Suyun was in a daze for the next few hours of her life. Her manager ushered her around the airport and to her gate where she sat silently, staring at the ground and the carpet patterns. No one looked at her and no one tried to talk to her. If they recognised her then they knew that her mother just died and no one wanted to be known as the person to upset an already sad idol. In the blink of an eye Suyun was magically on the plane and already in the air. She was momentarily shaken from her daze when the flight attendant brought her some food and although Suyun didn’t feel like eating, she kept her promise to Leo and tried to eat as much of it as she could. The Suyun slipped into her daze again until she was being lightly tapped on the shoulder by the person sitting in the seat beside her. She apologised and quickly walked off the plane with her purse slung over her shoulder. Even though Suyun had been in the LAX airport hundreds of times she was flustered this time and had to follow the heard of people to the luggage area.

“Dad.” Suyun called out when she saw her father standing in the waiting area. He was wearing cargo shorts, flip flops and a tee shirt that looks like it hadn’t been washed in days. Suyun went to her father and almost collapsed into his arms as he hugged her tightly.

“Baby girl…my baby girl…” Her father said as he held onto her as if she was going to slip away from him at any moment. Suyun felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she looked around to see a few people taking pictures of them. Feeling anger boil within her, Suyun put her plain black sunglasses on her father and threw her hand in front of his face so they couldn’t take pictures of him.

“We have to go.” Suyun muttered and her father grabbed her suit case before the two of them headed to the parking lot where the few paparazzi followed them. It wasn’t until they were standing near the car and taking pictures of them as he father was putting her suit case in the back of the car. Suyun couldn’t take it anymore and turned to the men. “Please stop it. I am not in the mood to deal with your shenanigans. Please let me and my family greave in peace.” Suyun angrily said to the men as her voice shook and her eyes brimmed with tears. They took a few more pictures before leaving. Suyun and her father went home where there were cars already lined up along the street.

“Sue.” She heard the voice of a woman as she stepped out of the car. Her mother’s younger sister Linda came out of the front door and embraced her. Suyun pat her aunts back as they hugged. She quickly separated herself from her aunt and went into her house that was crowded with family members all dressed in formal clothing. Suyun spotted Jason and Zhu Li who were sitting at the kitchen table sipping on tea. Jason looked nervous and twitchy which was normal when he was surrounded by family members. Suyun walked over to him and as soon as Jason spotted his older sister, he broke down crying again. Jason jumped up from the chair and ran into her arms, crying into her shoulder as if he were a small child.

“It’s okay….it’s okay…” Suyun whispered to Jason as she comforted her baby brother that was usually a ball of sunshine.

“Oh, look who decided to show up.” Someone called out rather loudly and the two Kim siblings looked over to see their mothers’ older brother who seemed slightly drunk even though it was only one in the afternoon.

“Hello Uncle Kevin.” Suyun slightly bowed to her uncle who just scoffed at her.

“We we’re making bets to see if you would show up.” He said while drinking from a mug.

“Of course I would be here.” Suyun was disgusted at the way he was talking and Jason stood behind her. Everyone in their family, especially Jason, was afraid of their Uncle Kevin because he was also loud and obnoxious. He didn’t care about the time or the place, he was rude to everyone he came in contact with. It wasn’t a surprise that he had never married and had no children.

“Well you just seem to be so busy dancing in your over in Korea that we figured you wouldn’t even notice that your mother died.” Their uncle Kevin took another large swig from the mug as he swayed on his feet. Suyun opened to say something to him but Daniel came out of nowhere and snatched the drink from his hand.

“That’s enough Uncle Kevin. Go eat something and try to sober up.” Daniel passed their uncle to one of their other relatives who took the older man away from the children.

“I hate him.” Suyun muttered.

“Me too.” Daniel replied and it took Suyun a minute to remember that he could speak Korean. The three siblings sat at the kitchen table with Zhu Li as they told stories about their mother.

Like the time she took them all to aquarium and they went to see a dolphin show but she made them sit at the very top so their clothes wouldn’t get wet. But later in the day it was pouring rain so she ran out with them and jumped in the puddles while singing ‘Dancing in the rain.’

It was memories like that which would keep their mother alive in their mind. She was strict but knew when the kids needed to have fun. Ivy Kim was not the type of woman to care what other people thought of her but she would kill anyone who tried to hurt or humiliate her children. Even when they were in the wrong and most likely deserved it, she didn’t let anyone look down on them.

Time had flown by and Suyun had completely forgotten to text Leo about arriving in LA. So while Jason was telling Zhu Li about the time their mother got in a fight with Daniels teacher because he had corrected him, Suyun decided to text Leo.

To: Taekwoonie ♥
Arrived in LA.

To: My SuSu
Good. I was worried your plane disappeared.

To: Taekwoonie ♥
I miss my mom

Suyun clutched her phone and hung her head. She tried to hide that her shoulders were shaking from crying and tried to pass it off as laughing as Daniel recanted the part of the story where his teachers face turned bright red from anger and sent the young Daniel to the office for being correct. She hated feeling so empty. Never before had she realised how much of her life centred around her mother and on the very fact that she was alive. All of this just reminded Suyun how fragile life was and how easily everything could slip away.

Suyun looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder and forced a smile when she saw Jason giving her a concerned look. The last person she wanted to see her cry was Jason who was already an emotionally fragile person to start with. She smiled and tried to join in the conversation so no one would question her emotions anymore. It was strange how everyone in the house was deeply saddened by her mother’s death but they all pretended as if nothing was wrong. Some of their younger cousins would call out for their mother which would make all of the Kim siblings slightly perk up almost expecting their mother to answer the call. Soon the word ‘mother’ had been banned from use and whenever someone said it around the siblings the rest of the family would glare at them as if the committed a grave sin.

The whole family didn’t leave until around nine o’clock at night and promised to be at the funeral home bright and early the next day. Jason drove Zhu Li home and soon it was just Suyun, Daniel and their father in the now eerily empty house.

“I’m going to bed.” Their father said and he just shuffled off to bed and closed himself off from the rest of the world. Suyun and Daniel went about cleaning up the mess their family had left behind.

“Tomorrow is going to ….isn’t it?” Suyun asked Daniel who just nodded his head. She let out a heavy sigh as she packed away the last of the extra food into the fridge.

“Go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.” Daniel rubbed the back of his neck.

“Every day is twenty four hours, no matter what.” Suyun muttered and she felt daggers being shot at her from across the room.

“Twenty four hours can be a life time for a person grieving over losing the love of their life.” Daniel sternly corrected her before heading to bed, clearly not ready for a deep conversation. Suyun left the front door unlocked for Jason who would be back at any time. She ran off to bed and got changed into her pyjamas.  Now lying in bed Suyun found herself unable to fall asleep so she turned to her phone for entertainment.

To: My SuSu
I know you miss her Jagiya…I’m so sorry. I wish I could be there with you.

To: Taekwoonie ♥
I want you to be here too. I love you.

To: My SuSu
it must be late there. Go to sleep.

To: Taekwoonie ♥
Work hard while in Japan! Make sure you eat enough while you’re there and get lots of rest. Don’t get too drunk otherwise I will have to scold you.You're in Kobe right? Is the beef there good? 

To: My SuSu
I love you. 

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