Chapter 56 – Chapter 56

Sometimes, while running at full speed, the screen of the mobile phone, which would not have broken even if I accidentally dropped it on the asphalt floor, and other times, it is shattered so easily that it is absurd.
It was just like that now.
Just in time, the phone case must have been bought right after I bought it, even though the probability of not breaking was definitely higher than the probability of breaking.
It was so clear even in this tumultuous surroundings that it was scary to hit the aquarium floor, so the sound of the liquid crystal breaking stuck in my ears.

‘Chew…’

It wasn’t a lie, but as I burst out bickering, I felt like I really wanted to punch the other person with my fist, whether they were children or malicious or not.

[… ] …]

I know better than anyone that you can’t do that.
It was separate from that.
Just because you know, doesn’t mean that this fucking feeling melts away in an instant.

「Creepy!」

Grinding my teeth, I glared at the family of the bastard who had said that shit just a moment ago. The parents, who met eyes with me, are startedled, hold the child and move quickly to another place.
I really want to kick that back of the head…
At this moment, I was to the point of resenting myself for not being a bully to that point. To the point where I think it would have been nice if I had been a little more stupid and stupid… I felt sorry for Noah and worried.

“Miho, pick it up.”
“Yes…”

Miho’s expression hardened as he picked up Noah’s phone that had fallen on the floor.
Too bad it’s broken
Noah’s phone, with a spider web drawn straight from the top right corner, literally broke 30% of the screen.
It still came out, but I couldn’t let it be dangerously used like this.

No, in the first place, I didn’t really care if the phone was smashed or broken.
If it’s money, it’s enough to earn again, and if A/S is annoying for a phone, it’s enough to just buy a new one on the way home.
The reason why I am so angry and my emotions fluctuate is because I am worried about Noah.

“It’s okay. Is there a place that fixes this on the way home? If you stop by there, I’ll fix it right away for free…”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… Noah was wrong, no, because Noah was an idiot. Because Noah is useless, Noah… All Noah…”

Facing Noah, I heard a sound like something breaking in my heart.
No, this might have been a voice from Noah.

It was broken.
It felt as if it had been shattered into smaller pieces than a broken cell phone screen.

Rather, cry.
It would have been much better if he had cried like a child with a sad voice.
But Noah didn’t cry.
I want to cry more than anyone else, but it’s broken… He was pleading with his hands together with the most desperate expression in the world.

“I’m sorry, Dad, I’m sorry, Noah was wrong… Please don’t give up…”

At that moment, the time when Miho ran away from home was superimposed on Noah’s appearance.

“I have nowhere else to go… Miho, there’s nowhere else to go but here. … I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Miho, I have nowhere else to go… Aaaaang.”

I know.
If you think about it, there must have been a lot better, nicer, and proud people than me in this world. These children came to me, not to that place.
If you look at it differently, at the end of the day, their hope was only about me.

‘So I wanted to do something, I wanted to…’

Even though I thought I worked hard, whether it was a coincidence or not, the result is like this, so I also lose a bit of confidence.
Very little, the power is overpowering.

Somehow, I felt like I was going to cry.
Because I’m not an iron man either.

But even if I wasn’t an iron man, I had to become an iron man who would never fall down or collapse in front of these children.
I felt like I knew a little bit now that that was ‘Dad’.

“You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“…”
“So, it’s okay. It’s okay to break a hundred or a thousand phones. And why am I leaving you?”

Actually, Noah, the more you said that, the more difficult it was for me.
But it wasn’t Noah’s fault.

“No matter what anyone says, you are my daughter. My lovely daughter, Noah Kim.”

At that moment, Noah’s tear ducts, which had been forcibly blocked, burst open.

“… !”

Without a proper cry coming out, I let go of her throat and cry sadly. I hugged such Noah tightly and patted him.
Otherwise, I felt like I would cry.

“Uh, uh… Aaaaang!”

If Miho, who was watching from the side, hadn’t cried out for me, I probably wouldn’t have been able to continue to show myself as a dignified father in front of my children.

“Let’s go home.”

I stopped by the cell phone A/S center on the road and repaired Noah’s broken cell phone screen.
I wondered if it would take longer than I thought, but it was said that it would take 20 minutes, so the three of us, Miho, and Noah, decided to wait in the car blankly.

‘What should I say?’

Now that the atmosphere has calmed down, wouldn’t it be nice to say something to Noah?
Don’t blame yourself unconditionally, don’t push yourself too negatively, and the more you do, the more difficult it is.
Is it okay to say such a thing?
Considering Noah’s personality of her, I wonder if she was hurt more by my words of her, and she says she’s fine on the outside, but she struggles on the inside.

[… ] …]

If the other person was an adult, I wouldn’t have worried about this.
As a child, I had to worry.

Just like before, words that would have been passed over with only a stiff expression can become a weapon that can destroy the world for young children.
At that time, Miho, who was sitting in the back seat alongside Noah, opened his mouth.
I wondered why the kid didn’t watch You Tube and stayed quiet. Did he worry about something?

“Noang!”
“Yes, sister…”
“Noah is not reckless. I won’t abandon Noah who lays his tongue his! Noah didn’t do anything wrong!”
“…”
“So, don’t talk like that… Tonnu and Miho are very sad. Tears I even my tongue is crying.”

At that moment, I reflexively covered my mouth.
I woke up crying and my eyes became sour.

“Uh, sister… Sorry, sorry…”
“Nope! Miho, Miho… Miho is the missing wife.”
“Uh, what’s your sister…!”
“Miho, you didn’t do anything. Miho, I’m the older sister… Oh I didn’t do anything I said I’d protect you, but Miho, you don’t deserve to be an older sister…”

Haaa…
I tried to catch my breath with a sigh and slightly lifted my head. Hot air flowed from his mouth.
The tears in my eyes were so stinging that I couldn’t even look back.

“My wife, Miho was wrong… So it’s not Noah’s fault. Next time, Miho will protect you…”

At this moment, I realized again how inadequate a parent I am.

‘It’s still too far.’

Miho’s parents were really great people.
She raised her daughter her so well.
He couldn’t even compare to someone like me. How much more must a bastard like me work to stand shoulder to shoulder with the parents who raised Miho like that?

I myself was so pathetic.

“Tonnu, are you crying again?”
“… Don’t cry It’s just a little sleepy.”
“Yeah, Miho is sleepy too…”

Like Noah, the two children nodded and dropped their heads a few times before putting their heads together and quietly dozing off.
In the meantime, sleep talking flowed from Noah’s mouth while he was sleeping.

“Dad, I’m sorry…”

She still feels sorry for the child who apologizes in her dream of her.
Another word followed.

“… Thanks, Dad… I love you.”

“It’s rattling.”

In the end, I couldn’t stand it and had no choice but to bury myself deep in the driver’s seat and cover my face with my arms. Something moist came out of his arm.

*

The kids woke up when they finished repairing their phones and drove about an hour more until they arrived at the parking lot in front of the house.

“We’ve arrived, wake up everyone. If you want to sleep better, go home and sleep.”
“Haaaaah, Miho needs to eat dinner…”

I put the fuss aside, and when I woke up, I ate and laughed while watching Miho start looking for food as if it had been reset.
Next, I handed the phone back to its original state to Noah.

“Here, here. How do you feel?”
“… !”
“So next time something like this happens, don’t beat yourself up too much, just tell Dad. Dad will fix it right away.”

Of course, it would be the technicians at the A/S center who actually fix it.

“Hey, hey… Dad.”
“Yes?”
“No, Noah. I know it’s very, very off-topic. I know… Can I make one wish and grant it?”
“Tell me. If you can listen, Dad will listen somehow.”

It was Noah’s request, not anyone else’s.
The fact that a child who had never directly said that he wanted something so far said this was that he was so desperate and determined.

Noah said.

“Mom.”
“…”
“If there was a mother… It’s good for you.”
“That…”

I panicked and tried to say something, but strangely, Noah’s body was collapsing forward.

“Noah, my mom wants one too… Yo. This.”
“Noah?”

“Dump!”

Surprised, I lifted the fallen Noah with both hands. Only then did I realize that Noah’s body his was burning like a ball of fire.
To be exact, it was the same as when Miho was sick, no, it was worse than that.

‘Since when?’

Startle!

“Shall we go to the place Noah wants to go to today?”
“… I want to go somewhere cool.”

Maybe from then?
But it makes no sense. If I had been sick from then on, it would have been obvious somehow, and most of all, when I hugged Noah several times, I didn’t feel any heat.

[Because it’s a dragon…]

What?

[It’s also a silver dragon that mainly handles ice, so if I made up my mind to lower the heat, I would have been able to control even the weakest hatchling.]
[But, that, the pain would have been the same…]

The voice is watery.

‘I’m going to really go crazy.’

Noah was such a kid.
No self-esteem, no self-esteem… Getting a new set of clothes is scary, and the world collapses just because the phone I bought is broken. He was the kind of child who suffered all day, wondering if he would be abandoned if he smoked like a child.

‘I don’t know.’

It’s not like I have mind reading skills that can read people’s minds.

‘There’s no way I’ll know if I don’t talk.’

“Ha ha, ha, ha…”

I stared blankly at Noah, who was suffering as if he was going to run out of breath, but he clenched his fists with his lips torn apart to try not to show it as much as possible.
Even if I haven’t experienced it myself.
It was the pain that Miho suffered for three days and nights, saying that he was sick, that he did not want to die, and that he wanted to be saved.

I knew how wonderful and heartbreaking it was to put up with it.
What kind of time have I been able to do that…
At the same time, I feel sad that I might not have been able to tell me. Remorse for not giving you that much trust.

At the same time, so much patience and more reference.
The child who had never said anything clearly about what he wanted from me said that it was a ‘wish’ and asked me.

“Mom, la…”

I thought as I took Noah in with Miho rolling her legs.
I will try my best to grant that wish.