The ride to Daegu was a blur as Inhye sat in the back of Yoongi’s car. It was all familiar, but it left an ache in her heart. She was engulfed with so much sadness and bitterness as she stared out at the scenery. She had never stepped foot back in that town after the divorce and it wouldn’t make any sense for her to do so when she had no business there. Yoonsung and Yoongi happily chatted with one another, leaving Inhye to her thoughts, which was for the best. The two of them would never understand or know how much she suffered in Daegu anyways.

In addition to her feelings, she didn’t want to talk much to Yoongi. She didn’t want to risk the possibility of bringing up his break up with Miyoung. He told her he loved her and that alone was more than enough for Inhye to know exactly how special the young woman was to him. She didn’t want to add more salt to the wound by asking about the details, especially when it wasn’t her place. It wasn’t like she was Yoongi’s friend. She was his ex-wife and that was that.

They arrived in the town late afternoon and Yoongi suggested that they go to his family’s soondae restaurant near Gyemyeong University, just to stop by to say hi. He mentioned something about not wanting things to be too awkward at the house when his father got home since his mother decided to stay home today. So, he felt it was best to just break it to his father at least. All because he didn’t tell them that they were coming home with him too. He explained that he wanted to take them by surprise even if it’d turn out for the worse because they’d say no. They’d never want to meet Yoonsung even if he told them the truth.

Upon seeing the front of the restaurant, Inhye started to tear up. She spent so many hours there, slaving away with Yoonsung strapped to her back, and Yoongi never even stopped by to say hi to the both of them once. If he was there, then he was only there to see his parents and, by the time she even knew about it, he was gone. She would only catch glimpses of his back as he walked out the door and that was it. She seldom saw him when they were married. The only time she did actually see him was late at night when he came home overly drunk with love bites littered all over his neck. Or, if he wasn’t drunk, then they’d be arguing over how late he was out, the love marks on his neck, and about him at least looking after Yoonsung once a week so she can freely work at the restaurant. Or, she would see him sound asleep early in the morning as she woke up to go prep for the busy hours at the restaurant. Seeing that soondae soup restaurant now reminded her of how much she loved Yoongi even then, how much she did for the Min family, and how much they didn’t care about her and her son.

Inhye quickly tried to blink the tears away once her ex-husband parked the car, but failed miserably. They were quickly trickling down her face as both the boys motioned to unbuckle their seat belt and got out of the car, letting the thick hot Daegu summer heat seep into the cool of the car. She quickly did as they did to keep them from noticing her overwhelmed state.

“Yoonsung, would you like to eat something at Grandpa and Grandma’s restaurant?” asked Yoongi, as the child went up to his side and held his hand. The father and son walked in front of her as they exchanged warm smiles with one another.

“Let’s not.” Inhye quickly blurted out, answering for their boy.

Yoongi looked over his shoulder at her and she quickly dodged his stare as she turned around. She didn’t want him to see her cry again. She already cried in front of him last night because he was being a jerk. Now, she was crying again because being in Daegu reminded her of everything he and his family had done to her when they were married.

“It’s OK.” he said, softly. A strong hand gently rested itself on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. “I’m right here.” Inhye turned to face him as she wiped away her tears. He looked down at her with warm, sincere eyes. “We don’t have to stay very long. Just in and out. It’ll probably only be 5 to 10 minutes top.” A small smile touched his lips as his hand reached up and was about to wipe the last remaining bit of tears on her face away when she quickly stepped back, not wanting any intimate interactions between them. She didn’t want him to touch her.

“OK.” she breathed, as she continued to avoid his gaze.

Inhye watched as they continued to the restaurant and she was following behind the man and the child. She truly never wanted to come back to this place, especially not with her child. But– because Yoongi only had good intentions and it was true that Yoonsung should at least know about his other family members, she agreed. All of this was for her son. Inhye unwillingly stepped through the front door of that restaurant and quickly glanced at the familiar layout of the business. Her heart was incredibly heavy as she followed Yoongi, whom was approaching the cash register where his father stood. Mr. Min’s eyes quickly darted between Yoongi, Yoonsung, and her in bewilderment. Saturday afternoons at the restaurant weren’t as busy as the weekday, but it was particularly slow at the moment with only one or two customers.

“Y-Yoongi.” he said. Then, he let out a long breath and looked at his grandson. He couldn’t say anything else as he clenched his jaw and looked away from the clueless child who was holding onto his father’s hand. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Being a mother.” Inhye replied, softly. The question was being directed right at her as he glared at her with all the hatred he could fathom. Yoongi’s parents have always instilled a great amount of fear in her and, as a result of that, she almost usually never had a voice when they blamed her for problems or anything that occurred in the restaurant or at home. Despite being a usually strong person, for her to even talk back, took a lot of courage. Unfortunately, that was something she seldom had in the presence of those two people. Inhye quickly tucked her shaking hands behind her so the older man wouldn’t notice exactly how afraid she was at that moment.

Mr. Min looked back at his son, now, enraged. You could practically see the vein on his forehead ready to burst. “You’re going to get a mouthful once I get home.”

Yoongi looked back into his father’s eyes, calm and collected. “You should at least be happy to see your grandson after all these years.” He paused for a moment to let his statement sink in. “We’re only here because of him. Don’t get too carried away with your emotions when it comes to Inhye. She’s only his mother after all.”

She had never seen or heard her ex-husband defend her before like this and it was causing her heart drum in her chest. Although his actions were only to protect her, as the mother of his son, she couldn’t help but feel a bit moved by what he had did. No one had ever defended her aside from her own mother from these people until now. She bit down her bottom lip to keep it from quivering as they stood in front of Mr. Min, but they soon turned to leave.

It wasn’t until they were out of the restaurant that Inhye was fully able to breathe properly. She let out a shaky breath as her eyes started to water again. Maybe this was all a very bad idea. Maybe they shouldn’t be there in Daegu. They probably shouldn’t even go to the Min residence because she couldn’t even begin to imagine how angry Mrs. Min would be the moment she laid her eyes on her. All Inhye wanted was for her son to know who his grandparents and uncle are, but they’re not ready to face the truth. They still refused to accept the fact that Yoonsung existed and she didn’t want him to have to face the hatred they bore for him at such a young age. Both the family and Yoonsung weren’t ready for this and Yoongi was rushing them.

Yoonsung’s small voice pulled Inhye out of her thoughts, as the boy turned to ask Yoongi something. “Who was that?”

“That’s your grandpa, Baby.” replied the father.

“He is?” asked the child, rather, confused. “He’s scary.” The child started to nibble on the nail of his thumb on his free hand. “I don’t like him.”

Inhye watched Yoongi’s back as he led them back to his car. She wondered what he was thinking. She wondered how he felt, knowing that their son was not just afraid, but didn’t like his father as well. In some ways, she was sure he was disappointed. He had been so adamant on coming all the way to Daegu all because he had a glimmer of hope that maybe things just might turn out for the better. And, for this to happen on top of his breakup, she was sure he was feeling horrible.

“Where did you want to eat, Inhye?” he suddenly asked, making her jump a bit.

She swallowed down the lump of emotions that was in the back of in order to reply to him. “I-I don’t know.” she muttered.

Yoongi looked over his shoulder at her, expressionless, with unreadable eyes. She assumed he was hiding his emotions, if he truly was feeling what she thought he was going through. “Which restaurant is your favorite here? Let’s go there.”

Inhye blinked. The Mins didn’t let her do anything outside of the house, unless if she was taking care of errands. Despite being an adult, even if she left the house unannounced with her child for just a bit, Mr. and Mrs. Min would fuss nonstop about it. Their nagging got so bad to the point where Yoongi simply told her to either ‘work her off or stay inside the house even if it was burning’ because it’d do everyone a favor.

So the only places she had ever truly known was the home that his parents reside in, the convenience store about two blocks away from it, the grocery store she often shopped at to stock the family fridge, and the soondae restaurant they had just left. She never had the luxury of simply going out and eating at restaurants or even going to grab a cup of iced latte at a coffee shop. Even if she did, she didn’t have the money to do so. All the money she had, was rationed and primarily saved for a rainy day. If anything was to happen, she didn’t want to burden the Min family even more. They complained nonstop over the fact that there would be 2 extra people under their roof. In compensation of covering for both Inhye and Yoonsung’s expenses, they expected her to ‘help out’ at the restaurant full time. That was one of the reasons why she dropped out of university and dedicated her life to their restaurant. She didn’t have much of a choice now that she was married to Yoongi, a marriage that formed only to save the face of their parents.

Her life in Daegu was actually very confined and lonely. The only people she had in her life there was Yoonsung, Yoongi, and the Min family. She tried to make friends here and there, but no one from the neighborhood really felt the need to want the same thing. Some of it had to do with the fact that Mrs. Min loved gossiping and Inhye was always the main topic, but most of it had to do with the fact that many people from the neighborhood had labeled her as some loose . It was nothing new to be seen in such a way, but she had no one to vent to or to cry to and was pretty much alone when it came to her sadness and frustrations in regards to her marriage and in-laws. Yoongi never cared about her feelings or her whereabouts, his older brother never even batted an eye her way let alone knew that she existed, and his parents were insensitive about what they did and how they treated her. The only person that listened was her mother because she was her child.

“I don’t have a favorite restaurant here.” she softly replied.

“Oh, c’mon. I’m sure you do.” continued Yoongi, with a little small crack of a smile. “It’s been a long time since you’ve been back here so let’s go there.”

“But, I really don’t.” countered Inhye. Her hands started to shake again and, for what reason, she didn’t know why. She just knew that being in Daegu right now was making her very anxious and apprehensive despite the fact that she was no longer married to Min Yoongi or lived under the Min’s roof. So, she forced her hands to form fists in a weak attempt to try to calm them down. “I couldn’t go out, remember? I was always at the restaurant or at home with Yoonsung.”

Yoongi stared at her in a way she had never seen him look at her before. His eyes were hazy, completely clouded with thoughts. Whatever it meant, she wasn’t sure and she looked away. He eventually turned away and seemed to have muttered an “Oh, right” under his breath and the conversation ended there. The three of them climbed back into his car and they were soon on their way somewhere only he knew. In the automobile, Inhye watched the way Yoonsung looked out the window. Although he was a bit too small to clearly see the view from it, he stared at the blue sky and the light posts whizzing past them as they drove down the roads of this town. To her clueless child, Daegu was a new and foreign place and Inhye wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Mommy, where are we going?” asked Yoonsung.

He turned to her and flashed his gummy smile at her. He lost one of his front teeth over the week so he looked extra adorable without it. Seeing his innocent smile helped ease her building anxiety and she smiled back. Inhye reached over and patted him softly on the head.

“Baby, I don’t know.” she replied.

The child immediately turned to look towards the front, as if Yoongi could see him. “Daddy, where are we going?” he asked.

“To my favorite restaurant.” explained Yoongi. “It has a lot of delicious meat so you’ll like it a lot.”

“Really?” giggled the boy in a fit. “Yay!!”

They soon arrived at a barbeque place. It must be a restaurant that Yoongi frequently went to when he came back to Daegu because the workers knew who he was immediately. A tall, sturdy man in his 50’s smiled brightly at Yoongi and then curiously glanced at Yoonsung and Inhye. “Is this your nephew?” asked the waiter, as he quickly lead them to their table. The restaurant had only a few people here and there since they were there after the lunch rush and before dinner hours began.

“No, he’s my son.” Yoongi immediately answered.

The waiter glanced at the child and then the grown man. He let out a hearty laugh. “I can see the resemblance. I just assumed it was your nephew because I didn’t know you were married.” He politely motioned to the table he led them to and the grill, as they seated themselves in the booth. “It’s good see youngsters marry early and start having kids. Your parents must be super happy to have grandchildren already.” He glanced at Yoonsung, who was sitting at Inhye’s side, and smiled brightly at the child. “This grandpa right here is going to bring you a treat later, alright?”

“OK!” smiled the boy.

The man laughed again and turned to Yoongi. “Did you want to start with your usual?” he questioned.

“Sure, that’ll be fine.” nodded the young man.

Inhye watched the way Yoonsung watched the man walked away. He quickly turned to his father with a bright smile. “May we come here next week, Daddy?”

Yoongi let out a chuckle. “Why?” he inquired. “Why do you want to come back here next week?”

“I want to come here to see that grandpa more often.” giggled the innocent child.

Upon hearing the reply, the man’s smile fell. Inhye stared at him, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. He looked really tired and she felt bad for not being more firm on not coming to Daegu today. He probably didn’t get any sleep due to his breakup. She could only imagine how hurt and restless he was. Maybe he went to Miyoung’s place after the dinner and tried to talk to her? If not, then maybe he tried to call her hours on end only to have his calls be rejected each time. In a way, Inhye felt like she had no right to get so angry at his stupid remark about her and Hoseok last night. What he said was definitely out of line, but what was she truly expecting of him? Of course he had always seen her as someone or something disposable and always will. Just because he was being a little nice to her here and there didn’t mean he actually respected or caredabout her. He was simply doing what he needed to do to be on good terms with her so he could see their son.

“Don’t you want to see your grandpa instead?” countered Inhye, as she glanced at Yoonsung. The boy frowned and looked up at his m