chapter moodboard made by me exclusively for this story *:.✧｡* pls don't steal

It was an unusually chilly afternoon in early September. All throughout the night before, storm clouds began forming over the city with brisk wind accompanying the threat of a heavy downpour. While no sign of precipitation yet, Min Jung slipped into her rain boots and threw her sturdiest umbrella into the back seat of her mother's car where a canvas weekender and her book bag were already loaded. 

“Got everything?” Min Jung’s mother, Lee In-kyung, asked her as she settled into the passenger’s seat. 

“Yep,” Min Jung replied, buckling herself in. "If not, I probably didn't need it in the first place."

In-kyung smiled. There was truth in Min Jung's wisecrack. The elder of the two was driving her daughter to a little weekend away in Daegu. While not exactly a first-destination vacation spot, Daegu was residence to In-kyung's mother and Min Jung's grandmother, Choi Ok-jung. With plane tickets to the south being hard to come by as people were making last minute summer trips, a visit to grandma's was the best the Kwon's could do for Min Jung who desperately needed the time away from Seoul. All Min Jung required for the weekend was herself: she could pick up anything necessary at grandma's, like her sanity and peace of mind.

In-kyung began to notice Min Jung's detachment when the younger was coming home early for the day and locking herself in her room until it was time for her first class the following morning. This went on for only a few days but In-kyung and her husband need not wait an entire week to know that their daughter was going through something. The signs were exposing itself amongst Min Jung's usual routine of being social and lively and her parents were quick to act by calling up Ok-jung and letting her know that her favorite niece was coming over to stay for the weekend. This has happened before and just like last time, they whisked Min Jung away for a much needed weekend getaway.

❀

Min Jung's Blog - 04/11/13 - Taken in Taegu

My parents think I've gone mad. I don't blame them. I haven't been eating well and my silence at the dinner table obviously didn't help. That has also been made worse when I began to tell Dad I couldn't meet him at his recording studio anymore. How could I? That's where I both fell in love and got my heart broken. It was sitting in that same sound studio where I met him and then lost him when he sent me a text ending everything I was willing to kill for. 

God. How could he do that? How could he just send me a text ending our relationship like that? Like it's so easy. I'm sure he's sleeping soundly at night while I'm here feeling like the most absolute . It's probably also easy for him to move on – with him being the way he is and the way he looks. I can't even think about it. It makes me sick thinking about him. How ironic. Just last month all I could think about was him. Now, I just want him out of my mind forever. 

I guess that's why mom and dad have shipped me off to grandma's. Not that going to grandma's is a drag, but it definitely feels like I've been quarantined from life as I know it. I practically had to go back and forth with halmeoni about going to a coffee shop to use the WiFi. Grandma's not exactly a Luddite like the other grandmothers I know of, so for her to supposedly have her internet "cut off" is complete bull to me. Mom and dad have probably conspired with her on how to cure whatever it is I'm going through. Not that they know what I'm going through, but it's kind of sweet that they're trying to help.

The minute I arrived at grandma's until just twenty minutes ago when I finally escaped her clutches was filled with activities. At dawn (on a Saturday morning!!!) we went for a hike, followed by a tea ceremony (for a reason I don't even know), then we did some pottery in halmeoni's studio. This morning, she said she was picking up charcoal drawing and suddenly all the potter's wheels and clay where miraculously put away, replaced by tall easels and canvasses and dozens of charcoal and sketch tools. I could only laugh thinking that she'd probably drop charcoal drawing for some other hobby (I have bets on watercolor painting).

I can see how she's trying to keep me busy and my mind away from whatever is making me so upset. If I have to be honest, it's kind of working. 

Anyway, looks like I see halmeoni huffing and puffing down the street towards me. Gotta go –

❀

“You didn’t need to drive me all the way to halmeoni’s,” Min Jung told her mom after In-kyung yawned the fifth time that last half-hour. Though the trip was usually a four hour drive made longer by the late summer rainstorm, In-kyung defied the laws of physics (and of the South Korean National Highway System) by shortening their trip to two and a half hours. They were about twenty minutes from Ok-jung’s home in her affluent neighborhood of Suseong-gu. 

"Well, I wanted to come along," In-kyung told her daughter. "I wanted to see eomma, too."

"Then we should have taken the train instead of driving your car."

In-kyung chuckled. "I also needed a getaway car just in case eomma was starting to get on my nerves."

It was dark by the time the two women pulled up in front of a single-family two-story home. Inside the front room window, a lady in her late 60's was waving at them. The rain hadn't reached the southern province of Gyeongsang so they had no trouble piling out of the car and entering the home.

"My darlings," Ok-jung exclaimed, spreading out her arms to welcome her daughter and granddaughter in her foyer. The two youngest women fell into Ok-jung's arms, melting away the cold, rainy air from Seoul with her warm embrace. 

Ok-jung let go of her hug but kept her kin close, looking into their tired eyes. 

“Come along, I’ve made some tea which we’ll have in the studio,” she said after a minute. “The help will unload your bags for you.”

The two younger women followed Ok-jung to a large room at the back of the house. Min Jung was always amazed to see how well her grandmother ages: the elder had her completely grayed hair dyed platinum blonde, which suited her face surprisingly well despite its unusual choice. Min Jung herself had never gone a shade lighter than the amber she wore for her own hair color. Ok-jung was also quite physically attractive at her age: she wore an oversized button-down over a navy blue pair of chino pants, and from behind she could have easily been mistaken for some of the girls Min Jung went to school with. She walked with the same gait and stance as her own granddaughter, a sprightly young woman in the skin of a 68 year old grandmother. 

The three generations of women entered the open-spaced studio built specifically for Ok-jung's many hobbies. Min Jung was expecting to see a new hobby but was surprised to see canvasses and charcoal dust all around her grandmother's art studio. She finally stuck