A short while later, a nurse came in and said she needed to remove the stitches after checking Mom’s condition.

Juwon carefully lifted Mom into a wheelchair and headed to the examination room with Ina.

As the doctor carefully removed the stitches, Mom flinched, seemingly in pain.

Ina held Mom’s hands tightly.

After all the stitches were removed, Mom’s legs, full of various wounds and surgical scars, were visible.

Seeing this, Ina suddenly covered her mouth as tears welled up.

As she tried not to make a sound, tears fell in drops.

Juwon patted Ina’s shoulder, and Mom also held Ina’s hand, saying,

“Mom’s okay. Don’t cry.”

Ina nodded and wiped her tears, but her heart felt like it was being torn apart.

“Even after discharge, you should rest in bed for about 3 months, staying as stable as possible. You’ll need to keep wearing the spinal brace too. The left leg ligament surgery can be done after the knee joint bone is completely healed, which might take over 6 months.”

Hearing the doctor’s words as they left the examination room, Ina sighed with a troubled heart.

Then Mom took Ina’s hand again and said,

“Ina. Don’t worry. Mom will recover quickly, have the surgery, and work hard on rehabilitation exercises.”

“Okay. Mom.”

Ina replied, holding Mom’s hand in return, but a huge dark cloud loomed in her heart.

After completing the discharge procedures, the two of them took Mom home.

“Oh, my little sister. You’ve been through so much, haven’t you?”

Elder sister wiped her teary eyes and held her sister’s hand.

“You’ve been through a lot too, elder sister. But it feels so good to be home.”

“That’s right. No matter how nice other places might be, where’s as comfortable as your own home?”

Juwon carried Mom to the main bedroom and carefully laid her on the bed.

“They say you should rest in bed for about 3 months without straining yourself. You need to wear the brace all the time too.”

Elder sister nodded at Ina’s words.

“Of course. Don’t worry. Your elder sister will take care of your mother with all her heart until she gets better.”

“Elder sister. Thank you so much, and I’m sorry.”

As Ina held elder sister’s hand and spoke with reddened eyes, elder sister patted Ina’s shoulder.

“Oh, my girl. What nonsense are you talking about? It’s only natural for an elder sister to take care of her sick sibling, why are you making such a fuss about being grateful?”

At elder sister’s words, Ina wiped her eyes and chuckled.

“For now, just sit down, okay? Since everyone’s worked hard taking care of the patient, let’s have some delicious food and a drink, shall we?”

Saying that, elder sister rolled up her sleeves and went into the kitchen, then called for Ina and Juwon shortly after.

The eyes of the two who went to the kitchen widened at the sight of the food laid out on the table.

“Wait… Elder sister, what’s all this? You must be tired, when did you prepare all this?”

As Ina spoke, elder sister took out beer and makgeolli from the refrigerator and said,

“No, the only thing I made here is this raw fish salad. The rest was all prepared by Aunt Misook and Aunt Eunhee before they left.”

Aunt Misook and Aunt Eunhee were the aunts who worked in the kitchen at elder sister’s seolleongtang restaurant.

“The kitchen aunts?”

“Yes. When they heard your mother was being discharged today, they came earlier and prepared all the foods your mother likes before leaving.”

Tears welled up with gratitude for the aunts.

“Son-in-law, go and bring your mother-in-law out here, will you?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Now openly calling her ‘mother-in-law’, Juwon answered confidently with a matter-of-fact expression and went to the main bedroom.

Then he carefully seated Ina’s mother in the wheelchair and brought her to the kitchen.

“Oh my, what’s all this?”

Ina’s mother also looked at the table with a surprised face.

“Misook and Eunhee showed off their skills with all your favorite foods.”

“Oh my goodness…”

Mom couldn’t continue speaking out of gratitude and looked at the table with teary eyes.

“Come on, everyone sit down quickly. We should eat before the food gets cold.”

At elder sister’s words, everyone sat at the table and picked up their chopsticks.

“Mom, chew slowly and thoroughly. Okay?”

Ina said as she placed a glass of water in front of Mom.

“Alright. I understand. You eat a lot too. You too, have plenty.”

Mom said as she placed a piece of short ribs on top of Juwon’s rice bowl.

“Yes, mother. You eat a lot too.”

Juwon answered with a smile.

After the meal, the four of them had tea and chatted about various things.

“Ina. You don’t need to come down anymore. Come down later, around the time of Mom’s cruciate ligament surgery. Okay?”

As Mom held Ina’s hand and spoke, Ina shook her head.

“No way. How can I do that? I’ll come down once every two weeks until Mom gets better.”

“Look at this girl. Why come down so often? When it’s time to go to the hospital, I can go with Youngmin, so you don’t need to come down. Understand?”

“That’s right, elder sister. Mom and I will go to the hospital together, so you don’t need to come.”

Youngmin also spoke up, but Ina didn’t back down.

“They say it’ll take a year for Mom’s leg to fully heal. How can I let only elder sister and Youngmin suffer during that time? I’m definitely coming down once every two weeks, so when I come down, go to the hospital with me. Okay?”

At Ina’s words, Mom glanced at Juwon with an embarrassed expression and spoke again.

“Oh my, our daughter is so stubborn? I’m telling you there’s no need to come down, but you insist?”

“I’ll come down together.”

At Juwon’s sudden words, Mom exclaimed in surprise,

“Oh my, I’m trying to persuade Ina not to come down, and now you’re saying you’ll come down too?”

“I was actually about to tell Ina that we should come down once every two weeks. We need to check on how you’re doing, and it’s too much to leave everything to elder sister.”

“Oh my, oh my!”

Elder sister, sitting nearby, clapped her hands and said,

“They say married couples are of one mind, and that’s exactly right, isn’t it?”

At the word ‘married couple’, Ina’s face turned bright red.

“Elder sister, please!”

Although she called out to elder sister out of embarrassment, elder sister pretended not to hear and took a sip of coffee before speaking.

“Ah, you’re going to be a married couple soon anyway, why are you getting so excited about it?”

“That’s true. Brother! You’re going to marry our elder sister soon, right? Right?”

As Youngmin also chimed in, Ina glanced at Juwon with a red face.

Juwon smiled and opened his mouth.

“Well, I… I’d like to do it right away, but there are procedures for marriage, you know.”

At Juwon’s words, Ina looked at him with surprised eyes.

It was the first time she had heard ‘marriage’ mentioned directly from Juwon’s mouth.

Suddenly, her heart pounded as if it would burst.

“Oh my, look at our Ina’s face, it’s about to burst, isn’t it?”

Elder sister chuckled and picked up her coffee cup.

The next day came, and after breakfast, the two loaded their luggage into the car.

“Drive safely on your way up, okay?”

Juwon bowed his head to elder sister who had come out to see them off.

“Yes, elder sister. We’ll be heading up, so please go back inside quickly. Mother is alone, after all.”

“Yes, yes. I understand. Go on up quickly.”

Ina also waved goodbye to elder sister and Youngmin through the car window.

The car slowly started, and it took about 5 hours to reach Seoul.

Arriving in front of Ina’s house, the two took their luggage and went up to Ina’s place.

“Honey. Thank you so much for driving all that way.”

Instead of answering Ina’s words, Juwon hugged her tightly.

“Our Ina must have had a hard time emotionally for two weeks, right?”

“No. Thanks to you, I was able to get through it well.”

Juwon looked down at Ina and smiled.

“It feels so good to be alone with you after two weeks.”

At Juwon’s voice, which was almost a whisper, Ina replied, “Me too.”

Juwon looked down at Ina’s beautiful chestnut-colored eyes and lowered his head to kiss her.

Then, as if to quench his thirst after two weeks, he engulfed Ina’s lips with an intense gaze.

Time passed, and April had arrived.

During that time, Ina and Juwon went down to Yeosu once every two weeks.

They would take Mom to the hospital, then to a place with a nice view nearby to buy her delicious food, and in the evenings, they would play Go-Stop with elder sister, spending warm and pleasant times together.

Juwon was now starting to feel like he had always been a part of this family.

And so, on a weekend in early April, Ina and Juwon left home to go see the cherry blossoms.

Because many people crowd during the cherry blossom season, they left the car behind and took the subway to Yeouido.

After walking for about 10 minutes from the subway station, they saw cherry blossoms in full bloom.

“Wow… It’s really, really beautiful.”

Ina looked at the row of cherry trees with an enraptured expression.

The cherry tree-lined path stretching endlessly under the clear sky looked incredibly beautiful.

Juwon also interlocked fingers with Ina as he gazed at the spectacle before them.

Although it was just past 10 AM, Yunjung-ro was already filled with many people.

“Wow. People are really diligent. So many are already out here.”

Juwon nodded at Ina’s words.

“I know. There are really a lot of people. So you have to hold my hand tight so you don’t get lost. Okay?”

“Tsk, am I a child?”

Even as she said that, Ina held Juwon’s hand tightly, making Juwon chuckle.

The two walked slowly hand in hand down the wide road that had been closed to traffic for pedestrians. Alongside the dazzlingly beautiful cherry trees, yellow forsythias were also in full bloom.

As time passed, the street was overflowing with many people – families, couples, friends, and others.

The two stopped occasionally to admire the beautiful cherry blossoms and take pictures.

After walking for a while, looking down at Hangang Park, green, yellow, and pink colors heralded the beginning of spring.

As they continued walking enthusiastically, Juwon pointed to a large cherry tree and told Ina to stand in front of it.

As Ina smiled and stood there, Juwon eagerly captured her image with the camera.

“I’ll take your picture too. You go stand there.”

At Ina’s words, Juwon went to stand in front of the cherry tree, when suddenly a gust of wind blew, shaking the cherry tree.

With that wind, cherry blossom petals rained down and scattered over Juwon’s head and body.

Ina’s hand, about to press the camera button, stopped.

Seeing Juwon smiling dazzlingly under the warm spring sunlight, brushing cherry blossom petals off his head, Ina’s heart pounded wildly.

Even though she was already in love, Ina fell in love again with this charming man before her eyes.

Ah… How much more will I come to love this man…

Feeling her own heart beating fiercely, Ina approached Juwon.

And she looked up at Juwon with eyes full of love.