ACCIDENTAL

- forty one -

time - 5:30PM
day - february 7th

the car pulled up in front of joonwoo's parent's house, along with two figures on the lawn. it was his parents.

joonwoo stared at them, then stared at me and changkyun from the mirror. he had an expression that speaks for his words. an expression that conveys that he doesn't believe what he's seeing.

changkyun steps out of the car and opens the back seat door for joonwoo. he carries him and places him on his shoulders. i took a deep breath before leaving the car. i walk over next to them, feelings all kinds of emotions.

"deep breaths, ms. jiyeon." changkyun whispers.

"i'll try to calm down." i quickly respond.

"joonwoo..." the woman, joonwoo's mother, across from us speaks out, calling out to joonwoo. she looks at me next, mesmerized. "well i'd be.... damned." the woman peers at changkyun. "you look like him."

we were all stunned at how much we all looked similar to one another... which was incredibly hard to understand.

"we've been living with joonwoo... i've been living with him." changkyun begins to speak. "i have filed for custody and did everything i could so that he can live without knowing that his parents abandoned him... please don't let him out of your sight again."

the woman looks down, guilty of her actions. "he just ran off... without us knowing, we searched everywhere for him." she was almost about to burst into tears, until changkyun picks joonwoo up from his shoulders and sets him down on the lawn. he stares at joonwoo, motioning him to his parents.

he walks over and stares at them, before giving them both a hug. both his parents hug him tightly, crying and sobbing. they were apologizing for leaving him and not looking for him hard enough.

changkyun and i stare at each other, giving each other a smile.

"thank you." the man says. "how can we ever repay you?"

"nothing, really. joonwoo was already a blessing enough for us." i said, giving them a smile.

both of us bowed before heading back to changkyun's car. we entered and made sure we looked at them one more time, waving them goodbye. we drove off and watched as joonwoo ran towards the sidewalk and giving us the biggest wave, seeing him crying in tears. we looked towards the road, and i feel the biggest wave of tears pour down my eyes.

i look at changkyun, crying and tearing up. he looks at me. "it's for the best..."

"but, he found me." i said, sobbing through my words. "without him, i wouldn't have met you, i wouldn't have seen what true happiness was like. i wished that there would be that one day where i felt like i was doing something important in my life."

"we both thought the same thing, jiyeon... without him, there wouldn't be any adventures. i'll miss him a lot."

"me too."

"so, what are we gonna do now?" he asks me, stopping at a red light. his face was still red and puffy, from crying.

"i don't know, we could divorce..." i respond to him, still crying.

"huh?" he asks me, disappointed. at this point, he stops crying and continued to look at me in shock.

"so... we can start a relationship together. for real, this time. no fake marriages, or anything... just us."

astounded, he stares at me with his jaw dropping. "you're asking me out?"

i give him a pat on the head. "why? you're saying no?"

he grabs my hand. "i didn't say i was gonna say no. i didn't think you'd be the one who makes the first move."

"but, i just did."