“Appa died when I was 4. He was a driver in a poultry farm and was in charge of delivering chicken meat to the market in Busan. One night, as he was on the road going to the night market, it was raining hard and the street was wet. He didn’t saw another vehicle driving towards his direction and as he tried his best to avoid the car, he got into accident, which caused his death.” Juliette sadly told the story of their father who already passed away. “We didn’t know what to do after appa died. Our lives revolved on him, and as he was suddenly gone, umma didn’t know how to move on with me, who doesn’t even have a single idea how difficult life was for both of us.”

“As umma thought we were starting a slowly progressing life, appa suddenly left us, and that’s when everything started to crash down and shatter in front of us. We were kicked out of the apartment we were living in and were forced to sleep on the street for 2 days.” Her eyes started to tear up and she gently wiped it away with her fingers. “Would you believe me if I tell you we used to go from one garbage to another just to search for left overs that are still okay to eat? We did that because we were saving money to use as a fare in going to umma’s hometown. We succeeded, though, and went to where she was born to start a better life.”

“…that’s when she met Uncle Steve. He is an American who went from place to place in order to discover delicious Korean food that he will include into his list of menu as he was trying to put up a Korean Restaurant in USA. I had no idea how rich he was until he brought us to California to live with him for good. That’s when we started finding you, but we failed several times. There were leads about my lost unnie, but whenever we try to verify it, we will always found that they’re not the real ones. Some of them just pretended because of money, and we hated it, until umma decided to give up.”

“…but after 10 years, I never lost hope, until one day, I finally found you, and I thank SHINee for being the bridge of my connection to you. Unnie, I’m so much happy that I finally saw you.”

“But what if you’re just mistaken? What if I’m not really your sister?” Ji Eun asked. Tears were about to fall from her eyes, too.

“I never doubted my feeling, that’s why I know from my heart that you are my sister. “If you still want to make sure, then I’m willing to have a DNA test with you. If you think that’s the only way we could verify it, then I’m more than willing to do so.”

And from that same day, they both decided to go for the test with a hope in their hearts that the results will be positive.

****

“Have you gotten the results already?” Ji Eun’s mother went inside her room the afternoon after her 1^st meeting with Juliette.

“Not yet. It will be out by tomorrow.” She said. “Umma…”

“Hmm?”

“Should I get mad at her?” She asked while looking lovingly at her mom. “Should I get angry and not accept her as my mother if the results say it’s positive?”

“Let me ask you this…” She held Ji eun’s hands and put them on her lap, “Do you feel any anger right now? Do you think you’ll feel hatred if you ever see your real mother?” She asked.

Ji Eun shook her head, “I don’t know but I can’t feel any hate right now, umma. I don’t know why I suddenly would want to see her. I don’t know why I want to meet her and know why she left me, and I’m afraid I’ll just accept her like that, without getting mad or anything.”

“One thing I’ll be proud of when I see your real mother is that… I can assure her we brought you up properly. You can’t feel any hate right now, probably because you forgot what hate is already. We never thought you how to be mad at anyone. Your heart has become so precious and fragile at the same time. You hurt easily, but you forgive easily as well, and that’s what makes you wonderful as a person.”

She touched Ji Eun’s face and smiled, “Don’t be afraid to open up your heart for that’s the only way you can receive more love back. There are reasons behind everything that happened, so I’m hoping for you to be very understanding. I know you will, but I still want to encourage you to give her a 2^nd chance. They are reaching out for you, so I hope you take that as an opportunity to make you a whole and complete person finally.”