Hyun Woo was taken aback by Ha Yeon’s suggestion to come home on weekends and have meals together.

“You must be busy with your studies too……”

“It’s fine as long as I study hard during the weekdays. We need to take a break one day during the week to recharge and endure another week.”

“……That’s true, but……”

“Oppa, there are many free concerts at the New England Conservatory or Berklee College of Music, so let’s go see them together.”

“……O-Okay.”

As the weekend dates with Ha Yeon deepened, Hyun Woo began to completely cut off contact with So Hee.

Guilt and remorse weighed down on one side of Hyun Woo’s shoulders, but he had seen Pandora’s box at the S Hotel celebration party in Korea, and in America, he opened that box and took Ha Yeon’s hand.

On weekends, they would watch Boston Symphony performances and take walks on Castle Island, where the blue Atlantic Ocean could be seen.

Ha Yeon would explain the composition of jazz while listening to it together at Berklee College of Music, and give commentaries on Monet’s paintings at the art museum.

Hyun Woo, who had lived in poverty and only knew how to study at school, began to feel the joy of life that new literature and art brought, and became fascinated by the intellectual charm that Ha Yeon showed.

If So Hee had a dignified charm of working hard even in difficult situations along with her beautiful appearance, Ha Yeon had a deep intellectual charm without being arrogant even in the most affluent life.

As much as the distance grew, he became distant from So Hee, and as much as he became distant from So Hee, he rapidly grew closer to Ha Yeon.

As May approached, Hyun Woo completely cut off contact with So Hee and rejected her calls.

He wanted to live in the present by severing the past and wanted to walk toward a better future.

When the angel on one shoulder looked at Hyun Woo with pity and pressed down on his sense of guilt, Lucifer on the other shoulder tempted him with chunks of gold and intellect that he had never experienced before.

With a woman who could easily quench his thirst for an unfulfilled life in front of him, Hyun Woo began to tie an irresistible knot of time and space with Ha Yeon.

The splendid spring weather of May unfolded in Boston, and Ha Yeon and Hyun Woo soon began to develop into lovers holding hands and strolling along the Charles River.

*****

So Hee mustered up the courage to call Hyun Woo again, who wasn’t answering her calls, but only an automatic English response message flowed out.

While waiting to receive a waiting number for an examination in front of the obstetrics and gynecology department, I saw the happy expression of a pregnant woman waiting with her husband in the next seat.

Perhaps seeing my miserable appearance blankly staring at such a couple, my mother firmly held my hand.

“Hyun Woo isn’t answering the phone?”

“……Yes, Mom.”

“Since when did you lose contact?”

“In March, we had contact about once a week, but in April, even that was almost cut off, and in May, there was no contact at all.”

“I didn’t think he was such a bad person……”

“…….”

I had nothing to say to my mother.

Her frail shoulders were already weighed down unbearably by my mother’s unfortunate fate alone, and now her only daughter also has an ill-fated destiny……

“I’m sorry, Mom…….”

I told my mother that I could still take maternity leave and parental leave, and explained that I could also receive unemployment benefits, so I could handle it well.

“If only I had the ability, I would take care of you during your pregnancy and provide postpartum care after giving birth. I don’t know what to do, my poor daughter……”

“Mom, I’m about to become a mother too, so I’ll become strong, so don’t worry too much. I’ll live vigorously.”

“My poor daughter…….”

After a while, the nurse called my name.

The doctor asked me the date of my last menstrual period, marital status, childbirth experience, possible conception dates, etc., and then immediately suggested an ultrasound examination.

The results came out right away.

Even without the doctor’s explanation, I could confirm the pregnancy as soon as I saw the image of the fetus reflected on the ultrasound screen.

“Congratulations. You’re 12 weeks pregnant. You said you’re unmarried, but your boyfriend didn’t come with you? These days, premarital pregnancy is considered a trousseau, so people like it, right?”

“……Ah, yes. He couldn’t come with me.”

Seeing my expression becoming awkward with my head down, the doctor immediately grasped the situation and began to tell my mother the precautions while looking at her.

“Mother, you must know from your own childbirth experience, but morning sickness and weight changes will start soon, so please take good care of your daughter.”

“Our daughter is also a nurse, so she will handle it well.”

Perhaps displeased with the meddlesome doctor bringing up the boyfriend topic, my mother threw a blunt remark at the doctor.

“Ah, if you’re a nurse, you must know well when to get checkups and how to manage. Please make sure to come regularly to check if the baby is growing well and pay attention to nutrition.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Although I expected it, when the doctor’s words confirmed my unmarried daughter’s pregnancy, my mother seemed to lose even more energy, and as soon as we left the hospital, she bent her knees as if she was collapsing on the ground.

“Mom…….”

“Really…… I don’t know what to do, my poor daughter. You have to work, give birth alone, and raise the child alone…….”

My mother, who had cried until her tear ducts dried up over the past two nights thinking about this and that, began to shed tears again after leaving the hospital.

I patted my mother’s shoulders and comforted her.

“Mom, while looking at our little one on the ultrasound monitor, I firmly made up my mind. I will become a strong mother. So Mom, please don’t cry anymore.”

I held my collapsed mother’s hand and helped her up.

My heart was in a hurry.

As time passed, body changes were inevitable, so I thought I should inform the head nurse of my pregnancy in advance during my Monday shift and decided to plan for the 90-day maternity leave and parental leave.

I had to prepare to look for a daycare center for 0-year-old infants after parental leave, and I had to be ready for a harsh life where I had to pay more attention to the details of income and expenses.

On the subway back home, I spoke to my mother in advance.

“Mom, I should have helped you more in paying off Dad’s debt with the money I earned. I’m sorry for getting pregnant so suddenly.”

“How is that your fault? It’s the fault of that Hyun Woo bastard who sowed his seed and ran away.”

“Don’t curse him. Pregnancy doesn’t just happen by sowing seeds, you know. I’m an adult too, so I’m also responsible.”

Although Mr. Hyun Woo had never properly talked about breaking up, and we had never properly broken up, and he wasn’t responding to contact in an ambiguous state, I didn’t want to curse him.

If there were circumstances, time would resolve them, and if his heart had changed, I wanted to understand that heart too.

While dating for 5 years, I felt a sense of unknown pity flowing between us, and I wanted to support the burden of his difficult life together, but I didn’t have the ability to do so.

In addition to the doctor’s explanation, when I calculated the due date at home, it was November 12th.

Thinking about giving birth when the cold late autumn winds would start to blow, I felt a sorrowful sigh escaping from my heart as I called his name.

I wanted to rely on him, even if only in my heart, during difficult times.

Although I couldn’t hear his voice even if I called, I wanted to be comforted and feel a consoling touch, even if only in my dreams, by calling out to him.

I was already afraid of the gazes that would pour out in the hospital at the sight of an unmarried nurse’s growing belly, but I entered the house with the determination to endure it with the “power of a mother.”

*****

Time passed quickly in Boston.

The techniques in the lab became familiar, and the advising professor, satisfied with Hyun Woo’s diligent attitude, told him that he would guarantee a full scholarship until graduation.

Research projects were intensively conducted to prove that the addiction process of alcohol is caused by the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is responsible for the brain’s reward pathway, and to elucidate its mechanism.

Perhaps because he was very interested in various functions of humans governed by hormones and neurotransmitters and brain diseases, Hyun Woo found the research very enjoyable and was greatly impressed by the laboratory facilities.

There were many days when he stayed up all night in the lab without going home to the R District, and as much as he invested time, experimental data gradually accumulated.

During the weekdays, he practically lived in the lab, and he relieved the accumulated stress and fatigue by meeting Ha Yeon every Saturday.

Ha Yeon would sometimes cook Korean dishes for him in her apartment, although clumsy, or take him out for a drive to the suburbs of Boston, or take him to famous restaurants to replenish his nutrition.

Even when Hyun Woo sometimes tried to pay, she would stop him, saying she had an unlimited mom card.

On July 4th, American Independence Day, Ha Yeon took Hyun Woo to the Charles River where the Boston Symphony concert was being held.

She had already prepared a picnic bag with wine, sandwiches, and a blanket, and she spread the blanket on the riverside lawn where the performance was taking place, and placed the wine and wine glasses on it.

“Oppa, are you excited for the summer night concert?”

“Yeah. There are a lot of people, and everyone has prepared blankets, wine, and even beer.”

“You can enjoy the music for free and see the fireworks…… It’s one of the big festivals in Boston.”

“If it weren’t for you, Ha Yeon, I would have been stuck in the lab today too. Thank you.”

“I’m your savior, oppa. Hoho.”

The performance began amidst people’s cheers.

Ha Yeon told the story of how America gained independence from Britain on July 4, 1776.

“Oppa, let’s go to the ‘Boston Tea Party Museum’ together next time. Although it started with the Boston Tea Party in 1773, Britain’s transfer of war costs to the colonies in America through the Stamp Act or the Townshend Acts provoked Anglo-American conflict, which became the trigger for the American Revolutionary War in 1775.”

Hyun Woo was amazed at how American history flowed out of Ha Yeon’s small mouth without hesitation.

“How do you have such smooth knowledge?”

“Since I’m an English literature major, I’m interested not only in literature but also in British and American history.”

“You have a deep knowledge not only in literature but also in art and culture, right?”

“Hoho. I admit that.”

If So Hee’s appearance was pure aesthetic beauty, Ha Yeon overflowed with intellectual beauty.

Several couples drinking wine on the lawn, perhaps drunk on alcohol or music, were occasionally seen kissing.

Seeing such romantic scenes that he had only seen in movies happening right in front of his eyes, Hyun Woo felt a bit shy and flustered.

Perhaps noticing Hyun Woo’s appearance, or perhaps Ha Yeon was also not yet accustomed to such scenes, she told him to lie down and look at the stars.

Lying comfortably on the blanket and looking up at the summer night stars together while listening to music, it felt as if the starlight was pouring into Hyun Woo’s heart.

“Oppa, is it okay if I use your arm as a pillow?”

“Oh, ……sure.”

As Hyun Woo offered one arm, Ha Yeon moved her small body closer to him and used his arm as a pillow.

“The stars are so pretty.”

“Y-yeah. Really beautiful.”

As soon as Hyun Woo’s words ended, Ha Yeon twisted her body and looked into his eyes.

“……Oppa!”