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“Someone missed daddy so much.”
Chi Hoon’s face brightened as he heard the familiar voice. A sound of gurgling replies to the woman, followed by an uncontrollable giggle. Chi Hoon closes the last chart he was reading before walking towards his family.
“I haven’t seen you in a day, and you look bigger than I remember already,” Chi Hoon takes his son, the little boy reaching for his unwashed hair. He pouts as his son’s grip tightened. “Hey. Have you been teaching this to him at home?”
Hee Eun laughs, looping her arm to her husband’s. “He just likes your hair, just like how mommy loves daddy’s hair.”
“Aigoo,” Chi Hoon shakes his head, but his teasing look hasn’t slipped from Hee Eun’s eyes. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”
Hee Eun gazes at him charmingly, “Honey, you know me too well.”
“Hey, you are not allowed to flirt in the hallway, remember?”
Chi Hoon and Hee Eun nearly jump from the sudden call of the newcomer. Hee Eun, the braver of the two, rushes to the woman and reaches for her hand. “Mo Yeon sunbae, please let it slide. Our baby misses his daddy so much.”
Mo Yeon looks at her disbelievingly. “Really? Hee Eun-ah, I can sniff your lies from the other end of the corridor.” She glances at Chi Hoon, who is now clenching his teeth, but her attention has been taken by the little boy in his arms. Small limbs flail toward her direction, and Mo Yeon excitingly reaches back.
“This boy, I can handle,” Mo Yeon remarks, brushing her nose to the boy’s protruding abdomen. The giggles grow louder, and Chi Hoon can only smile at the joyous image in front of him.
“Dr. Kim has been looking for you. I think she needs a helping hand so she won’t kill anyone anytime soon,” Mo Yeon tells him, eyes never leaving his son’s form.
“I am assigned to that case too. I thought either of us is off the hook,” Hee Eun remarks balefully.
“Don’t worry. I’ll watch over this big guy,” Mo Yeon offers her hand to Hee Eun’s direction.
“You’re heaven sent, Mo Yeon sunbae!” Hee Eun passes the baby bag from her shoulder to Mo Yeon, and the older woman expertly slips it on her shoulder. She turns back, waving offhandedly to the couple.
“He didn’t even mind being taken by Mo Yeon sunbae. What are we, chopped liver?” Chi Hoon watches as their child continued to bask in Mo Yeon’s attention.
Hee Eun just pats his back, dragging him to the operating room with a sigh. An operation with Dr. Kim as the attending surgeon? God forbid.
Chi Hoon stretched the tense and aching muscles of his back. He only had to survive one operation with Dr. Kim, but he felt like a bedraggled clerk all over again. Dr. Kim is raging mad if she thinks she deserves the professorial position she’s handling. As far as Chi Hoon is concerned, she’s an incompetent woman who only lifted herself up with her connections and money. Chi Hoon, the gentleman he is, did his best to tolerate her, but the woman drove all of them nuts. Hee Eun has been an angel for assuaging the tension through it all.
He walked towards the familiar hallway leading to Mo Yeon’s office, knowing that she preferred the nicely furnished couch for his son to lie on instead of the space in Ji Soo’s workplace. Humming a familiar tune, he casually strolled towards the open door.
“Si Jin is right. You are just as adorable as your father.”
Chi Hoon stops by the slightly open door.
“Maybe you just like me a lot. Sang-hyun sunbae is always complaining about you, but you like pretty women, eh?” The child giggles, as if he understands what the older woman is saying. “Si Jin would have liked you.” A pause follows. Chi Hoon carefully places his ear closer to the door. “You like this necklace too? Ah, you only have to start smooth talking and you’ll be a miniature version of him. I’m quite sure you’ll get your parents’ sense of self-preservation, unlike that…yah. You’re a child. I can’t even curse in front of you. This is pitiful.”
Chi Hoon wants to laugh at Mo Yeon’s monologue, but cannot muster enough amusement to do so.
It’s been three months since Sergeant Choi appeared at the steps of Haesung Hospital to deliver the news of Captain Yoo Si Jin and Seo Dae Young’s death.
Chi Hoon only learned of the story from Ji Soo, who he had to visit for a consult. He looked at her, and the older woman could only shake her head in disbelief. Mo Yeon suddenly rushed out of the hospital in the middle of her shift, and everyone had tried getting a look at the military truck riding at a distance. Ja Ae and Min Ji tried to call Mo Yeon, but only Sang Hyun was able to get a reply from Mo Yeon.
Captain Yoo is dead.
Ever since, the group tried not to speak of him. Mo Yeon did not return until the next day, but it was evident that she had not slept a wink. Still, she trudged on. In silent understanding, their circle of friends inched closer to each other. Mo Yeon would want to grieve in private, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t watch over her.
I’ll be leaving her with the knowledge that you and your group of friends will care for her.
Chi Hoon once told of his conversation with the captain with Sang Hyun. The only response the man returned is a nod and a pack of beer at the hospital’s rooftop.
Chi Hoon doesn’t really drink, but that memory deserved something burning and stiff so it won’t be difficult to look back into.
As he reminisces, he almost misses Mo Yeon’s next words. “Si Jin and I, we actually talked about marriage and having children. He wants a girl, that overprotective buffoon. I want a little boy. I want a little Si Jin saluting to me all day and treating us like the most adorable drill sergeant I can imagine. He’ll be mischievous and he will drive us mad, but we won’t love him any less. And the little girl, she’ll be the most precious thing in our lives.” Chi Hoon senses the change in her voice. “You’ll make a great boyfriend, wiping my tears like that. No wonder Chi Hoon charmed Hee Eun into having you…Yah, what am I saying? You won’t remember that, eh?”
Chi Hoon wants to tell her that she can tease him all she wants; if that’s the only way she can amuse herself lately.
“Maybe that idiot is watching over you. Have you met him in your dreams, little boy? I hope you do. When he cradles you in your sleep, I just have one request. You do love this ahjumma, yes?” Chi Hoon can imagine the piercing gaze of his son, and can imagine Mo Yeon’s hopeful look – the same look she had seasons ago, when the devastation of Urk appeared miniscule against the light that one man brought for her. “Please hold Yoo Si Jin a bit longer for me.”
Chi Hoon slumps on the floor, opting not to interfere Mo Yeon’s moment with his son. He can only wonder how cruel time had been for taking away the captain and the doctor’s dream too soon.