Epilogue: Part III
CL's Anatomy
Iseul looked exactly like her mother.
Well, maybe minus the usual sourpuss expression and badassness. So, maybe scratch that, Iseul looked absolutely nothing like her mother. But she didn't really look too much like Ji Yong either, more of a mix between the two. And in all honesty, Chaerin was completely sure that Iseul really was hers, for Chaerin and the child were utter opposites in almost every way and action. Iseul acted like Ji Yong for the most part, kind, loving, calm, what ever mother hoped for. Iseul didn't cry a lot, she wasn't fussy, and all she ever wanted to do was be held. Iseul was distant, nor was she standoffish, unlike her mother who practically invented those words.
To Lee Chaerin, she wasn't confused on why her daughter was so different from the one who held her for nine months. Like mother, like daughter right? That apparently wasn't present here. And it wasn't that Chaerin wasn't attached to her baby (she couldn't go more that five minutes away from Iseul before having a panic attack), it was just her fear of doing everything wrong. The only thing that Chaerin saw in little Iseul that partially resembled herself was the young girl's intelligence. Chaerin was always observing her daughter, and she could tell that girl had gotten her mother and father's smarts plus their work ethics (of that can even apply to a child).
Whoever said to rely on "mother's intuition" had never met the conflicting forces of do everything by-the-book Lee Chaerin and it'll-work-out, be chill Kwon Ji Yong.
• • • • •
The young mother sighed, taking tiny baby steps toward the door. Just in front of it she saw a woman, whom she guessed was only a year or two younger than herself, taping drawings that the children had made onto the door. Chaerin held her daughter's hand firmly, not ready yet to let go. Not ready to send her daughter off into world, even if just for a few measly hours at preschool. She didn't want Iseul to think she was trying to get rid of her, when it was completely the opposite. Chaerin didn't want to release her hand, it was more than just her hand. Chaerin didn't want release these times. These were some of the times when she's been at her happiest. Not thinking about the accident, not thinking about him, just being with Ji Yong and Iseul was all that mattered.
Lee Chaerin's mother never loved her, in fact her mother probably threw a celebration party when Chaerin left. One less mouth to feed. That recurring thought about Chaerin's mother kept making itself known in her mind, making it seem like foreshadowing. As much as she attempted to push them aside, each night Chaerin would lay with eyes wide open thinking about said thoughts.
With every fiber of her being, Chaerin did the exact opposite of what those thoughts were of. Each day, Chaerin used every little possible moment to show Iseul that both her parents loved her to absolute death. Ji Yong never had parents to love him, not real parents at least, and Chaerin's mom didn't deserve to be called a word as beautiful as that one.
She was Chaerin's mother, not her mom. Not even her mother, to Chaerin she was just the woman you gave her the most minimal amount of care so she wouldn't get arrested. She wasn't neglected the necessities such a food, water, and clothing, it was deeper. That woman, when she was home, looked right through Chaerin anytime the two were forced to occupy the same space or room.
Pulling her mind away from that whole fiasco, Chaerin approached the door to the classroom and got a better look inside. The room was light blue, with poster of different animals, Korean characters, and names of the colors occupying its walls. As Chaerin continued to look around the room at all the other moms crying their eyes out, she spotted a person with an uncanny resemblance to a person she knew a long time ago.
Though the face had aged (unlike hers, Chaerin thought in a cocky tone), she'd be able to recognize that face anywhere. It was one that all to familiar to her, one that she had hoped she wouldn't ever have to see again.
"Nope, no, no, no, no. Come Iseul. We'll come back another day, but just not today. How about we go shopping or something? Something far, far away from here." Picking up her chicly dressed child, Lee Chaerin practically began to run in the other direction towards the exit. Sure Chaerin wasn't acting as she normally would (facing her problems with guns ablaze), but honestly Chaerin was in the mood. She couldn't face that person with her daughter in tote.
The person, you may ask?
Just a man that goes by the name Choi Seung Hyun.
And as she walked away, trying her best to look as nonchalant as possible, Chaerin couldn't shake that uncanny feeling that that man she recognized was watching her. That he was staring at her intensely while she retreated.
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