What If?

Part Three

"Joo! Cameron!" Areum ran out to them from the house. Cameron clung tighter to his father, not moving from his position in Jooheon's arm. Jooheon flinched slightly away from her approach, and she stopped dead.

"Not here." Jooheon warned, passing by her to walk into the house.

"I'm so glad you're OK. Areum spoke gently to Cameron, trying to gain his attention. Cameron instead moved to bury his face in Jooheon's chest so he didn't have to look at her.

"Let me put him to bed and then you and I need to talk."

"He needs a bath first." Areum jumped quickly back into a stern tone of voice. Jooheon paused for a moment to glare at her before leaving her in the living room to stew. He placed Cameron down gently on his bed, ruffling the boy's hair. He gently wiped Cameron's face with a tissue to clean off the remnants of tears and snot before tucking his son in.

"Will you let me see the nice man again?" Cameron asked once Jooheon started to leave.

"We will talk about it in the morning. I promise." Jooheon already knew he was going to let Cameron go over there, but he needed to set down some rules first.

"That means no, doesn't it?" Cameron asked, disappointment clear in his voice.

"It means we will talk about it in the morning. Right now you need to sleep." Jooheon turned the light off.

"Night, daddy." Cameron rolled onto his side, disappointment still clear in his voice.

"Night, Cameron." Jooheon closed the door, sighing deeply. He really didn't want to fight with Areum, but enough was enough. He walked back into the living room, trying not to let the anger rise again in his chest when he noticed it was empty. He continued to look for Areum in the kitchen, but he finally found her in their bedroom.

"What are you doing?" Jooheon asked, anger slightly showing in his tone as he realized Areum was going about her normal routine like nothing had happened.

"Getting ready for bed." She answered nonchalantly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"We need to talk about this." Jooheon stated, his words calmer this time.

"Talk about what? How you've decided to be the single parent for our child?"

"How about we talk about you saying you didn't want him in the first place? Cause I thought we were happy." Jooheon moved to stand in front of Areum, trying to get her full attention. She refused to look up at him so he kneeled in front of her. He reminded himself to stay calm.

"You ignored me earlier over and over. Why now?" Areum responded angrily, still avoiding looking at him.

"Cause before you were focused only on yourself. Where Cameron went should've been the priority, but he is now home safe in his bed. Talk to me." Jooheon gently pulled her face towards him so their eyes met.

"Are you trying to say I'm selfish, Jooheon?" Areum's tone sounded defensive and still angry, but her eyes were full of fear.

"I'm trying to say that we need to talk. No yelling. No arguing. Talk. I thought we were happy." Jooheon spoke softly, pausing between sentences. He placed his hands beside her on the bed.

"You were happy Jooheon. You saw happiness in me, because that's what I wanted you to see. I was terrified. I never wanted kids. Something we didn't get to discuss before I got pregnant." Areum finally admitted, almost yelling, and looking guilty.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Cause you were so happy and excited and I didn't want to lose you. All Cameron does is whine, cry, be loud and break things. I don't like to deal with it. I don't want to deal with it. When will he grow out of this phase? At least when he was a baby he was easier to handle."