A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 180

180. [Side Story] The Children Grow Up Too Fast (4)

Two days prior, Jiheon received a call from Jaekwang.

“Yes, Father.”

[Are you doing well?]

“Of course.”

[Is it tough raising the baby?]

“If I say it’s tough, will you give me childcare leave or something?”

[What childcare leave for a contract worker?]

Jaekwang brushed off Jiheon’s small hope with a joke and subtly brought up the topic.

[Listen, about the day after tomorrow. Do you have some time in the evening?]

“That day is my day off. It’s Yena’s birthday.”

[Right, that’s right. Yes, yes, yes.]

“Father, did you forget Yena’s birthday?”

[Forget? Why would I forget? I was just testing you to see if you had forgotten.]

“Why would I forget? Don’t say ridiculous things.”

The father and son, who occasionally snapped at each other, fell silent at the same time.

After an awkward silence, Jiheon spoke again.

“Is this why you called? Is something wrong?”

“No, what could be wrong… I’m going to visit on Yena’s birthday evening.”

Jaekwang’s answer sounded suspicious.

Tilting his head, Jiheon ended the call and reported this incident to Jeong-o that evening. Jeong-o also tilted her head.

Come to think of it… Yena had also subtly pointed out her birthday date during the day.

Jeong-o had never forgotten that Yena’s birthday was approaching, but she didn’t bring it up first.

She thought that Yena would bring it up eventually, so she was watching to see when she would start talking about it, but she didn’t expect her to be so quiet. Looking back, it seemed that Yena was deliberately not mentioning it.

Is that little child holding back from talking about her birthday?

“Could it be that Father and Yena had some kind of conversation?”

Jeong-o raised a question. Jiheon immediately contacted Jaekwang again and pressed him about what had happened during the day. And Jaekwang reluctantly revealed the truth.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Thus, on May 27th.

Jeong-o, Jiheon, and Guksun woke up early in the morning to prepare a birthday feast, decorated the house, and then took Yejun, who had woken up just in time, to Yena’s room. At first, Yena pretended to be lazy and didn’t open her eyes, but she jumped up at the word ‘birthday’.

“Dad, does that mean I don’t have to go to school today?”

Yena, who was held in Jiheon’s arms, asked with an excited voice.

“Do whatever Yena wants. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t want to go! No, no, I want to go! We’re having a dictation test.”

“Then what shall we do after school?”

“Flying yoga!”

I thought she would think about it for a while, but Yena’s answer was very quick.

“I want to learn flying yoga with Mom and Dad!”

Jiheon had a vague idea of what flying yoga was, but he had never seen it properly, so he immediately searched for flying yoga on his phone.

Images of women showing off wonderful poses like ballerinas with hammocks hanging from the ceiling filled the screen. Here and there, there were also pictures of men like beans sprouting in a drought.

Pfft. Jeong-o, who tilted her head and looked at Jiheon’s search screen, burst into laughter.

“Our Yena wants to do this with Mom and Dad?”

“Yes!”

“Dad too, wearing these tight clothes?”

“Yes!”

Yena, who answered Jeong-o’s question loudly, urged Jiheon.

“Dad, you’ll do it with me, right?”

Answer me. You said you’d do anything.

Jeong-o stretched her lips long and looked at Jiheon. It was fun to see Jiheon’s eyes moving back and forth.

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

It seemed like a sigh was mixed in with the answer, but Jiheon readily agreed.

“Wow!”

Yena cheered noisily.

Yena had breakfast with the birthday feast that Guksun and Jiheon had worked hard to prepare, took several pictures in the living room decorated by her mother, and went to school. The only difference was that she no longer wore a princess dress for her birthday. Yena, who had graduated from princess dresses and tiaras, was dressed simply.

While Yena was at school, Jiheon booked a yoga lesson and went to the store to buy yoga clothes. And at 5 p.m., after Yena finished her baduk [Go] academy and art academy classes, Jeong-o, Jiheon, and Yena headed to the yoga studio.

The instructor was surprised that the three people who were trying flying yoga for the first time had come dressed up from the first day. Moreover, they all had slender figures without any excess fat, so they looked like a family ballet troupe in terms of visuals.

“All three of you have physiques suitable for yoga. You’ll be able to learn it in a fun way.”

The instructor started the class with shining eyes.

“Since everyone is a beginner, we’ll learn the basic poses. Grab the entire hammock with your hands, hang it under your waist, and entrust your body to the hammock, and your body will turn upside down like this. If you put your feet on the hammock in this state, you’ll be in the monkey pose.”

The instructor hung upside down on the hammock with her legs crossed in the blink of an eye. Jiheon, who had carefully watched the instructor’s movements, was the first to do the pose. Jeong-o and Yena also hung on the hammock with the instructor’s help.

The instructor returned to her place and showed the connecting movements.

“From here, grab the hammock again, lift your upper body, and grab your arms behind you. This is called Tinkerbell.”

Tinkerbell! A fairy name I know well! Yena fell in love with the Tinkerbell pose.

However, Yena, who tried to do the movements as taught by the instructor, was soon frustrated. The instructor’s movements seemed effortless, but the reality was different from what she saw. It was a pose that was not easy to do without sufficient abdominal muscles and grip strength.

Jeong-o, who gave up early because she was worried about straining her body, was swinging on the swing. Jiheon’s shoulders became heavy as the instructor and Yena only looked at him. He had to do the pose.

He was strong, but not flexible, so his body moved stiffly. Still, he had commendable stamina, so he was able to do the pose without difficulty. It felt like thick ropes were digging into his skin. It was torture in the name of exercise, but Jiheon became a male Tinkerbell with the power of love.

“Father! You’re doing great! You really have a talent for it!”

The instructor clapped her hands excitedly. Yena, who was energized by Jiheon’s success, grabbed the hammock again. The instructor helped Yena.

“Bee-bo, bee-bo. Bee-bo, bee-bo.”

“Huh?”

“My legs hurt. Bee-bo, bee-bo. Bee-bo, bee-bo.”

The pose that was torture for Jiheon was equally difficult for Yena. Yena, who had begged her mom and dad to do flying yoga, couldn’t scream loudly, and Jiheon laughed even though his skin hurt at Yena’s cute expression of making siren noises with her mouth.

It was difficult, but time passed quickly in each other’s laughter.

“Yena is really good because she resembles her father.”

The instructor also shared her impressions with satisfaction.

Jiheon asked Yena, who couldn’t take her feet off easily as if she regretted that the lesson was over.

“Yena, do you want to come again?”

“Yes!”

“Then shall we come with Dad every week?”

“Can I?”

Jiheon’s heart ached as he looked at the child who knew well that her dad was busy and couldn’t ask for it, but asked back with an excited expression.

“Of course. Of course.”

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

When they returned home, it was dinner time. Jaekwang and Youngmi, as well as Seunggyu’s family, were invited to celebrate Yena’s birthday. It was a party again.

Jeong-o handed over the gift first.

“Happy birthday, Yena! This is a gift from Mom.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the book Yena likes!”

Youngmi’s gift was a knitted bag that Yena had asked her to make someday.

“Here. A kangaroo bag that our Yena ordered.”

However, Yena grumbled even while holding the bag full of sincerity.

“Grandma. If it’s a kangaroo bag, there should be a baby kangaroo that goes into this pocket.”

“I’ll do that later. Do you know how hard Grandma worked to knit this?”

Youngmi, whose dark circles had come down to her cheekbones because she had worked so hard to make it in time for Yena’s birthday, retorted as if lamenting. In fact, Yena was just joking because she found it fun that her grandmother was always at her beck and call.

This time, it was Jiheon’s gift. The gift Jiheon prepared was the biggest.

“This is a ball-jointed doll that our Yena likes.”

“Wow!”

Yena also cheered because it was a gift she had always wanted.

As if he couldn’t just watch, Jaekwang intervened.

“Yena! Grandpa has a gold medal snack!”

The grandfather’s gift box was of a different scale. Jaekwang made the snack with the inspiration he received when Yena won the baduk [Go] competition last year.

It was a snack with a shiny gold medal-shaped packaging. The name of the snack was also ‘Princess’s Gift’. It was a product that would be sold in supermarkets across the country around the coming summer.

Yena’s mouth widened greatly.

“Grandpa made this snack for Yena.”

“Wow. Grandpa, you’re the best!”

See? I’m the best.

Jaekwang shrugged his shoulders proudly next to Jiheon.

At the end of the family’s noisy gift competition, where they took out their gifts in a rush, Dobin also handed over a small box.

“Yena! I have a gift here too!”

“What is it?”

“Slime.”

“Wow! It’s slime!”

Yena couldn’t close her mouth and jumped up and down. Dobin’s simple gift was the best for Yena, who had been disappointed that her mom wouldn’t let her play with slime. The expressions of the family members who had pushed in flashy and brilliant gifts subsided.

Next to Jiheon, who turned his head with a disappointed heart, a card had fallen. Jiheon picked up the card. It was a card written by Dobin.

– Happy birthday, Yena! Let’s get married when we grow up!

This kid, daring to propose to someone already.

Jiheon put the card in his pocket without anyone knowing. Dobin noticed that the card was missing and looked around Jiheon.

“Uncle, have you seen a card that fell here?”

“No. I haven’t seen it.”

Jiheon pretended to be nonchalant.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

After the exciting birthday party, Yena went to bed after 10 p.m.

Yena, who had been happy all along and whose excitement had not subsided, exclaimed.

“Ah! I wish tomorrow was my birthday too!”

Jiheon, who was lying next to her, stroked Yena’s hair and thought to himself.

I’ll do that for you.

Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, I will cherish and love you as if every day is your birthday.

“Dad, today was the best birthday in my life.”

The best birthday in the life of an eight-year-old child.

I’m honored too.

I’m honored to be with you on the best birthday in Yena’s life.

The best day in the world that I couldn’t even imagine at this time last year.

It’s so amazing. There was only one person in the world who called me Dad, but I’m so happy that my life is changing because of that one person. Jeong-o, were you like that too?

While emotion welled up inside Jiheon’s throat, Yena’s eyelids quietly fell. Perhaps playing was also tiring, Yena fell asleep quickly.

After a while, Jeong-o rushed in. She had just put Yejun, who had started to whine at the same time, to sleep and came running. She wanted to say good night to her daughter who was celebrating her birthday.

“Is Yena asleep?”

“Yes.”

“What did she say while falling asleep?”

“She said it was a wonderful birthday.”

Jeong-o sat next to Jiheon, who had gotten up from his seat, and looked at the sleeping Yena. Her sleeping face looked happy and comfortable.

I thought she would whine looking for her mom as always, but Yena fell asleep without complaining today. She seemed to have grown up in the meantime.

The children grow up too fast. You can’t see them growing day by day, but one day you suddenly feel that they have grown up a lot.

The child seemed to have grown up a lot today too.

Jeong-o was grateful and a little sad about that.

Jeong-o wished that time would pass a little slower.