You + Me = ?

Friedman's Equation

April, 1993

The world is an absolutely beautiful place, filled with the most beautiful people, and most importantly there's so much to see and explore. One of the good things about living on this planet, is that you can never get bored, there are an infinite number of experiences that one will go through.

This is the mindset of Lee Jung Il and Lee Na Ri, the couple has been married for over fifteen years, and during that time they have lived a life of adventure. There comes a time when the childless couple just throws a dart and see where it lands, this time around they had no second thoughts when they decided to purchase plane tickets to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The moment the couple set foot in the tropical country, they immediately fell in love with the sights and sounds that met them. Every time they jet off to a different country, the couple becomes amazed at the culture, sometimes the couple finds it hard to even leave when their vacation comes to an end.

But before the night the couple could leave the lovely city of Rio for Korea, Lee Na Ri found herself in a local hospital due to food poisoning. Lee Jung Il made a fuss over his wife as per usual, but as a result of a lack of staffing and an overcrowded emergency room, it became rather difficult for Lee Na Ri to be discharged after she had to wait for two and a half hours for a doctor to see her.

It's been about half an hour since her husband left to find a nurse or any medical personnel for that matter, Lee Na Ri suddenly found herself worrying for her husband, and the only thing she could do is leave her bed to go find him. But she didn't get too far in her search, just two beds away from hers lay the most beautiful baby she has ever seen in her entire life.

Her feet moves on their own accord as she steps closer to the bed, the baby doesn't even make a sound as Lee Na Ri sat on the bed. She becomes captivated by the child's golden-brown eyes, the unique orbs of the baby pulls her in, and Lee Na Ri then finds herself falling in love with the lonely baby.

Lee Na Ri then begins looking around for a doctor or nurse herself, she had many questions running through her mind in just a second.

Why is the baby alone?

Where are her parents?

Why isn't she on the children's ward?

Just where are the workers in this hospital?

She suddenly finds herself becoming protective of the baby, with a shaky hand Lee Na Ri gently takes the baby's small hand in hers. She smiles softly as the baby looks at her, and in that moment the lonely baby holds on to her index finger with her small fist.

"Honey, what are you doing?" she gives her husband a teary smile as she comes to stand beside her.

Lee Jung Il's attention was then stolen from his wife as he follows her line of vision, he sighs softly as he sees how she's looking at the baby. His wife is unable to give birth, and even though she hardly speaks about it, he knows that deep down she's struggling.

He steps closer to her then places a comforting hand on her shoulder, and just then he looks down on the baby, and he involuntarily smiles as he looks into the child's eyes.

"She's beautiful, where are her parents?"

Lee Na Ri shrugs, "I don't know, I just saw her here."

"Excuse me," the couple turns around to face a young nurse, "Mr. and Mrs. Lee? Sorry for the wait, I'm the only English speaking personnel here at the hospital."

The couple smile up at her, "is this baby sick?"

The nurse sighs then walks over to the bed, "she's fine, but she has been here for about two weeks now. The firefighters brought her in, the only thing we found was a note with her name and date of birth."

Lee Jung Il looks at the beautiful baby as his heart tugs at her fate, "and no one has come for her?"

The nurse shakes her head with yet another sigh, "no sir, in two hours Child Services will take her away since there's no sign of any family member coming forth. I already dealt with your discharge papers, you can pick up your medicine at the pharmacy, enjoy the rest of your day."

The nurse leaves the couple with the baby, the Lee couple were suddenly thinking along the same lines as they stare at the baby. "Do you think we should?"

Lee Na Ri shrugs at her husband's question, "if we do then we won't be able to leave tomorrow. I don't want to take this baby away from her mother."

Lee Jung Il sits beside his wife, "we have two hours to decide, if this is something that we both want then I think we should do it."

She shakes her head, "are you sure? You know I've always wanted to start a family with you, even though I can't. This baby doesn't come from me, and I don't want to push her on you."

Her husband smiles softly as he places his hands on hers, "I walked passed this bed three times and I didn't look, but you found her, and now you're bringing her into our family. So of course I'll accept her, and we'll love and provide for her because she's our own."

Lee Na Ri laughs softly as the tears fell, "we're going to have a baby," they hug each other happily at the thought of adopting.

The Lee couple remain by the baby for the two hours that they waited, they fall even deeper for the child as they watch her eat and sleep. Nervousness swallow the couple when Child Services finally arrived, and with the English speaking nurse they expressed how much they want to adopt.

The couple learnt that a lot had to be done before they're approved, but what bothered them the most is that they would have to wait to see if there's a family in Brazil willing to adopt the baby. Weeks past before the Lee couple heard from child services, they had to cancel their Egyptian trip as they extended their stay in Rio.

It was a bit nerve-wracking for the both of them, they have never wanted something this bad in their life. On a Monday morning bright and early, the phone in their villa rings out, Lee Na Ri instantly forgot about drinking her coffee as she rushes over to the phone.

Lee Jung Il had his lawyer come to Brazil, the couple wanted this process to go as smoothly as possible. So when Mrs. Lee heard his voice over the phone, she could immediately tell that her life would be changing forever.

"...Child Services has approved the adoption, congratulations Mrs. Lee."

Lee Na Ri was immediately lost for words, all she could do was cry happy tears in reaction to the good news. Upon seeing this, Lee Jung Il had to hear from his lawyer himself, and he couldn't believe the words.

The Lee couple cried happily together as they finally got what they longed for all this time, a child of their own. On the days that followed, the Lee couple transformed from a couple to a family of three, they happily identified themselves as the Lee family now.

Both new parents were over the moon to take their daughter back to Korea so she could meet the rest of her family, who were also overjoyed at the fact that the Lee couple decided to do something about producing an heir and having a child of their own.

It didn't matter if the child would be a bit different, both parents of the Lee couple were satisfied with the fact that they could have a grandchild to dote on until the day they pass on. But something else happened on the morning that the Lee couple jet off to Korea with their new child, an innocent woman was finally set free from her jail cell.

She only had one thing on her mind and that was her beautiful baby daughter. She knew returning to the house was not the best plan as she had set it ablaze herself.

The first thing Maria Luiza did was to find her brother Tiago who decided to remain in the city, but when the poor mother saw his face she knew that something went wrong in the plan. Tiago desperately wanted to take his niece from the hospital, but the family was under heavy scrutiny by the local police due to their ties to drug lord Kaua.

So he remained in the shadows and watched as some foreign couple took his niece away. When Maria Luiza heard this, she felt as if her entire life came crashing down, after everything she had been through, she has now lost her daughter.

But while she grieved for her child, she made a solid promise that one day she would definitely find her daughter, no matter what it takes.