“You’re breaking her heart. You know she’ll never be able to stop worrying about you.”

            “I needed space to breathe, hyeong. I know she just wants the best for me, but it all became too … stifling.”

            “I understand. Really, I do. But do you have to stay away? Just go and visit her once in a while. Getting a good look will make her happy. I swear, you ARE looking pretty good these days, eh? Less the bean pole, and more the man. It’s good to see you this way. Come home to Seo House and let our mother see you too. It will ease her mind.”

            Hyun-Woo shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Across from him, his older brother lifted the last piece of seasoned beef from the grill with his chopsticks and wrapped it inside a red tipped lettuce leaf.

            “You know she wants you firmly settled into the business before grandfather passes,” Hyun-Sung popped the wrap into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “Honestly, I want you there too. Corporate politics are so exhausting. I need someone around that I can trust.”

            Hyun-Woo sighed. His brother’s words cut through him.

            “How is grandfather doing?”

            “He’s stable. For now. The doctor ordered a stress-free environment, and mother took up the challenge like a champion. She disconnected the cable TV when she thought the business news was making his blood pressure go up. You know, I think the only reason she hasn’t come after you is because she’s got her hands full just taking care of him. Seems like she’s spent her entire life playing nurse to someone or other …”

            Hyun-Woo nodded. His memories of Seo House were filled with the scents of antiseptics, stale rooms, hovering nurses and bland rice porridge. If he thought too much of home, too much of his mother’s face, the scents would rise from the pit of his stomach and tighten his chest and throat with a fear that had been with him for as long as he could remember – the fear of living on a timer that could, at any moment, just stop.

            Most of the time, these thoughts were pushed so deep they seemed to belong to another Hyun-Woo, not him; not the Hyun-Woo who cruised through all Seoul city had to offer the young and beautiful. Not the tall, strong and handsome Seo Hyun-Woo who spent his nighttime hours keeping the crush of music-drunk girls at bay.

            “I can’t go back home yet, hyeong. I can’t give this up, not after everything I went through. Not after all the time I lost of just … living. It isn’t fair for her to ask me to do that.”

            Hyun-Sung leaned back into his chair and studied his younger brother’s face.

            “There’s time,” he said. “I’ll wait for you.”

            Hyun-Woo smiled at his brother gratefully.

            “But don’t make our mother wait too long. She doesn’t deserve that. Not after everything she went through, and not after what she’s going through now.” Then, Hyun-Sung pushed his chair back from the table. “I’m sorry little brother, but I do have to get back to the office for a meeting. Let’s grab a cab, and I’ll drop you off on the way.”

            Hyun-Woo followed his brother to the café’s front counter. As Hyun-Sung stopped to settle the bill, Hyun-Woo made his way outside and onto the wide city sidewalk, then stretched out his arms to clear the ache of sitting still for too long. The mid-morning air was warm and muggy, and the frenzy of rush hour traffic had long since faded to a sluggish calm. Hyun-Woo tugged thoughtfully at his lower lip.  It wasn’t that he wanted to cause his family any pain. He suddenly felt the guilt weigh heavily on his shoulders. He knew he was being greedy, but he just couldn’t go back to Seo House. Not yet. Not when there was so much left to do.

Across from Hyun-Woo, just on the other side of the six-lane boulevard, a white Ferrari came crawling to a stop. The driver side window slid downwards, and the driver slid off her designer sunglasses as she craned her neck and squinted to examine something in the street behind her.  Hyun-Woo jerked forward, shocked. It was her – the blue-jeaned beauty from the Ruby Rabbit Club. He sidled to his left a few steps for a better view.

The girl opened the car door and, swinging out knees first, she stepped daintily into the street. As she rose, she flung a cascade of beautiful brown hair over her shoulder.

Hyun-Woo’s breath caught. She was stunning – a warrior princess poised, tall and confident, in platform heels. Had she seen him? Had she recognized him as well? Vibrant strength seemed to roll off her in waves, and Hyun-Woo felt his heart swell with some new, uncontrollable sensation. It wasn’t his standard game plan to do the chasing, but wasn’t the fact that she was standing here, right in front of him, the same as fate’s open invitation? He threw back his shoulders and stepped into the empty street towards her.

“Hello there,” he called out. “Are you looking for someone?”

But the beauty ignored him and, instead, craned her neck to the side to see passed him.

Behind, someone cried out.

Confused, Hyun-Woo turned and, inexplicably, saw Hyun-Sung hop into the back of a white taxi cab. Standing on the curb alongside was Eun-Mi, beating her fists against the glass of the taxi’s rear passenger door and screaming out, “Eonni!”

From the taxi’s back window, Hyun-Woo made out the profile of a girl, pale faced with western features and a riot of red-hair. The red-head swiveled and Haenyeo stared back at him, her tense white fingers griping the black leather seat-back. Hyun-Sung’s arms suddenly moved around her, pulling her head into the crook of his shoulder and obscuring her from view.

And then the taxi pulled away, turned right at the next intersection, and they were gone.