♪ evening sky

Anger. Rage. Spite. Those were all of the things Aejin was currently drowning in as she openly glared at the woman stationed across from her. The woman who had so mercilessly abandoned her own child. They were alone, sitting in the garden the hospital had out back, neither one of them uttering a single word as they allowed silence to speak in their places. They were at one of the picnic tables, Aejin on one side while Hyomin occupied the other. “What do you think you’re doing?” She came off icy and brisk but that’s what somebody as heartless as Hyomin deserved.

“Aejin,” Hyomin looked at her with the most remorseful expression she could manage before she reached out and tried to grab her friend’s hand. However, the woman quickly evaded her grasp and placed her hands onto her lap. “Look, I get it. You must hate me right now.”

“I don’t hate you,” Aejin cut in, her face rather stiff and stale. “Why should I hate you? I wasn’t the one you left behind just because your boyfriend didn’t want me around.”

“I didn’t leave Minwoo behind!” She argued which caused Aejin to laugh rather sardonically.

“Are you kidding?” She spat as she shook her head. “You call bringing him over to a stranger’s house and then sneaking out while he’s asleep and never coming back until now not leaving him behind?”

“But I didn’t leave him at a stranger’s house, Aejin. I left him with you. Doesn’t that count for something?” Hyomin pointed out.

“We were practically strangers, Hyomin! We hadn’t talked in years! Heck, I didn’t even know you had a son until you told me yourself.” Aejin shouted, not being able to hide her distaste any longer. “Do you know how traumatizing it was for him to suddenly wake up without his mother by his side? Do you know long it took me just to get him to stop asking for you every other second? No, you didn’t bother thinking about those kinds of things. To you they were only trivial matters. To you, the only person you cared about was yourself!”

“That’s not true!” Hyomin screamed. She was so close to breaking down into tears as her body trembled. “I care about Minwoo more than I do about anyone else in the world! He’s my son, Aejin! If you think I don’t care about him, then what am I doing here? If I didn’t care about him, I could have left him at the orphanage, or even worse, out on the streets! But I didn’t. I left him with you because I did know how difficult it was going to be for him when he discovered I was no longer around. I knew he was going to cry and ask for me, I knew he was going to be hurt but I also knew that if there was anyone in the world who could make him feel better, it would be you.” Hyomin choked on her tears as she locked eyes with Aejin.

“I left him with you because I knew you would take care of him. I knew you would help him get through it just like you did with me whenever I was going dealing with something tough. I knew I could always trust you even if we didn’t talk for twenty years because you’re not the kind of person who would turn away those in need. It was selfish of me, I’ve realized that but I was really trying to do what was best for him. Do you realize how hard it would have been for him if we were homeless? I didn’t want him to have to encounter anything like that.” She explained, digging though her purse for a packet of tissues.

“So what if you were homeless?” Aejin questioned. Her voice was softer this time around as she looked at Hyomin with a sympathetic gaze. “Do you honestly think he would have cared about that? As long as he had you, Minwoo would have been fine. He would have been able to endure any obstacle that came his way because you were there facing it with him. You were his refuge, his rock, but in the end you not only let him down, you let me down as well. I just don’t get you. Why didn’t you just tell me you guys needed a place to stay? I wouldn’t have minded. I really wouldn’t have because like you said, I’m not the kind of person to turn away someone who needs help. Especially not someone who used to be my best friend.”

“I didn’t want to stay with you because I realized it would only be temporary. Sooner or later, you would have kicked us out just like my parents did and then what? We’d be back to square one. That’s why I had to go with Wooyoung. If everything worked out with him, Minwoo and I wouldn’t need to worry about anything. And guess what? I finally convinced him to accept Minwoo. That’s why I’m back. It took some time but I’ve returned now. That’s all that matters.” Hyomin stated.

“So you were securi