Subject: LOVE (Heechul x Momo)

22: the painful past

Kim Heechul's...

I am currently on my way to the Hirai's residence to personally tell Momo's mother on what happened to her but right now, something's bothering me. When I saw earlier the picture frame on Dr. Hirai's desk, I suddenly thought of Momo's mother. She kinda resembles her in some ways I cannot really tell. Oh well, better ask her myself then.

When I finally arrived at the house, I immediately knocked at the door, then, Mrs. Hirai expectedly showed up to me with a warm smile and greeted me. "Oh, well, it is my handsome son. What brings you here, Heechul-ssi?"

I nervously scratched my head, not sure how to tell her what's happening with regards to her daughter. "Umm..." She seemed to know that something is bothering me and asked, "Hmm, is it something serious?" Oh no, I better think something fast! I held both her hands and looked at her eyes, "Ahjumma, I need to tell you something private. May I go inside?" Her expression changed and just nodded.

As we carefully go inside the house, she politely offered me a seat. Well, here goes nothing, Heechul.

Breathe in, breathe out. You can do this!

"Ahjumma, please... don't freak out when I tell you this."

"Why? What happened?"

"Momo sprained her ankle earlier while playing volleyball. Her foot got dislocated."

She stood up, feeling shocked. "WHAT?!"

"Calm down, ma'am. She's..."

"Mr. Kim, what happened to my daughter?! You know that she's not athletic, why did she play?!"

"She's... she's fine now. She's already admitted to SuJu Hospital. I went there with her. You have nothing to worry about. Everything's under control."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I talked to the doctor earlier. He said that Momo needs five weeks to recover but in this whole week, she has to stay in the hospital for her to be monitored by the doctor."

"Oh my goodness."

I went closer to her and hugged her. "Don't worry, ahjumma. She will be okay. I promise you that."

She looked at me with pleading eyes, "I'm sorry Mr. Kim for shouting at you. I was just... I was just shocked as you are. I'm really sorry."

"No, ahjumma. It's really okay."

"We need to go there now so I can pay for the bills." she said while standing up but I stopped her.

"Ahjumma, I already paid the expenses. Everything's fine." I said to her so I can assure her that there is nothing for her to worry about.

Mrs. Hirai is shocked, felt sorry and said, "Oh no, you really didn't have to do that."

"It's alright, ma'am. Besides, I am fully responsible on what happened."

She sat again and faced me, "What can I do to repay you? Name it. Everything."

It alarmed me when she said that to me. "Oh no, don't." But she pleaded me, "Please?"

Oh yeah, since I'm here, I need to ask her some things about... Momo. I faced her again and asked, "Well, you can answer my questions instead. Is it okay?"

"Sure, anything..."

"While I was at the hospital earlier, I met Momo's doctor. His name is Doctor Hirai."

I waited for a reaction from her but she's just listening to me. Huh, that can't be since she has to atleast react to something that I've just said. I need to clarify that this assumption of mine is true or not since Momo mentioned something to me back then.

I continued, "Then, I saw a picture on his desk; a family picture I might say. The woman there kinda looks like you." Then, her expression changed. "I'm sorry if I'm intruding but... do you know Doctor Hirai?" Then, she looked at me seriously, as if she was saying "How did you know?" A few minutes later, she started to talk and faced me, "Y-yes. I know him, Heechul. In fact, he is Momo's long lost father."

Screw it, I knew it.

"Okay, that's enough for me to about everything, including Momo's family history. If you wish to not tell me more about it, I'l understand."

"No, it's... alright. I'll tell you everything. NOW."

"W-why?"

"It's because I trust you on this, Heechul." With those words, I can tell how much she wants to tell me their story. It's also as if I needed to know this. With that, she started to tell her story.

"I met Momo's dad when I was in college. He's in the medical department while I was in the culinary department. We eventually became a couple when we were in our senior years. Before we graduate, our love has somehow bloomed... and that's where we had Momo. Once, we had a beautiful and happy family... until when Momo turned five years old. Since her dad is a doctor, he received a call from the hospital where he was one of the chosen lucky doctors to study more about medicine and attend conferences around the world. I don't want him to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. When he told this to Momo, she wouldn't understand his situation since she is too innocent to know such things. When we were about to send him at the airport, I could see how sad Momo is and she wasn't ready to let her dad go. For the past thirteen years, Momo held a grudge to her father and swore that she doesn't want to see her father again. She also doesn't want me to mention her his name. I wish that she could understand her dad more."

I was left speechless when she finally told me their family's story. It was so brave of Mrs. Hirai to tell me this. I can't help but to ask again, "You're so brave to tell me your story, ahjumma. Did you have contact to him after all these years?" Also, I can't help but to feel concerned especially how Momo feels about this. She's usually moody but also a nice girl.

"For the last three years, we stayed in touch but we eventually lost contact since he is very busy. We hadn't talked since then. With that, Momo assumed that he left us for good. But since I truly love his father, I waited. I patiently waited, hoping that he'll still come back." She faced me again with a smile and continued, "That's why when you mentioned me that you met Momo's doctor, which may be her father, my hopes went up. Thank you, Heechul. I really owe you everything."

"I'm glad that I could help. You've been so good to me, ahjumma. It's the least that I can do." I said and hugged her once more to comfort her. She released from the hug and said to me, "Come on, let's go to the hospital. Momo's might be waiting for me."

I smiled, "I got you, Mrs. Hirai."