Forgetful Parents
Min-Ju stayed with Mr.Song and Mrs.Kwan until they closed
She helped them serve and clean
She had invited them back to her house
It was late and Min-Ju drove while Mrs.Kwan was holding a sleepy Yong-Sun in the back and with Mr.Song sitting next to her
"Remember, when Min-Ju would sit at our restaurant with her trillion books and studied for hours on end. Huh remember" Mr.Song said chuckling remembering the past
"I remember, hal-abeoji*" She said in a low tone trying to drive on the car lit street
"Did you really, Umma*" asked Yong-Sun getting his head off Mrs.Kwan's lap
"Yeah, that's where you get your love of books. Umma would read and study for hours and I would hurt your dad for bothering you"
"No, she would hurt me" Jokied Mr.Song
"Ah, have you talked to JinHai at all" Mrs.Kwan suddenly brought up
"Yeah...I did at the um...wedding"
"And?''
"And? What? We just talked for a little while nothing special" Min-Ju was starting to get a little agitated
"Woman! She is uncomfortable" said Mr.Song
"You don't have to scream at me" Mrs.Kwan clapped back
"Who said I was screaming at you. HUH"
"THERE! You raised your voice" Mrs.Kwan pointed back at him
Min-Ju laughed she always loved how they bricker
"No, I'm fine hal-abeoji. I'm not uncomfortable. We can talk about him if you want."
"No, it's okay. We don't want to" Mr.Song said with an annoyed tone
When they reached Min-Ju's house Yong-Sun had already fallen asleep
Mrs.Kwan brought Yong-Sun to his bedroom and tucked him into bed
Mr.Song was walking around the massive house then sitting down on the couch with Min-Ju
"This house is the size of my village. Your husband is rich to buy this for you"
"What are you talking about? I bought this house"
"Didn't Yong-Sun say that Su-Hyung bought this for you"
"The house is in my name but I brought this with our money"
"Why? You don't trust him"
"No, I just needed to feel like I'm in control of something. Su-Hyung controls everything and I can't argue with him"
"You know you make your decisions very carefully but when it comes to men. Your mind goes poof"
That made her laugh but it was sadly true
Su-Hyung is loving and caring but his work was always more important to him. Who would blame him? He was the eldest son of a respectable business conglomerate. He inherited his father's business a year after their wedding but even still he was always working
"You know we could live with you"
"Why?" asked Min-Ju shocked not wanting them to move in with her
"What? We are old now and you seem lonely"
That made Min-Ju chuckle
"I'll buy you a house near here instead" joked Min-Ju
"I don't want it. I didn't raise you like this to not care about the people who raised you" He said crossing his arms and turning away from her
"You are gonna invade my privacy" Min-Ju responded placing her hand on Mr.Song's shoulder and turning him around so he would face her
"What are you 16?" Mr.Song said purposely avoiding Min-Ju's gaze
"Hey, you're the one that looked through my stuff to see if I was talking to any boys"
"And I was right. What is that boy's name? Hui...something''
"HuiLiang. Hal-abeoji that was like 20 years ago "
"That's it. Has it been that long I wondered what happened to that boy"
"How should I know it was a long time ago"
"If someone can't see that your mind is somewhere else they are blind. What happened?" He asked reading her face as Min-Ju wasn't even looking at Mr.Song.
"Life. Life happened"
"Was it that boy that caused you to be like this"
"No, I have been like this for a long time"
"This wasn't the girl I knew." He said with a sigh "Whatever happened to photography?" Mr.Song said trying to cheer her up
"You know why. I couldn't have made money and I was trying to get out of here. You told me I was good at arguing with people. So, I should make good use of that talent"
"I did? I forgot"
"But Yong-Sun now has picked up on my proxy arguments" She joked looking up to his room
"Who's Yong-Sun? Your boyfriend. Didn't you just break up with JinHai?" Mr.Song suddenly bombarded her with questions
"What? What are you saying?" Min-Ju asked confused and she was growing very concerned
"Min-Ju, Would you come to the kitchen with me" Mrs.Kwan asked suddenly as she quickly descends down the staircase
"Why is he like that?" Min-Ju asked looking concerned but Mrs.Kwan was hesitant to tell her but Min-Ju kept pressuring her to tell her
"He started being like this a year ago" Mrs.Kwan said with the sound of sorrow in her voice "It started when he forgot to collect money from the customers and just last week he hurt the chef who he thought was an intruder and he forgot that he was the one that hired him"
"Did you guys see a doctor?''
"We went but he got suddenly better. He suddenly forgets but he goes back to normal" Min-Ju could hear the desperation her voice
"Why didn't you tell me?" Min-Ju asked placing her hands on her face.
"When you call you sound happy. I didn't what to ruin that and you have so much on your plate"
"You should have told me. I would have come back as soon as I heard"
"But did you want to come back after what happened"
"No..." But before Min-Ju could finish Mrs.Kwan interrupted her "I'm going to check on him" and left the kitchen not looking back at Min-Ju who already had water in her eyes
When Mrs.Kwan left. Min-Ju started to cry. She cared for and loved him and knew the situation. It happened to BiYu's mother. One day she was here and the next she was gone. The mother BiYu knew wasn't there anymore and Min-Ju couldn't let Mr.Song suffer the same fate
When she finally brought herself back together. She walked out and found Mr.Song was asleep on the couch.
She whispered to Mrs.Kwan to go upstairs and sleep in the guest room
"I'm fine. I'll say here with him" said Mrs.Kwan smiling at Min-Ju and she smiled back walking up to her bedroom
*hal-abeoji 할아버저= Grandfather
*Umma 엄마= Mom