A child who looks like me

Dobin was absolutely thrilled to visit his girlfriend’s house for the first time.

In a corner of Yena’s room, he spotted a Pororo doll and exclaimed to Yena, “I can be Pororo! Want to see?”

“Yeah!”

“Hello, Yena! I’m Pororo! Isn’t it just like me?”

“I can be Loopy! Pororo, you’re not standing there! Isn’t it just like me?”

“I can be Shinchan too! I’m Jjanggu! Ulaula! Isn’t it just like me?”

“I can sing Elsa’s song! Into the Unknown! Isn’t it just like me?”

Before long, Jeong-o’s house turned into a stage for a voice imitation contest. The kids took turns showcasing the characters they knew, proudly imitating their voices.

Children love to mimic. When prompted, they quickly take turns being Pororo, Loopy, Shinchan, and Elsa. The fun part was that all their voices sounded astonishingly similar.

Although they all sounded the same, they believed they were different. Perhaps because within each child lived Pororo, Loopy, Shinchan, and Elsa.

As Jeong-o watched the kids compete with their voices, the topic of their play shifted rapidly. Dobin ran over holding paper and colored pencils.

“Auntie, draw for me.”

“A drawing? What should I draw?”

“Shinbi, the goblin.”

“Mom, I want to be Geumbi!”

Yena shouted from the side. Jeong-o took the colored pencils from Dobin.

“Since Dobin spoke first, let’s draw for him first.”

It wasn’t difficult to draw the characters shown on the pencil case. Nevertheless, Jeong-o poured her heart into it. Just as she was focusing intently on drawing, the front door opened.

“Dad!”

Jiheon came home after finishing work.

“Dad, draw for me! Mom said she’d draw Shinbi, so you draw Geumbi.”

Yena dashed toward Jiheon, begging him. Jeong-o felt a jolt of anxiety. She wondered if Jiheon would be able to draw properly.

“What’s Geumbi?”

Jiheon asked Jeong-o. She tapped the character on the pencil case.

“Just look and draw.”

Jiheon sat down opposite Jeong-o and picked up the colored pencils.

He should be able to draw if he just looks at it, right? He picked up the pencils without a word, so he must be confident.

Jeong-o felt a mix of anxiety and anticipation as she secretly cast glances at Jiheon.

“Wow! Uncle, are you drawing too?”

“Of course! My dad can do anything!”

Yena boasted, puffing out her chest. Jeong-o became even more anxious. It felt like Jiheon’s drawn circle contained all the ups and downs of life. In fact, she wasn’t sure if what he drew could even be called a circle.

Sure enough, after Jiheon poured his heart into the drawing and handed the completed piece to Yena, her eyes widened as if the world had come crashing down.

“What is this?”

Yena asked seriously. Dobin glanced over and chuckled before promptly closing his mouth again. Even a seven-year-old child can see. She immediately recognized that this was not the character she had in mind.

“What is this?!”

She had discovered the truth. Her dad was the best, a genius, a wizard. She had been so certain that there was nothing her dad couldn’t do, but that belief came crashing down.

How could he ruin my Geumbi like this?

“I asked you to draw Geumbi, Geumbi!”

“It is Geumbi…”

Jiheon replied cautiously, looking sheepish.

He was asked to draw Geumbi, but he ended up drawing a zombie. He couldn’t even manage to look and draw properly. Our Yena’s dad.

“Yena, I’m sorry. How about I read you a story instead?”

“I hate Dad. Dad has no talent.”

Jiheon’s eyes went blank at the child’s factual attack. He became the despised dad for not being able to draw. To be a child’s dad, there were basic qualities one needed to have.

As Yena’s face crumpled and Dobin snickered quietly, Jiheon was in shock when the doorbell rang, and the front door opened again. Jin-seo walked in with Doyun.

“Excuse me.”

“Mommy!”

Dobin recognized his mom right away and ran over to her first. Seeing Jiheon, Jin-seo greeted him warmly.

“Oh, Jiheon! You’re here too!”

“Mom, the uncle who plays baduk draws really poorly.”

While a friendly exchange was supposed to take place, Dobin’s clueless truth-telling embarrassed Jin-seo right away as she entered someone else’s home.

Yena, Dobin, and Doyun played together until late at night before finally parting ways. Jiheon also left after putting Yena to bed, and as usual, Jeong-o followed him out.

Earlier, Jiheon had briefly talked about visiting his family home. He didn’t seem to act like someone who had just severed ties with his family, which made Jeong-o feel uneasy.

“Are you okay?”

“What’s wrong?”

“About your mother.”

The idea of severing ties with a mother was something Jeong-o could hardly even imagine. She felt bad even asking because she could only imagine how Jiheon felt after going through something so harsh.

He must think about it from time to time, feeling a pain inside him like a splinter lodged somewhere.

“I’m fine.”

“Still, it must hurt.”

“But I really think I did the right thing.”

He answered with a resolute expression, as if he wouldn’t look back on the past. However, it seemed difficult to continue that conversation, so he skillfully changed the subject.

“Seung-kyu mentioned it. He said we should move over there.”

“Yeah, Jin-seo mentioned it today too. It would be nice to raise the kids together in the same neighborhood.”

“What do you think?”

“I think it would be great. Yena likes Dobin.”

“Hm.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like hearing that Yena likes Dobin.”

“What’s wrong with that? It’s nice they like each other instead of hating each other.”

“Dobin doesn’t just like Yena. He loves her.”

“Are you worried that those two little kids might go crazy and decide to get married?”

“Somehow, I think Dobin would.”

Jeong-o couldn’t help but laugh at his serious expression.

He had completely cut off ties with his mother, who opposed his dating and marrying, yet he couldn’t stand to see his daughter with a boyfriend. How could he feel that way?

Well, Dobin was one thing, but thinking about how Jiheon might change when Yena eventually gets a real boyfriend made her a little worried about the future.

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

The next day was a lovely Saturday.

However, unexpectedly, Jeong-o found herself with work to do. An advertiser had urgently requested an online ad.

She hadn’t had time to play last week because she helped organize Guksun’s restaurant, so she had planned to have fun this week, but now she felt terrible for having to cancel on Yena.

“What should I do? Yena, I think I have to go to work today.”

“Okay.”

Surprisingly, Yena accepted this calmly, even smiling. Jeong-o felt puzzled.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

Her answer was surprisingly cheerful. Though she felt a bit sad, she thought Yena might be putting on a brave face so as not to worry her mom, so Jeong-o continued to reassure her.

“I’ll come back before it gets late. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay if you’re late.”

“It’s okay if I’m late?”

“Yeah. I’ll play with Dad.”

Ah, so it’s okay for mom to work now that Dad is around.

“Mom, hurry and go. Go work quickly.”

In fact, Yena was urging her to get to the office. Jeong-o stood there, momentarily taken aback.

So she really enjoys playing with Dad that much. Hm.

On one hand, she felt proud and grateful that her daughter didn’t seem sad calling for her mom, but on the other hand, she felt a little lonely.

Now, the two of them seemed like inseparable partners. Every morning and evening, they exchanged secret messages and occasionally whispered to each other.

Although she had never been overly concerned with secrets that others wouldn’t share, the fact that both of them were the people Jeong-o loved most in the world made her feel a slight sense of isolation.

Feeling empty, Jeong-o headed to work. Her team members had also been called in urgently, so none of them had bright expressions. Still, they didn’t slack off. Everyone worked diligently with the intention of finishing quickly and going home.

While she was preoccupied with creating work products, Jeong-o’s phone rang. It was Yena’s number.

“Princess Yena!”

[Mom, we’ve gone out to play!]

Hearing Yena’s bright voice made Jeong-o feel happy too. It seemed they had gone on a picnic with Jiheon.

“Where? Where to?”

[It’s a secret!]

“Another secret?”

Jeong-o felt annoyed that her daughter was teasing her. If they were going to play, they should do it when she was around instead of just the two of them going off to play.

[Curious? I’ll tell you later!]

She felt like she was being tortured. She wanted to finish her work quickly and chase after them, her impatience making her fidgety. However, her merciless daughter ended the call, leaving Jeong-o hanging.

While feeling down, Jeheon also sent a text message. It was 12 o’clock, meaning it was, as always, lunchtime.

– We decided to go to our house today. We might be a bit late, so go home first. See you later.

Jeong-o blinked a few times at the notification.

“So they made plans without telling me, huh?”

Still, since she had wanted to show Yena and Guksun Jeheon’s house, she accepted it without any complaints.

By the time she finished all her work, it was 6 PM. She tried calling Jeheon, but he didn’t answer. The same went for Yena and Guksun. As she was moving around, another text message from Jeheon came through. It was the password for his front door, meaning she should let herself in.

“What on earth are they doing that they’re not reachable…?”

Feeling a bit disgruntled, Jeong-o entered Jeheon’s apartment. After entering the password he had given her, she was confronted with complete darkness.

This space had never been this dark before.

The hallway sensor light didn’t seem to be working, either. Moreover, there was a floral scent wafting from the entrance, perhaps from a diffuser that had been set up to welcome the kids. It wasn’t a bad smell, but with nothing visible in the darkness, it felt vaguely scary.

She regretted entering early and thought she should have just waited outside for Yena and Jeheon to arrive. Just as she contemplated turning back outside, the lights in the hallway came on from below.

The long hallway was decorated with flower beds on both sides. Lights extended down the corridor. Jeong-o blinked several times in confusion. In the blinking moments, tears welled up in her eyes.

On the TV screen, two photos were sparkling and playing on repeat. One was a picture of Jeong-o and Jeheon taken seven years ago at the restaurant “The Crown” in Australia, and the other was a photo of flowers filling the screen.

A pretty garland hung over the flower photo, reading “MARRY ME?” Along the right edge of the photo was a card with the name “TO Jeong-o” written on it.

Jeheon had mentioned before that he had prepared a proposal seven years ago, and that he had found the photo from that time after all these years, with Jeong-o’s name written on it.

Seeing the photo exactly as Jeheon had described, Jeong-o felt a rush of emotions. Her hand instinctively went to her lips.

At that moment, a tall man in a neat suit appeared at the end of the hallway.

From somewhere in the room, the sound of a child’s laughter could be heard.

Was this why the father and son had been so close while preparing all this?

Her lips curved into a happy smile, but her eyes continued to well up with tears.