Page 10 of Perfect Happiness

Eun-ho went back downstairs to find Noah and his grandma standing face to face with Wife and Jiyoo.

Noah was hugging his grandma’s waist, and Jiyoo had her eyes cast down toward the floor, her shoulders slightly angled toward her mom.

Yuna and Eun-ho’s mom looked like two team captains confronting each other on the pitch before a match.

And between them was Noah’s soccer ball.

“Obviously he didn’t do it on purpose,” Eun-ho’s mom said. “And it’s not like she’s hurt.”

Wife didn’t even look at Eun-ho’s mom. Her gaze was fixed on Noah.

“Noah,” she said in a stern voice. “Say sorry to your big sister.”

Eun-ho put himself between the two teams. No sooner did he ask what was going on than his mom came forward to explain. Jiyoo had been hit by one of Noah’s penalty kicks. But to her eyes, the ball had only slightly tapped Jiyoo on the chest.

Wife explained the incident from her point of view.

According to her, Jiyoo wasn’t just “tapped.” She had been hit so hard that it knocked her on her butt when she caught the ball.

Then Noah came running over and pushed Jiyoo as he took the ball from her.

This caused Jiyoo to fall backwards. The problem was that Noah wasn’t apologizing.

“I doubt he pushed her on purpose. He just wanted the ball back.”

“Is that how you taught him? To push other people over to get what they want?”

“I would never!” Eun-ho’s mom, whose voice was already a notch higher than everyone else’s, raised her voice another octave. “And Noah is barely six.”

Wife responded to Eun-ho’s mom raising her voice by lowering her own voice a notch: “Jiyoo and Noah are only eleven months apart.”

“He has asthma, for heaven’s sake.”

“That doesn’t mean he can hit Jiyoo.”

Every time these two women exchanged blows, Eun-ho felt like he was being forced to swallow a quarter. Yuna wasn’t the first woman who had butted heads with his mom. His ex-wife, Yoon-hee, also hadn’t gotten along with his mom. Other than their names, not much had changed.

Eun-ho could feel something sour working its way up his throat. He wanted to take care of this before he vomited. It was because of this that he decided without much deliberation to take Wife’s side and scold Noah.

“Noah, say you’re sorry to your big sister.”

Noah’s face turned bright red. He looked at his grandma. There was clear betrayal in his eyes. He had trusted his dad to take his side. Noah’s grandma answered Noah’s plea for help and quickly went on the counterattack.

“You, too, Eun-ho? It’s not like she has a broken bone.”

Eun-ho put his hand on Noah’s shoulder and pulled him away from his grandma.

“Are you not going to say you’re sorry?”

Noah hugged his ball even tighter. His mouth wasn’t opening. His stubborn eyes were making his intention clear to Eun-ho. No .

Eun-ho felt his Adam’s apple swelling to the size of a soccer ball.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened.

In fact, this happened every weekend Noah and Jiyoo got together.

Usually, it was just small skirmishes. But according to Wife’s analysis, Noah was just as irritable and sensitive as his father, so it was Noah’s fault.

But it was really Eun-ho’s fault. He was the one who spoiled Noah.

His son’s condition made it impossible for Eun-ho to discipline Noah.

And Eun-ho was always trying to make it up to Noah for not being able to be a good father and raising Noah himself.

And yet, Noah had never been as misbehaved as he was right now. He usually accepted his wrongdoing and apologized. His current behavior had to be related to the fact he had the support of an unconditionally loyal teammate. Eun-ho needed to separate Noah from his grandma if he wanted to handle this.

“Noah, Daddy needs to have a talk with you.” Eun-ho grabbed Noah’s hand. “No one come in.” Eun-ho said this to prevent his mother from coming along as back up. But all the way to the study, Noah dragged his feet and glanced back at his grandma.

“Why are you scaring him like that?” Eun-ho’s mother called from behind.

Eun-ho closed the door, shutting everyone out, and locked the door so no one would interfere.

Eun-ho sat Noah down on his chair and kneeled in front of him. He explained to Noah why he was wrong and why he needed to apologize. But Noah wasn’t listening to what Eun-ho told him. He just glanced toward the door as he fiddled with his soccer ball.

“Noah, do you understand what I’m telling you?”

Noah shook his head. Eun-ho couldn’t tell if this meant that he didn’t understand or that he understood but disagreed.

“Should I say it again?”

This time, Noah shook his head again.

“Then are you going to say you’re sorry to your big sister?”

Noah shook his head even harder this time. In fact, his denial was so strong that he had to hold onto the armrests of the chair so that he could twist his whole body in refusal.

“She’s not my big sister,” Noah finally said. “Tell her to go back to her home.”

What did I just hear? Eun-ho couldn’t believe his ears.

“Why does she always come to our house? Like a homeless person.”

Something snapped inside Eun-ho’s stomach. He stood up suddenly and grabbed Noah by the shoulders.

“Noah Cha! I think you need a time out.”

“No. I don’t want to. Don’t let her come here.”

Noah burst into tears. This started what was an uncontrollable wave of emotions.

First Noah started screaming. Then he began contorting his body and thrashing his legs so violently that he rocked the chair back and forth.

Eun-ho had never seen Noah act like this; he didn’t know what to do.

He risked hurting Noah if he grabbed him and tried to restrain him, and he risked Noah hurting himself if he did nothing.

“Noah Cha. Stop this right now.”

Eun-ho decided to hug Noah and pushed him back into the chair.

But Noah didn’t stop thrashing. Eun-ho’s heart plummeted as a realization hit him: Noah was having an asthma attack.

His lips were blue, his breathing was a wheezy whistle, sweat was dripping from his forehead, his eyes were full of tears and half-closed, and his body was beginning to go limp.

Noah had had asthma attacks before, but that never made it any less traumatic for Eun-ho or Noah.

Eun-ho threw open the study door and called out to his mom to bring the emergency inhaler.

The minute it took for her to find and bring it to him felt like an eternal hell.

They forced the inhalant down Noah’s throat, and immediately Noah started coughing as he gasped for air.

When Noah finally was able to breathe again, Eun-ho almost dropped to his knees, which would have been a mistake.

He wanted to prostrate himself and beg for forgiveness.

Had Eun-ho’s mom not snatched Noah from Eun-ho’s arms, he really would have done it, too.

“What kind of father are you?” As Eun-ho’s mom held Noah and left the study, she took one more jab at Eun-ho. “You can’t discipline him without almost killing him.”

Eun-ho followed her into the living room. She laid Noah on the sofa, propped him up with a cushion, and started massaging his hands and feet. Then, she started barking commands. “Fetch water.” “Turn up the boiler.” “Turn on the dehumidifier.” “Bring out the air purifier.” “Get him a blanket.”

All the while, she gave Eun-ho the stink eye as she talked to herself in a loud, rumbling voice.

‘He almost killed my poor baby.” “Look, your lips are still purple.” “And you’re ice cold.

” “He was so mean to you that you fainted.” “And we’re so close to curing you of your asthma.

This will set us back months.” “I’ve heard stories about fathers killing children from previous marriages.

I can’t believe my Noah almost became one of them. ”

No one else was talking. Eun-ho walked all over the house obeying her commands.

Wife’s eyes, which were following Eun-ho around as he did this, were saying, “Shut that woman up.” Eun-ho just ignored Wife.

His mom wasn’t the kind of person to shut up just because you told her to.

Nor did Eun-ho have any intention of stopping her.

He was in a daze from the shock of almost killing Noah.

Noah stayed sprawled out on the sofa for a while. The wheezing in his breathing slowly disappeared, but it would take a bit longer for him to return completely to normal. For the rest of today, at least, he would be out of commission.

And yet, Eun-ho was worried. What if Noah’s condition suddenly got worse? Should he take him to the emergency room?

“I’ll prepare dinner.”

Wife turned to the kitchen.

“How can you think about food at a time like this?” Eun-ho’s mom asked to Wife’s back.

Wife went into the kitchen without answering.

Eun-ho’s mom’s eyes shifted targets from Wife to Jiyoo.

Jiyoo put both hands in front of her and stood there awkwardly by the sofa.

Her face looked as if she were waiting for her punishment.

She had read the meaning in Mother’s eyes.

Noah almost died because of you. Are you happy now?

Despite being in the kitchen, Wife knew what look Eun-ho’s mom was giving Jiyoo.

She retaliated by intentionally being loud.

She turned on the water full blast and noisily washed dishes.

She dropped the utensil holder on the ground, put down heavy bowls too suddenly, and slammed the refrigerator door hard enough to break it.

By now, Eun-ho had come to his senses enough to think about other people. He turned to Jiyoo who desperately needed his help.

“Jiyoo, why don’t you go into the kitchen and help your mother?”