EP09 – Can I Be a Good Parent?
That day,
it rained.
Droplets slid down the café windows like quiet punctuation marks.
The air inside was still—
more than usual.
Like the whole world was holding its breath.
She walked in slowly.
Her belly full with new life.
But her expression…
was calm in a way that felt disconnected.
"My due date's in two weeks," she said.
"But even now,
I'm not sure I made the right choice."
"There was a time I thought about staying childfree.
I really considered it—
living without a child might've been easier."
She looked down,
her hands trembling slightly over her stomach.
"I didn't grow up with good parents.
I used to think people hurt their children
because they didn't love them enough."
"But now I think—
maybe it's because they didn't know how to love at all."
The Master prepared a cup of warm barley tea—
no caffeine today.
Alongside it, he placed a book on the table.
Book Title: Before You're Called Mom
Bookmark Quote:
"If there is even a part of you
that wants to love someone better,
then you are already
someone capable of starting anew—
even if you weren't given love yourself."
"I just don't want…
my child to grow up like I did," she whispered.
"But I'm scared.
What if I become them?"
The Master gently placed the cup down.
"That one sentence—
'I want to do it differently'—
that already makes you different."
A single tear dropped.
Not from sorrow,
but something closer to resolve.
"I don't want my child to be someone who just endures," she said.
"I want them to be someone who waits.
Who speaks.
Who's listened to."
When she left,
the Master quietly tucked the bookmark back into the book.
"A good parent isn't a perfect one.
It's someone who chooses
to go farther than the ones who raised them."
****
EP10 – I Decided to Live Again, Under My Own Name
The person who stepped into the café that day
looked like someone who had just let go of something heavy.
No luggage.
No visible sign of change.
And yet—
there was a quiet finality about them.
A weight that had already been set down,
somewhere off-page.
"I used to just… live the life that was given to me,"
they said.
"I thought that's how it was supposed to be."
"But now,
I'm not so sure."
"So I've decided to try—
just once—
to live under my own name.
No titles.
No expectations.
Just me."
The Master didn't say much.
Instead, he took extra time with the coffee.
Let the aroma linger in the space
a little longer than usual.
Perhaps,
he knew—
this visitor was not here to stay.
Book Title: The Person I've Always Been, From the Very Beginning
Bookmark Quote:
"When you peel away all the names the world gave you,
you might find someone
you've been quietly missing for years."
"I'm scared," they admitted.
"But if I don't do it now,
I think I'll spend my whole life
living someone else's story."
They drank the coffee to the last drop.
Then flipped the cup over,
deliberate and complete.