Parenting First, Love Later

1.

“Are you having fun, Han Jiho?”

“Yes. It’s fun. I decided to go see the wolves over there.”

He had insisted on seeing the wolves from his fairy tales, so we headed to the wolf enclosure. I wondered if the children would be disappointed by the reality, and sure enough, they tilted their heads, comparing the real animals to the ones in their storybooks.

A small wolf cub watched them with wide, curious eyes, its tail wagging almost imperceptibly. With its soft gray fur and rounded features, it was as adorable as a puppy. The children gasped in amazement.

“Huh? The wolf and the puppy look exactly the same!”

Han Jiho exclaimed, pressing a hand over his mouth in wonder.

Na-eun smiled. “Right? Wolves and puppies are similar. They’re both canines.”

The children were enthralled, waving their hands and clapping, unable to contain their excitement. The wolf cub, as if accustomed to the attention, sat quietly, chewing on its front paw while watching them. Every tiny gesture was so endearing that the children couldn’t tear their eyes away.

When we reached the elephant enclosure moments later, the children stood with their mouths agape. A massive elephant watched them, lazily waving its trunk. Its round, heavy frame, oversized ears, and the way it took steps that seemed to vibrate through the earth held the children spellbound.

Minho stared, his eyes wide. “Are elephants this big?”

Na-eun laughed. “They are. Do you want to feed one?”

At that, Han Jiho shook his head vigorously and scrambled back. “No, no! What if it eats my hand too!”

He hid his hands behind his back, peering up at the beast with newfound caution.

Na-eun burst into laughter. To the children, the elephant’s slow, rhythmic trunk movements and sheer, overwhelming presence transformed it into a legendary giant. Even Minho, seeing the creature take food from a stranger, decided he wanted no part in feeding it.

After we finished walking through the zoo, Choi Kang-woo suggested, “Let’s take the lift on the way down. You can see the whole view from up high.”

We reached the station, and the attendant advised, “The children are small; you’ll have to hold them.”

“Understood.”

Choi Kang-woo scooped up Minho, and Na-eun gathered Han Jiho into her arms. We boarded the lift side by side.

As it moved smoothly into the air, the children went silent, captivated by the landscape unfolding beneath their feet. The bare winter branches shimmered in the sunlight, casting long shadows of gray and brown over the garden. In the distance, the zoo and the amusement park looked like a miniature, toy-like world. The garden, stripped of its leaves, felt quiet and strangely warm.

Choi Kang-woo held Minho close. “Minho, look down. Can you see the tiny zoo?”

Minho looked down, eyes wide with wonder. “Wow, Uncle! I can even see the elephant house and the path we walked!”

Meanwhile, Na-eun held Han Jiho tightly, pointing out the sights. Han Jiho’s voice was bright with excitement. “Mom, look! The horse ride we went on! Wow!”

“Oh, you’re right.”

He was pointing at the carousel spinning in a circle beneath them. His thrill filled Na-eun’s heart to the brim. As the lift descended, a small pond appeared, sparkling like a mirror under the winter sun. Minho pointed a finger at it.

“Wow, ice!”

Seeing the frozen water, Choi Kang-woo was struck by the reality of the season. Minho cheered, and Han Jiho laughed, repeating, “Wow, this is fun.”

Under the brilliant sunshine, the children showered us with exclamations of wonder. Na-eun and Choi Kang-woo enjoyed the view together, holding them close. The quiet winter landscape and the children’s laughter blended together, making the lift feel like a cradle of happiness.

“They’re having so much fun.”

Choi Kang-woo nodded, smiling at Na-eun. “I’m having fun, too. I didn’t realize amusement parks were this much fun. I feel regretful that I’ve lived only for my work until now.”

“Then you should come again next time.”

“Will you pack gimbap for me again if I do?”

Na-eun tilted her head. “We’ll see. But now that I’ve seen it for myself, the food here is delicious, too. I think it’s fine to just buy it.”

Before boarding the lift, the children had devoured large hot dogs, and Choi Kang-woo had followed suit. For a man meticulously tracking protein for weight loss, it was all “bad” food—the kind he wouldn’t have glanced at in his daily life—yet it had tasted incredible.

On the way home, both children fell fast asleep in their car seats. Choi Kang-woo gripped Na-eun’s hand tightly while he drove. She looked up at him, noting his silence.

“Thank you.”

Na-eun spoke first. His suggestion to visit the park had been entirely unexpected. Choi Kang-woo glanced at her.

“If I hadn’t driven today, you would have driven yourself, wouldn’t you, Na-eun?”

“Yes. But I promised not to let Minho ride in a car I’m driving, so I would have only brought Han Jiho for a short while. Minho would have been so upset. It pained me that the poor boy had no memories of ever visiting a place like this. If it’s not too intrusive, may I ask about his parents?”

A brief silence followed. It was a story about his brother’s family, and in truth, there wasn’t much Choi Kang-woo knew.

“I don’t know the details. My mother was vehemently against the marriage. They wed anyway, but my mother and sister-in-law never got along. Perhaps the marriage itself was doomed from the start; they were on rocky terms within the first year, separated, and then divorced the year Minho turned three. He could speak quite well back then, but after they split, he just… stopped. His vocabulary stalled.”

Na-eun shook her head. “That’s not true. Minho is very smart. He has a high IQ, you know. He’s the best at stacking blocks at the kindergarten—that requires incredible spatial awareness. He isn’t lacking in intelligence or language; he just distrusts others.”

“Distrust. I suppose that’s the word for it.”

“Do you think he believes their divorce was his fault?”

Choi Kang-woo didn’t answer. Na-eun didn’t press him; she knew it was a line she shouldn’t cross.

“Would you like to have a drink tonight?”

She knew exactly what that meant. The only place in The Annex with alcohol was his room. Since something had already transpired there, Na-eun couldn’t answer immediately.

Choi Kang-woo added, “The kids will be tired and asleep early.”

It was an invitation to come up after she put them to bed. Na-eun stared straight ahead and muttered, “I told you I was a ‘hit and run’ kind of person.”

“There’s no such thing. You have to take responsibility.”

Choi Kang-woo’s voice was languid. *Take responsibility.* Na-eun turned her gaze back to him.

“Yes? What do you want me to do?”

She wondered if the roles of the man and woman had been swapped.

“You keep me from sleeping every night, and you think you can just eat and run? You have to take responsibility.”

Na-eun burst into laughter. The car drove smoothly toward Seoul.

* * *

Hayoung returned home late that afternoon, huffing as she called for Park Misuk.

“Mom! Wasn’t there something strange about that Na-eun?”

Park Misuk emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands, and looked at Hayoung with a confused expression. “What? What could be strange? She’s been going to the kindergarten and raising her child.”

Then, as if something occurred to her, Park Misuk added, “Oh, and Na-eun was driving a foreign car earlier.”

Hayoung’s eyes widened. “A foreign car?”

“Yes. She said it was her friend’s, Hye-seon. But even if she got a job, could she have saved enough money to buy something like that? Is her family rich?”

Hayoung asked urgently, unable to mask her curiosity.

“How would I know? Maybe they’re well-off and bought it for her as a graduation gift. But why the sudden interest? I told you not to bring up Na-eun or Han Jiho in front of me.”

Hayoung said irritably, “I saw her at the filming set today.”

“The filming set?”

“Yes. We were shooting at the zoo in the amusement park, and she was there with the president of our broadcasting station.”