HYUN [ JJK ]

49

The car moved along a path that lead to a small house surrounded by trees, and it reminded Jaehwa of the cottage she read in fairytales. Her mouth hang open when she threw her gaze out the window, was left in awe upon seeing the scenery spread before her eyes.

It eased her a bit knowing that Hyun would live in a place like this—surrounded with nature and far from the hustle and bustle of Seoul. Her fingers had been fidgeting with the hem of her shirt while they were on their way, but finding out that her assumption on the foster care centre was completely wrong made her sigh in relief.

Jaehwa glanced at the guy next to her, wished she could read his mind at the moment but that was far from possible. Different from what he used to be, Jeongguk was rather smiley today, teasing Hyun nonstop but one that she could tell—he wasn't faking his smile. Didn't know if it's because he had used to be in this kind of situation—on the verge of losing Hyun and having the little boy taken away from him—that he seemed to care less about it now. No glassy eyes, no cracked voice. Jeongguk was so into the boy who's sitting on his lap for him to realise that Jaehwa had been staring at him.

When the car stopped, Jeongguk was the first one to get off, his expression was rather hard for Jaehwa to comprehend. Sometimes she wondered if Jeongguk was sober enough to realise that everything was not a dream and they're already at the foster care to let Hyun go, but a part of herself was relieved to see how Jeongguk could accept it with an open heart now. The guy pulled Hyun closer to his chest, walking away from the car to head towards somewhere Jaehwa couldn't tell. Planned to ignore him at first but when the memory of him crying in her arms flashed on her mind, Jaehwa ended up trailing behind him, making sure to keep a distance so that Jeongguk could have his time alone with Hyun.

Jeongguk made his way towards a wooden gazebo built in the garden of the centre. Jaehwa stopped in her tracks, thinking of giving up following him but Jeongguk seemed to not allow that when he suddenly turned around.

Jaehwa didn't give him any kind of response when Jeongguk placed Hyun down and patted the empty space across him. She kept staring, battling with her mind if she deserved to get into the scene when she was supposed to let Jeongguk spend his time with Hyun on his last moment being a father.

"What are you doing?" Jeongguk hollered, patting the space across him harder this time.

Jaehwa nodded lightly, tucking her hands in the pockets of her coat as she shuffled towards the gazebo. She looked down at Hyun, couldn't help but to lean and squish his cheeks until the little boy let out a loud shriek, his voice echoed through the garden. It's times like this Jaehwa was glad that a baby like Hyun couldn't understand a thing or else it would only break his heart upon knowing what going to happen very soon.

"You're teething. Someone's going to have an upper tooth soon." Jaehwa cooed as she traced her thumb against Hyun's lips. "Why did you grow up so fast? Stop growing!"

Hyun shoved Jaehwa's hand away, only to make Jeongguk giggle at the reaction. Taken aback, Jaehwa laughed nervously, but Hyun really knew how to melt her heart by cackling cheekily afterwards.

Jeongguk picked Hyun up and made him sit on his lap, handing a soft toy to make Hyun stay still. Being in his 8th month, he noticed that Hyun's eagerness and curiosity had grown even bigger, wouldn't let himself lose a chance to wander around a new place whenever he was left alone. Even the officers told Jeongguk that Hyun always had something to tell—for him to blabber baby words nonstop when someone came to play with him, would sulk all of a sudden when he wasn't allowed to crawl around the room specified for him.

"Jaehwa." Jeongguk called out, his voice sounded deeper than usual that it startled Jaehwa a bit.

With her hand caressing Hyun's thigh, Jaehwa looked up, locking eyes with Jeongguk to discover that he looked rather calm. No hint of sadness was shown through his eyes.