Yul's POV.
Got you, Harry. "Is that the reason you keep on coming back to us when things fell down between George and me? I mean, how could you always be aware of those things? Who's giving you ideas?"
Yael responded. "Dad, it was me! You know, I always wanted Uncle to be here because he and Mom are siblings, aren't they?"
George pinched Yael's hand. "It's a bad idea, Yael."
"You could've called for Hanakim or Fernando, maybe Yancy? But why does it have to be him? Why Harry?" I'm so confused.
"He's the closest, Dad, to me and Hyeri." Yael was happy she mentioned the word CLOSE.
Am I that too far away from our home I couldn't get closer to our children?
Cygnus chortled. "See that, Yul? Even your child can't help but agree that you're the worst dad."
"He never said that, Cygnus," George butted in.
"But it's something he said indirectly. Come on, George, trying to defend him again?" Cygnus said like his eyes are burning.
"I don't understand," said Yael, putting our mouths zipped for a minute. "Why are grown-up siblings fighting over petty things as if they weren't once a kid?"
"Were you pertaining to us, kid?" asked Harry.
"Kid? He has a name, idiot." This is too much to watch.
"So sensitive, how could you claim yourself as a man?" Cygnus butted in.
"Yeah, how could you guys claim? When you can't fight on your own. I always wonder, Harry, why do you always need someone to be with you while arguing with me? I guess I have to admit, I'm too hot to handle." I smirked. How many times did I smirk today? Ugh.
"Yul," George called. Its tone is very intimidating. "Will you please leave for now?"
Kate came in, right in time. "What did I miss?"
Cygnus was the first to explain, "Your best friend is taking her husband's side."
It took her a minute to process that single statement that her husband delivered. "Well, not so bad, sis?!" She laughed, giggled, and even jump. She hugged George. "I knew it!"
"I never said I wouldn't. But to remind you, all of you, we're still not on good terms. We're getting on it, but not yet. I'm not yet ready."
Fuck.
It feels like I was splashed by a block of cold ice. How could she say that? So, she's trying to make me believe we're fine when WE'RE NOT?! That's damned.
"So why don't you start to run away again, Yul?" Cygnus asked. His tone is giving me a depressing vibe.
"I wouldn't."
A moment of silence resounds.
"You guys, you're bothering me," said Kate, her eyes squinting. "So concern, but with a stain."
George took a deep breath. "Kate, please escort them to the gate. I want no one in this house but me and my family for now. Little arguments are not allowed."
"Come on, George!" Harry exclaimed.
"But no! We're here for Hyeri as well!" Cygnus defended.
George didn't mind them, she pulled away Yael and I from the living room to the stairs.
I looked back... and I smiled.
I'm starting to get jealous of the way I saw them act like shit in front of my wife.
I know what they were doing. Still lurking around my wife wouldn't do them any good.
"Hey!" I called for George before we went inside Hyeri's room. She looked at me with a plain smile. "Are you sure you're not getting forced?"
"We'll talk about this later. Just go inside"
I nodded and went together with Yael inside. We changed our wet clothes and sat beside Hyeri's bed.
Yael's curiosity wouldn't leave his mind. "Dad," he said. I closed my eyes gently.
"Is this about them?" I asked.
Yael slowly nodded. "I don't really understand why people think like that. I mean, look, Dad, they're friends and relatives but they keep on misunderstanding such an easy thing. Or do grownups like to complicate things because it's too unrealistic to make it look like a simple one?"
I knew he was gonna ask that. Yael is too smart, that his brain couldn't match his age. You could even ask him for life advice or financial ones. He's too young but his brain has too many muscles to work together.
George palely replied, "It's because being simple is overrated."
Simple yet meaningful. She was right, anyway, she always does.
"But does that include Dad's multiple sudden disappearances?" Yael looked so sad as he mention it.
George gulped. "It's because we fight over petty things, and we chose decisions that directly hurt us. We're childish."
Yael's brow furrowed. "Wow, but Hyeri and I, whenever we fought, we were not hurting each other through disappearing. We're just trying to show to the other that we're happy even though she's not around, or he. But in reality, we missed each other."
I chuckled. Somehow, it's a childish act. But that's an initial instinct. "When you grow up, you might know."
She smiled.
George and I lost our eyes on each other. It feels so awkward. We really need to talk.
"Can we meet outside? In our garden," I whispered.
She gave me a nod.
"You're gonna leave me here?" asked Yael.
I shook my head. "Some things needed to be sorted out between your parents, my son.'
He pouted but didn't bother to ask me again.
Yael was left inside Hyeri's room, and he wouldn't bother to be alone. He talks a lot and tells her things she missed. Before I went to the garden with George, I can't help but stare at her.
"She's fine, right?" I asked, but agonize is evident in my voice.
She nodded but it eventually turned into shaking. "I honestly wanted to believe the doctors."
"Should we choose the surgery?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Are we talking about this again, Yul?"
"I mean..."
"Stop before it gets worse. I decide for my daughter." She interrupted before I even speak and walked away.
"But George if we wanted Hyeri to live we will---"
"Stop, I said stop! This is the very reason why I can't go back with you yet. I should've let you join Cara." She was seriously hurting me.
"What?" I still can't believe her.
"What? You can't manage me anymore, can you?" She teased.
We went to the garden together. "It's not about that, George. All I wanted is to have an equal part of decision-making when it comes to our daughter."
"So are you trying to say that you can't trust me?" She's fuming mad.
"George... it's just that... admit it. Not all of the time, you're right." I know this won't help to make her closer to me but what else can I do? "I'm afraid that your stubbornness bring her into her early death."
She squinted. "Are you saying I'm not being a good mother? And you're the great dad?!"
"No, that's not what I---"
"Okay, no explanation needed. I understand." She walks away. But I pulled her arm closer to me.
"Hey." She's struggling to come out of my grip. "Don't be mad."
Time flies so fast. Someone is already calling me. It's about my company, and the caller is my assistant.
"You should answer that." She walks away again, and I pulled her closer, meeting our lips together. She disentangle her lips from mine as soon as it collided.
She looked at me for a while and go away.
I answered the phone. "Hello? Sir, so I've scheduled your meeting as soon as possible with the remaining investors, you can check my email about that. And your current project is currently starting. By the way, sir, Ms. Cara is making a story about you and her."
God damn it. "What is she saying?"
I've tried to fix myself on the phone, but George budged in the garden where she left me. My gazes were all on her, waiting for her next move.