Another Day, Another Shot

Hidden Letters

One... two... three... let's play hide and seek with Dooly and their twins!

PROMPT: Hide

Choon-hee and Hwa-young were playing hide and seek with Ri Jeong-hyeok and Yoon Se-ri.

HIDDEN LETTERS

Weekends were for Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jeong-hyeok to spend time with their family. No work, no problems, just them in their own playful family bubble. The children looked forward to the weekends because they get to spend uninterrupted time with their parents.

That particular afternoon, the chosen activity was to play hide and seek. Choon-hee was paired with Jeong-hyeok while Hwa-young was paired with Se-ri after a round of rock, paper, and scissors.

For the last round, Se-ri and Hwa-young were the ones to find Jeong-hyeok and Choon-hee. "Count for 30 seconds, Hwa-youngie, arasso?" Choon-hee told her twin. "Don't cheat you two!" Jeong-hyeok added to tease Se-ri. "No peeking, eomma!" Choon-hee told the other pair, with her hands beside her waist acting like the cheeky little girl that she was. Se-ri just rolled her eyes at them. "Aigoo! I don't cheat. I'm just really good at playing games. You didn't forget you married a competitive woman, do you?"

Se-ri and Hwa-young turned around to face the wall. They leaned their foreheads on their folded arms that were placed on the wall. "One..." Se-ri's voice started. "Two..." Hwa-young's little voice followed. So on and so forth until they reached the last count of 30.

As they were counting down, Jeong-hyeok put his index finger in front of his mouth to signal Choon-hee to be quiet so Se-ri and Hwa-young wouldn't find them right away. "Shhh... Choon Hee-ah, take light steps and whisper only, arraso?" For a father, he was taking this game a little too seriously. He was clearly enjoying his time with his family even if they looked silly playing hide and seek with two children.

"Where should we hide, Choo Hee-ah?" Jeong-hyeok asked the little girl. He wanted to let the kids learn how to make decisions on their own even as simple as this. He wanted them to know that children could still freely tell them what they want to do and that they will guide them throughout these decisions. "Appa, let's hide in the attic!" Choon-hee answered him. He held her tiny hand in his strong hold and led them to their chosen hiding place.

The attic was Choon-hee's favourite hiding place within their home. There was a narrow door at the end of the hallway of the third floor. Once you open the door, there's a small hidden staircase leading to the attic.

Jeong-hyeok let Choon-hee climb up first so he could stand guard and catch her just in case she missed a step and slipped. They didn't want any accidents or Se-ri wouldn't let them go up the attic anymore, or play hide and seek for that matter. She could be an overprotective mother sometimes. She didn't like her kids getting hurt, who did?

The moment you enter the attic, there are boxes neatly piled around the room. The attic wasn't messy and full of dust because they still clean it out from time to time.

The pair was patiently and quietly waiting for the other pair to find them. They were intently listening for signs of Se-ri and Hwa-young finding their hiding spot.

As a child, Choon-hee had a short attention span. Therefore, she was bound to get distracted so she started wandering around the attic. She was looking at some of her old toys. Maybe she wanted some of them back so she and Hwa-young could play with them again. More than that, she was sentimental much like Jeong-hyeok.

Jeong-hyeok loved keeping mementos and other things he deemed valuable and memorable because there were still times when he felt he would wake up one day and there would be no Se-ri or Choon-hee and Hwa-young beside him. Sometimes, he was still afraid he'd wake up from a beautiful dream and live in a nightmare the moment he opened his eyes. That instead of being in a home filled with laughter and giggles from his girls, he'd be back in his house all alone.