The office at the asylum was quiet, the only sounds that Taeyeon could hear were the spinning of the discs in the recorder and Dr. Seo’s pen.

“So Taeyeon, how was your relationship with your mother?” Dr. Seo asked, still busy writing on her pad.

“I say it was amazing, although there were times that it was like a never-ending tug of war, she was a wonderful mother.” Taeyeon nodded, her heart ached as she remembered her.

“For whatever reason, have you recalled any painful mismatch between what you needed and longed for and what your mother offered you?” Dr. Seo looked at her briefly and continued to scribble.

Taeyeon was perplexed “What do you mean?”

“Because in any event, the absence of a happy, warm and intimate closeness with your mother might have led you to pull away or defensively detaching yourself from a female role model” She paused and opened a folder, Taeyeon peeked and saw her name and picture on the front page.

“It says in your profile that your father passed away when you were young and I guess you don’t have other family members left?” Taeyeon nodded again, listening intently. “Your mother raised you alone and perhaps she wasn’t able to spend more time with you as much as you wanted her to.”

Dr. Seo closed the folder, clasped her hands and rested it on top of the table, she looked at Taeyeon steadily. “This is because the commonplace dynamic in your pre-homoual life is not merely the absence of your mother-literally or psychologically- but your psychological defense against your repeatedly disappointing mother plus the lack of a male figure.”

Taeyeon thought for a moment, then said: “I guess you’re right” she straightened her back “That might explain why I became like this” she smiled that calm, irritatingly confident smirk. “But there is one thing that your books will not be able to explain.”

Dr. Seo arcs her brow “And what is that?”

“True love”

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“Taeyeon! Taeyeon!” Soonkyu, one of the servants of the Hwang family came running towards her carrying a basked.

“Here” she said as she handed it to her. “There were some food left from today’s lunch, it would be such a waste to throw them away.”

She looked at the basket, it contained scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, kidneys and ham. It was indeed left overs from the buffet that was arranged by Mr. Hwang himself in honor of the arrival of his son and daughter.

Taeyeon was ashamed to accept the offer. The basket of food is enough for her and her mother and she estimated that it would last at least two days, but her ego is preventing her from taking it. She knew that Soonkyu didn’t mean to offend her in any way, they were about the same in the first place, maybe she found it such a waste to throw the food away when others can still eat it. For peasants like them, she thought.

A small rush of sadness flew threw her, she refused to feel self pity but who is she fooling? What is pride when you have nothing to eat? She looked belligerent for a moment the swallowed her pride. She shyly took the basket, she was so embarrassed that she flushed.

“Thank you, Soonkyu” said Taeyeon

“Send my regards to your mother” Taeyeon smiled.

“I will” Soonkyu watched her climb on her bicycle. She waved a hand and rode off. She cycled along the main road of Jung-gu then turned right into Chungmu-ro street. Immediately, the character of the streets changed. The streets were narrow and very dirty, the air smokey and noisome, the people mostly wretched. The gutters were choked with filth. But despite all that the place was as busy as a beehive. Men ran up and down with handcarts and crowds gathered around street stalls.

Taeyeon left her bicycle outside the door of a clothing factory. The front door was wide open. Taeyeon walked in. The noise and the smell hit her like a blow. There, in a room about twelve feet square, some fifteen or twenty people were working at tailoring. Men were using machines and women were sewing by hand. Steam rose from the ironing boards to mingle with the smell of sweat. The machines clattered, the irons hissed, pieces of cloth cut already for stitching were piled on every available patch of floor space. Nobody looked up at Taeyeon: they were all working furiously fast.

She spoke to the nearest person, a girl who was hand-sewing buttons onto the sleeve of a jacket.” Is Umma here?” she said. “Upstairs,” she said without pausing at her work.

Taeyeon went out of the room and up the narrow staircase. Each of the two small bedrooms had four beds. Most of them were occupied by people who worked at night. She found her mother in the back room, sitting on the edge of a bed, combing her hair.

“Umma, I’m here”

“Taeyeon-ah” she placed the comb on top of the bedside table and stood up.”So how did it go?”

Taeyeon gave her mother the basked and sat on the nearest chair that she found.” It was blissful” she said, thinking of Tiffany and the time they spent together earlier plastered a grin across her face.

“Mr. Hwang asked me to look after his daughter, Lady Stephanie”

“Really now? What is she like?”

“She’s…” she paused, so many words to describe the amazing girl but none of them seem to fit except for “perfect. She’s perfect Umma.”

She squinted at her.” I believe you got acquainted with her so fast, the way you talk about her” she started rummaging in the basket “That’s very rare of you to talk about someone like that, considering the fact that you’re sort of an anti-social, it’s a good sign isn’t it?”

“Thank you for the encouraging words” she sarcastically remarked.

“Who gave you all of these? This is a feast!” her mother exclaimed.

“Soonkyu, they weren’t able to finish everything so she gave me some”

“Such a sweet girl”

“Indeed”

“