07 Going to Seoul?
Moon in The RiverFive years later in Gwangju.
A little boy ran towards the young lady not far away, “Mummy!”
“Sejun,” Yiseol pulled the little boy into her embrace, “How are doing in school today?”
“Sejun listened to teachers’ words well. Look at this, mummy! I made mummy a card,” the little boy spoke while shoving a hand-made card to his mother and the latter praised on his hard work and patted on his head.
“Hi Sejun’s Mother, how are you?” a young lady came out from the kindergarten.
“Hi Teacher Yoo, I am fine. Hope you are well too.”
“Sejun is doing a really good job today, it was fun taking care of them,” the teacher then gestured Yiseol into the classroom, “Mrs Jung, the kindergarten has a ‘skill-share class’ which parents come in and teach the kids some skills. It is Sejun’s turn next week, would Sejun’s father or you to come to share some skills with the children?”
Yiseol thought for a while and went through her schedule. She had full-time work in a marketing agency, but getting a few hours off from work wouldn’t be a problem for her.
“Sure, I can come next week. Do I have to prepare the materials?” After discussing some details with the teacher, Yiseol held Sejun’s little hand and they left.
“Mummy, Teacher Yoo said that I have a daddy, but where is he? Why Sejun hasn’t seen daddy before?” he asked innocently.
This was probably the question which Yiseol feared the most, but she probably had thought about it before. She squatted down to Sejun’s height and told him, “Daddy is working far far away. So Sejun can’t see daddy at the moment.”
“When will daddy come back to us?”
“If Sejun is behaving well, daddy will come back to us soon.” Yiseol had to make up a lie for Sejun. It was a white lie after all. The little boy would eventually know the truth of his parent’s separation.
Although they hadn’t divorced, according to the lawyer.
The lawyer called a month after she left Seoul and told her that Jinyoung did not sign the agreement. By law, they were still husband and wife; they still could not marry another person.
“Really? Sejun will behave well and be a good boy!” The little boy chimed and skipped back home, holding his mother’s hand.
“Grandpa! Grandma! We are home!” He shouted to the middle-aged couples while Yiseol helped him to take off his shoes at the entrance. Yiseol’s father, Jung Youngsoo, smiled at the little boy as his eyes had turned into crescents.
“Sejun-ah, you are back! Come here, into Grandpa’s embrace.” The man hugged the little boy and kissed on his forehead. Sejun showed his grandfather the handmade card he made in school and promised he would make another card for the old man.
A lady in her fifties came out from the kitchen and shouted to the old and young, “Wash your hand now! Dinner is ready.”
The little boy again took the handmade card to the lady and she just nodded off and sent him into the kitchen to wash his hand.
On the dinner table, Yiseol’s mother, Heo Hyeonsook, had made several side dishes and a pot of dwaenjang soup. The family had their dinner and talked about random stuff as usual.
Yiseol brought up a topic, “I am going to Seoul on Friday.”
She only remembered about the trip after viewing her schedule in the kindergarten just now.
Both her parents were surprised at her decision. She had never leave Gwangju after she came back and Sejun was born.
Reading her parents’ expression, Yiseol just smiled casually, “It’s for a work meeting. Same day trip. I will probably come back a bit later than usual.”
It was a three-and-a-half-hour trip from Gwangju to Seoul, and pretty tiring for her to come back and forth on the same day.
However, what concerned the two middle-aged wasn’t worried that she had to travel early in the morning. They had another thought in their minds.
The two had something to speak but they didn’t know how to start, “But……”
Yiseol knew exactly what her parents were concerned about and reassured them, “It just for working purpose. I won’t meet him.”
Youngsoo nodded knowingly and agreed. There was no way for him to change his daughter’s mind if she had already made her decision. “Stay a night at your brother’s house if it’s too tired for you to come back on the same day.”
The young lady nodded and fed her son some rice and soup.
The little boy’s appearance resembled exactly like his father but he always smiled happily which couldn’t be seen on his father’s face. A cheerful miniature Park Jinyoung.
Every time Yiseol looked at the ‘miniature’, she would not stop thinking about the original face of the man.
Honestly, she hadn’t had her heart prepared to meet Jinyoung in person, although it had already been five years.
She thought she could get rid of him from her mind but the news about his company was everywhere – the morning newspaper, the evening TV news – every single media that she had in touch with, she could see Park’s Group almost every day.
Here came another TV news about Park’s Group latest development in Busan which was predicted to be another successful investment in the coming few years.
Never did she want to mention about the ‘miniature’ again, which reminded her easily.
The Park’s Group had been growing under Jinyoung’s outlooks and outstanding business management ability.
The more she saw his achieve
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