2 YEARS AGO

“You can’t keep me locked up in here forever!” Taeyeon once again punched the two-way mirror.

Mrs Kim stifled her sobs as she leaned on her husband for support watching the scene in front of her unfold. The girl looked so much like her daughter but that was where the similarities ended. From the way she dressed, spoke and acted – there was not an ounce of Taeyeon left in her. And yet just earlier this evening they had shared a lovely family dinner together, celebrating Miyeon's first birthday.

The doctor explained it was a psychotic episode. It would pass they said. There would be medications that would control her behavior. How she wished they were right.

The episodes began happening more frequently and more prolonged. This was the third time this month that they returned to the institution. Mrs Kim hated locking her daughter up here but there was no other way. They tried keeping the girl at home but during these episodes she became unpredictable, reckless and a danger to others and to herself. They locked her up at home but she somehow managed to escape, injuring the guards along the process. The specialists had to re-evaluate her diagnosis. Had to get other psychiatrists in for a second opinion. They stood in their white coats ogling at her daughter through this two-way mirror, scribbling notes down. She did not like it. Her daughter was not an experiment.

After a couple of months the Chief of psychiatry organized a meeting with her husband and herself. He explained in detail what they found after months of observation and treatment.

“She has Dissociative Identity Disorder.” The man said.

She did not understand what it meant at first. The doctor told her it was also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, now that was something she vaguely understood. She remembered watching a work of fiction about it once. The film did not have a happy ending…

She went home and researched about it as much as she could. It was a poorly understood disorder. There was no known cure and it was also difficult to control. There were some cases of the disorder resolving spontaneously, others would carry it with them to their graves.

By the end of the 3rd month of Taeyeon being locked up in the institution Mrs Kim nearly lost all hope of having her daughter return to her. Hayeon, was her name. The doctors said it would be easier if they gave the other personality an identity. This would separate them and would make Taeyeon understand what was wrong with her. It would hopefully make Taeyeon feel less guilty for the destructive things that Hayeon did. Mrs Kim did not like that. By giving it a name she felt like she was acknowledging its existence. Still, she found that blaming things on Hayeon seemed to lesson Taeyeon's remorse. 

"It's okay Taeyeon-ah, it's not your fault, it's all Hayeon's doing." she would find herself saying to reassure herself as much as she was comforting her daughter. 

The 6th month passed. 

“Are you sure I’ll be okay to go back home?” Taeyeon mumbled as she fiddled with her stress ball.

“Of course, I’ve been with you long enough to know that you’re ready.” Dr Stevenson replied.

“But last time it did not go so well…”

“Last time we weren’t well prepared. This time we’ve eliminated all the potential triggers so you should be fine.”

“Even my father?” Taeyeon whispered.

“Your father will live in t