Monday Couple Stories

Chapter Fifty Three: Romantic Date?

Ji Hyo wanted to focus on being a stay at home mom for a while until she felt comfortable enough to leave her baby with her parents or nanny before heading back to work.  Gary on the other hand became the bread winner, at least for now until Ji Hyo goes back to work.  He felt that Ji Hyo does not need to go back to work as he has enough to provide his family to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.  However, Ji Hyo made it clear from the beginning that her career was just as important to her as it was to start a family.  She wanted to do both, be a working mom and still be independent to support her family. Gary respected Ji Hyo's decision to continue working after delivering their son.

Most women would take several weeks to recover from a c-section, however in Ji Hyo's case she recovered much quicker than most women.  Within her recovery period, they still had not agreed upon the name for their child.  They decided to continue waiting to make a decision as it was important to them that they get the name right.  So for now, they were content just calling their son baby Gary.

Gary wanted to spend some quality couple time with Ji Hyo since she gave birth to their son.  He arranged to have his mom come over their house to watch their son, while they go on a "date" since they haven't had true alone time since arriving from the hospital.  Gary hired someone to help take care of the baby while Ji Hyo was recovering from surgery.

On the day of their scheduled "romantic date," Gary first took Ji Hyo to his studio to do some minor work.  His accountant happened to be waiting in his office when he arrived at the studio. The accountant wanted to go over some important paperwork that Gary needed to sign, regarding his restaurant.  Gary had forgotten about his meeting with the accountant and left some additional important paperwork relating to this matter at home.  He told Ji Hyo to wait in his office while he went back home to get the documents. 

Meanwhile Ji Hyo and the accountant were having a nice time chatting.  By the time Gary returned to his office, he noticed how suddenly close his accountant and Ji Hyo became.  As he was getting closer to his office, he could hear laughter coming out from the room as his door was half way open.  When he got in the room, he could clearly see that Ji Hyo and the accountant were having such a good time conversing with each other.  Seeing Ji Hyo and the accountant smile and laugh so heartily made Gary feel a bit jealous of the two.

"Here are the other paperwork you requested," said Gary to the accountant.

"Thank you," the accountant said.

"I should have these paperwork's done by the time we meet again," the accountant further said to Gary.

Then the accountant took Ji Hyo's hand, bowed to her and said, "nice meeting you and thank you for keeping him company while they waited for Gary to return from retrieving some paperwork at home."  Ji Hyo politely nodded back and smiled.  Red flag, red flag, red flag! In the past Gary was known to be a tad bit jealous when it comes to Ji Hyo and other men.  He couldn't bear the thought of her being with anyone else but himself.  It almost sounds like he was obsessed with her.  However, that feeling of obsession is further from the truth.  He just truly loves her and was afraid that his love won't be strong enough to hold her.  He was afraid he could easily lose her to someone else.  His insecurities and sometimes lack of trust hinders Gary from truly getting close to someone.  Gary had a very tough life as a child and he wanted to protect himself from getting hurt by people he cares about.

Clearly Ji Hyo noticed that something was not right when the accountant left.

"Are you okay?" she asked Gary.

Gary just nodded.  He then took her hand and walked out of the studio to the car.

"What's wrong?" she said.