“Mom, I’m home,” Taeyeon announced as she walked through the door of her house, “mom?” she called once more. She closed the front door behind her, slipped out of her shoes and into her house slippers. She then climbed up the first few steps from the entry way and made her way towards the kitchen, “mom,” Taeyeon flipped on the lights to see her mom sitting in the dining room by herself; her hands clutched tightly together, “are you okay?” she dropped her school bag at the entry way of the kitchen and walked up to her mom, “hey,” she called softly and shook her mom’s shoulders.

“Huh?” Da-hee finally made a sound as she was snapped back to reality, “ah Taeyeon,” she said with a smile and grabbed her daughter’s hands, “come, sit with mom,” she pulled Taeyeon into the empty chair beside her.

“Mom, is everything alright? You seem kind of bothered with something,” Taeyeon told her mom while studying her mom’s every expressions.

Da-hee heaved out a heavy and tired sigh and patted her daughter’s hands, “Taeyeon my dear,” she began, rubbing Taeyeon’s hands.

“Where’s dad? Shouldn’t he have closed the store by now? Why isn’t he home yet?” Taeyeon asked, looking around their surroundings for a sign of her father.

“Taeyeon-ah,” Da-hee said with a heavy sigh which caught Taeyeon’s attention, “I have something to tell you,” she said.

“What is it?” Taeyeon asked, this time switching the places of their hands. She grasped her mom’s hands tightly in hers’, “what’s wrong?”

“Your father…he…,” Da-hee glanced up at Taeyeon, pulled her right hand out of Taeyeon’s grasp and caressed her face with it, “your dad fell into some debt problems,” she finished.

“Debt problems?” Taeyeon asked in shocked, “who does he own debt to?”

Da-hee shook her head and looked away, “your father meant to pay them back this year but somehow they came back today and demanded for their money back as soon as possible,” she explained, “our business has been at the brink of bankruptcy lately; your father, he had this discussion with one of his most trusted customer and that person recommended your father to take out a loan from this person.”

“Who is this person mom?” Taeyeon asked.

“I don’t know, your father never told me who he was,” Da-hee answered, “your father was skeptical at first and was afraid but went with it, seeing how this is our only income. He had a talk with me about the situation; I told him that it sounded a bit too good to be true, but he said that this came from our most loyal customer. Because he told me that, I didn’t think much of it and agreed. At the beginning of this year, your father went to meet up with the person and was able to pull out some loan to help keep our business running. He promised to pay it off by the end of this year and they signed a contract too…but…somehow they took back their words and demanded the money back as soon as possible.”

“How long are they giving us to reimburse them back?” Taeyeon asked.

“In 3 months,” Da-hee answered, “3 months is the longest they’ll give us.”

“How much does dad owe them?”

“About 300 million won,” Da-hee said.

“30 million won?!” Taeyeon shouted, “mom…are you serious?”

“I am,” Da-hee replied and sighed, “Taeyeon-ah…I don’t know where we’ll find 300 million won in 3 months,” she bit the bottom of her lips and pulled her hands out from Taeyeon’s grasp. She placed her elbows on the table and dug her face into her hands. Taeyeon watched her mom as she breathed in and out from stress and exhaustion. She closed her eyes, thinking of some way to help her parents pay off her father’s debt in 3 months.

“I’ll pay you 3 million won in per day….it’s an easy job….”

Taeyeon took in a deep breath and placed a hand on her mom’s shoulder, “Mom…I think I can find a way to help,” she said.

“Taeyeon…it’s no use,” her mother replied.

“Don’t give up hope yet,” Taeyeon said and stood up from her chair. Without saying anything else to her mom, Taeyeon walked over to her school bag, picked it up and went straight to her room to plot a plan to help her family. Once in her room, she took out her phone and dialed up both Tiffany and Seohyun to meet her at their usual hang out place. She quickly changed out from her school clothes and left her room, “Mom, I’ll be back home later,” she said. Taeyeon stopped by the kitchen entry way to see if her mother would response but nothing came out. Letting out a sigh, Tae