Mijoo first experiences disappointment at the tender age of five, when neither of her parents show up at the plays her class produces. She had hoped that her father, at the very least, would've made an appearance. Her five-year-old self had always felt a great sense of security and happiness whenever he was present. Strangely, it seemed like she was seeing him less and less. This would be the first time her father wasn't there for her, and little did she know, it wouldn't be the last. 

She vividly recalls the feeling of her heart slowly dropping in her chest, sinking down to her stomach and making her feel sick, as her eyes search the audience for a comforting, familiar face. She doesn't find a single one, and unlike the other students whose parents run up to hug, congratulate, and kiss them, Mijoo only receives a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from her teacher. Five-year-old Mijoo eventually forgives her parents because they're obviously preoccupied with other things, and because she loves them, of course. She learns that people can let you down sometimes; even your own parents.

At the naive age of seven, Mijoo experiences disappointment once more, when her father suddenly leaves one day and never returns. She doesn't receive a single good-bye or explanation beforehand, but she knows that he isn't coming back because all of his belongings are gone; every trace of him except for the family photos hung up on the walls. She's glad that he didn't take them too. These photos are the only way she can remember his face, or that she even had a father in the first place. Nonetheless, Mijoo learns how to hope. Maybe her father will remember her and her mother, even without the photos, and return to them someday.

She also learns of another emotion, the one her mother experiences when she drinks heavily after returning home from work and spends several nights crying herself to sleep, but Mijoo doesn't know what it's called. She only knows that sad isn't the right word.

Mijoo stops experiencing disappointment by the wiser age of eleven, after she finally encounters her father again. She'd wondered why this older man in the crowd had seemed so familiar to her, and excitement overwhelms her as she realizes why. She approaches him immediately, expecting her father to mirror her elated emotions upon their abrupt reunion.

He doesn't.

In fact,