~ Earlier~

3^rd Person POV

“Eun Mi.. is that you?”  the middle-aged woman approached the couple with her eyes steadily on her daughter.

Eun Mi averted her gaze, “Yes, it’s me,”

Her mother looked at her from head to toe, “You’ve grown to be so tall and pretty!”

Eun Mi snapped a bit. “Well, it’s not thanks to you,”

The woman shifted her gaze to Taemin after being rejected. “Whose this?”

Taemin stared at the woman before him, he didn’t recognize her as Eun Mi’s mother.

“My boyfriend,” Eun Mi grabbed Taemins wrist and started dragging him in the opposite direction.

“Eun Mi-ah, who was that?” Taemin whispered to her. “My real mom,” she started.

The wind around them picked up and it suddenly got colder.

“The lady you met at my house is my stepmom, but she’s more like a mom than that trash bag,”

Taemin was about to ask something, but decided not to ask. Eun Mi seemed shaken with her recent meeting with the past.

She decides to call Hae Won and meet up with her. It’s been ages since they’ve last seen each other.

Taemin watches Eun Mi’s pale face. It was white as a sheet, yet her eyes looked determine. He has never seen her like this before. *Maybe her mother did something..*

Her birth-mother followed them like a hawk; she couldn’t believe Eun Mi is successful. She was drowning in guilt, maybe if she accepted the fact that Eun Mi was in a gang… maybe her life won’t be like this. Alone, rejected, and hated life.

A stranger points at her, “Who’s that?”

*The PRESENT!*

“She’s not important,” Eun Mi’s cold voice rang. Hae Won ran to the side of her, “Are you okay?”

Eun Mi blinked rapidly, as if chasing away her tears. “I-I’m fine,”

Her mother ran beside her with a written note, “We’ll talk later,” and she went off.

NOTE:

Eun Mi, I know you might hate me… but I want to get some things clear. I want to start with a clean slate. Can you meet me at your favorite Café @ 5:30PM tomorrow? See you there.  – Jung In.

She read over the note before crinkling it and tossing it into her purse.

The night before, Eun Mi told Hae Won and Taemin about everything. She told them about how her mother left her after hearing the news of her being in a gang. Taemin was appalled.

How could his little princess be in a gang? She’s too innocent and naïve.

Her mother was suffering under some emotional disabilities, but the news of Eun Mi in a gang pushed her off the edge. Her attitude towards Eun Mi started to become nasty. She was two-faced with Eun Mi’s father. She would always be nice to Eun Mi when he was around, and vice versa. The worst thing she could have done was to cheat on her father.

Which, she also did. She was an alcoholic, and her father couldn’t take it anymore. He filed the divorce papers and kicked her out of their house and onto the streets.

Although it took a while for her father to find happiness, he stumbled upon Eun Mi’s stepmother and instantly fell in love. His love soon became Eun Mi’s loving mother, even though she knew of her secrets. Eun Mi and her gang of delinquents were kind of like 7 Robin Hoods. They kept the streets safe for the community; they were heroes, not the typical type of gang.

{A/N.. Grr! It’s corny, oh well.}                                                     

~Next Day~

Eun Mi was debating whether or not she should meet up with her mother. She paced back and forth in her bedroom under Hae Won’s watchful eye while SHINee went to Japan for a performance.

“Eun Mi, I think you should go. She just wants to clear her name, what’s the harm?” Hae Won suggested.

Eun Mi nodded, “I guess… but what happens if she wants to come back into my life for good?”

“Good point, but she seemed fine. I don’t think she’s ill anymore,”

“Yeah… she wasn’t screaming at me or anything,” Eun Mi tapped her chin and looked out the window.

A couple of hours later, it was 5:15 PM. Eun Mi dressed casually and strolled to her favorite childhood café. She saw her mother through the window and felt a weight in her chest.

*So she is here…* She swung open the café door, causing it to ring the bell.

Her mother perked up and waved to her while passing her a menu. For a moment, an awkward silence filled the air.

“I want to start by saying that I’m sorry,” her mother started.

“I was stupid to do all those things to you; I should have been an understanding mother. Eun Mi, I would have loved to watch you grow up, but I was sick, okay? I couldn’t help myself. I can’t control my fate.  When I found out about your occupation, my heart stopped. I thought to myself ‘Am I even a mother? What kind of mother would let her child become a gangster?’ ”

Eun Mi didn’t respond so her mother went on.

“I went out of the house for a bit to catch my breath, but found myself in a bar with mischievous men; I was so lonely with your father being at work and everything… I just made a big mistake!” she finished.

The waiter came with their drinks. Eun Mi cupped the mug in her hands and sipped the hot goodness.

“What do you want?” Eun Mi raised her eyebrow.

Her mother furrowed hers, “Excuse me?”

“What do you seek?”

“Your forgiveness,”

Eun Mi bit her lip. “So the point you’re trying to get to is for me to give you FORGIVENESS so you’ll feel better about yourself? Sure, you raised me. But then you left! You left our FAMILY.”

“I’m sorry!” her mother shouted.

“That’s not enough. A sorry will not fill my empty heart, that motherly role,” her gaze shifted to her mother’s picture on her wallet.

“And who the hell is that?” she pointed.

Her mother followed her finger, “T-that’s my son, he’s been missing,”

“Missing? Are you sure you didn’t leave him either?!”

“EUN MI! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO YOUR MOTHER! I will NOT, I repeat NOT, do the same mistake TWICE!” her mother started crying.

Eun Mi softened, “How did you lose him?”

“He was sick, so I went to the grocery store to buy him ingredients for some soup… when I got home, he was gone. Somehow, he followed me to the grocery store… I went back for him, but he was gone. S-someone took him,” he looked down.

*Grocery… store?* Eun Mi got a closer look at the kid.

“Jae.. Jae Sun is my brother..?” she  gasped with widened eyes.