APRIL 12, 1998, Sunday

            As the sweet melodies of the early birds whistled through the air, TaeYeon stirred in his sleep and woke up. He felt a chill as the spring breeze blew to his direction. He tried to reach for a blanket only to realize that he had slept outside and not back home.

            He scratched his eyes and stretched like there was no tomorrow, groaning like a tired old man after a day’s harvest. On usual mornings, he would wake up and fall back asleep again feeling like he hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Today was different. He felt refreshed, new, and happy. His head was above the clouds as if he had gotten slightly high on something. Waking up was like the greatest thing he had felt in a long time.

            “It must be a brand new day,” he smiled.

            He turned to his left and found the 17 year old girl still sleeping soundly. It made him giggle finding his dongsaeng adorable with her eyes closed and her features gently painting the happiness deep inside her.

            He brushed off the grass from his coat and covered Yoon-hee with it as a blanket. The dawn was still slightly cold even though it was already spring turning summer. He didn’t want Yoon-hee to stir because of that.

            He pursed his lips to a pout and took a deep breath. “I hope she doesn’t continue hurting because of last night…” He sighed and caressed her hair softly. When she stirred a bit, TaeYeon immediately withdrew his hand and giggled. “Probably shouldn’t have done that…”

            “Oppa?” Yoon-hee’s eyes slowly opened.

            “Good morning, Yoongie,” TaeYeon giggled.

            “Yoongie?” Yoon-hee chuckled. “Where did you get that name?”

            “I don’t know. It sounds cute,” TaeYeon shrugged. “Don’t you like it?”

            “It’s alright,” Yoon-hee laughed. She scratched her eyes and stretched her arms to wake herself up. Then she asked, “What time is it?”

            “Early,” TaeYeon said as he looked back to see if the sun could be seen. “The sun hasn’t even risen yet.”

            Gruugh gruurgh~~

            “What was that?”  TaeYeon laughed.

            “Oops, sorry. That was my stomach,” Yoon-hee sheepishly chuckled. “Every time I wake up, it automatically tells me it’s hungry…”

            “Should we go home now, then?”

            Yoon-hee sulked and sighed. The thought of seeing her father almost lost her appetite. She argued with him when she wasn’t supposed to last night. She loved her father very much, but facing him after seeing her mother, she didn’t know if she could do it.

            “Let’s go eat somewhere else,” Yoon-hee said.

            “Where?”

            “I know a place,” Yoon-hee smiled.

***

            “So what is this place?” TaeYeon asked as they entered a homey, red-and-yellow diner having an American feel to it. Comfy red seats were attached to every corner of the place and on the walls were photos of mouth-watering burgers and other dishes. Some of the dishes had a mixture of Korean dishes, too.

            “It’s MAX, just a small restaurant set up a few years ago. They have really good chicken and burgers. The best thing about this place is that it’s fast and cheap!”

            “I’m impressed,” TaeYeon nodded. “They’re open at such an early hour.”

            “They close really early, though. They’re really more of a morning kind of restaurant.”

            “Oh, Yoon-hee!” a tall slim man with a captivating smile spotted the two from the open backroom of the restaurant and went out to greet them.

            “Changmin Oppa,” Yoon-hee smiled back as she held up a hand which Changmin gladly high-fived. “Good morning!”

            Changmin then turned to TaeYeon and greeted him, “Hello there. I believe we haven’t met before.” TaeYeon just slightly bowed his head and awkwardly said hi back.

            “This is TaeYeon Oppa. He’s my cousin.” Yoon-hee then turned to TaeYeon, “TaeYeon Oppa, this is Changmin Oppa. I believe he is a Hyung older than you, right?”

            “20 years old, that’s right,” Changmin nodded.

            “Nice to meet you,” TaeYeon flashed a friendly smile.

            “You too,” Changmin patted his back roughly, shaking TaeYeon off guard. He’d never met such a friendly guy before. People here in Jeonju are really nice folks, TaeYeon thought.

            “So, what brings you both here so early?” Changmin asked. “Here for a breakfast special?”

            “Yes, please!” Yoon-hee’s eyes sparkled… she drooled comically, too.

            “Then your order will be placed!” Changmin snapped his fingers. “Go and choose a table. Your breakfast will be served!”

***

            “MAXsh ish tochally the besth!” Yoon-hee exclaimed with a mouthful as she savored every bite of her breakfast.

            “Slow down there, kid. Food just arrived like two minutes ago and it’s like you’ve already devoured half of it,” TaeYeon laughed.

            “Sorry,” Yoon-hee cutely chuckled. “I’m just really, really huuungry… walking all the way from the hill to town was tiring.”

            “I’m really impressed that you never gain weight by gulping down food with that alligator mouth of yours. Like seriously, you eat like this every day—like it’s a feast before you!”

            “I just really have nice genes,” Yoon-hee chuckled. “I mean look at this beautiful face. It’s to kill for, isn’t it?” she joked, fluttering her eyes cutely for TaeYeon.

            “Aigoo… Tch,” TaeYeon laughed, “whatever, you cute alligator.”

The chimes echoed through the empty restaurant indicating that someone went in. The two teenagers were too engulfed in their own little world of laughter that they didn’t notice who just entered.

            “Changmin-ah,” a woman huffed and demanded, “Serve me some bulgogi!”

            “Oh? We don’t serve bulgogi here…”

            “I don’t care. My brother makes the best bulgogi around here and you are his son. You should respect me and what I want. Go and make me bulgogi. Go.” She shooed him off like a fly causing Changmin to frown.

            “You should go before I call Dad. You know he doesn’t want to see you around.” Though he tried his best to sound stern, his gentle nature just gave him away. He pitied his aunt very much, and as much as he wanted to scold her, he couldn’t because she was still older than him.

            “Well aren’t you a good boy at heart, Changmin-ah? You know how messed up I am so why don’t you stop pushing me away and just serve me some food? Then I’ll never come back. Believe me; I don’t want to see this place ever again anyway. Tch… like I even wanted to be here,” she scoffed. “Already got kicked out of three inns and some kids ran away from me late last night. I must’ve looked horrible.”

            “Just keep it down then and don’t make a ruckus. I’ll see what I can make for you and after that, please never come back here. If you do comeback, I’ll call dad and the police.” Changmin sighed with full frustration evident in his voice. He didn’t want to argue with her but he didn’t want to be too kind either.

            As the woman waited, her eyes wondered around the small restaurant and spotted Yoon-hee. “Oh? It’s you, that girl who ran away!”

            Yoon-hee and TaeYeon’s attention turned to her. They were baffled for a moment, but then Yoon-hee’s mood instantly dropped. She laid down her chopsticks, dropped money on the table and nudged TaeYeon to get up. She wanted to leave now and she didn’t care if TaeYeon wouldn’t understand the situation. She can’t take seeing her mother right now. It’s either she’ll blow up angry or just burst into tears because of all the mixed emotions.

            “Hey, where are you going? You running away again?” the woman scoffed. Yoon-hee tried ignoring it.

            “Who is she?” TaeYeon whispered to Yoon-hee as he was being dragged out the restaurant. Yoon-hee didn’t want to answer.

            “Yoon-hee,” TaeYeon gripped her wrist and stopped her from taking another step. “What’s going on? You never leave your food like that…”

            “Yoon… hee?” the woman uttered in shock. She was dazed and confused for a moment, trying to process who the girl was. Then she realized…

            “Kim Yoon-hee?” with tears in her eyes, she looked at her, but Yoon-hee refused to look back. TaeYeon, on the other hand had his eyes going back and forth to the two. He couldn’t quite connect the dots just yet.

            “Let’s go, Oppa,” Yoon-hee raggedly breathed out. She stomped out but TaeYeon just stood there, staring at the woman in pity, wondering who she might be.

            “Who are you?” TaeYeon asked. “To Yoon-hee, I mean…”

            The woman sulked and buried her face in her hands. She started sobbing, making TaeYeon feel awkward and uncomfortable.

            “Are you her mother?” he asked. It was quite inappropriate, he knew. Meddling with their family issues was none of his business but he got himself involved now. The woman continued to cry and TaeYeon took that as a yes, because he figured, if it was a no, then the woman would’ve immediately denied it.

He left the restaurant and chased after Yoon-hee.

***

            “Oh, hey, we’ve been waiting for you guys,” HyoYeon said as Yoon-hee stomped in stubbornly into the house with TaeYeon following behind. “Breakfast is in the fridge if you’re hungry.”

            Yoon-hee ignored her and rudely slammed open the door to her father’s room. TaeYeon and HyoYeon backed away a little realizing they couldn’t really stop her.

            “What happened?” HyoYeon asked TaeYeon. “She never turns down breakfast.”

            “She saw her mother,” he simply replied.

            “Oh…,” HyoYeon awkwardly pouted.

            Yoon-hee stood there with tears b on her eyes, about to scream at her father.

            “Yoon-hee…”

            “What happened between the both of you?” Yoon-hee breathed heavily. Her father stayed silent, making her even more frustrated.

            “Dad, please!” she cried. “I have to know!”

            His father slouched in his seat and hesitated to say the truth to her daughter. He hated arguing with his seemingly, always happy, little girl. Seeing her as a frustrated, angry, and sad daughter hurt him. If he says the truth now, who knows when she’ll smile again?

            “C’mon, Dad,” she sat in front of him and held his hand. “I’ll listen… just please…”

            “Alright,” her father sighed.

***

            “So what happened to her parents?” TaeYeon asked HyoYeon. “Did they divorce or something?”

            “Yeah, grandma told me it was like that… just not in a very nice term.”

            “That must’ve been devastating… losing someone whom you thought you’d never lose at such a young age,” TaeYeon said, earning a look from HyoYeon. When TaeYeon tried to meet his sister’s eyes, she looked away, as if she didn’t give him a glance at all.

            “Oh… I’m sorry,” TaeYeon softly said.

            “For?” HyoYeon’s eyebrow rose.

            “Losing my memories… that must’ve been so stressful for you.”

            “It was,” HyoYeon nodded, “but it was never your fault. It was no one’s fault and you should remember that.”

            “But it was my fault that I’ve treated you so coldly when I woke up. I’m sorry.”

            Feeling slightly awkward that feelings were being expressed, HyoYeon patted his back and got up. “Remember, my heart is kind of made of steal. You don’t have to say those kinds of things. I’ve already forgiven you, Oppa. And lighten up. I will always love you no matter what you do. You’re my bro