GA IN 

---

“Mummy, Daddy, so Byul and I have hurt you today, but we’ve told you the truth, and nothing else. Today, Byul and I have also been hurt. We’ve found closure on one side, but not at home. We wish to know, the truth behind our adoption.”

Kwonnie sighs.

“We’ve told Mummy and Daddy the whole truth today. And we want to know the truth. Why Mummy and Daddy wanted to adopt in the first place. Even if it hurts. We know the reasons probably aren’t conventional, because if they were, we would only be adopted later.”

“Don’t tell us that you’ll tell us when we get home. We want to hear it before you’ll consult each other.”

Instinctively, I nevertheless turn to Kwonnie, who is still keeping his eyes on the road.

He sighs, “Give them the truth.” 

Which truth? The version that we told everyone else or the real truth?

“Which?”

“The real truth, the actual version. They deserve to know.”

“Both your Dad and I are Thalassemia minors.”

“What’s that? And why does it matter?” Byul definitely hasn’t heard of it.

“It’s genetics? Your Dad and I have one recessive gene each. If the child gets two recessive genes, then the child is a major.”

“Yes, we learnt that in genetics.”

“If you’re a Thalassemia major, you have all sorts of problems. Heart problems, bone deformities, stunted growth. On frequent blood transfusions and iron chelations, you’ll live to 30 if you’re lucky. Only way to cure it permanently is bone marrow transplant, but it’s not easy to find a matching bone marrow.”

Ryul whistles low, “That’s a lot of information, but okay, I think we got it.”

I take a breath, “It’s very rare in Korea, which is why you’ve never heard of it. But for some crazy coincidence, both your Dad and I are minors.”

“But you can test the foetus right?”

“Sure you can, but then what are you going to do if it’s a major?”

That elicits silence from Ryul and Byul.

“Also, empirically, the chance that the child will be a major is greater than the theoretically suggested twenty five percent. Either way, we disagreed on what to do if that really happened, but agreed that it was too big a risk to take.”

“Isn’t abortion illegal here?”

“It is illegal. But you can get it done underground with some risk. We could go overseas and do it too. It was that we fundamentally couldn’t agree.”

“But Mummy and Daddy agree on everything. Okay, practically everything.”

Kwonnie chuckles, “Practically. We don’t disagree in front of you’ll, and we don’t rip each other apart either.”

“So there were options but non