25

I smile to myself, trying to refrain from looking back at him. I give in, turning my head as I continue to go for the entrance to the Hospital. I see he's still waiting there, watching me as I go. He gives me a smile and I return it. I turn back to open the front door, walking inside. My smile falls flat when I see Haeun sitting on one of the many chairs in the lobby. She's smiling at her phone. I walk up to her and clear my throat.

"I'm here." I say in an unenthusiastic tone.

She looks up at me and smiles gently.

"Good," she says as she stands up, "Let's go then."

She extends her arms to let me go first. I look at her arms and then back at her.

"I don't know where we're going." I say.

She puts her arms down and chuckles nervously.

"Right." She whispers to herself.

She passes by me and walks ahead, letting me follow. We walk into the parking garage and she pulls out keys from her purse.

"There's a set of pajamas waiting for you." She says as she clicks the button to unlock her car.

A white Cadillac beeps, signaling it was being unlocked. She approaches it and gets to the drivers seat. I look at the car and scoff.

"Nice ride." I say sarcastically.

She smiles nervously at me. I walk to the back seat and get inside. The car smelt brand new, but by the way that there were already things in it, it seemed as though she's had it for a while. I harshly close the door, both out of irritation and a hint of jealousy, and buckle the seat belt. She gets in, looking at me through the mirror.

"You don't have to sit back there, you know." She says.

I sit there quietly, wanting to leave already. She smiles sadly and starts the car. She removes the parking brake and gets into drive, but she doesn't move.

"Do you have any songs you want to listen too?"

I glare at her through the mirror and she clears her throat before driving.

-

The car ride was silent. She didn't put on any music, probably in fear that I would complain about it. The longer I sat in the car, the more I start to wonder if any of it was worth it. I'm not even sure if I'll be in the same class as Jugyeong, if that's the case, then I really am just going to go live with her. I notice on the drive that we go into a fancy neighborhood. I look out of the window at all of the big houses in awe. We drive up this hill, and the higher we go, the bigger the houses become. We didn't make it to the top, though, we were sort of a long way from it, but no where near the bottom of the hill.

She pulls into a drive way and parks the car. I look at the house through the windshield and scoff at the huge place.

"Wow, you were really holding back on dad and I." I say in an agitated tone with a fake smile on my face.

She opens her mouth to say something back, but I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. Why does she need such a huge house just to live alone in it? I walk up to the gate and stop because it requires a passcode. She rushes up next to me and puts it in.

"Don't you think I should know that?" I say, pointing to the keypad.

The big steel gate doors open, slightly making a creaking sound from how heavy they are.

"Right," she says as we begin to walk through them, "It's 0-2-6-7-9."

The gates close behind us as we travel up a long path to get to the front door.

"Do you really need all of this room to live by yourself?" I finally ask her.

She freezes before putting in yet another code for the door. She turns to me.

"Yusoi-"

"You'll need to tell me this passcode too." I say, cutting her off.

She turns back to it, pressing in the numbers.

"4-8-1-7-5." She says.

"You may enter the home." An automated voice announces.

She hesitantly opens the door, I follow in after her. She closes the door behind me and I look around at my huge surroundings. The doorway had a corner wall and once you turn away from it, you can see some furniture in the living room, the kitchen just straight ahead. Turn a little more than that and you see a wide hallway that probably leads to other rooms. As I put on a pair of slippers, I notice a huge framed picture hanging on the wall in front of me. It was of Haeun, a man and two kids, one boy and one girl. I freeze.

"Yusoi..." She says quietly, probably noticing that I saw the picture.

How could you miss it? It was the first thing you see when you walk into the house. I clench my jaw, tears brimming my eyes.

"Who are they?" I ask in an agitated tone.

"Mom!" Someone yells from the kitchen.

I turn, a tear sliding down my cheek. I see one of the two kids, the girl, smiling while looking at Haeun.

"Mi-rae." She says happily.

I scoff.

"Oh, who's that?" She asks, looking at me.

"Who's who?" A boy asks as he emerges from somewhere in the kitchen. He's the boy from the picture. They're twins. He looks at me as well.

"This is Yusoi." Haeun says.

"Hi." Mi-rae says with a smile.

The boy nods at me and puts something on the table. I feel a hand being placed on my shoulder.

"Yusoi... this is Mi-rae and Hyun-woo." She says, gesturing towards them.

My breath hitches as I try to hold in some sobs.

"Dinner is ready." A man says, carrying in a large dish. "Oh," he says, noticing me, "You must be Yusoi. Haeun told me you would be staying with us."

"She is?" Hyun-woo asks.

Haeun removes her hand from my shoulder. She walks past me and I look down, noticing the wedding ring on her finger. I look back at her as she walks over to them. How did I not notice? She's married? She has kids? They don't look much younger than me, maybe even Gowoon's age. So.. did she have kids right after she left?

My breath hitches as I see her sit down next to them, smiling. I wipe my tears harshly, standing still.

"Aren't you going to tell them who I am?" I ask, frustrated.

They all look at me, each and every one of their smiles falling. The three look at me confused and Haeun looks ashamed. She looks down and clears her throat before looking back up.

"I... haven't had the chance-" She starts.

"Are you really that ashamed of me?" I ask, more tears falling down my face.

"What is she talking about?" Mi-rae asks, looking at Haeun.

I notice her husband sigh. He stands up and makes his way over to me. I look at him, shocked, and back away a little. He smiles and holds out his hand.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Jinyoung."

My breath shakes as my nose sniffles. I look up at him.

"How old are your kids?" I ask, on the verge of loosing my shit.

He raises his eyebrow at me and drops his hand once he realizes I wasn't going to take it.

"They're both sixteen, why?"

I felt my heart stop. I was right. I no longer look at him, trying to catch my breath. I fall to my knees while clenching my chest.

"Yusoi!" Haeun yells out to me.

She comes to my side, Mi-rae and Hyunwoo following.

"Are you alright?" She asks, placing her hands on both of my shoulders.

I clench my jaw and shove her hands away. I look at her, furious.

"No, I'm not okay "mom"." I say, getting up.

" 'Mom'?" Hyun-woo says.

I look at him and laugh, looking crazy since tears were streaming down my face.

"That's right, "mom"." I say while laughing.

"Yusoi-" She says, standing up.

"You know, you're probably the worst person I have ever met." I say, now looking at her.

Her facial expression changes into hurt.

"Just let me explain-" She starts, trying to grab my shoulders again.

"Don't touch me!" I yell.

They all become startled. I begin to cry harder.

"Do you know how many times I would lay awake at night and wonder where my mom went? Huh? Before I was eight, I actually believed that you were out trying to find a new heart for me because that's what dad said! How stupid is that? I was a fool! I was a damn fool!"

"Don't shout at me!" She says.

"I should have known better. No good person abandons their child and husband just to sleep with someone else and get knocked up! That's why you left, huh? Because you were pregnant and decided that raising these two was more important that raising me!" I yell.

She stands there, stunned.

"Where did you meet him? Huh? Probably some dump." I spit.

She covers her mouth and begins to sob. Jinyoung comes over to her side and hugs her. I turn to the twins, seeing Mi-rae was crying.

"I bet you didn't know how awful your mom was?"

I bow to them.

"Hello, I'm Yusoi and I'm your half-sister!" I say with a fake enthusiastic tone.

"Yusoi, I think you should stop." Jinyoung tries to scold.

I turn to him.

"Who do you think you are? You're the one who slept with a married woman-"

Haeun gets out of Jinyoung's grasp and raises her hand, slapping me. I hear a gasp. I put my hand on my cheek, turning back to her. She looks just as surprised by her action.

"Did you ever even care about me?" I ask. "Did I do something so horrible that made you want to start a whole new family!"

"Yusoi, I'm sorry." She cries, falling to her knees.

She grabs on the hem of my shirt, tugging at it.

"Please forgive me! I never meant to hurt you."

I push her hands away.

"Liar!"

She looks up at me, Jinyoung tries to help her up.

"I can't believe I wasted most of my life imaging how it would be if I met you. I always wondered what kind of person you were. I guess I know now; you're pathetic." I say.

I take off the slippers and grab my shoes.

"Yusoi! Where are you going?" She asks, trying to grab onto me again.

I push her off, she bumps into Jinyoung.

"The deals off. I don't care if I go to Saebom or not. Besides, I think I overstayed my welcome." I say, eyeing the rest of her family.

I go to open the door, but stop.

"I hope that spending those last six years with me, taking care of me didn't clear you conscience." I turn to look at her. "No matter how many acts of kindness you do for me, none of them will be able to cover up what a nasty person you are." I say.

I open the door and walk out, slamming it closed behind me. I walked a little further, stopping to put my shoes on.

"Yusoi!" Haeun yells out for me.

I roll my eyes, hurrying to put them on.

"Yusoi!" Her voice becomes closer.

I hear her footsteps running over to me. She grabs onto my arm, making me look at her.

"You don't have to eat dinner with us, you don't have to even make eye contact with us. Please. Stay." She begs.

I scoff.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"You can still go to Saebom, please just don't leave."

"Do you really think I want to stay with you in your nice house with your picture perfect family after what you did to me!" I yell, shaking her off of my arm. "You know what? You can start paying off your debt towards me. You'll enroll me in Saebom, you'll buy me my uniform, you'll get me a new phone so I can call Jugyeong and Seojun so we can plan our date. You'll even buy me new clothes because in the end, sadly, I am still you're child and you still have to provide for me."

She looks at me.

"Am I clear?" I ask, gritting my teeth.

"Yes, but I want to spend time with you-"

I groan in annoyance.

"Just get coffee with me once per week, that's it. That's all I ask."

My eyes shift to glancing over at her family. I look back at Haeun.

"Fine." I say.

She smiles.

"Thank you, thank you." She says, wiping her tears.

"I'll be over by tomorrow to pick up my uniform and phone." I say, about to walk off.

She stops me again.

"I won't be able to get you enrolled for at least a couple of days."

"Okay." I say, "But I'll still be here for my phone."

She nods her head sadly.

"I want a newer version of a phone, nothing old. Don't you think I at least deserve that?"

She nods her head. I smile.

"Good."

I walk away from her and eventually, away from her house. I stop on the sidewalk and begin to cry. I squat, hugging my knees as I cry into them. My fingernails dig into the sleeves of my jacket.

"I really wished you lived in that house all alone." I cry.