A child who looks like me

As Dobin’s face fell at the thought of going home, he asked Ji-heon, “Can I come back again tomorrow?”

“Sure, come again tomorrow.”

“Can I bring my pajamas and sleep over tomorrow?”

Ha ha. Look at this kid.

Seeing his cheeky demeanor, Ji-heon thought about Park Seung-kyu’s son, who once pouted to have fun with his girlfriend to save face.

Ji-heon patted Dobin’s head and chuckled, feeling an unexpected warmth in his fingertips.

“Haha. You’re just a tiny little guy.”

“I’m 120 cm! Do you have a 120 cm booger, uncle?”

“Park Seung-kyu. You should take your son home.”

Ji-heon turned his head towards the front door as he spoke. Seung-kyu, who hadn’t heard their conversation, called out lazily, “Park Dobin, if you don’t come now, I’ll leave you behind.”

Who says they can leave him behind?!

Finally, Ji-heon, feeling overwhelmed, lifted Dobin into his arms.

“Waaaah! Ena, goodbye!”

Dobin flailed his arms as if he were on a bridge like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in a fairy tale, waving goodbye to Ena.

“Yeah! Goodbye!”

Ena also chased after Dobin, waving back.

Phew. Now I can finally relax.

Only after sending Seung-kyu’s family away did Ji-heon regain his true peace. Ena, who had come out to the entrance, fiddled with the yellow umbrella stuck in the umbrella holder and spoke.

“Oh? Dad has this umbrella too? Ena has this umbrella too.”

Ena brought out the same umbrella from her shoe rack and held it up. The two identical umbrellas met.

It was the umbrella Jeong-oh had bought for Ji-heon on a rainy day long ago, while he was on his way to a dinner with an advertiser.

Back then, when she handed him that umbrella, Ji-heon hadn’t fully understood his feelings. He didn’t know why he was drawn to her or why he was so easily swayed by her; his eyes were simply drawn to her. It seemed he had loved her without even realizing it.

“That’s the umbrella Mom bought for Dad.”

“Oh, so Mom bought it. That makes sense.”

Ji-heon laughed at his child’s tone.

A dark night. Eun-yeob visited Eun-bi’s house.

She hadn’t gone to any matchmaking events, had her phone turned off, and being the only younger sibling hadn’t added any value to the household. Eun-yeob was furious because Eun-bi was too clueless to do anything properly.

“Chae Eun-bi.”

Forcing open the front door, Eun-yeob called her younger sister irritably. It seemed like Eun-bi was home. Sounds of retching came from the bathroom.

Wondering if she was sick, Eun-yeob frowned and looked around. Her gaze stopped at the side table.

A used pregnancy test sat there. Eun-yeob was flabbergasted at the result showing two red lines in parallel.

Moments later, the sound of the toilet flushing was heard, and Eun-bi emerged from the bathroom.

“What? Why are you here?”

Seeing Eun-yeob, Eun-bi made a disgusted face, as if she had seen something horrifying. Eun-yeob thrust the pregnancy test at her.

Gasping, Eun-bi quickly lunged forward and snatched it from Eun-yeob’s hands.

“What the heck! Why are you breaking into someone else’s house and doing this?”

“Who’s the father of the baby?”

Eun-yeob asked in a cold voice.

“Who’s the loser?”

“…It’s not mine.”

“Make sense. If it’s not yours in a house where you live alone, whose could it be?”

Eun-bi’s arms grew cold as if she had chills. She shrank back, cautiously trying to distance herself from Eun-yeob.

“Who’s the father?”

“……”

“Who’s that loser?”

Eun-yeob continued to press her.

“You don’t know? You really don’t know?”

“……”

“How long has it been?”

“……”

“How many weeks along are you?!”

Although she didn’t particularly want to protect what was inside her belly, for some reason, Eun-bi instinctively wrapped her arms around it.

With an irritated expression, Eun-yeob turned away, clearly tired of the conversation.

“Get the surgery done tomorrow. I’ll take care of it.”

Eun-yeob had a history of helping some of her female acquaintances get surgeries, and there was a particular hospital she always contacted for these situations.

However, rather than nodding in understanding and gratitude, her sister looked at her with tear-filled eyes and resentment. Eun-yeob was taken aback.

“The sooner you do this, the better.”

“I can’t do it.”

“Stop talking nonsense and just do it. Everyone does.”

“I can’t, I can’t.”

Eun-bi whimpered and clutched Eun-yeob’s arm, pleading.

“I can’t… I can’t do it.”

“Are you out of your mind? Do you want to be a single mother?”

Eun-bi shook her head vigorously, tears streaming down her face.

“Do you want to ruin your life because of the baby? Or is the baby’s dad going to live with you? Even if he’s a billionaire? Or is it Jeong Ji-heon?”

Eun-yeob snapped, trying to wake her immature sister up to reality as she held her phone.

“Enough talk. I’ll contact the hospital.”

“I’ve done it before!”

At Eun-bi’s scream-like confession, Eun-yeob lowered the phone she had raised. Eun-yeob squinted in surprise at the unexpected revelation.

“I-I’ve had surgery.”

“When?”

“…Seven years ago.”

“In the U.S.?”

Reluctantly, Eun-bi confessed the truth.

Seven years ago in the U.S., Eun-bi had gotten pregnant by her boyfriend. The man, taken aback, facilitated the surgical procedures.

Eun-bi had the surgery performed by a man who didn’t even have a medical license. She couldn’t choose a proper hospital for fear that her family in Korea would find out.

After the surgery, the man naturally left Eun-bi. That became the reason she gave up her studies abroad and returned to Korea.

It was a horrific time. If she hadn’t met Jeong Ji-heon again, she would have suffered in pain for a long time.

She didn’t want to go back to that time.

“They said I developed adhesions because I overdid it back then. If I have surgery again, I won’t survive. No way, no way.”

“Are you even human or are you trash?”

However, she couldn’t expect any comfort from her brother.

“Think a little. It’s been seven years; you should be fully healed by now. That’s why you got pregnant. What’s the problem?”

She couldn’t persuade her brother with something from seven years ago. Eun-bi desperately tried to stop Eun-yeob.

“No. I still can’t have surgery. I’ll do it with medication.”

She couldn’t go back to that operating table; she couldn’t endure that pain again. It was far too horrific.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Before long, it was time to go to bed.

Guk-soon, who had been watching TV with Ena in the living room, began to doze off.

“Mom, you should go to bed.”

“Oh my. I fell asleep.”

Guk-soon slowly replied, waking up at Jeong-oh’s call. It had been such a tiring day, waking up early to supervise the moving process, organizing the new house, and hosting guests.

“Right. You should sleep now too.”

As Guk-soon made her way slowly to her room, Ji-heon greeted her.

“Goodnight, Mother. You worked really hard today.”

“Yeah. You too, Ena. You worked hard as well.”

“……”

“I’m so grateful.”

After Guk-soon waved her hand and entered her room, Ji-heon turned to Ena.

“You should wash up and go to bed too.”

“Dad should wash me.”

Hearing their conversation, Jeong-oh chimed in with some nagging.

“Lee Ena, you should try doing it by yourself now.”

But Ena, unfazed, spread her arms towards her dad. Ji-heon chuckled and lifted Ena, heading toward the bathroom.

He washed her hands and feet, helped her wash her face, and cleaned her teeth. Ji-heon had become quite adept at bathing his child. He felt that he was slowly becoming a father.

“Change your clothes and lie down in bed. I’ll read you a story.”

“Okay!”

Ena quickly ran to her room after Ji-heon’s words, changed into her pajamas, and came out with a pillow and a fairy tale book.

Princess Ena headed toward the master bedroom without a care.

“Dad, hurry up!”

Caught off guard by this, Ji-heon felt a bit flustered. However, he couldn’t let the child see his inner turmoil.

“Are you going to sleep here?”

“Yeah!”

Well, it wouldn’t be easy for a child who had always slept with her mother to sleep alone. Raising a child was like that. The desire to monopolize his wife had to be set aside at times like this. For the time being, it seemed he would have to adapt to such nights.

Seeing that Ena had claimed the bed, Jeong-oh entered the master bedroom and said, “Ena, but this bed doesn’t have a guardrail. You’re definitely going to fall off.”

“No, I sleep really prettily!”

“That’s because Mom puts it back perfectly every morning.”

In the end, the three of them spread a large blanket beside the bed in the master bedroom and lay down together. No matter how expensive the bed was, it was of no use. At least Ena’s bed served as a trampoline substitute, which was something to be thankful for, right?

Snuggled between her mom and dad, Ena pulled the blanket snugly over her shoulders and continued to giggle. Even when the protagonist in the story Ji-heon was reading faced difficulties, Ena was just giggling and not paying attention.

Ji-heon closed the storybook and asked, “Aren’t you going to sleep, Ena?”

“Dad, today Ena is the happiest in the world.”

Ena replied with her bright, sparkling eyes.

Her heart was already full of happiness, so full that there was no room for any other feelings.

“It’s the happiest day for Ena in the whole world because all her wishes have come true.”

He didn’t ask what wishes they were. He could guess, and somehow he felt that asking would bring tears again. Right now, he just wanted to protect the child’s clear smile.

Ahahahaha, uhuhuhuh, kikikikiki. Ji-heon couldn’t help but laugh along with Ena’s joyful giggles. Seeing the child happy made Ji-heon happy as well.

Jeong-oh had never seen Ji-heon laugh so heartily.

After laughing for quite a while and receiving a few nagging remarks from Jeong-oh, Ena finally fell asleep.

Watching the sleeping child—this was the dream he had longed for, and now Ji-heon could do it every day.

As Ji-heon gazed at Ena with a dazed expression, Jeong-oh recalled the days when they lived in the villa. Watching Ji-heon look at the sleeping child made her heart feel heavy. Had her mother looked at her with such feelings too?

After a while of silently watching, Jeong-oh asked, “Do you have a wish, oppa?”

Ji-heon answered after a long pause.

“My wish will never come true.”

As he had done with Jeong-oh, Ji-heon continued while brushing Ena’s disheveled hair.

“If only for just one day, I want to go back to when Ena was younger. I want to go back and hold little Ena.”

“……”

“If God appeared and granted that wish, I’d live ten or a hundred times harder than now.”

Having answered that much, Ji-heon let out a soft, deflated laugh. It felt childish and embarrassing to make a promise to live hard in exchange for a wish from God.

Jeong-oh found Ji-heon endearing, despite that.

As Ji-heon caressed the child, his fingertips brushed over Ena’s shoulder and touched Jeong-oh.

“But even now, while regretting it, this time is incredibly precious.”

“……”

“I love you.”

His hand, which had been stroking her hair, moved down to her earlobe, then along her jawline, tracing her neck.

Jeong-oh’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him.

“Oppa.”

“……”

“I wish Ena had a younger sibling.”

Instead of answering with “I love you too,” Jeong-oh offered a poignant alternative.

……A few seconds later, she regretted saying that deeply.