Ch#211
With the chilly air between them.
Tie faced the all-too-familiar and comfortable face.
White hair streaked with gray.
A wrinkled face and drooping eyelids.
Yet the face Tie loved most in the world.
"Grandma!"
Chae Bok-su hesitated.
But Tie wriggled to grab his shoes and slip them on, then ran to her as if nothing had happened.
Chae Bok-su, standing three steps below, met Tie's gaze at just the right height.
"It's Tie."
Tie folded his fingers, calculating the days.
"In two days, or maybe the day after tomorrow, I think I'll go home with Daddy."
Chae Bok-su's eyes widened.
Jeong Myung-ja also covered her mouth with one hand, staring at Tie.
Tie grinned broadly.
"So, Tie wants to eat meat! With Grandma, meat!"
Chae Bok-su drew a short breath.
As she clamped her mouth shut, wrinkles formed on her chin, and her eyelids trembled.
A long while later, a small voice leaked from her lips.
"I, really...... oh dear...... really."
Chae Bok-su whipped her head away and hurriedly wiped her eyes with one hand.
When she looked back at Tie, her eyes were red and bloodshot.
"Yeah. Let's eat meat."
Chae Bok-su reached into her pocket and called Jeong Myung-ja.
"Myung-ja, go to the butcher next door and buy some pork belly."
Jeong Myung-ja approached hesitantly.
Chae Bok-su pulled out four crumpled ten-thousand-won bills from her pocket and placed them in Jeong Myung-ja's hand.
"Buy a lot. And the drinks and snacks the kid likes!"
"Waaah-!"
Tie hopped in place.
"And that Tani Pang notebook or whatever with the baby singing—buy that too. They said Daiso has them all."
Jeong Myung-ja nodded.
She quickly sniffed and smiled at Tie.
"Tie, say 'thank you' to Grandma."
"Thank you, Grandma!"
Jeong Myung-ja laughed.
"Then I'll go quick and come back?"
"Yeah, yeah."
As Jeong Myung-ja went down the stairs, only three remained at the second-floor doorway.
Chae Bok-su opened her mouth awkwardly.
"Let's go down."
At that moment, Tie tightly grabbed her hand as she turned.
"Grandma! Go with Tie!"
Chae Bok-su glanced at the child warmly grasping her rough hand, then turned her head away.
"What, holding hands just to go downstairs......"
But contrary to her words, she gripped the child's hand just as tightly, as if it might break.
* * *
"His memory really is back—he's smiling so well at Tie. Tie, say 'ahh~'."
Jeong Myung-ja placed a wrap in the child's mouth.
Tie opened his mouth wide and chomped down neatly.
"Tasty, right? Not too hot?"
Tie shook his head vigorously.
Jeong Myung-ja watched delightedly, then quickly made the next wrap.
She held it out to Tese tan, who was flipping the meat.
"Thank you."
Unlike yesterday, Tese tan treated her without any awkwardness.
Jeong Myung-ja's eyes welled up again as she watched the father and daughter.
"Aigoo, getting all teary again like a fool."
"If you know you're being foolish, stop it already. Just a bit."
Chae Bok-su scolded her.
Jeong Myung-ja laughed and wiped her eyes.
Then she tore the pre-soaked kimchi into small pieces by hand.
"Baby, eat some rice too, rice."
As she placed the rinsed kimchi on the rice, Tie shoved a spoonful into his mouth.
The three adults' faces lit up warmly watching the child's cheeks bulge and move.
"Tasty, right? Tie's daddy has always been great at grilling meat since way back. Auntie sometimes burns it."
Tie paused mid-chew and raised one hand.
"Auntie, wanna know why?"
Jeong Myung-ja tilted her head.
"Why's that?"
"Daddy, in Talochioum. Grills a whole pig over a huge fire like this!"
Tese tan let out a hollow laugh.
"When did he even see that."
During mana stone sieges, they often camped outside.
Meals were usually from brought supplies, but on days they hunted wild game in the mountains, things changed.
"The pig like this! Like this, whoosh!"
Tie swung the arm holding his fork every which way.
He was imitating Daddy butchering a wild boar, but it was hopeless.
"Then, grill it over the fire like this."
The child swallowed the food he was chewing and continued.
"So frying pork belly in a pan must be super easy, right!"
Jeong Myung-ja burst into laughter upon hearing.
"Is that how it is? Must be nice for our Tie, Daddy grilling a whole pork belly for you?"
"Yeees. Actually! Tie ate deer meat too!"
"Wow, deer meat too?!"
"Yes! And at the base, Aunt Marshal makes yummy food! Brother Veil and Uncle Basto drink booze, and Tie drinks strawberry juice! With wild strawberries, blended whirl whirl whirl!"
Jeong Myung-ja paused mid-wrap and stared at Tie.
A tender light filled her smiling gaze.
"Baby, do the uncles and brothers there treat you well?"
Tie paused mid-bite of rice and looked up.
The child answered with a happy expression.
"Yes! They treat me the most preciously in the world."
"......Preciously?"
"When Tie can't sleep, they sing lullabies. When my legs hurt, they give piggyback rides. When Tie gets hurt, they all cry."
"Our Tie must be like a princess there."
"Yes! Tie's not a princess, but they treat me like one."
Tese tan hesitated.
But he soon resumed tonging the meat.
Jeong Myung-ja murmured.
"That's a relief, such a relief......"
"Yeees."
"When we first heard, Auntie and Grandma didn't even know such a place existed and worried so much."
"Nooo, don't worry!"
"Right? If we don't worry, our Tie can go back with peace of mind, right?"
Jeong Myung-ja wiped the moisture from the child's mouth with her hand.
It was then.
"Please eat."
Tese tan placed a nicely grilled piece of pork belly on Chae Bok-su's empty side plate.
Chae Bok-su, who had been staring down at the newspaper on the floor lost in thought, startled and looked up.
She glanced at Tie, then subtly furrowed her brows at Tese tan.
"......Meat? It won't go down."
It was strange.
She had only confessed her illness yesterday.
Yet this quick-witted, good-memory man knew her situation and was offering meat.
But Tese tan calmly added a sheet of the water radish that Jeong Myung-ja bought to the plate.
"Just try it."
A hollow laugh escaped Chae Bok-su's lips.
"You......"
It had been ages since she could eat greasy, heavy food like pork belly.
Especially now with severe hemoptysis, she absolutely couldn't.
'Even porridge barely goes down.'
The doctor had warned repeatedly.
Her stomach function was severely damaged, so avoid burdensome foods.
The ongoing hemoptysis was an issue too.
With existing bleeding, food stimulating the stomach could worsen it.
"Seriously! Knowing that, why......"
Chae Bok-su paused mid-rebuke.
A sudden thought crossed her mind.
'Wait. Last night, I slept.'
She had forgotten, fixated only on yelling at Tie.
The fact that she had rarely slept so deeply and woken refreshed.
From beside her, Tie's chatter with Jeong Myung-ja reached her ears.
"So, Tie has two powers! One calls bone friends, and one heals people, I think!"
"Really? Heals people?"
"Yes! Aunt Libia was sick, and I prayed 'please heal,' and she got all better! Does calling bone friends heal sickness too?"
Confusion crossed Chae Bok-su's face.
She looked back at Tese tan before her.
Tese tan was also staring at her for some reason.
"Please eat."
He urged again.
Definitely.
Something was definitely off.
'The pain was so bad.'
Even the smell of food made her stomach churn.
During chemo, fatigue was so severe she could barely manage daily life.
She looked down at her solar plexus.
"How......"
The pain was gone.
Her mouth watered at the aroma of grilling meat filling the room.
Each breath filled her lungs deeply,
no nausea.
The medicine smell, blood smell felt with every inhale and exhale, all gone.
"......"
Chae Bok-su slowly turned her head.
She saw Tie's profile as he munched on a wrap.
Not certain, yet utterly certain.
What could be more honest than the signals from one's own body.
'If it's true, if all my thoughts are correct.'
It started last night.
From the moment Tie ran and hugged her amid her fight with Jeong Myung-ja's husband.
"Ha, this......"
Her face endlessly crumpling, Chae Bok-su bit her lip.