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Chapter 2: Reunion – October 5, 2020

He looked up.  And was instantly rooted to the floor even as a little boy came flying across the room to throw himself at Jin’s legs.

“Mr. Kim, this is Eomma!” Minhyuk announced as his tiny arms encircled Jin’s legs and squeezed hard.

Without thinking, Jin reached down and pulled the little boy up into his arms.  He tilted his head towards the child to whisper to him.  But his eyes never left the mother.  

“This is your eomma?”

She couldn’t breathe.  It couldn’t be.  It just wasn’t possible.  It wasn’t really him.  Perhaps all the Kims looked alike.  Though, she knew that thought was foolishness.

“Eomma!  See!  This is Mr. Kim,” Minhyuk rested his little head against Jin’s shoulder and beamed at her.

Yura stared at Jin holding her son, and she found it extremely difficult to hold back her tears.  Minhyuk should have been his son.  She should have been his wife.  But for one stupid decision she’d made.  Over and over again.

Finally, Jin spoke again.  Addressing his statement to the little boy.  “Minhyuk, I thought the other lady was your eomma.”

The tiny child shook his head vigorously.  “No.  That’s Auntie Minsu.”

“Ah,” Jin responded, though, really, he understood very little.  He turned towards Yura.  “Well, it’s very nice to meet your eomma.”  Suddenly, he smiled a mirthless smile at her.  “You are your son’s favorite person.  He talks about you nonstop.  Your husband must be so jealous of his affection.”

A funny expression crossed her face.  But she didn’t say anything.  However, her son piped up.  

“Mr. Kim, are we going to finger paint today!?”

He nodded dumbly towards the little boy, but his eyes were on her face.  The face that still haunted his dreams frequently.  And his memories even more often.

She tore her eyes away from his.  She was about to burst into tears.  “Minhyuk, Auntie Minsu is going to pick you up this afternoon.  You’ll be with her until I get off work, okay?”

The little boy nodded and squirmed.  Jin translated this action as a desire to be free of his arms.  So he set him down.  The child ran over to his eomma and threw himself into her arms.  

“Bye, Eomma!  Have a good day!”

Her lips twisted.  She squeezed him close.  And closed her eyes.  A tear escaped.  She didn’t realize it, but as she stood up, Jin saw it.

And it loosened his tongue.  “It’s good to see you, Yura.”

Her eyes lifted to meet his.  She quirked the corners of her mouth.  But it was a pathetic attempt at a smile.  

“You too, Jin,” she whispered.  Then she glanced down at Minhyuk and patted him on his head before ruffling his wavy hair with her fingers.  “Be good for Mr. Kim.  Don’t give him any trouble.”  

Your eomma’s already given him more trouble than he ever deserved.

Then she spun around and practically ran out the door.  Jin stared after her for a full sixty seconds before any of his students could get his attention.

—

She dropped her son off every day that week.  But she didn’t enter Jin’s classroom again.  It made him sad.  But he couldn’t have said why.  She was, after all, a married woman.  She was completely off limits to him still.

Minhyuk mentioned her every day.  She was clearly his favorite person in the whole world.  He even taught Jin a song she’d sung to him since he was tiny.  

One day, Jin sat down at the piano to lead his class in a song, but before he could even put his fingers on the keys, Minhyuk had jumped up and run over to him.

“Mr. Jin!  Can I teach you a song today?”

Jin had smiled down at him.  “What song?”

“It’s a song my eomma taught me.”

Jin had frowned.  He hadn’t meant to.  But those words had been a blow to his heart.  Still, he hadn’t ignored the precious child.  He’d nodded dumbly at him.  And then words had flowed in a pleasing melody out of the tiny boy’s mouth.

And the years had rolled away again.

Jin and Yura had gone down to the river to enjoy a picnic one pleasant, spring afternoon.  It had been a Sunday.  They had been taking a break from their studies.  

Jin had spread a blanket out under the shade of an old tree.  Yura had sat down on it and begun to unpack their picnic basket.  They’d had a leisurely lunch and laughed and talked while they ate.  When they had eaten their fill and repacked the basket, Jin had lain down on his back to stare up at the blue sky.  Yura had joined him.  

But after a few minutes of translating the shapes of the clouds, Jin had turned towards her and begun to sing to her.  She had turned her head to gaze into his eyes.  Then, robbed of her breath, she had stilled herself for the duration of that song.  He had sung it to her just that once.  But it was a song he had written just for her.  And now, her son was standing in his classroom singing that song to him.  

“Eyes of brown,

Kind and round,

Stare at me,

Set me free.

“Lost myself

In velvet,

Deep and dark,

Left a mark.

“On my soul

Don’t you know?

Your eyes please,

Do not cease.

“Gaze at me;

Don’t leave me.

Always be

Mine so free.”

But she had.  She had left him.  For Seungbin, of all people.  She wasn’t Jin’s anymore.  And this tiny boy wasn’t his either.  

His heart released a pang.  He still wanted that woman.  And, if he was honest, he’d have to admit that he wanted this precious, little kid too.  Minhyuk was absolutely adorable.  Sweet and precocious.  But also silent and timid.  Quite often.  He had warmed up to Jin quickly enough, but around other men, he always hid behind Jin.  In fact, Minhyuk didn’t seem to want to speak in front of anyone else.  Why was he so effusive with Jin?

It was a mystery.

Jin wasn’t sure what imp prompted him, but he asked the child, “Does your eomma sing that song to your appa?”

A strange look crossed the little boy’s face.  He shook his head.  “No.  Eomma sings that song to me.”

Then they’d been interrupted by another child. So Jin had ceased to question him about his appa.

—

“So, Yura, what did you think of Minhyuk’s teacher?  He’s a total babe, right?”

Absentmindedly, she nodded.

Minsu stared at her.  “All right.  Spill it.  What’s going on?”

Minsu had been her friend for the last three months of high school.  The months during which she had been messing around with Seungbin.  And ignoring Jin.  Minsu didn’t even know about Jin.  Yura had never mentioned him to her.  Not by name anyway.

Now, Yura sighed.  She didn’t want to tell her friend.  But she knew Minsu’s character.  And she knew that Minsu would never give up.  The easiest course of action was to admit everything right now.  Well, not everything.

“I broke his heart once.  A long time ago.”

“What?”  Minsu’s head snapped up.  “Mr. Kim?!  You dated that gorgeous guy?”

When Yura ceased to be forthcoming, Minsu’s eyes widened exponentially, and she exclaimed, “Before Seungbin!  You dated that guy before your husband, didn’t you?”

Yura winced. 

“What?” Minsu’s brow suddenly developed two deep valleys.  “What aren’t you telling me?”

Yura hung her head.  “It was so much worse than that.  I got pregnant with Seungbin’s baby before I broke it off with Jin.”

“WHAT?!!!  How on earth could you treat that sweet man that way?” Minsu practically yelled.

Yura blinked and several tears fell down her face.  “I do not know.  Honestly, Minsu, I think I went insane when Seungbin touched me.”

Minsu’s eyes widened.  “You’re still in love with Jin!”

“What?” Yura hid her eyes.  “No.  No.  That sweet man doesn’t deserve me.  He deserves…someone like you.  So, go ahead and go for him.  He’d be happy with someone as kind and loving as you are.”

“That is a bunch of poppycock, and you know it,” Minsu bristled.

Yura just stared at her.

“Yura, you are the sweetest person I know.  Your son absolutely dotes on you.  You have spent years working your fingers to the bone to provide for him.  To give him a good life.  Yet no matter how exhausted you are at the end of the day, you are always unfailingly sweet to him.  And to me.  

“How many times have you bailed me out when something went wrong?”

“Minsu, we have a reciprocal relationship.  If you hadn’t taken us in when I left Seungbin, well,” she shivered, “I shudder to think what might have happened to us.  You know I had nowhere else to go.”

“What are friends for?”

Yura smiled.  But, yet again, it didn’t reach her eyes.

“You need to tell him.”

“What?” Yura frowned.

“You need to tell Jin that you never stopped loving him.”

“I do not need to say any such thing to him!  For all I know, he has a girlfriend or a fiancé.”

But even as she said it, his pledge echoed back to her.

“I love you, Yura.  I will always love you.  You’re the only girl for me.  I swear it.  Forever.”  

Surely such feelings had been squelched by her betrayal!  But then, she remembered something else he’d flung at her passionately.

“Don’t.  Don’t marry him.  Marry me.  Our plans don’t have to change.”

Fool that she’d been, she had turned him down.

Her eyes filled with more tears.  “Please.” She rubbed her forehead.  “Can we please stop talking about this?”

Minsu eyed her thoughtfully.  “All right.  For now,” she threatened.

Yura didn’t like the tone of her voice.

“But I’m not promising to never bring it up again.”

Yura sighed.  At least, for tonight, she could evade further questions.