Take My Hands Now

Chapter 8

"Let me make this clear then, Jeon Jungkook. I am not an accomplishment for you to unlock. I am not a stage in a game for you to clear. I am not a special trophy for your stand. All I know was that you were in a lot of pain, and I could feel it. I might have wanted to help you in some way because you didn't seem so bad. But I was wrong and regret hurts enough, are you happy now?"

He wasn't happy, he wasn't happy a single bit to hear that you felt hurt because of him. But it wasn't just unhappiness he was feeling, there were feelings he never had before too.

—

You were diligently at work in the bookstore, but you were constantly startled whenever someone walked into the store. Seeing that it wasn't Jungkook made you heave a sigh, not sure whether out of relief.

The lady that just walked in felt familiar, she quickly walked up to you, pushing a pram along with her.

"Hi, this is kind of embarrassing but do you remember me? I am the one who had a bit of a situation here the other day?", she asked you very sheepishly. That's right! It's her. The lady who almost gave birth here and you instinctively shrunk away from her recalling what had happened to you that day.

"Oh! You are the girl who was helping me and then fainted, right? Are you doing ok? I was wondering whether something happened to you."

"I'm fine. Thanks. Can I help you with something?", you tried to maintain a professional stance.

"Haha no no I don't need any help today, hopefully", she laughed. "Actually, I am here to say 'thank you'. My baby's all healthy and good now and I really wanted to invite the people who helped me on that day to dinner at my place. Will you be willing to come? And is your store manager in today?"

"Ma'am, we appreciate it but it's ok, we only did what anyone would do in that situation...", you were almost about to reject the offer when your manager appeared and usurped the conversation. He started making funny faces at the baby in the pram and the mother extended the invitation to him.

"Ma'am, it's really not necessary...", you tried a second time to politely reject the offer.

"Call me Yunsu", she said with a warm smile. "And it's necessary for me, I'm doing this partly for myself too." Your store manager and you looked at her inquisitively.

She naturally took the cue to start explaining, "I had my baby Ri-ah after one of those nights, you know... after I partied too much. When I found out that I was pregnant, I was devastated. Oppa didn't want her either. All he wanted was to have fun with me and he even said that this was all my fault.

I resented her so much... I was determined to get rid of her. So, I went to the clinic by myself one day, feeling all unfair that this happened to me. There was this other woman who sat beside me in the waiting room, and she was carrying a toddler in her arms. The toddler kept tugging at my sleeves and I got annoyed so I turned and pointed my fingers at him to tell him to stop. That was when he grabbed my finger in his tiny hands and smiled at me. I'm not sure if it was just instincts or something else, but I suddenly thought about the tiny life within me."

You could see the tip of her nose and the rim of her eyes turning a tinge of red from the recounting.

"Ri-ah was a mistake, but she was my mistake, and she was also a reflection of my life. I felt despicable for wanting to erase all traces of her because I couldn't face up to my own problems, I felt ashamed that I was making her pay for my wrong choices. I knew then that I should start taking responsibility, even if not for her, I needed to do it for myself.

But having decided to keep her, the one thing I feared the most was facing the pain of child birth all alone, with nobody next to me to even hold my hand. You were the first people to rush to me that day, and I was not facing it alone thanks to you. Oh and that young man too, who helped me after you fainted. I remember he even ordered the mall staff to clear all the cars at the nearest pick up point so that the ambulance could stop there, seems like a really thoughtful guy", she finally lightened up a little.