“Eomma?”
“Hmm?”
“You love Uncle Yeo Wool, don’t you?” Se Ri queried as she stared up at her mother guilelessly.
Caught off guard, her mother responded, “Why do you ask?”
“Because I am just sure that he loves you. And…if he asks you to marry him, you will accept him, won’t you?”
“What?” she croaked in surprise.
“Please, Eomma. I want him to be my appa. And I want him to make you smile forever.”
Tears instantly sprang to Sam Sook’s eyes. “Make me smile forever?” She turned incredulous eyes on her daughter. “What do you mean?”
“After Appa got sick, you stopped laughing. And then a while after that, it got worse. I don’t know why. You didn’t even smile anymore. A few months later, Se Yeon was born. And I knew you delighted in her. Your smile appeared whenever you looked at her. But then Appa worsened, and all the joy left. I didn’t hear your laughter for…a long time. Not until recently. Uncle Yeo Wool makes you laugh, Eomma. I know he makes you happy.”
She stared down at her daughter in great consternation.
If only life were as simple as this small child believed it to be.
“Oh, darling,” she murmured as a tear slid down her cheek.
“Promise me, Eomma.”
“What?” Sam Sook asked, startled.
“Promise me that you’ll say yes. If he asks.” The child beamed up at her. “I love your laugh.”
Sam Sook hugged her close. “You are such a sweetheart. Let’s go get you some rice cakes.”
But Se Ri didn’t move. “Eomma,” her stern voice struck Sam Sook’s frayed nerves. “You didn’t promise.”
“Darling, I can’t promise that. A marriage is about more than laughter.”
“But,” her child looked up at her out of wide, dark eyes, “why? Isn’t laughter – and love – the most important part of a marriage? Don’t you marry a man to be happy with him?”
“Yes, darling,” Sam Sook replied, “that is exactly why you marry a man. But…I don’t think that I can make Uncle Yeo Wool happy.”
“You’re wrong, Eomma. You do make Uncle Yeo Wool happy. All the time. Haven’t you seen the way that he looks at you? The way he smiles at you?”
Her mother blinked. And bit her lip.
She’d made a mistake. She shouldn’t have allowed Yeo Wool to get this close to her children. Not unless she meant to go through with the marriage.
The trouble was…the closer he got to them, the more her heart yearned for him. Perhaps it was time to tell him the truth. She was now certain that she could trust him with it. And once it was spoken, he would understand her reticence. And he would withdraw his offer.
Wouldn’t he?
