Chapter 8

Eun Young closed the apartment door with a soft click and allowed herself to rest her back against it. She sighed aloud, recounting the last few minutes in her mind. It had all happened in a blur, and then the officers were bidding her goodnight. She could hardly believe it had happened at all. Her brother was dead. She had just seen him; he couldn't possibly have been dead. A sour feeling rose in her stomach and she struggled to keep the bile that churned there down. Dead. The word echoed through her head. He was dead and he had left his daughter in her care.

She thought back to the questions the officers had asked, the ones about Jin Mi. She had told them that her niece was staying with her for the weekend. They had asked questions regarding the little girl, told her that someone would be later in the week to discuss custody with her. There was so much to do, and her mind was already whirling. She needed to sit down and take a deep breath.

Of course Jin Mi was going to live with her. The options were limited already; Jin Mi had no other family that could or would take her in. If she could do nothing else, Eun Young would make sure to keep her out of foster care or stop them from putting her niece in a home for orphans.

Orphan.

That word turned her blood cold. In he course of a year, Jin Mi had gone from having a mother and a father that loved each other and her, to a parent-less child alone in a world where love was one of the rarest commodities.

“Umma, who was at the door” Taeyang's voice broke her out of her thoughts and she moved away from the door, taking a moment to regain her composure. She padded barefoot back into the livingroom, struggling to force a smile back onto her face. She stopped by the television set and pressed the power button, the sitcom on screen fading into a dark void.

“Umma?” Eun Young only shook her head at her son and held up her hand to silence him, taking her place back on the couch.

“Gomo, who was at the door?” Jin Mi asked, her larges eyes open wide in questioning. Eun Young sighed shakily, folding her hands in her lap

.

“They were police officers. Your appa, Jin Mi, was very lonely. And he,” Eun Young trailed off, already feeling emotion well deep in . She breathed deeply a few times before continuing. “ Your appa went to join your umma in heaven.”

No sooner had the words stung the air, Jin Mi rose from the couch silently and ran, her small feet thudding against the wood floor as she disappeared down the hall.

“Jin Mi!” Eun Young called after her, getting to her own feet to chase behind the girl. The sounds of footfalls ceased and Eunyoung listened to see what the direction the little girl had gone in. She poked her head into Taeyang's room and saw it was empty. The bathroom door was open but lights were off. She almost passed by her own room, the door wide open, when she heard slight rustling.

Stepping inside, Eun Young heard the rustling again, this time accompanied by a sniffle. 

“Jin Mi, where are you?” Eun Young called, looking around the room. She flipped on the lights but saw no one in the small bedroom. A soft noise sounded from behind her and she noticed the door to the hall closet was slightly ajar. She turned the lights back off and stepped back into the hallway, facing the door.

“Jin Mi , are you in there?” A small sniffle was heard from behind the door and Eun Young let out a breath of relief. At least she knew where she was hiding. 

“No,” was the reply, barely audible from behind the door.

“Oh, I was just asking,  because if Jin Mi was in there, I'd give her a great big hug. I know that she is sad because her appa had to leave, but her aunt lost her brother too.” Eun Young waited patiently in the hall for the girl to come out, but the door remained there firmly.

“Well, Jin Mi is not here,” came the next indignant reply from the little girl. Her aunt barely stifled a snort of laughter, imagining the young girl folding her arms in front of her chest in pure stubbornness. She had gotten it from her father; they both were stubborn as a mule.

“Well, can I leave a message for Jin Mi if you see her?” Eun Young waited a few seconds to see if the girl would go along with it.

"Okay," Jin Mi said finally, still hidden behind the closet door.

"Can you tell her that her aunt doesn't want her to run and hide. We all care about her so we can deal with this as a family." Silence stuck in the air after she had spoken. Jin Mi made no acknowledgement that she had heard and Eun Young sighed, turning to walk away. She would wait for the girl to come out on her own.

"Gomo, wait." Eun Young stopped and looked over her shoulder to see Jin Mi push open the closet door and come out into the hallway. They looked at each other for a few moments of silence. Neither one of them said anything, just watched the other. Finally, Jin Mi walked over and grabbed her aunt's hand.

"Can I stay here with you, gomo?" She asked, sniffling a little. A few stray tears fell down her already wet cheeks. Eun Young moved until she was eye level to the girl.

"Of course, Jin Mi. Family is the most important thing. They will always be there when you need them." Eun Young felt tears form in her own eyes and tried to blink them back. She felt Jin Mi's arms wrap around her shoulders and realized the little girl was hugging her. She pulled her own arms around her niece and hugged her back tightly.

"We will get through this, Jin Mi. It maybe hard and there might be times when you feel sad, but your appa would not want you to cry. He would want you to be happy and remember all the good times you shared together, and with your umma. Can you do that for me?" Eun Young asked into the girl's hair and black strands tickled her face as the girl nodded. They pulled apart and Eun Young regarded the little girl.

"Okay, good. We will be okay, Jin Mi. We will. If I can assure nothing else in this world, we will get through this. We are strong people." She squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. Jin Mi held a blank look in her face and nodded numbly. Eun Young took her niece's hand again and led her back down the hallway. Things were definitely going to be harder now, taking care of another child when the one she had now was a handful already. But she would make it work. Somehow.