her shoulders. "He's gotten better now though. He's adjusted here I guess. Unnie has too. Though it didn't take her long to adjust since she's really friendly."

Jin licked his lips and tried his best to look invested in the hole he was digging. "Has she—um—you know. Made any friends?"

She blinked at Jin innocently. "Well she met us and I think we're friends."

"No I mean—"

Soojin's crossed brows slowly rose as she realized what Jin truly meant. "Ah. Friends." She laughed as she shook her head. "You're funny oppa."

Her laugh unnerved Jin more than he liked to admit. "Well did she?"

She sighed deeply before looking over to Byulyi. "No. Everybody assumed she was married and she didn't deny it either whenever we talked. But some people didn't believe that. They gossiped behind unnie's back saying that she got pregnant out of marriage but her boyfriend left her. That he doesn't love her anymore or that he rejected her and broke her heart and all these ridiculous rumors."

She rolled her eyes and Jin could tell from the tone of her voice how stupid she found all of the gossip was.

But his stomach churned with acid all over again at Soojin's words. He swallowed thickly.

She turned around to smile at him. "But because you're here, I guess that just proves they were wrong. Right, oppa?"

Jin flashed her a weak smile that was half a grimace before she got back to finishing the few azaleas in her pile.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from stealing another look at Byulyi. Her eyes lowered to the ground briefly as she bit her lip. But she turned her head around and their eyes connected over the garden.

Jin had half the mind to smile at her but couldn't find it in himself to have the will to do it.

She looked away.

He went back to frowning at the brown soil underneath him and began his best to plant the last of the stupid azalea bushes.

The soil crunched underneath somebody's constant footsteps. A shadow cast over Jin's crouched form as the older woman stood in font of the sunlight.

"Soojin dear, can you get us a new batch of cupcakes? I think Seokmin would like another," Mrs Seo said. There was impatience written on her face and from the way she stood, Jin could tell she wasn't just here to make Soojin get the cupcakes.

Mrs Seo had the generosity to let a few seconds of silence pass, letting the nervousness and guilt marinate in Jin's mind, before she got to the point.

"Have you thought about your answer?"

She didn't even sit beside him or pretend to help him out with the last three saplings. Instead, she stood over him, watching him, waiting for him to say the correct answer.

"I'm still lost, Mrs Seo," he admitted and burned a shade of pink when the older woman raised a judging brow—clearly, he didn't give her the answer she wanted.

But he cleared his throat and continued his thought.

"I'm not sure if i can stay here but I'm sure that I don't just want to walk away. I don't think I can now."

Mrs Seo's face cleared considerably and she seemed to lean back slightly now. "That's better," she said, crossing her arms, "That's a good thing to hear after such a tiring day."

Jin bit his lip as he let his hand fall to his ground. "But I'm still scared of Mrs Seo. What if I'm not fit to be a father? What if I regret it?"

Finally, she crouched so that they were eye-level with each other. "It's natural to be scared. It's good actually. It means you're thinking things through and you're realizing how hard of a feat it is to be a parent. What's not good is leaving the mother of your child and your child all alone in some remote village far from the city." She took her trowel and aimed it right between the middle of his eyes, a clear threat. "You got me?"

Jin swallowed and nodded dumbly.

"Fix your priorities Seokjin. And make sure whatever is on top of that list deserves it." She took the few shrubs that were left in the area and gestured to him in a 'shooing' motion. "I'll take care of these, you go rest in the shade now."

Jin didn't know if he should be relieved that he was freed from the taxing effort that was gardening. Because now he was walking towards the patio where Byulyi was busying herself with cleaning Seokmin's grubby hands.

But compared to yesterday, his shoulders felt lighter than they did. Guess that was one thing to be happy about.