𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆 | 𝒆𝒏𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒏 (𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨)

44

I try telling myself that I'll be alright
But at the end of the day, it's you again

BTOB - Missing You

With the chaos of the daycare settled and the time of lunch near Heeseung's school, Chaerin left the small establishment with traces of her children's tears in her lavender sweater. She was reluctant at first, but she have to remind herself that she needed to deliver Heeseung's lunchbox to his school. The weather was overall pleasant and the walk toward the elementary school was as normal as it could be.

And as she approaches the school building, she was stopped by a rather old man with his uniform neatly worn on his body. They had asked for identification on whether she was a parent or a guardian of a student, and luckily for the young parent, Heeseung ran outside the building and stopped as he locked his eyes on her. 

 The glimmer on the eyes of the young child brightened even further, and he left his friends to scramble over the petite woman with his arms wide open. Chaerin returned the crushing bear hug and even spun him around in the air with him laughing with no restraint. Students were whispering around the large yard but soon died down from the lack of attention both the mother and son gave. 

 "Eomma, what are you doing here? Especially at this hour, I remember that you have work today," Heeseung spoke as he fixed his eyes on the small lunchbox with small animal prints in her hands. He pieced together all the clues and began hugging his mother again while truly trying to believe what he had thought. 

 A smirk was painted on her face and the young woman bent down her body to the child's eye level. "I believe that I haven't given you a packed lunch before," she added as she handed him the lunchbox, "so here you go." 

 His hands which were now way larger than the small fists when he was still a baby tightly hugged the bag - his very own lunch box. Chaerin held her breath, ignoring the same weighty boulder in her heart every time her children were happy when she spent her time with them without work holding her back. 

 As she thought of this, she bit her lips in a habit. A habit she does when she was about to decide on an important decision. And she... 

 "Heeseungie, what if," she paused for a second as she kept weighing the overall consequences of her soon decision. "What if mother tried to get a leave from your uncle and the grandma in the coffee shop? Where would you like to go?"

 Heeseung stopped for a second and took a while to gather a coherent sentence. A wonder for him that his mother overlooked the over-excitement he felt when the young woman asked him. "Anywhere," he said and gathered the courage to hold his mother's warm and calloused hand. "Anywhere, eomma. We just want to spend time with you." 

 Chaerin gave him one of her rarest smiles. Not the one she gave when serving customers in her daily jobs, a genuine smile that she only gives to whoever wormed their way into her cold and guarded heart. "Maybe we can discuss it with your siblings. And I'm sure they'll be happy about it, don't you think? Anyway, have a great day, my son." 

 The young parent waved her hand and it was like yesterday when she dropped him off at the school on his first day. His hands were tightly grasping her calloused hands, eyes darting at the large black gate, and the way he pleaded of his dislike of his school. He gave the same smile she received on his first day and skipped toward his friends in the large schoolyard. 

 For the first time in a while, her footsteps were light as if the burden on her heart lightened up. The walk along the way no longer felt dreadful, and for once, she ignored the stares of the people in the streets. She immediately headed to the small flower shop, hot on her heels with a smile on her face, excited to tell Minho how her day went.

As she opened the glass doors, she launched herself into his arms and hugged him with all her might. The sound of his surprised laughter was somehow pleasant, and he immediately returned the hug. "We'll go on a trip!" She shouted as she felt him grabbing her shoulders in suspense. It may have spooked Minho so much that he dropped the bouquet of the assortment of flowers he was holding in his other hand.

"Who are you and what have you done to my sister?" Minho paused and took a few steps towards her, lightly tapping her shoulders three times, and stepped backward with doubt on his face. "She felt so real. Please don't take my sister figure yet! She still has a family to take care of! I still have to witness her fall in love before I did! Also who'll take care of her children?" 

 Chaerin smacked him across his head, eyes deadpanned with an irk on her head. She sighed and grabbed her phone from the yellow pocket on her phone and stared at the calendar on her phone. It was this time. No wonder. "Go eat up," she said as she placed her bag on the counter, stretching a bit as she grabbed the broom from the supply room. "And they said that I was the workaholic one."