597. Life and Death (17)

I lived, repeating that nothing had happened yet, that I was okay. Shi-hyun and I were both unwell, so we couldn't go outside, and we had to be careful with cooking.... Having so many things to worry about increased my stress. Stress is the root of all evil, after all.... "Ha, what is it again today." I couldn't go outside and felt suffocated being at home. "I'm sorry because of me." "It's not your fault." Shi-hyun was blaming himself, unbelievably.... Recently, Shi-hyun's condition had worsened. I'd already heard that he was at his limit, but.... There were times when Shi-hyun would tremble or stiffen his limbs while still, unable to move. He said it would return after some time, but I was worried. "Should we just go out?" "No, where are you going in that condition?" I stopped Shi-hyun from going out. What if something happened to his body if he went out? It would be difficult to cope. So, he should rest quietly. "Shall we watch a movie?" I was going to buy a movie using the VOD service. "It's okay, let's just rest quietly." Shi-hyun was opening a book. I hesitated for a moment and opened a book like Shi-hyun. I used to read a lot of novels, but... now that I'm older, I can't read them at all. I could read it a little since it was a novel, but I quickly lost interest and surfed the web on my phone or observed Shi-hyun. "Are you going out after all?" "No? I'm just going to stay like this." I smiled at my husband. I just liked being together like this. Of course, getting some fresh air outside wouldn't be bad either.... "Let's get some sunlight in the afternoon." "Sunlight?" "Yeah, it would be nice to put up a parasol and read a book under it." It would be nice to stylishly put up a parasol, sit in a chair, and get a gentle breeze and moderate sunlight.... "Okay, I'll prepare it." "What? I'll do it." "No, I should do it since I'm the relatively healthier one." I went to the storage room and brought out the parasol and chairs. I'd become weaker, but if I had magic power, I could do this much. "Hoo, is it this hard to move just this?" It seemed my body had become dull. I wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead. First, I unfolded the parasol and stuck it in the stand.... I roughly unfolded the chairs.... While I was setting up the chairs and parasol, Shi-hyun brought a small table and a rag. "I said I'd do it." "It's faster if we do it together." My husband smiled as he wiped the table and chairs. I saw that and tried to nag, but I held back. Let's not argue for no reason.... I went to the kitchen, poured cold water into a cup, put in a straw, and brought it out. "Are you done?" "Yeah, you can sit down now." Shi-hyun threw himself into the chair and closed his eyes comfortably. For a moment, he looked so peaceful that I was startled. "Here, drink some water." "Thank you." My husband slowly opened his eyes and slowly moved his arm to suck on the straw. I roughly sat next to him and watched him. "Are you really okay?" "Yeah, don't worry." Ugh, I'm doing the same things my husband used to do? If he said it was annoying or told me to stop, I was going to nag him, saying, "You used to be like this," but he was quiet. "It feels good...." The sunlight wasn't hot but moderately warm, the breeze was gentle, and autumn was autumn. Feeling good made even the boring book readable. Spending time like this with my husband was blissful. On Chuseok, all the children came to visit. Of course, not all the grandchildren came. To be exact, the married ones were missing. I understood since they had to go meet their in-laws. "It feels empty with the grandchildren missing." The only children who came were Seo-hui, Seo-yeon, and Jun-seo, just the three of them. I heard that Yu-ri couldn't come because she was appearing on a Chuseok special, a live broadcast. "Did our grandchildren come?" I greeted everyone with a smiling face. Jun-seo didn't open his mouth and only nodded. In contrast, Seo-hui and Seo-yeon immediately hugged me. "Ogu, have you been doing well?" "Yes." "Mom, you didn't cook for the holiday, did you?" "Yeah, you told me not to." Saet-byeol started nagging about that as soon as she came into the house. Originally, I was going to marinate some meat for the kids, but.... She was so insistent that I gave up. Well, I understood since my condition wasn't good. "Rest and play with the kids today, I'll do everything." Saet-byeol said, rolling up her sleeves. Kim Seo-bang watched that from the side with a bitter smile. "We'll help too, so don't worry." When the two daughters-in-law stepped up, I couldn't help but smile. The kids didn't ask about our condition at all and only did their work and talked about positive and good things as much as possible. "Everyone seems to be doing well." Hearing their updates, everyone seemed to be doing well. While the daughters-in-law and Saet-byeol were talking to me, Shi-a, Jae-won, and Kim Seo-bang were checking Shi-hyun's complexion. Whatever the other kids were doing, I was worried about Kim Seo-bang doing that. No matter how different their specialties were, a doctor is a doctor. There was a possibility that he could see through Shi-hyun's condition. Shi-hyun... was pretending to be okay without saying anything. Yes, pretending to be okay. To my eyes, who spend every day with him, I could see my husband enduring the pain. He was suppressing his trembling legs too.... I wanted to take him to bed right away, but I couldn't act because I was worried the kids would worry. What if he collapses like that? But isn't that what I should be worried about first? Sigh.... Fortunately, neither my husband nor I collapsed in front of the kids. But.... "When are you guys going back?" We had lunch and dinner. But why aren't they leaving? Even if it's a holiday... even if there's a lot of time, surely they're not planning to sleep over? They didn't say anything like that?! "Mom, do you want us to leave?" When Saet-byeol said that, I felt a little guilty. "N-no, it's not that...." "Ah, I can't have that! I'm going to sleep over today." Saet-byeol playfully said, flopping onto the floor. "Uh, Mom?" The two granddaughters who saw that were flustered and blushed. "Ah, well, you and Dad can go home, it's fine if only Mom stays." Why is she being like that.... Looking at Shi-a, she showed a bitter smile. Jae-won... has no reaction? There's no reaction between the two of them like that? They're usually the type to click their tongues and nag right away? Does that mean it's a planned action? "Sigh, you don't have to do that, you can sleep over without doing that." I sighed deeply. It seems they're not satisfied with just today and are planning to take care of us tomorrow too. "Then, we'll be going." Shi-a got up from her seat first. She said she was leaving because Ju-hui was coming tomorrow. "Okay, treat Ju-hui well." "You don't have to tell me, I will." "Okay." Well, she's her daughter, so she'll take good care of her. "We'll be going too." Jae-won said to Shi-hyun. "Okay, thanks for coming." "It's nothing...." Jae-won showed a blunt reaction. Jun-seo didn't even open his mouth while leaving and only bowed his head. My husband, who would have nagged them for being rude in the past, was quiet. Well... it's hard enough for him to endure without collapsing right now, where would he get the energy to nag? Kim Seo-bang also took the granddaughters and left. "Mom, see you tomorrow." Seo-hui and Seo-yeon said goodbye to Saet-byeol. "Okay, when you get home, don't play and do some cleaning." "Okay." The house, which had been noisy with the children, quickly became quiet. "Ugh, Mom and Dad are going to sleep right away?" "Yeah, we're tired because you guys came." Should I say we were drained? It was hard to keep up with the young ones. Saet-byeol showed off her arms, saying she would take care of the cleaning. "Daughter, I'm counting on you." "Leave it to me!" I went up to the second floor with Shi-hyun. Shi-hyun seemed to be limping slightly, so I stayed right next to him and supported his body. We pretended to be as strong as possible and went up to the second floor and entered the room. I quickly closed the door, and Shi-hyun plopped down on the bed. "Haa...." "You endured well." That Shi-hyun..., I could see him gritting his teeth and enduring from the middle because it was hard. "You endured well too?" Actually, I had briefly lost consciousness in the middle. I somehow got through it by pretending to sleep..., but if the kids had known it was a fainting spell, they would have made a fuss. "Are you going to sleep right away?" "I have to." I laid Shi-hyun on the bed. "You really worked hard." "You worked hard too." We comforted and soothed each other. And when we collapsed on the bed, we stopped like a clock with a dead battery. Ugh... that was hard. When we woke up late in the morning, Saet-byeol had already prepared the meal. "You woke up late?" "I was tired." They say you lose your morning sleep when you get old, but that's only when you're healthy... when your body is weak, sleep is the best. "You have to eat to take your medicine." Shi-hyun sluggishly went down the stairs. "Mom, wouldn't it be better to move Dad and Mom's room?" "Room?" "Yeah, Dad looks like he's having a hard time...." It's definitely hard for us to climb the stairs with our bodies. "If we don't move even this much, our muscles will atrophy." The amount of movement had drastically decreased because our bodies weren't feeling well. So, both Shi-hyun and I lost a lot of muscle. Well, I didn't have much muscle to begin with, but Shi-hyun's firm body had become soft.... "I guess that's true......." We ate the breakfast that Saet-byeol had made. "Dad, it looks like you're eating even less." His organs had weakened, so he really ate very little. We were somewhat supplementing the nutrients with supplements, but I was worried. "This is normal. I used to eat too much." I almost burst out laughing at Shi-hyun's words. He never said that when he was with me, is it because his daughter is here? "Is that so?" "That's right." Saet-byeol took care of everything until that evening and then left. She was being stubborn, saying she could stay one more day since she was off tomorrow anyway, so I spanked her butt. "Yeah, take care of your own kids." "It's okay...." "Mom and Dad, please go so we can rest comfortably." Looking at my daughter, who was dropping her head with a gloomy face and leaving the house, I felt like I was going to burst out laughing. What really... why did she change like that? Peace came to the house when Saet-byeol left.... And I thought we would return to our daily lives.... Eventually, the thing we were worried about happened. It was going to happen someday, but why now, why is it happening now!