CHAPTER 5

Yonghwa sat in the living room and watched the video of their wedding. If someone had told him when they were first married that he would ever re-watch the thing, he would have told them that they were crazy, but now, it was all that he had to prove that the event had actually occurred, andYonghwa needed that reassurance that the vibrant young woman who he'd married, who danced and laughed and teased on their wedding video, was really the pale, confused and frightened young woman upstairs in his bed.

He was pulled from his musings by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Pushing himself up from the orange sofa, he hurried to answer it.

Mrs. Seo’s questioning gaze greeted him from the opposite side of the door, "Is she sleeping?" She whispered, seeming to notice right away the stillness of the house. Even the sounds of the grocery bags in her arms seemed muted.

"Yes."Yonghwa answered, grabbing the bags from her arms and delivering them to the kitchen.

"Good." Mrs. Seo said, following.

"Good?"Yonghwa glanced questioningly over his shoulder at her.

"Yes, good." Mrs. Seo reaffirmed, "There's something we need to talk about. I'm frankly surprised the doctor didn't mention it, but he probably didn't get to review all of the files." She quickly brushed the straying topic aside and got back to her point, "I've been thinking about this a lot. We need to take Seohyun to his Dad's grave." She continued, "I think that she needs to see the obituary, the pictures, everything. Whatever it takes to sum up the time she's…misplaced."

Yonghwa was hesitant, "I don't know, Mrs. Seo. Don't you think we should ease her into those things, maybe give her a little time to get used to the things we've already told her?"

"No, I don't." Mrs. Seo told him, "No matter how much advance warning we get, death doesn't ease up on a person. It's sudden and it's harsh, and it can be devastating, but I think we should do this. The longer we linger, the longer it will take for her to get on with her life, for the two of you to get on with your lives together."

"Okay."Yonghwa agreed, still somewhat reluctantly, "I guess you're right. You are older and wiser." He said, half-teasingly.

Mrs. Seo smacked him on the arm with a stalk of celery.

Yonghwa ducked, but continued, musing "I supposed some sense of moving on can only help her. When do you want to do it? I've taken a couple of weeks off, so you just say when a good time is for you."

"I think as soon as possible would be the best." Mrs. Seo said, "How about tomorrow? We could drive up tomorrow. The only question left is do you tell her or do I?"

"I broke the news to her in the first place."Yonghwa said grimly, "I guess I should be the one.I'll tell her in the morning!" He continued aloud, "I'd like for her to have a good night sleep tonight!"

Mrs. Seo nodded her agreement andYonghwa finally noticed the items she was taking out from the bag, "What in the world are you making?" He asked, taking in the exotic items she pulled from the bag.

"Have you never had panuzit?" Mrs. Seo asked smiling, "It was one of Seohyun's favorites growing up. It's been years since I made it. I thought she might enjoy it."Yonghwa’s brows rose as she ticked off the list of ingredients, and his eyes bulged at her finishing statement, "Traditionally it's made with canine meat, but…"

"Oh, Mrs. Seo, please tell me you aren’t going to pull any dog meat out of the bag. I had pets growing up you know."

Mrs. Seo laughed at him, "How do you feel about chicken? Care to try your own kind?"

"Call me what you liked, lie to me if you have to just don't tell me we're having dog meat for dinner."Yonghwa replied, moving to fold the bag and put it in the recycle bin.

"Did you have anything planned for dinner by the way?" Mrs. Seo asked, almost as an afterthought.

"No, I actually hadn't thought much about it."Yonghwa admitted, "I thought I'd leave that to you." He grinned innocently, "You have such...interesting ideas about meat, though. I might need to revise my opinion."

"Pay attention young man and learn!" Mrs. Seo shot back at him, "Here, cut these." She flung a bag of carrots his way.

Yonghwa grumbled good-naturedly but took the bag.

"Can I trust you not to cut yourself?" Mrs. Seo kidded.

A thump from upstairs cut off Yonghwa’s reply. They both froze and then, looked at one other. Yonghwa moved first, running towards the stairs. He stopped short in the doorway to his bedroom. Seohyun was sitting up in bed, a startled expression painted across her features.

Yonghwa followed her gaze to the floor where what used to be the entire contents of the night stand lay across the white carpeted floor. Chief among the items was a mostly un-potted plants; its dirt was splattered all over the carpet as were several of its broken green leaves.

Seohyun looked up pitifully, "I'm sorry." She said, "I think I've killed your plant."

Mrs. Seo appeared behind Yonghwa, catching the tail end of Seohyun's statement. Looking down at the once flourishing philodendron, Mrs. Seo declared, "Actually dear, that was your plant. I gave it to you last year."

"Oh."Seohyun let out a small breath, "I guess I should clean it up then." She moved to get up.

"Why don't you let me?"Yonghwa said, rushing to her side, certain that the last thing she needed was to be on her hands and knees trying to clean up a bit of the dirt, "It'll keep me from having to peel carrots." He said to lighten the mood.

Mrs. Seo snorted mildly.

Seohyun looked between the both of them in confusion. Yonghwa, catching the look, pointed accusingly in Mrs. Seo’s direction, before going back to the task of picking up the alarm clock, several books and a large quantity of plant debris, "Your mother, the slave driver, is trying to teach me the fine art of cooking exotic cuisine, strong emphasis on exotic."

Mrs. Seo laughed outright, "I was trying to teach him not to cut himself." She told her daughter, "Seohyun, you really need to let this one in the kitchen more often."

Seohyun just barely managed a weak smile, "Well, it looks like you two are having a lot of fun." Though, the words were innocuous enough, her tone was just a bit brittle.

Yonghwa immediately sobered, but Mrs. Seo spoke up first, "Of course we are, honey. Yonghwaand I have become friends since the two of you got married. You used to join in."

Yonghwa thought Mrs. Seo’s words were a bit harsh, but didn't speak. Everything she had said was true, and the sooner Seohyun accepted that as a part of her world, the better.

"Yeah." Was all Seohyun said before getting up and heading towards the bathroom. She closed the door firmly behind herself.

Dinner that night was a silent affair. Seohyun didn't seem to have any appetite. Even though Mrs. Seo had made her favorite meal, she only pushed it around on her plate. Eventually, Mrs. SeoandYonghwa gave up trying to make a conversation. When dinner was done Yonghwa promised to clean up the dishes since Mrs. Seo had cooked. Mrs. Seo said that she needed to go upstairs to pack.

Seohyun stared down at her plate after her mother left the room. Yonghwa watched Seohyun for a full minute. Fighting to contain his growing irritation, he pushed himself up from his seat and headed for the kitchen. Perhaps the exertion of loading the dishwasher would calm him down.

"Would you like me to take that for you?" He asked Seohyun, indicating her nearly full plate. He bit back any further comment.

"I'll do it." She said, standing up stiffly. The air that had surrounded her most of the evening was suddenly gone. It seemed to have dropped from her like a cloak, leaving only a tired worn out figure of a woman behind.

"Are you sure you don't want me to do that?" He asked, concerned "Why don't you rest for a bit and let me take care of these." He reached out to take the dishes from her. She let him take them without any argument.

"I think I'm going to go watch some television." She said instead, "Do you have any cable?"

Yonghwa frowned, but nodded, "Yes, we have cable. I guess you have some catching up to do. Just call if you need anything."

By the time Yonghwa cleaned up the kitchen and arrived back in the living room to check on Seohyun, she had fallen asleep in the recliner in front of the television. Clicking off the television, he carried her up to the bed.

~

The next morning when Yonghwa arose, Seohyun was downstairs making muffins with Mrs. Seo. Obviously the two had made up as they were joking about something that Yonghwa never did quite figure out. He wondered briefly, before shaking the idea off, if they were talking about him.

After breakfast, he found himself packing up Mrs. Seo’s car. It wasn't long before they were all on the road, heading for the county side. SeohyunandYonghwa followed in their car, while Mrs. Seo led the way. Unfortunately, Mrs. Seo and Yonghwa didn't have an opportunity to do much planning.

Yonghwa was surprised when Seohyun apologized almost immediately, "I'm sorry about last night." He wondered just what Mrs. Seo had said to her.

"That's no problem." He said, "Although, I would like to know what happened. Why were you upset with Mrs. Seo?"

Seohyun looked away uncomfortably and shrugged, "I was just a little irritated." Was all she said, but Yonghwa could tell that there was more.

"Was it something I said?" He asked, hoping she would go on, "I've never known you to be that way towards your mother."