Mrs. Bae had observed Joohyun for days and now she was certain Kyung-Mi was lying to her. Beyond the fact that Joohyun seemed happier, she came later after school, she was on her phone more often as well. The Joohyun from a few months ago was different from the daughter that was sitting close to her at the breakfast table. She became more and more suspicious to the point where she stopped by the school Friday afternoon. She waited in her car, scanning the students at were coming out from the main building. She waited probably an hour there but she was determined to understand the change in her daughter. It wasn’t a bad change to be honest. Her grade even improved but Mrs. Bae could feel that she was slipping away from her and she didn’t like that. She needed to act before it was too late.

Suddenly, she spotted her and straightened up on her seat. Her brows knitted when she saw her daughter with a group of friends. How did Joohyun suddenly become so sociable? She couldn’t believe it. There was a point in life when she had only been just a child, where she had withdrawn into herself. She didn’t know what happened at that time. She assumed it was just Joohyun being a sulky child but over the years it didn’t improve. She had tried to push her to make friends at church or when they were out at the country club or her husband’s work picnic. But no matter what she or Kyung-Mi did, Joohyun ended up purposely alone. She came to accept it and move on. After all, it was also a good thing that Joohyun was focused on school and her future career. Except that now, she seemingly had made friends and was happier than ever. 

She leaned closer to her windshield, eyes squinted to see better. She recognized one of the girls as Park Sooyoung and she already didn’t like it. Everyone at church knew about the Park’s daughter. She didn’t know two others but the last one, she had seen multiple times by now. Kang Seulgi. The supposed classmate appeared the closest to Joohyun. Her daughter was holding her arm, glued to her side, with a bright smile on her face. She looked at her as if they were best friends. Now, it was evident to her that Joohyun lied. She watched them bid their goodbyes and walk their own way. She took a deep breath before starting her car. Her mind of full of questions that she would need answers for. 

-

She didn’t have a talk with Joohyun however. They ate dinner that evening like nothing happened. Mrs. Bae kept glancing at her, wondering who was daughter was and why did she start to hang out with this crowd. She sat on her bed that evening with a curiosity that was devouring her. She needed to find out more on her own. She took her phone and typed Kang Seulgi’s name. It took her so time to find the right one but the profile picture on her Instagram account was undeniably her. From her self-written profile, she learned that the teenager was into photography and she could see it as she scrolled down. The pictures were mostly of landscapes of the city or nature. Suddenly, one was very familiar. Her eyes widened when she saw how accurately Joohyun had painted that picture. It wasn’t a photo taken from the internet nor was it the visual representation of a text. Her daughter had painted the picture taken by her friend. Now, it made a little more sense as to why Seulgi got the painting. 

« Oh, my god! » She let out, putting her hand over . 

« What is it, Dear? » Her husband asked from the bed next to hers. 

She blinked, remembering he was next to her. She couldn’t tell him. Not now at least. There was still much more than she needed to know and he was the type to get angry fast and ask questions later « Oh, it’s just that one of my friends is pregnant » She lied. 

« Aren’t they all about our age? » He frowned. 

She nodded « They are but it can still happen » 

He slowly nodded before looking back at his tablet « I couldn’t go through all of this again. They need luck » 

She knew what he meant. It would be too tiring and time-consuming to have a baby at their age. They already had three kids and Joohyun, as grown as she was, was seemingly going to cause trouble. Her husband went to sleep but she continued to scroll down Seulgi’s. At one point, she had to clasp her hand over to stop her shriek. There it was. The picture that sealed her suspicions. Was it worse than she would have imagined? Or was it exactly what she had feared? 

Joohyun’s friends looked happy in the picture, waving proudly their flags. The Parks’ daughter was close to her, she assumed, girlfriend. Now, Mrs. Bae didn’t have to imagine what made her daughter change. She stared at the photo for half an hour before finally lying down in her bed. However, she stared at her ceiling until the sun greeted her. She got up when her husband’s alarm rang. She prepared herself like a zombie still haunted by her daughter’s secret. She sat at the breakfast table on that Saturday morning and watched her join them. She didn’t particularly smile but she could see she was nonetheless in a good mood. Joohyun exchanged a small smile with her siblings and it made her wonder if they knew. If she discovered it, it was almost certain that Kyung-Mi knew as well. As for Hyun-Woo, she wasn’t sure. He was the most detached from his sister but he was close with Kyung-Mi so maybe she would have told him. She didn’t know if it was paranoia playing tricks on her but the three of them seemed inexplicably closer. 

Mr. Bae bid them goodbye for the day resulting in her being alone with them. It was silent around the table and her tongue felt heavy in . She wanted to know so bad. So she did something that she never usually do. 

« So what are you going to do today? » She asked, trying to appear interested yet chill at the same time. The three siblings looked at one another with a weird expressions. Unsurprisingly, Kyung-Mi was the first to answer. 

« I have some classes this morning and I’ll spend the day at the library with my study group. We have a big exam coming up and the more we learn before our internship starts the better. I might come home late though » Mrs. Bae nodded. She had expected it coming from her. She nodded and turned toward Hyun-Woo who squirm on his seat a bit. 

« I don’t have school but of course, I’m planning to study as well. And…uh…a friend is celebrating his birthday so I’ll be out all night » He looked at her nervously but she simply nodded again. 

« That’s great. Have fun tonight. Unwind a bit but study well today, uh? » 

« Of course, Mom » He smiled awkwardly and nodded. It was an odd situation for the three siblings. As long as they lived, their parents had always been focused on their studies. They didn’t like any distractions from it. But now, suddenly, their mother was alright with parties and hobbies. 

Mrs. Bae turned her attention to Joohyun « What about you, Dear? » 

Joohyun gulped, glancing at her siblings who seemed slightly nervous as well. She put her eyes on her mother and hoped that all of the years she had spent lying would come to fruition « I’m going to school to study as well. I need to finish my literature project today and want to get ahead of my homework and upcoming tests » 

Mrs. Bae’s brain rang the alarm when Joohyun mentioned her literature project. It meant that she was going to meet Kang Seulgi. However, she had the strong intuition that their homework was just an excuse. It was maybe a codeword they used to avoid getting caught. 

Nonetheless, she didn’t say anything about it. She faked a smile « That is a good day you all have ahead of you. Work hard and we’ll see each other tomorrow morning if not before » She left the table and went to her bedroom to sit in front of her vanity. The day had just started but she didn’t have any energy to go on. She wondered what she had done to God to have this happen to her. But more importantly, she wondered what she could do. 

From her window, she saw Hyun-Woo and Kyung-Mi leave close to one another. That’s when she realized that Joohyun was going to be inevitably the next. She had a choice to make and in an impulse, she got up. She prepared herself and waited. It wasn’t long before Joohyun went downstairs and left the house. She took a deep breath and carefully followed her. 

After 15 minutes, it was clear that Joohyun wasn’t going to school. They were in the middle of Seoul after having taken the subway. She carefully followed her for some more time before Joohyun entered an art museum that had a huge banner in front about a light show exhibit. For an instant, she thought that it made sense. Joohyun had always been into art and now that she painted again it was normal that she got interested in visiting the place. She stopped in her tracks, hesitating to follow her inside. Maybe she had been too quick in her assumptions? But there was this part inside her that told her that maybe she wasn’t. After a quick internal debate, she entered nonetheless. 

And that little of her was right. 

Joohyun had joined Kang Seulgi and put a kiss on her lips which made her instantly dizzy.

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Hey, guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter? 

See you next week :)

-J