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2010 August

 

     The house that Jieun, her mother and father lived in was now home to his new wife, Choi Jung-Yoon.

    Choi Jung-Yoon was in her late 40s and was quite plump, and the sofa would sink down when she sat down where Jieun's mother always used to sit. When this woman entered the house, Jieun couldn't take her eyes off her physique and stature. This woman was tall, the same height as her father. Her plumpness added to her height made her larger than my father horizontally, yet her attempts to fit into a size 1 was a sight to see. 

Of course, this woman didn't roll into the household alone; she was a full package. 

Call it a Cinderella story if you must, but she had three daughters.

Two of them, Taeyeon and Sooyeon were sixteen - Jieun's age. 

The eldest of the three was Joohyun, who was eighteen years old. 

Unlike their mother, the three of them were quite slender in figure and although Jieun didn't want to admit, they were quite beautiful. 

     Jieun had seen Joohyun before; she was famous for her beauty as a high schooler and had been on several TV programs and interviews. She was rumored to be under a famous company, but that was out of Jieun's interest. 

The three sisters were all different but they all had one thing in common.

They all looked like spoilt brats.

They were jeweled from head to toe and even their scent smelled jeweled, whatever that meant. 

     It was obvious from the move-in day that the woman and her children didn't like Jieun, but that was the least of Jieun's interest. She was family with these people on paper, but there was no way she was going to accept these people as her real family.

This heart came more from her anger towards her father.

She didn't understand how her father could marry someone else so quickly when his own daughter was still hurting.

Her anger turned to resentment, but resentment filled with love.

     Jieun didn't how one could be happy with a woman like Choi Jung-Yoon, but her father seemed happy with her company. She didn't know if he was really content with having that woman as his wife or if he was just happy to have company to fill the vacancy of his wife.

     It angered Jieun when she thought about her own pain but when she saw her father no longer crying by himself in the study every night, her anger dusted away, although it was temporary. 

Jieun thought that if she avoided these new people in her family as much as she could, she thought all would be well.

After all, she had her father and she had Myungsoo.

But Jieun's plans had miscalculations that she failed to see. 

 

"Come down for dinner," Taeyeon kicked Jieun's door and slammed it shut.

     Jieun sighed in annoyance and walked down the stairs to see the entire family already seated. It angered Jieun to see that fat woman sitting in her mother's seat, but there was nothing she could do except to swallow her anger. 

"Jieun," her father said as he looked at her across the table. 

"Yes?"

"How do you feel about using the room at the end of the corridor?"

"I'm fine with my room right now," Jieun rolled her eyes and continued to eat. 

"Well, I'm not fine with it," Joohyun said nonchalantly, not even looking at Jieun. 

"Ok," Jieun raised an eyebrow. "Well... it up."

Joohyun glared at Jieun and her father hissed at Jieun with a face.

"Jieun, that's no way to be talking to your older sister!" her father said angrily.

"Dad, what-"

"Your sister needs to start preparing for her College Entrance Exam and we thought it would be best if you gave your room to Joohyun and moved to the room by the corridor. You know, your room has soundproof walls." Her dad smiled.

"You can't be serious," Jieun said annoyedly. "Mom designed that room specifically for me."

"I'm your Mother now," the woman forced a smile and glared at Jieun. 

"There are so many places to study but out of all of them, you have to choose my room? There's no way-"

"Were you taught to talk back to your elders?" Joohyun shot at Jieun.

Jieun had so much to say but she bit her lips and held it all in. 

"You're ok with it then?" Her father smiled. "We'll switch rooms first thing tomorrow." 

Jieun rose from her seat and ran back to her room, crying on her bed.

Her room was the only space that she felt as if she was with her Mom, and now she was getting that taken away from her own Father. The reason why she wanted this room so bad wasn't because of the soundproof walls (which her Mom built-in for Jieun's sound sleep) but because of the secret compartment that her Mother had built for her behind the bookshelf.

Her Mom was an architect and like she knew she was dying, this space was her last gift to her.

      Her mother was especially fond of Jieun's love for Literature and so she built a secret room for Jieun behind the slideable bookshelf where she was able to read her favorite pieces without the disturbance of anyone.

This little room was her entire world.

     She got up and pushed the bookshelf, revealing the entrance to her secret garden themed bookroom. Her favorite author was Burnett and her entire room had been decorated around Burnett's book.

     On the ceiling hung fluorescent stars that hung down to light the room. The entire room was wrapped in pure green vines with fairy lights that swirled in between. Amidst the hanging starlights were polaroid pictures of her and her mother's happiest times and their times in this room where they would read Salinger, Faulkner, you name it. 

She grabbed a polaroid of her mother reading Burnett to her for the first time when she was ten.

Her eyes got teary just thinking about her days with her mother.

Those bygone years were the happiest years of her life. 

She had nothing left anymore; she felt even angrier. 

She wasn't going to let them have their ways.

 

She turned the light off her secret room and headed to bed, determined to win.

 

--

     Jieun woke up to the sound of laughter and objects crashing on the floor.

She opened her eyes and saw the three sisters and their mother roughly throwing Jieun's things into a box.

"What are you doing?" Jieun rose from the bed, startled.

"It's move-out day," Taeyeon laughed maliciously. "If you're awake, help us pack."

"Don't touch my stuff with your dirty hands," Jieun hissed and snatched the picture frame of her mother off Taeyeon's hands. 

Everyone in the room halted and glared at Jieun who glared right back at them. 

"Now that I see this picture," Joohyun snatched the picture back. "I can see who you got your barbaric personality from." 

"What did you say?"

     "You think you're so great, don't you? You have your father to protect you and your dead Mommy watching you from the sky and all this crap."Joohyun kicked the box with Jieun's belongings. 

"If you don't start acting right, I'll make you regret it," Joohyun said as she threw the picture frame into the box. 

Jieun stood there, her fist trembling as the sisters continued to clear out the remaining things in her room. 

 

     Jieun walked into the room at the end of the corridor, pushing all her boxes in with her. 

This room was a guest room and the room that Myungsoo regularly slept in when he came over for the night. 

     Jieun sighed and sat on the bed. The bed creaked heavily and dust encircled the room. Jieun opened the window and wiped the dust off her desk, filling the desk with the stuff in the box.

If this was where she was stuck, she decided she wouldn't be a about it.

She wanted to be strong. 

 

She grabbed her phone and called Myungsoo.

"Hey, What are you doing right now?"

"Basketball, why?"

"You wanna come over?"

"Now?" 

"Yeah,"

"Be there in 15."

 

     Myungsoo gasped at the sight of Jieun's new room.

"Isn't this the guest room that I always used to sleep in..?" He said awkwardly, blowing the dust off the shelves. 

"Yeah," she shrugged. "That mothering took my room."

"What about your bookroom? They don't know about it do they?"

     "Yeah," she sighed. "I couldn't clear that room because they were watching. I probably need to get in there when they're not home and just clean the place out or something."

"I know she's becoming a High school senior and all, but isn't your Father being too much?" Myungsoo said as he sat on Jieun's bed. 

"I feel like he's not even my father anymore." 

"It's that bad?"

"He's not my Dad anymore. He's their Dad."

"Don't say that. You're his blood, they're not. Blood is thicker than water Jieun. He's just acting nice towards them because it's only the beginning. After some time, all this nonsense will go away."

"You know, I don't understand why my Dad married that fat woman. It's not like she's the Chairman of any company. She doesn't even have any real estate anywhere but she just has a ton lot of money from her past husbands who apparently all died." 

"Maybe... he loves her?"

"Don't ever say that," Jieun threw a cushion at him. "That's the worst insult I've ever heard. There's no way my Dad can be in love with someone other than my Mom. My Dad really loved my Mom, you know that."

"Y..eah, but..." Myungsoo said. "I don't know. In dramas, adults always tell someone they love them and then they always date someone else when they break up. Even my brother was so in love with his girlfriend but after a month of them breaking up he got another girlfriend and now he tells her he loves her."

"Well, my Dad would never do that. She's a snake. She's in it for Dad's money. I'm sure of it."

"You said she got married twice and the husbands both died?"

"Yeah,"

"She's even on the web," Myungsoo scrolled through his phone and gasped. "She was married to Han Jin-Ho?!" 

"Who's that?"

"The Chairman of Hansung co.!"

"What?" 

"And her second husband was Kim Jin-Tae, Chairman of Tommy Hilfiger Korea!"

"Well that explains all that bling," Jieun rolled her eyes. 

"But isn't it a little funny?" Myungsoo said as he continued scrolling. "Both of her husbands died from brain cancer."

"Who cares," Jieun shrugged. "I'm going to go get some snacks. You want any?"

"Anything's fine."

 

     Jieun skipped downstairs because at this time of the day, her sisters and the mom were never home.

Her Dad was in the kitchen reading a newspaper and just as she was about to enter, he started to cough before he threw up all over the newspaper and collapsed onto the floor.

"DAD!" Jieun screamed and caught her father in time. "What is wrong?!"

     Jieun looked at her father's face and saw that he was sweating. But what was worse was his complexion; his skin was so dark and wilted away and the dark circles under his eyes were so obvious.

"MYUNGSOO! CALL 911!"

Jieun bit her lips.

What Myungsoo said earlier came into her head.

 

Both of her husbands died from Brain cancer.

 

She shook her head from the thought.

There was no way what she was thinking could possibly true.

 

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