I'm Sorry
She stayed lying still on her bed. Blankly staring at the bedroom door. Her swollen eyes devoid of its usual brightness. She didn't dare go back to sleep in fear that nightmares might wake her up again.
Her phone rang once indicating a message received in the middle of the night but she still didn't move to check on it. She only started to stir from her position when the brightness of the sun lit up the whole room. She sluggishly stretched out her hand to look at the clock on her bedside table. '10:32am'
Forcing herself to stand, she crawled out of bed so slowly. Ji Won had just sat at the edge of the bed and right on cue, her phone started ringing. Picking up her phone, she cleared her throat and tried to make her voice as normal sounding as possible. "Hello?"
Her mother answered quickly. Her voice mirroring her worry. "My dear! Thank goodness you've picked up. Your father and I have been worried sick! Your Pilates instructor just called saying that you didn't show up at your class! What happened dear?! Are you okay? You're daddy asked if you want mommy and daddy to go to you now?"
Feeling her parent's unconditional love, she smiled as her tears started to form on her eyes. She calmed her nerves to avoid worrying her parents any further. "Put me on speaker phone mom..."
When her mother confirmed that she already is on speaker phone, she continued. "There's no need for the both of you to travel for hours on a plane just to check up on me, Mommy, Daddy. I'm fine. I promise... I just woke up late because I slept a little late last night. I'll call my Pilates instructor later. Don't worry too much. Just enjoy your vacation, please."
She then heard her father's voice on the other line. His voice calm and crisp as he gently asked his beloved daughter. "Baby, why did you sleep late last night? Did you have another night-"
"No nightmares, Daddy. Don't worry. I just went over some of the scripts that my manager gave me and I kinda lost track of time. hehe. I'm sorry... I know you both didn't want me sleeping late." Thankfully, she found a viable excuse when she remembered that her manager really gave her a couple of scripts yesterday.
They talked for a little while then said their goodbyes (good nights in the case of her parents) as it was already late at night at Hawaii where her parents are spending their vacation.
After hanging up, Ji Won was just about to put down her phone when she caught sight of a received message. Looking at the time, it was sent to her at 4:52am.
Then she saw who the sender was. 'Yoon Ho Young' She immediately tapped to read the message. It was a long message. A really looong message.
[Hey. I just got home... How was your day? Did anything special happen? Did you listen well to your Pilates instructor? What did you eat for lunch? For dinner?... Me? I skipped lunch and only ate sandwich for dinner because of work, huhu! I'm a full grown man that needs a lot of food, but... Pity me! :( I was soooo drowned with work the entire day. I also didn't notice that my phone was dead battery. It was my secretary who forgot to charge it. He was very negligent of his work to charge my phone because of all the paper works. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. :'( Forgive me?... Don't mind forgiving my secretary... It's entirely his fault. Just forgive me, okay? I promise that I'll make it up to you. I'll work harder so we could hang out, alright?... Call me as soon as you read this. I promise to answer right away. -Ho Young]
Her mood was already quite lifted after talking to her parents. But a message from Ho Young totally erased any feelings she had yesterday and last night.
She was already smiling even before she started reading his message but after finishing it, she laughed out loud. The previous blank look on her face was replaced with a blissful and a little teasing expression. Her sad tears replaced with happy tears caused by too much laughing.