Mommy and Baby

Four-6

“You never disappoint me, mommy,” moved by this promise, Choi So-dong also promised. “I’ll never disappoint you, either.”

Two days later—more exactly, in the morning of January 20, 2020, however, Choi Hun-ae was disappointed and even shocked, although it was irrelevant to Choi So-dong. Because when she was having breakfast with her family members, she saw an emergency notice which the government of this Chinese city issued. According to this notice, a staff member of the largest shopping mall was confirmed to be a patient of the novel coronavirus pneumonia just now; accordingly, everyone who had ever been in the shopping mall on January 18, 2020, when the staff member was working there, must report to the government immediately and stay at home, waiting for the epidemic prevention personnel that would come to deal with the problems.

“Oh my goodness!” Choi Hun-ae could not help shouting.

“What’s wrong with you, Hun-ae?” Choi Seong-hyang asked his eldest daughter. After knowing the reason, he was also shocked; so did Choi Myeon-ae and Choi Hang-gyeong, both of whom noticed a problem: if they were unfortunately infected with the virus, the latter was not only possible to endanger themselves but would threaten their mother, as well as the embryo inside her womb. Therefore, they both felt nervous.

However, Choi Seong-hyang knew that merely feeling nervous was useless. As the notice contained the government’s contact information, he immediately contacted the latter.

More than half one hour later, a small team of epidemic prevention personnel, each of whom was wearing full protective clothing, arrived at Choi Seong-hyang’s home. After a complete survey, the team leader told the host: “Since now, please stay at home for two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” surprised, Choi Seong-hyang replied. “But sir, we’re Koreans who will return to our motherland to spend Chinese New Year with our relatives. We already booked passenger tickets and will set off only three days later.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” said the team leader. “But the epidemic prevention is so important that you must return your tickets.” Having given Choi Seong-hyang a piece of paper on which several phone numbers and notes were written, he continued to say: “During these two weeks, if you are needing essential helps, especially needing foods, call any one of these phone numbers. If any of you have symptoms, such as cough, fever or diarrhea, you’re more obligated to call a number and report your situation; after that, you’ll be carried to an assigned hospital for diagnosis and treatment. If you deliberately conceal the problem, it’s illegal.”

Choi Seong-hyang knew that some foreigners in China were arrogant; contrarily, he and his family members were all law-abiding, although they were not citizens of China. This was why he promised: “OK, I see, sir. The whole family of mine will carry out what you have said.”

Satisfied with this promise, the team leader led other members to leave. However, Choi Seong-hyang felt sad and therefore spoke to his family members, who were as sad as himself:

“We can’t return to Korea to spend this Chinese New Year. We’re isolated. Two weeks! It mean that when the isolation is ended, the festival is already ended.”

Understanding this inexorable fact, Choi Hun-ae advised: “We should tell this problem to our relatives just right now, dad. If not, they’ll keep waiting for us, but that’s already meaningless.”

“Exactly,” Choi Seong-hyang agreed with his eldest daughter and then phoned his father Cho Jung-in. After introducing the problem that was troubling his family, in a guilty voice, Choi Seong-hyang spoke to the latter, similar with admitting a shameful crime: “I’m too sorry for disappointing you in this way, dad.”

Cho Jung-in, however, was reasonable enough and therefore replied: “Never mind, boy. As you’re living in China, never disobey Chinese laws. What’s more, you must be very careful, to prevent yourself from suffering from such disease.”

“Got it, dad,” replied Choi Seong-hyang.

The same as her father, Choi Hun-ae was also sad for being isolated and therefore unable to return to her motherland to meet her relatives. After she told this problem to Choi So-dong at night, the latter replied: “I’m really sorrowful to hear that, mommy. Because I can’t help you to resolve such problem.”

“It’s not your fault, baby,” Choi Hun-ae spoke to her in a hurry.

To help the former in becoming happy, Choi So-dong said: “I believe this disease won’t affect China for a long time, mommy. And our motherland is more impossible to be harmed. After you come back, I’ll do my best to comfort you.”

Choi Hun-ae, certainly, understood what the “comfort” meant; as a result, she could not help laughing and then said: “OK, baby. Even if I’m sleeping, I will dream of it.”

However, that night, Choi Hun-ae did not dream of the s****l behavior between herself and Choi So-dong. This was not surprising, as a human being was unable to control his or her own dream.