Chapter Text
FLASHBACK
18 YEARS AGO.
IkJun was feeling awful, his wife had just told him she was leaving because she found someone else and didn’t love him anymore. He thinks that she never really loved him but couldn’t understand when she was able to find another person, their son was only 6 months old.
He didn't have the strength to argue, he just stared at his wife while she was throwing up empty excuses, and then let her go without saying a word.
When his cell phone started to ring he didn't want to answer but looked at the screen to see who was calling. The name "Song Hwa" was shining on it. So without hesitation, he pressed the green button.
"IkJun-ah" she sobbed.
When IkJun realized that she was crying and heard the powerful cry of Eunha too his body passed from defeated to total alert. All the sadness that he was feeling turned into panic.
"Hey, Song Hwa, what happened, why are you crying, Eunha is okay?"
"He left me IkJun-ah, we have a daughter that is 2 months old and he said that he didn’t love me anymore, and I'm here alone with her and she won’t stop crying, also I think I'm having a panic attack."
"Okay, calm down, breathe with me. In and out, come on." Realizing that she was doing what he was saying he continued talking. "That's right, keep breathing and listen to me, when you calm down you will put some things of hers in a bag and you will come here to my house, can you do that?"
"Yes." she answered after a minute.
"Okay, put me on the speaker and do what I say."
Ikjun heard low noises in the middle of Eunha's screams and knew she was preparing things and doing what he was telling her to do. After three minutes he asked "Are you done?"
"Almost." She sniffed and his heart tightened. "Okay, let's go my little girl, stop crying, please." He heard her talking with her daughter. "I'm going to the elevator now, gonna hang up."
She enters the elevator and goes to his house. Getting there she sees him waiting for her at the door.
"Where is Uju?" She asks.
"Sleeping. Here, give me her." He takes Eunha out of her arms. "How does this little thing have such a powerful voice like that, hum, how do you do that?" He says looking at her and passing a finger on the baby's forehead.
They entered the house, Song Hwa looked at him and says. "When I was in the elevator I realized that you told me to come here, but where is your wife? Has she already traveled for work?"
Swinging Eunha with smooth movements and patting her back, like magic the little girl was now just making small noises. "I thought it was better to tell you this in person, so sit down."
"What?"
"Sit down." He repeated and when she does he continued "I think my wife, my ex-wife now, and your ex-husband, they are together."
"What are you talking about? You can't be serious about that."
"I wish I was not, but everything fits, they literally said the same thing to both of us."
"Oh my gosh, what kind of terrible joke is that? How can they do that to us? I told him that I didn’t want to get married, and didn’t want to be a mother and he passed all these years trying to make me think otherwise, and when he finally convinced me to do that, he cheats on me and leaves me alone with a baby? I'm not a good mom, I can't even make my child stop crying. I didn't get 3 hours of sleep last night." She started to hyperventilate.
"Hey, hey, look at me, you are not alone, I'm gonna be by your side, maybe we were left by them but I won't do that, okay? I have the superpower of calming down a baby so we can do this, can you trust me?" He said, sitting by her side and taking one of her hands. Realizing that she was crying, he gently cleaned the tears from her face.
"You promise?" She said looking into his eyes.
"Yes, come here." He said, pulling her into a hug.
Minutes later she gets away from his arms and says "I'm so selfish, I didn’t even ask how are you feeling about this whole thing."
"It's okay, you passed through a lot. I can't describe how I'm feeling, it's a mix of anger, sadness, and fear. Uju is gonna grow up without a mom. What they did to us it's cruel." He said snuggling Eunha - who was now sleeping - closer to his body and breathing in her baby scent.
"I will be here for you too, we can do this." She said, passing her hands through his face and trying to calm him down because she knew that if Ikjun is by her side she'll be okay. And she had to calm down for her little galaxy, for her Song Hwa she would be able to do anything.
"Go take some rest, you told me that you didn’t have a good night of sleep. You can put Eunha in the bed while I go to your apartment to bring her cradle, it's the one you can put beside the bed, right? Uju has one of those but right now he is in his bedroom because it is safer when no one is around." He said after seeing that she was trying to suppress a yawn.
"Yes, but I remember that you don't have any guest's room, so I will go back to my house."
"You can sleep on my bed, maybe it'll be weird for you but you need to rest while she's sleeping, and if she starts to cry again I can help you."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, of course, go."
"Okay, I will stay." She said getting up, catching Eunha, and going to his bedroom. In the middle of the way she looks back and says "And Ikjun-ah, thank you very much for doing this for me."
"You are my best friend, I would do anything for you and your presence here is putting a purpose into my head, so it's helping me too, so go take some rest, we can talk more later."
"Okay, there’s a thing that I forgot to take but I will pick it up another time, I don't know where I put it."
"What?"
"My nursing bra."
"Okay, I'll look for it."
"If it's not awkward it will be a great help."
"That's nothing awkward about this, I will pack some of your stuff too."
"Thank you."
"Don't worry about it, if Uju wakes up you can call me."
"Okay."
When she gets into the bedroom, he gets up and goes to see if Uju is still sleeping. When he is sure that he does not wake up, he goes to Song Hwa's apartment. He takes the cradle and puts it into the living room, and goes to her bedroom to take her things, but he can't find the bra. He looked at every corner of her house but the thing just disappeared. After 30 minutes he has the idea of looking at the washing machine, and there it is. With a scream of frustration, he puts 3 bras inside the bag and goes back to his house.
The first thing that he does it's going into Uju's bedroom again to see him and starts to freak out when he not see him in the cradle. But when he runs into his bedroom he sighs in relief when sees that Song Hwa is with him on her chest while Eunha is on the bed sleeping with a pillow at her side for security.
He felt a pull in his heart, seeing his first love sleeping with his son has a power on him that he can't admit. This scene brings back a lot of feelings that a long time he has forgotten, a dream that he left behind so many years ago, and now the time brought back. Shaking his head to get free from that dangerous thoughts, he goes to take Eunha's cradle, and puts it on Song Hwa's side, goes to Uju's bedroom and takes his to put it on his side of the bed. After taking Eunha carefully so she doesn't wake up, he puts the baby inside hers.
After that, he tries to take Uju off Song Hwa's arms without waking her up but fails, she opens her eyes and looks at him with a scared look.
"Hey it's me, let me put him in the cradle." He says lowly.
"I almost had a heart attack."
"Sorry, I tried not to wake you up."
"It's okay." She said.
When IkJun finishes he goes to the bathroom and takes a long shower, letting all tiredness of the day fade away from his body. Going to the kitchen he prepared two baby bottles, so if the children woke up hungry they wouldn't lose time preparing. Getting back to his room, the place was in peace, very different from when he and Hyejung were fighting before she left him and their son behind. The atmosphere was cozy because of the little abatjour with yellow light. From the bed, he can only see the head of the little woman sleeping in the place where he used to sleep.
After checking the kids again, he got into bed and entered under the sheet, immediately a smell of strawberry filled his soul and he let out a sigh of pleasure. Turning to face the woman at his side, he thought of killing the man who hurted her and realized that all the fear he was feeling was transformed into determination, at this moment he swore that he would never leave her side, and he would give all his love to his little universe and now to his little galaxy, he would try to be the father Eunha would not have and do anything to make them healthy and happy kids. With this purpose in mind, he felt asleep.
13 YEARS AGO
Song Hwa's phone was ringing and she answered with a smile when saw that it was IkJun calling.
"Ikjun-ah, let's eat."
"Song Hwa-ya, did you finish the day?"
"Yes, what happened?" She frowned, realizing that his tone was not happy as usual.
"Wang Imo called me, the children got the flu, I'm at home but I had an emergency call."
"I'm coming."
"Don't run too fast."
"I won't."
After exactly 30 minutes, she enters IkJun's house and goes straight to Uju's bedroom - which now has two beds - and sees Ikjun sitting between the beds with a thermometer in his hands. The moment that he enters the room he looks at her.
"Did you fly here? I told you to not run."
"How could I do that when my two precious little things are sick? You can go now, I will take care of them." She says, offering him a hand and pulling him up.
"Do you think it is better to put them in my bed, so you can lie down too?"
"Yes, it's a good idea."
They both take one of the kids and go to Ikjun's bedroom. Putting them on the bed he gives them a little kiss on the forehead and whispers "I will be right back." After that, he goes to pick up his things to go to the hospital and Song Hwa follows him to the door. He puts a hand on her shoulder and gives her a grip.
"You'll be fine?"
"Yes, we will."
"Okay, call me or one of the boys to pick you up if they get worse."
"They won't, don't worry too much."
"Okay."
When Ikjun gets to the elevator with Song Hwa leaning on the door looking at him, he turns back and she says "Go Ikjun-ah, they will be fine, don't you trust me?"
"I do, but my heart is hurting leaving you alone with both kids sick."
"I said before and gonna say it again, we will be fine, don't worry."
"Okay, see you later."
She went back inside the house and went to check on the kids. Running her hand over their hot foreheads, she placed the thermometer in their ears and made sure the fever hadn't break. She took the note that Ikjun left on the nightstand and saw that it is time to give them medicine. When she finishedshe waited until they were sleeping profoundly and went to do a porridge for when they woke up. Checking them again she started to feel afraid because the fever was getting worse,so she decided to call her mom and ask what she could do. Finishing the call she listened to the front door being open and just waited to see who was coming since a thief didn't have the password to Ikjun's door. Surprisingly Ikjun was back, and when he entered the room she says "What are you doing here?"
"The patient can't be operated on today so I came back."
"Oh, I see… The fever is getting worse so I called my mom to ask what should I do and she said that if I take their clothes off and pass a towel with tepid water it would be effective, so I will start to do this now, and with you here will be faster. I'mgonna bring the water." Back in the room, she continued, "Let's take their clothes off."
After taking the clothes off, they sit on the bed with each of the children on their laps and start to pass the towel on their bodies. The room was silent only with the little noise of the water being squeezed off the towel. When they finished the fever had declined considerably so they put them in bed and Ikjun went to shower.
Getting back to his bedroom he sees a scene that always gives him warmth in his heart, whenever he sees Song Hwa with the kids his heart says to him "That is what we want Ikjun, she is everything that we want since the first time that we saw her." once again he pushed away these thoughts and went lay down close to Uju, passing the arm around his little body, while Song Hwa was hugging her daughter.
Ikjun woke up with Uju crying, he looked at the boy and passed his hand on his head, and said "Uju-ah what's wrong?" Crying harder, he listened to the boy saying "Eomma". By now Song Hwa was already awake, stunned and saw the man trying to take him off the bed but the boy kicked him and screamed.
Getting up she went to the other side of the bed and said to him to get out of the way that she would try to talk with him. Sitting by his side she says "Uju-ya, what are you feeling, say it to Imo, hum?" Hearing Song Hwa's voice the boy turned to her, opened his little arms, and said, pouting "Eomma."
She looked at Ikjun and found him looking at her with wide eyes but she couldn't say anything because the boy started crying again, Song Hwa took the boy in her arms. "Aigoo, when did you get so big? In a few days, I won't be able to do this anymore." She looked at Ikjun, smiled and passed her hands on his back lulling him.
For their luck, the other child was still sleeping through the whole commotion. Ik Jun gets close to Song Hwa and tries to take his son off her arms. "Let me take him now, I don't want you to hurt your back."
"No, it's okay, let me stay with him." She said defensively, putting a hand on the boy's head.
"Okay, gonna put some pillows here so you can sit down, Eunha's fever is better now."
"Uju's too."
"That's good, come sit here." He said tapping the pillow so the place is more comfortable for her, when she gets to the bed he put a hand on her back helping her to sit down, and she moved the boy to a comfortable position on her chest.
"Put Eunha closer to me and lay down on the bed at her side." Song Hwa said.
"Will you sleep like this?"
"Yes."
"No, you can't, all your body is gonna hurt tomorrow."
"It's okay Ikjun-ah, he already suffers enough."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"He calling you Eomma."
"That's nothing to be sorry about, he is just a little boy and I always treated him like my son, so it's okay if he wanted to call me like that, even though I think he did that because he is sick and it's natural we would call for our mother in these situations. And don't think too much about this, okay? You are a great dad and he loves you more than anything in this world. I will always be here for both of you." She said anticipating all her best friend's worries about his son not having a mother. "Get to bed now."
Taking two little blankets he put them over his son and the little girl on the bed. Laying down, he passed one arm under his head and glanced at Song Hwa who was now gently smoothing Uju's back, looking at the boy. Realizing that the man was staring at her Song Hwa looked at him and smiled.
"Good night." She said, extending her hand.
He stands up a little and kisses her hand. "Good night."
In the middle of the night, he wakes up, checks if the fever is not back and takes the kid off her arms. Ikjun puts him into his bedroom, doing the same with the girl. Back in his room the woman was still in the same position he left her, so carefully he put her in a comfortable position.
"Ikjun-ah what's wrong?" She woke up.
"Nothing, I'm just changing you to be more comfortable." He answered, putting her hair out of her face.
"Where are the kids?"
"I put them on their beds, they are better now."
"Okay." She snuggled into the pillow.
"Ya, get under the covers."
"Any."
"You’ll be cold, come on, lift your body just a little bit and I'll pull the cover."
When she does what he said he gets closer to her and pulls the blanket but stops when realizes how close he was. As she still had her eyes closed he finished pulling, covered her, went to his side of the bed, and turned his back to her. After some minutes of trying to calm down his heart which was beating as if he had run a marathon, Ikjun felt her moving behind him, a face was placed at his back and a hand at his chest. Contrary to what was expected, his heart soothed when he felt her touch, he took her hand and squeezed pulling her closer, it took a while with her rubbing her face against his back until she found a good position, meanwhile, Ikjun couldn't stop smiling. After that she was quiet and they fell into a deep sleep.
8 YEARS AGO
Ikjun was preparing breakfast, they had a slumber party after a month, the kids had come back from vacation, they were at their grandparents' house and Uju practically begged them to stay overnight as he hadn't seen his best friend in a while.
A sleepy Eunha enters the kitchen scratching her eye. The girl puts her head at his back and he looks back at her, smiles and doesn't say anything because he knows that she needs time to be able to interact.
"Good morning Samchon."
"Good morning my princess, are you okay?"
"Hm, I missed your breakfast."
"Oh, thank you? So you only missed the food and not the man who cooks?"
"No, I missed you too."
"Ohh I missed you too, how was your vacation at your grandparents' house? You passed so much time there, I thought the time passed so slowly."
"Was nice, but I felt the same there and missed oppa and you so much, I love them but my cousins don't have a good level of conversation you know? And anyone else does my hot chocolate like you, my mom tried once when she was visiting but it was horrible. But don't worry, I drank everything because I couldn't make my mom sad, after that, I just said that I didn’t wanna drink because it was making me sad."
Ikjun laughed out loud at the little girl's speech. She is so smart like her mother, talking like an adult and a child in the same sentence. He missed those morning talks. "So, I will make you hot chocolate now, can you get away just a little?"
"No, I'll follow you."
"Okay."
Eunha held his shirt and started to walk around the kitchen taking the ingredients.
"When you go there again, if you wish to get back home sooner just call me and I will pick you up."
"I don't think my mom would allow that."
"I can convince her so don't worry."
"Really?"
"Yes. What do you want to do today? I, you, and Uju will be spending the whole day together so you may have the liberty to choose whatever you want."
"I want to go to Lotte World!" She said excitedly.
"Ok, so we will."
"Yes!" She punched the air. "Wait, but I told my Eomma that we would do this together." Her face turned into a frown.
"It's okay, we can do this, we go do something else, and at the end of the day, we can go to the hospital and see if your Eomma can leave work early today."
"But if she can't?"
"Don't worry, I'll talk to the director, okay? Breakfast is ready." She steps back and helps him to put the table on.
The girl sits by his side which is unusual for her because she always sits by Uju's side, he noticed that her behavior was a little bit weird today but chooses not to say anything and talk about that with her mother later.
Drinking her hot chocolate "Hm, that's what I'm talking about." Eunha said, giving thumbs up to him.
"You liked?" He said, messing up her hair.
"Very much, thank you."
Listening to steps at his back Ikjun turned and saw a sleepy Uju being pushed by his Imo to the kitchen and smiled. "Good morning you two."
"Morning." They both answered.
"Why is Eunha sitting by your side?" Uju asked.
"Because she missed me very much." Ikjun said, shaking his head, to his son not to say anything.
Noticing the interaction between the two Song Hwa looked at Ikjun and frowned, and he answered with a silent "Talk to you later." Eunha continued eating his breakfast in silence, while the others were having a conversation.
"I need to go now." Song Hwa said standing up, she goes take her things and comes back to the kitchen kissing Eunha she asks "Are you okay my love?"
"Hm Eomma, I'm okay."
She goes to Uju and kisses him too and Ikjun stands up.
"Where are you going?" Eunha asked.
"I will accompany your mom to the door."
"Ah."
When they get to the door Ikjun says. "Is it just me or is she acting weird today, something happened during the trip?"
"I don't know, she was normal." She passes her hand through her hair with a worried look on her face.
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her, and call you if something happens, okay?"
"Okay, see you later."
When he got back he said to the kids to take a shower because they were gonna go out. Finishing first he sits on the couch and turns on the television, minutes later Eunha comes and sits by his side putting her head on his shoulder.
"What do you want to do before we have lunch?"
"I need new books."
"So we're gonna buy new books for you."
Uju gets to the room and looks at his friend and then at his father who says before he says anything "Everyone is ready? Uju we're gonna go to the bookstore and have lunch, after that, we're gonna take your Imo and go to the Lotte World."
"Wow it's my birthday and I'm forgetting about it?"
"No, thanks to Eunha here, she picked up our schedule today."
"Thank you, my dearest friend." Uju said bowing.
"It's always a pleasure to serve you." Eunha said, repeating his movement.
Laughing at that interaction between the two of the three most important persons of his life he got up and said "Kajja!"
When they got to the bookstore Uju went directly to the fantasy session and Eunha followed Ikjun around the store. "You won't look at the books?" He asked.
"Can you go with me?"
"Yeah, of course, are you sure that everything is okay honey?"
"Yes, I just want to know your opinion about the books."
"You know you can tell me anything right? If it is something that happens or happened to you, I and your mom are here for you so you don't need to hide anything from us."
"I know."
"Okay so let's find something for you before Uju buys the whole inventory."
They laughed and Ikjun passed an arm around her neck and went to the back of the story.
After a long time of bargaining with Uju to get him to choose fewer books, they finally arrived at the place where they went to have lunch.
"What do you guys think about going to the cinema?"
"Okay, now I think it's someone's birthday." Eunha said with a mouth full of food.
"It's not, I just miss my two little babies, and how many times will I need to ask you to not eat like your mom, hm?" Ikjun scolded her.
"It's in my blood, Samchon."
"Yeah, you always say that." He said smiling.
They finish lunch and go to the theater. It was 5 pm when the movie finished so they went to the hospital to see if Song Hwa was free. Arriving there Uju opened the door and shouted "Imo, we are here."
"Omo, what are you doing here? What a nice surprise." She gives them a brilliant smile and gets up to hug him.
"We are here to see if you are free to go to Lotte World, Ikjun Samchon said he will talk with the director if it's needed." Eunha answered.
"Oh, so he said that." Song Hwa looked at Ikjun, raising an eyebrow.
His answer was a shrug. At that moment they heard a knock on the door and a man came through the door.
"Oh, I'm sorry gyosunim, I didn't know you had company."
"It's okay Jihoon-ah, what happened?"
"Nothing just wanna tell you the patient is stable because you asked me to give you a feedback in an hour."
"Good job, thank you."
"Gyosunim, is this your daughter? Omo, she is identical to you, and is this your son, Dr. Lee?" Jihoon said, looking between the kids.
Eunha hid behind Ikjun and grabbed his arm.
"Yes, these are our children. Say hello to him, you two." Song Hwa said and Jihoon frowned at this phrase, their children? He thought.
"Hello hyung, I'm Uju son of Lee Ikjun, nice to meet you."
Quietly Eunha said hi to him, hiding her face behind Ikjun. Seeing her weird behavior, Song Hwa said that her student could go and call her if the patient gets worse. Uju, Ikjun, and Eunha sit on the couch with the girl putting her head on his shoulder. Before they had time to ask again if she was okay, Juwan, Jeongwon, and Seokhyung entered the room.
"Omo, my favorite nephews are here." Jeongwon said.
"Hey guys, how are you two doing? It's been so long since we've seen you." Juwan said.
Uju jumped off the couch hugging his Samchons and talking excitedly with them. Soon the room was full of the noise of the boys talking, Song Hwa was smiling at this chaos but always giving a worried look to her daughter who still was in the same position looking at them.
"Eunha, are you okay?" Seokhyung said with a soft voice realizing that she was too quiet, the room felt silent and everyone looked at her.
"Yes Sanchom, I'm okay."
"Ya Eunha-ah, I'm hurt that you don't even say hi to us." Juwan said.
"It's because I'm her favorite." Ikjun said, passing an arm around her.
The girl laughed. "I'm sorry Samchon." She gets up and gives them a high five.
Ikjun shares a worried look with Song Hwa and gets up. "Okay, everyone talked with everyone so now we have to go. Are you ready, Song Hwa?"
"Yes, I'm."
"Are you guys going home?" Seokhyung asked.
"No, we are going to Lotte World!" Uju answered.
"That's nice, I would go with you but I have surgery in an hour." Juwan said.
"Thank God." Ikjun murmured.
"Wae? You don't wanna hang out with me anymore?" Juwan pointed to him.
"You are such a baby, I don't want you screaming in my ear."
"Ya! You–"
"Okay, let's go, for God's sake you guys can talk without fighting?" Song Hwa said, passing both arms around Uju and Eunha, leading them to the door. Both turned and said bye at the same time.
Following them, Ikjun turned and stuck his tongue out at Juwan, the man screamed and ran to the door but Ikjun slammed the door in his face. Turning to the men who were sitting on the sofa Juwan said "Is it just me or are those kids getting more like twins?"
They arrived at the park and Eunha didn't leave Ikjun's side for a second, always with her arm wrapped around his. Uju didn't know what was going on for her best friend to be like this, but without hesitation, he stayed by Song Hwa's side throughout the rest of the day, it was a good thing because he missed talking to her.
After an hour of playing they stopped for a drink of water and Eunha said "I'm tired." Ikjun promptly bent down and said, "Get on my back." He had no idea what was going on for her to be so attached to him, but as she had never been like this before he fulfilled his promise to be by her side no matter what. Uju and she have always been comprehensive children, even when their parents are two busy doctors they never complain or treat badly Wang Imo, who takes care of them, and every day at the end of the day they greet them with a comforting hug. They really raised two amazing kids and Ikjun thanks the heavens every day for that.
3 hours later they got to Ikjun's house, Uju goes to his bathroom to take a shower and Song Hwa said "Eunha, pick up our things and let's go home."
"I want to sleep here again."
"What was our deal? You can sleep here one time on weekdays and two on the weekend, so let's go home."
"No, I don't want to go home, I want to stay here with App– Samchon." The color faded away from the girl's face when she realized what she almost said.
Ikjun and Song Hwa exchanged a look.
"Okay my love, come here, let's talk." Song Hwa made Eunha sit on the couch and sit on her side.
Ikjun sits at the other side to participate in the conversation too, he doesn't need an invite because when they have something serious to say to the kids they always do this together, no matter what is the subject.
Song Hwa takes both of her daughter's hands and starts to speak "Honey, what's going on? Don't say it's nothing because it's not, so we let you enjoy your day today to have this conversation just now, so you don't need to be afraid, no matter what it is we are here for you."
"I don't want you to get a boyfriend."
"What?" Song Hwa answered with a confused face.
"I don't want you to get a boyfriend." Eunha repeated.
"Where is this coming from?" Her mother asked.
"I listened to Halmeoni talking to you, she said you should get a boyfriend, she said you should make me stop being so close to Samchon and get a real dad for me but I don't want that, I don't want a man who will be my real father and keep me away from Samchon, I don't want that, and you said you would think about it." The girl started crying.
"Hey, Eunha look at me" Ikjun cleaned the tears on her face "I will never get away from you, even if your mom gets a boyfriend or your grandma demands, I only do that if you want to get away from me or if your mother says so, this is the only way that I will be apart from you. So don't worry, my little galaxy, I always said that I will be by your side and I'm gonna keep my promise and be here for you forever." She hugged him and asked with a muffled voice.
"You promise?"
"Yes, I promised before, and I'll redo it now, Samchon will be here for you, so when your mom doesn't give it what you want you can call me and I will give it to you." Ikjun said and got a slap on the arm from Song Hwa.
He gets away from her and says "Do you trust me?"
"Yes, I trust you." Eunha answered.
"So go then, pick up your things and home with your Eomma, tomorrow I will make breakfast for you two okay?"
"Okay." The girl ran to Uju's room.
"Thank you Ikjun-ah, but don't promise things that you can't keep." Song Hwa said.
"What are you talking about? I kept my promise for all those years. Why would I change that now?"
"I know you did, don't get me wrong, but what if you find a girlfriend someday and she doesn't like us?"
"It's simple." He looked into her eyes. "I won't have one then." I will be waiting for you, he said in his mind.
At this moment Eunha got back with her bag on the back and Uju followed her.
"Let's go." The girl said.
They went to the door and the pair of father and son said goodbye to the girls. And Ikjun wished that one day they wouldn't need to do this at the front door anymore, just in their bedroom doors.
3 WEEKS AGO
Uju and Eunha was out on a camping trip with Juwan, Iksun, Jeongwon, Gyeoul, Seokhyung, and Minha. Ikjun and Songhwa should go too but both had an emergency call, and seeing that their kids were so excited about this trip they didn’t want to ruin it at all. So, after a lot of talking they convinced them to go.
After two days of standing at the hospital, they got home at 5 am. They're in Ikjun's house because Eunha took Song Hwa's keys to the camping and the automatic door lock was broken, so she would take Ikjun's extra key.
"Sit down while you wait for me." Ikjun said.
She sits but starts to fall asleep waiting for him. After some minutes Ikjun gets back and says "I don't know where they are and it's late, it will be better if you sleep here tonight."
"Ok, I'm going to take a shower, do you still have my clothes here?" Song Hwa said quickly.
"Of course I have, why do you think I would throw them?" He asked.
"I don't know, if you bring someone here and don't want them to find other women's clothes in your closet while they are rummaging into your things, so you threw them away in a panic."
"Woa, Chae Song Hwa, I don't know if it's your intention but looks like you've been thinking a lot about me bringing a woman in here." He said with a laugh.
With her face burning red she fumbles while trying to answer him "W– wait, that–."
"Hey, it's okay I'm just playing with you, but don't worry you are the only woman who I bring here and rummage into my things." Seeing her face staying redder than was he continued "Go take your shower, I will take mine on Uju's."
Finishing faster, Ikjun tried to wait for her to get out of her shower but after 3 minutes of watching something on the TV, he was knocked down and slept on the couch. Song Hwa entered the room and didn't want to disturb him. She didn't wake him because she knew that his sofa was good to sleep on, she had done that a lot.
Ikjun woke up at noon and started preparing breakfast/lunch for them. He decided to let Song Hwa sleep a little longer as he knew she must be tired. When he was almost finished Song Hwa entered the kitchen stretching. When he saw her his heart started to beat desperately, she was using his white shirt that she always said that she wanted and not her pajamas.
He cleared his throat and looked back to the pot on the stove trying to calm down. "Good morning, I'm seeing that you finally had the chance to steal my shirt ." He said smiling to himself.
"Omo, I should have changed so you wouldn’t see but I forgot." She said giggling.
"Thank God you are a doctor and not a thief, let's eat, the food is ready."
She laughed at this and at this moment he knew that he needed to stop being afraid of this love, he knew that she was the only woman for him, since the day that they met, he thought that not marrying her wasn't a mistake because they both have wonderful kids and he doesn't regret them. But he regretted not confessing sooner, but this will end today. Even if she says no to him he needs to take out this feeling in his heart and speak out loud his feelings for her, stop showing it silently. Ikjun put on music to play and after some minutes of silence, Song Hwa started to speak.
"Ikjun-ah."
"Hm."
"What have you done for yourself lately?"
"For me?"
"Yes, you."
"What about you?"
She took her phone and showed him a picture saying "I bought this."
"What's this?"
"A lack for the logs."
"Why do you need that?"
"That is it, I don't need that, I bought it for myself, I treated myself with that, I was so happy when I bought that."
"Okay. Good job."
"What about you? What do you do for yourself? What's a treat for you?"
He realized that this was a perfect time to confess so he started to speak.
"Having a meal with you like this. Eating with you, drinking coffee with you, seeing you in the morning, and making breakfast for you, that's the treat that I give to myself." He starts looking down and then meeting her eyes after finishing.
Knowing what song will be played next he got up and said "That's a thing that I want to treat myself with right now." He smiles at her.
"What is it?"
"I want to dance with you, Miss Chae Song Hwa, will you give me the pleasure of one dance?"
At this moment, a familiar beat started to play on the speakers, she took his hand and smiled. "Yes, it will be my pleasure."
They went to the middle of the room and started swinging with the song and when Frankie Valli started to sing. Ikjun looked into her eyes and they sang together.
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off of you
You'd be like Heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
He pulled her closer.
Her heart started to beat faster.
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I'm alive
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off your
He kept singing without taking his eyes off her.
Her heart knew this was a confession.
Pardon the way that I stare
There's nothing else to compare
The sight of you leaves me weak
There are no words left to speak
He put a hand on her cheek.
Her body shivered.
But if you feel like I feel
Please let me know that it's real
You're just too good to be true
Can't take my eyes off you
He began to spin and circle with her around the room.
Her smile wasn't getting off her face.
I love you, baby
And if it's quite alright
I need you, baby
To warm a lonely night
They laughed out loud at the way they were dancing.
I love you, baby
Trust in me when I say
Oh, pretty baby
Don't bring me down, I pray
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay
And let me love you, baby
Let me love you
At the end of the music, they're both breathless. Ikjun put his forehead in hers.
"Song Hwa, I've been thinking about this for a long time now, and I decided that I can't hide my feelings anymore, you don't need to say it back if you don't feel that same, but if you do feel like I feel, please let me know that it's real" they smiled and he looks into her eyes "I'm sorry if this is too sudden and I didn't prepare a special thing to say this to you, or that today is a normal day, but my love for you is not only in special days, actually I think that in normal days like this my love only grows. I love you Song Hwa-ah, every molecule of my body loves you." He finishes with a whisper.
Song Hwa couldn't hold back the tears, she passed her arms around his neck and hugged him, and said with a muffled voice. "I love you too."
"What? I can't understand you." He says.
She gets away from him, puts her hands on his face and pulls him into a quick kiss, walks away again, and says it loud and clear "I love you too, Ikjun-ah, you don't know how much I love you."
With a bright smile, he kisses her again but now the kiss is slow and profound, and he takes his time to enjoy the feeling of her mouth on his, of her tongue on his, and he thinks that he could easily die of happiness. Song Hwa holds his neck and encourages him to pull her closer and he happily does so, bringing her to the couch without separating his mouth from hers, with a soft thud they sit in the chair and he pulls her into his lap. He started to put his hands under the shirt but the moment was interrupted by the sound of the password on the door and screams.
"Eomma we are here."
"Appa we are here."
They both jump off the couch and her legs fail but Ikjun catches her, so she doesn't fall. When the kids enter the room he reluctantly takes his hand off her back and goes to help the teenagers with their bags. Song Hwa stays in the same spot, still stunned by what happened a minute ago.
"Eomma are you okay?" Eunha asks
"Yes, my love I'm okay, come here and give me a hug, I missed you." Song Hwa says coming out of the stupor.
Eunha goes to her mother and gives a tigh hug, seeing this Uju scream that he wants a hug too and runs to them.
"Okay, so I'm the only one who doesn't get a hug?" Ikjun says.
"Ah, don't be so dramatic and come here." Smiling, he went to them and said " I love you " silently over Uju's head, and she answered " I love you too" smiling for him.
"So, what are we gonna eat tonight?" Eunha asked and everyone started laughing.