"Chul Soo what took you so long?" mom's voice is the first thing I hear and it causes me to falter as I take off my own shoes.

Eun Seok sighs and I remove her shoes for her before Chul Soo grabs the handlebars and pushes her through the entrance way. Photos still decorate the side of the wall most of my siblings and I  and I notice the further we walk in, how immaculate the house is. Almost like the floors have been polished so perfectly that we can see our reflections and not a single particle of dust decorates any piece of the furniture.

"Traffic, mom," he replies. 

When we round the corner, I see my dad first and my mom steps out of the way of him so she can get a good look at us. Her eyes roam over me for a long second and then she turns her attention to Eun Seok, swallowing slightly before breaking into a small smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. 

"I'm so glad you're finally home," she says more to Eun Seok than anyone else. 

She wastes no time moving over to us and dad follows suit, grabbing me in a hug first and then pulling back to get a good look at my face before he kisses my forehead. 

"You look good, kid"

"Thanks," I chuckle. He looks older than the last time I saw him, more wrinkles in the creases of his forehead but he also looks happy. His eyes are brighter and he looks healthy, he must not be as stressed as he once was when it was all of us. I'm glad that he can relax more now knowing that everything is fine. 

He greets Eun Seok and mom steps back to rake her eyes over me and I feel uncomfortable over her gaze that's a little too long. Somewhere between me moving to Busan and actually leaving has cemented some weird rift between us and I can't tell if she despises me or if she's just putting up with me. 

Chul Soo coughs to clear the air and then motions with the bags that he'll show us to our rooms and help us put our stuff away. I'm thankful for the distraction and I don't waste another second before I'm grabbing the back of Eun Seok's wheelchair and following after our brother. 

I'm not surprised that our rooms are still the same just as before we left them. Although they're much bare than before, Eun Seok moves over to the mattress and lays the front of her body across the bedspread, sighing softly as I chuckle. I sit down with a huff and look around our room, the posters that are still hanging up, our desks cluttered with paper, books, and various other articles. There's still some clothes that hang out of the dresser on the other side of the room and the vanity mirror is cluttered with products and other baubles left behind.

A knock comes to the door and I turn around just as Chul Soo peeks his head inside and then swiftly slides through, closing the door behind himself. "You guys holding up alright?"

Eun Seok makes a loud groaning sound that causes us to laugh and I roll my eyes. "Now I know what you mean," I say to him. "That was so awkward back there,"

"Tell me about it!" he sighs loudly and throws his hands up in the air. "I thought I was the only one but I thought mom was going to say something honestly. At least with the way she was looking, I think I saved us, though," he frowned.

"Yeah for now," I grumbled. "You should have seen the way she stared at me. I honestly got chills, I would not have been surprised if the floor swallowed me up with how hard she was looking at me,"

Chul Soo looks at me with a tired expression and he runs his fingers through his hair before letting it fall back over his forehead. "Honestly noona, that's nothing. I think she's just holding her tongue for later. Wait until dinner, you know that's her favorite time to talk to us," he makes air quotes around the word.

I throw myself backward on the bed and stare up at the ceiling as I feel that familiar feeling push up against my chest again. It seems to happen a lot whenever I have to deal with my mother and I know now it's something that I can avoid. I just have to remind myself that we're only here for two days and after that, we'll be back home in Busan. I let that thought calm me down some and take a deep breath before I sit back up and make eye contact with my brother.     

"Let's just go back out there before she comes back here and makes a commotion about us avoiding her," I roll my eyes. 

Chul Soo laughs and he goes over to shake Eun Seok who makes another grumbling sound and tries to wave him off with her hand. Really it's useless though because he just blows on her neck, causing her to let out a high pitched yelp while he jumps back and laughs again. 

--

Lunch passes by uneventful and by the time Dad is retiring to the couch to watch the news in the living room, I'm stuck doing the dishes while Chul Soo goes to join him and Mom and Eun Seok are still seated at the table. The water comes up to my wrists and I scrub the plates, trying to hurry up and finish because I can feel her gaze on my back even though I don't need to turn around.

"Yong Rim," she says softly.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Finish the dishes quickly so you can sit down,"

I nod mostly to myself and finish scrubbing the last few plates and cups before I wash them off and turn them upside down to lay on the rack. I want to find something to do by the sink, I want to busy with myself with something so I can avoid what I know is coming, but my hands reach out for nothing and I sigh softly.

The tension is thick on the other side of the room, so sitting down at the table is almost suffocating until I catch Eun Seok's eyes and I realize our expressions almost match. Both of us are anxious. 

"Why did it take you so long to come back here? It's just a train ride,"

It wasn't what I was expecting at first, this question is relatively easy compared to what I know she can dish out. It doesn't allow me to bring my guard down but it makes me let go a sigh of relief before I answer her. 

"It took some time to get settled in and then we just got busy, sorry," I murmured. 

Her eyes scan my face for any sign of lying but it is the truth, at least most of it anyways. "You two rarely call. I have to speak through Chul Soo," she raises one eyebrow. 

I open my mouth to say something but I can't even think of a proper way to tell her I deliberately ignore her calls. Eun Seok visibly swallows and reaches out to rub the side of mom's arm. "Like unni said, we've been busy it's kind of slipped our mind. Besides, Chul Soo never leaves us alone,"

She studies Eun Seok too before nodding her head and I wonder if she actually believes what we're saying. My fingers curl around my pants and I wish we could be back home. It's funny actually how detached I've become to this place. 

"What has you two so busy?"

"Teaching," I reply. "I really enjoy it there. The school is great and they take very good care of their employees. The children are a bonus too."

"That degree from Yonsei could have taken you to plenty of other great schools too. Ones abroad even in America and China too. You sure you want to stay down there?" she folds her arms on the table. 

"Busan is where I want to stay, yes. If something were to open up then maybe I would look into it but otherwise, no."

She reaches forward to stir the cup of tea in front of her with her spoon and softly replies, "I wish you would,"

I try to play it off like I don't hear her but this table is not that big and we're sitting close enough that even a whisper would be able to be heard. She wants me to hear it and I know it. That's the thing about mom, she will always explicitly say whatever is on her mind without any regard toward someone else's feelings. Even though I've learned to accept that about her, it still doesn't make me upset nonetheless. 

Eun Seok briefly glances over at me again and she tries to shift the attention away from me to distract our mom. "The hospital is great mom. Um...it's pretty small but they're all really comfortable with each other and I've made friends with a lot of-" she stops herself and I want to say it's probably because she doesn't want to bring up Kihyun and I'm glad she doesn't. 

"Don't people stare at you? Look differently at you?" she turns her head. 

"Of course, but people will stare everywhere," she shrugs. "That's natural when you see a disabled person I guess. People will stare in Seoul, Busan, America...does it really make a difference?"

Mom shakes her head and touches the back of her hand trying to rub it in a comforting manner. "I have a friend who just opened up a practice near Hongdae. Are you sure y