Chapter 109 – Never Alone

But it was just an excuse to cry.
But that was only an excuse.
Yiyoung placed a hand on her racing heart.
The child inside her had woken up, stretching its arms out.
The life she was living now was completely unexpected.
She wondered how her life would have been if she didn’t meet Muyeol.

It was then when Muyeol gently placed his lips on hers and whispered, “You’re excited like a child, but that makes me happy.”

His words touched her heart.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her mouth.
She kissed him, and the taste of tears invaded her mouth, but for some reason, it didn’t taste salty at all.

* * *

“What about your medicine?” Muyeol asked.

Yiyoung simply pointed at the sling bag lying hanging across her body.
She’d already consumed it, but she put it in her bag just in case.

“What about your shopping list?”

And Yiyoung pointed at her head.

“Let’s go.” Muyeol grabbed his car keys and led the way.

The mall was bustling with large crowds, unlike the places Yiyoung had practiced at.
Before entering the mall, Yiyoung took a deep breath to calm down.
The strangers crossing her path scared her, but she tried to remind herself that the crowd was full of normal, ordinary people.
She took another deep breath and studied the place first.

“Let me know if you don’t feel well,” Muyeol said.

“Okay, I will,” Yiyoung answered.
But her eyes burned with strong will.

If she managed to survive a difficult place like the mall, she could board a plane and go to Istanbul.
And Yiyoung was determined to go there.
On her way to the mall, she had looked up facts about Istanbul on her phone, and now, she would cry if she couldn’t go.
Her fighting spirit was pushing her to accomplish this short journey.

“I’m ready,” Yiyoung said.

“Okay.”

“Let’s go.”

Muyeol pushed the heavy door open, and Yiyoung excitedly walked into the mall.
Her heart pounded, excited about shopping.

But after thirty minutes, Yiyoung physically could not go on.
Back when she used to work at the ER, she would run around all day without registering the pain in her legs.
But now her legs felt so heavy.
She couldn’t believe it.
“How could this happen? I was so confident about my physical strength.”

“I told you,” Muyeol said, “This is different from working.
You should know that.”

Yiyoung pouted, but couldn’t help but agree with him.
Shopping felt as tough as hiking up a mountain.
But the thought of going to Istanbul stopped her from giving up, and she kept looking around the stores.

“Let’s take a break for a second,” Yiyoung said after browsing around five stories of the mall, “My head hurts from looking at so many things.”

“Let’s go to the 13th floor.”

“Okay.”

The two reached the 13th floor and sat down in a cafe.
Yiyoung felt much better after drinking a cup of coffee.
She opened the pamphlet which she had grabbed from the culture centre before entering the cafe.

After flipping just one page, she spotted the list of activities.
“Why are there so many…”

Yiyoung gave up on reading the rest of the pages.
She decided to only do one thing at a time.
And besides, this was their break time, it would be better to read the whole pamphlet at home.
And after the break, it would be time for her to open her wallet and shell out some money.

When she put the pamphlet in her sling bag, Muyeol asked, “What’s that?”

“Jaehee suggested checking out the culture centre if I’m bored.
She said it would be full of activities that I’ve never done, so I was curious.”

“It is a good idea, as long as you can handle it.”

Yiyoung knew what he meant.
Muyeol was by her side today, but she was still worried that something could happen to her again.