Chapter 104

He brushes his thumb over my cheek, then leans in and lightly kisses me again, a peck that sends goosebumps across my skin and flutters through my stomach.

“I think we all needed time apart to figure things out. To forget… to be able to forgive. My leaving gave you headspace too… About Tia, about us, about everything. You’re not the same as you were. Neither is mother. Yoonah is finally growing up and thinking about sorting himself out for himself.”

“Yeah, I guess. I was so caught in grief and blame, refusing to see where I failed… I needed a wake-up call. I needed to lose you to realize I couldn’t live without you.” He exhales heavily in a sort of sigh. “Yoonie and I had a real heart-to-heart about everything, even that, and although we are far from okay, it was a start. Mother is getting old, and two years of emptiness and loneliness in that big house made her rethink her role as mother to you and us. She’s tried hard with Yoonah, grown closer, and learned that her kid