SERENDIPITY 「KJB」

SPECIAL CHAPTER #8 : KIM AREUM

"She's in her bedroom.." Jibeom says. He turns his head back to his laptop. Leia sighs.

"You don't let her play with her friends, don't you?" Leia says. She understands Jibeom pretty well. He must be having an argument with Areum just now.

"It's cold outside" Jibeom says.

"Honey, you have to let her explore her own space.. you can monitor her from inside too.." Leia says as she's walking towards Jibeom.

"I don't want her to catch cold. She is still having flu right now, how can I let her play in the snow?" Jibeom says.

"Honey, sometimes she has to feel her own medicine, right? She's in the phase of growing up. She's adventurous, she has to explore her surroundings. You can't keep her away from the world.." Leia says.

"I just want the best for her.." Jibeom says.

"I know that you're a good man, you're a protective and loving father.. but you have to know that, Kim Areum, has her own life. She isn't a puppet, hun. She has feelings. She may not be understanding yet about what you're trying to do for her.. but can you imagine how if she feels dejected by saying that you might not understand her feelings?" Leia asks. Jibeom looks at Leia. He goes silent after that.

*   *   *

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Leia knocks on Areum's bedroom door. She opens the door and she sees that Areum is currently crying on her bed.

"My princess, why are you crying?" Leia goes to check on Areum.

"Appa has never understood me! He doesn't even care about me!" Areum says.

"No, darling. Appa cares about you the most. You're the only thing he can think about.." Leia says. She hugs Areum.

"I just wanna play with my friends! But Appa has never allowed me to!" Areum says.

"He wants to make sure you have recovered from your flu first. You are still having flu, right?" Leia says. Areum looks at Leia. Yeah, her nostrils are wet from snot.

"You have to recover first, then Appa will surely let you to play outside with them, okay?" Leia says.

"Are you sure if I recover from flu, Appa will let me play outside?" Areum looks at Leia.

"Of course he will! If he doesn't allow you to, tell me. I'll smack him, okay? Don't worry, Mama will always be on your side" Leia says. Areum stops crying and she smiles.

"That's my girl. You have a beautiful smile! You have to smile a lot!" Leia hugs Areum. Areum giggles.

*   *   *

3 days later, it's now in the middle of the cold January night, a winter night of the new year eve. Today is mark as the first anniversary of Jibeom and Leia's marriage. A year ago today, they've been married. It also marks as almost 9 months of Sungyoon's passing. Areum also is about to be 6 years old next month.

In a peaceful winter night,

"Honey, hang in there! I'll be back real quick!" Jibeom's voice echoes in the middle of the night. Areum wakes up by the chaos she heard by her parents outside of her bedroom. While still in her 'sleeping mode', she opens her room's door and she sees Jibeom who is seemingly in rush.

Areum sees from upstairs that Jibeom rushes out of the house without her. She becomes panic to see her father is going out in the middle of the night, leaving her alone at home. Areum rushes down the stairs to follow Jibeom.

Areum opens the door as soon as she gets down the stairs but Jibeom has taken out his car out of the house compound, with Leia in the car.

"Appa!" Areum calls for Jibeom. She tries to open the door grill but it is locked from the outside. Jibeom who doesn't hear Areum calls for him, drive his car away. Areum has no idea where Jibeom and Leia are heading to.