Love is overrated

Kai and Krystal – their story

            My mom used to tell me of the stories of her and my father falling in love. They were high school sweethearts, marrying the day after graduation. My grandparents never approved of their relationship to begin with, so it was simple. My parents eloped. The United States was their haven.

            My mom was pregnant with my sister a month after they settled down in Northern California. She popped out nine months later. It was a rough start, my mom claimed. My dad had just started running his restaurant and the money in the jointed bank account was running low. But somehow, they managed to survive in a one-roomed apartment. They made things work. My mom worked two part-time jobs while trying to look after Jessica. Although I assumed there were many disputes regarding the financial issues, by the time I was born, our family was faring quite well.

            We resided in a humble apartment in the upscale area of San Francisco. The restaurant business was quickly booming, all thanks to the many celebrity visits. All in all, we were all one big happy family. That was until my parents divorced. My mom had claimed that my dad did not spend enough time with the family and only focused on starting a restaurant chain. I believe what she said was true, but even so, I did not want my family to be ruined.

            But it was already too late. After the jury ruled in my mom’s favor, Jessica and I had no choice but to pack our bags. To where? We didn’t know. But what we did know was that we would never see our dad again. Although I was six, I still had so many questions to ask. But I didn’t. I stuck with one simple question in the end.

            “Why?” I asked my father who gave his last goodbye at the airport.

            “Soojung, when you get older, you’ll realize love doesn’t work out sometimes. You just move on and don’t hang around the past.” He wrapped me in his embrace and a second later, he was gone. Just like that. And I had already boarded the plane to who-knows-where.

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            I grew up hating my mom. I thought she meant the worst for our family. After we flew back to Korea, my mother met a businessman and they supposedly “fell in love at first sight.” A month later, my mom was re-married and I had a step-brother. Jung Yunho.

            He was the same age as Jessica, but because he often went out the house, I rarely got to have any interactions with him. I didn’t know much about him even though I lived in the same house as him for more than half of my life. All I knew about him was that he had four best friends. But one night, that all changed.

            Both our parents were out celebrating their anniversary dinner. Jessica was locked in her room, probably fawning over celebrities with her friends. Although we had been in Korea for four years, I didn’t want to mingle with my classmates. My Korean was choppy and I was afraid of being made fun of. My peers would jeer at me for not saying anything. Nobody would want to sit next to me at lunch. I was hated, teased every single day. It came to the point where the teacher didn’t want to come into contact with me. It was that bad. So I ate my feelings away.

            That night, I was in the kitchen digging up food. I was in the midst of cooking myself another bowl of ramen, but there was loud noise outside. Curious, I looked out the window and saw a horrific scene. My step-brother was kissing someone – one of his best friends. Although I was disgusted, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It wasn’t until Yunho opened his eyes and caught me staring. My cheeks were flushed as I turned away shamefully. Praying for the water to heat up faster, it was already too late.

            Yunho had stepped into the house. Jae Joong was already gone. “Soojung – “

            “No. I don’t need any explanations,” I said, my eyes refusing to meet his. “I didn’t see anything.” Just like that, it was the end of discussion. It was clear that I didn’t want to speak of the situation. So it was a mutual and silent agreement. If I didn’t say anything about it, Yunho wouldn’t ask me.

            So when Yunho told our parents about his ual preference, they threw a fit, demanding him to leave the house. All this while, I remained silent. I had no right to speak out. Besides, my lips were sealed about that fateful night. My step-father was the most outraged. He threatened to disown Yunho if he didn’t break up with Jae Joong. But Yunho only scoffed.

            “Love is no different when it comes to man and man.” And then he left for California a day after. It turned out he and Jae Joong had been accepted to an