from me to you | binjin & riri one shots

4. Single Parenhood. (RiRi)

Ri Jeong Hyeok and Yoon Seri are both single parents who meet at a park where their children decided to fight. Jeong Hyeok scolds Seri for bad parenting, not realizing when she breaks into tears.

A crisp, chilly morning in Seoul is all it takes for young Jung-Hwan to abandon his bed and go running down the stairs to his father's room. The nine-year-old boy does not even bother knocking on the door before he is already pouncing on the bed, his father's tall frame underneath, grunting in response to his enthusiasm.

"Jung-Hwan," Ri Jeong Hyeok's voice is hoarse, his eyes are closed. "If you don't stop doing that," he cracks open an eye, "I'm afraid Appa will die." That stops the little boy from jumping but not from giggling. "Good Morning, Appa," he has a massive grin on his face, jet black tresses, much similar to his, falling over his eyes. 

"You promised to take me to the park!" he all but squeals, "Let's go!" He wished he could match his son's energy at times like this- Jeong Hyeok was not the person who got excited over parks to the trips; instead, it was his wife, who had passed away since last year. He'd admit, things had gotten increasingly harder ever since Seo Dan passed away. Having no idea about parenting, he was the one to go with whatever his mother told him. Excluding his mother, random women in the grocery shops were a massive help too. Whenever he struggled over something related to Jung-Hwan, weighing two books on which to get for his early mind nourishment, he would forever be thankful to those ladies who came to his rescue.

Clearly, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was a better option for a nine-year-old than getting an autobiography of Nelson Mandella. 

As Ri Jeong Hyeok drags himself out of bed, he pushes his thoughts aside. For now, he was on his own. Being a single parent had made him gloomy; not a day went by when he didn't think of the woman he lost a year ago. As a poet would say, "The wounds were still fresh."

But he is happy.

His mind can not fathom a life without Jung-Hwan. Just as the thought of his son crosses his mind, the little boy comes running into the room once again. This time, he is dressed in the warm overalls that Jeong Hyeok picked out for him last night. It makes him smile.

He bends down, brushes his hair over his forehead. His gaze lowers to see the reason why he came into his room again. "You can never get this right, can you?" he chuckles softly, adjusting the thick red scarf around his neck, so it is securely wrapped around his skin to trap all the warmth within.

He presses a kiss to his forehead, "Give me five minutes, okay? I'll be right outside with you." The last thing he sees before disappearing into the bathroom was his son's smiling face.

It made him smile too.

—————

Just across from where he is standing, Ri Jeong Hyeok's eyes fall on a petite woman lodging by herself on the park bench. Her eyes are cast on the ground as if it is the most exciting thing to look at in the universe. Her long, waist-length ebony hair falls over her shoulders in loose beach waves, framing her creamy round face. She appears to be playing with her fingers knotted in her lap, too engrossed even to bat an eyelash. There is just something about this woman that makes Ri Jeong Hyeok stare at her. Maybe it is her beautiful face or perhaps, her absentmindedness from the rest of the busy world. She is dressed in a long burgundy trench coat, a pair of grey ankle boots adorning her feet. 

Jeong Hyeok forces himself to avert his gaze towards his son, who seems to be enjoying playing with another boy. Confirming that all is well with him, he pulls at the lapels of his coat tighter around him to combat the chilly morning wind, shifting his eyes back at the woman from earlier.