You stared at the woman before you, remembering every feature on her face from the last time you saw her. When you were 13 and she left you and your dad. You said nothing until you blinked a few times and played dumb with her. "Wh-who are you?" You tried to sound convincing, but you felt you were failing. The guys were staring, wondering what was going on. You saw hurt flash in her eyes when you spoke. "Rachael...it's me. Your mother." Anger rose in you. She bailed when you were 13, the most critical time in your life, and she still had the nerve to call herself a mother? Your face changed and you scowled at her, moving your arm from her grasp. "I have no mother." You said and you walked out of the hotel, the guys following you in total confusion. Your mother's eyes filled with tears as you walked away.

You got to the van prepared for the guys and got in without a word. The guys filed in after you, but told the driver to wait. "Rach." Heechul took your hand. "Who was that?" You looked up and shrugged, keeping your emotions buried deep inside you. No. You wouldn't let this moment ruin all your hard work. "She's nobody. She must've mistaken me for someone else." They all looked at you until Sungmin spoke in a quiet voice. "You look just like her, Rach." You sighed and got out of the car, ignoring Heechul's protests. You walked to a shaded area under a tree. He followed you. "Rach. You told me your mother bailed when you were 13." You turned to face him, but you felt your strength and resistance draining. "She did." He nodded. "Why is she here all of a sudden?" You sighed again and turned around as your tears began to betray you by filling your eyes. He noticed. "Yah. It's okay to cry in front of me." He hugged you from behind, but you still didn't turn. "I haven't seen her in 14 years, Heech. I don't even know what to do." You saw her from the corner of your eye as she came out of the hotel entrance, watching you. Heechul saw her too. "You should talk to her." You scoffed. "No. She didn't want anything to do with me when I was a kid. There's no way I'm talking to her. She doesn't deserve it." He turned you around and wiped your eyes in a way that wouldn't be obvious to anyone. He looked you in the eyes. "Rach. Whether you like it or not, she's your mother. You should at least hear her side of the story. I know you. You'll regret it if you don't." Almost a year with this guy and he already knew you so well.  You sighed again and looked down. "We're supposed to be going to the airport. I don't know how long it will take." "It's okay. If it takes long, I'll stay behind with you and we'll take another plane tomorrow. There's a hundred planes out of here every day!" You smiled a little and he walked back to the van to let the guys know what the plan was. He took the suitcases back and they waved and drove off. He came back to where you stood and you looked at the woman still standing at the entrance. You walked over and spoke quickly and harshly. "I'll give you an hour. Just one. And then I'm leaving." She nodded, but smiled gently. You and Heechul walked to a cafe within the hotel and sat down. Heech ordered drinks for you.

"58 minutes." You said, looking at your watch. You looked at her and her eyes filled with tears. "You're such a woman now. So beautiful." She whispered. You looked down. You wouldn't let her break the wall you had worked so hard to build. She sighed. "How's your father?" "He's dead." You kept your face void of all emotion. She looked shocked. "Wh- How? When?" "Cancer. Last year." Her eyes filled with tears again. "I guess I owe you an explanation." "I guess you do." Heechul came back with lemonades and set them before you both. She thanked him. "Is this your boyfriend?" He didn't understand her English and looked at you. "Your explanation." She laughed nervously. "I guess I deserve that. I figured you'd be angry." You scoffed. "You figured? You left dad and me when we needed you most and you only figured I'd be upset?" She looked down now. "Let me explain why I left." She sighed heavily and kept her eyes on her hands in her lap. "When I left, I was overwhelmed by life. Completely. I thought that I had everything I wanted, but I still felt this gaping hole in my heart when I woke up every morning. I felt like I had abandoned my dreams, and that I was stuck in a routine I could never get out of. I tried to push those feelings away because..." She looked up at you, tears streaming down her face. "...I really loved you and your father. I tried so hard to ignore those thoughts. But one day as I was sitting at the table and going through the bills while you were at school, I got a letter from a friend who lived in Japan. When I read it, I was overcome with grief and my heart sank. She was living the life we had dreamed about in college together. I cried. I cried so much. I decided then that I had to do something. I wrote a letter to your father, packed my bags, and bought a ticket to Japan. But I never, Rachael baby, I never planned on being gone forever. I figured I'd just be gone for a couple of months at the most, but the feeling I had in Japan was so wonderful and it was like a weight had been lifted off of me. I got to work with my friend in her photography business, doing what I had always dreamed of. She always told me to come back and bring you and your father to Japan, but I never could. I don't know why. I met someone while I was there, a Japanese business man, and we fell in love. If I came back only to divorce your father, I knew it would make things worse. So I decided..." She looked down again. "...I decided that not knowing about me was better." She finished her story. You stared at her, humiliated and furious. You were so glad Heechul could not understand English or else he would've heard how you were dumped for such a stupid reason. She left because you and your father were holding her back? Were you just extra baggage? You came home from school that day to find your mother gone, your father and aunts sobbing, and the reason is that she had to find herself?! "Rach...please say something." You realized how long you had kept silent and you looked at her again. "So we were just extra weight...it's our fault you weren't living your dreams? Are you saying that your life with us was miserable?" Your voice rose with every question. "Do you realize how I felt knowing that my mother had abandoned me for no reason? I'll never be able to forget what it was like coming home that day! Because of you, I became the laughing stock of the whole city! We had to move away because people wouldn't stop staring or talking about us!" Heech took your hand and you realized you were yelling. You sighed and spoke again. "I decided then that I had no mother. When people asked, I told them you died. I had to take care of dad for years because he was so heartbroken. He finally came around when I was in high school, but he was never the same. You took his joy. You took our joy the day you decided to leave and you ruined everything!" You were yelling again as tears filled your eyes. Her tears never stopped. You lowered your voice again. "How dare you come back and still call yourself a mother? You gave up that right when you followed after some stupid enlightenment." A Japanese man walked up and, after seeing her in tears, asked in English what was going on. "Is this him?" You asked. She only nodded, ashamed. You looked back up at him. "I'm the child she left behind for you. Have a nice life." You turned and left, leaving her in a sobbing mess.

You walked outside and Heech followed you. You were breathing hard and trying to catch your breath. Your emotions hadn't been so visible in years and you were freaking out. You crouched to the ground and held yourself, trying to get a hold of what had just happened. You had just seen the woman who ruined your life after 14 years. The most painful memory in your life turned out to have a stupid reason behind it. You felt like trash. You felt like you were nothing. You rested your head on your knees. Your tears spilled over and Heechul came out to find you in that state. He came to you quickly and took you in his arms, cradeling you. You tried to catch your breath and he rubbed your back. "Shh. Shh. I'm here. It's okay. Shh." People were looking, but you didn't care. Finally, you found your air and calmed down. You stood up and he hugged you. You leaned into his embrace, his strength calming you down even more. You sighed finally and pulled back to look at him. "Let's get something to eat and I'll tell you what happened." He nodded and you pulled your suitcases behind you, walking inside again and reserving another room since you had missed the flight. You walked to the elevators and saw that she was no longer at the cafe. You got to the room and hugged Heechul again. "I'm sorry I made us miss the flight." He hugged you back. "It's okay. I don't have schedules until the day after tomorrow." You nodded and he called room service. When it came, you sat on the bed and ate together. He even fed you some bites to try and make you feel better. You smiled at him, but your heart still felt heavy. When you finished eating, he set the dishes outside the door and came back to you on the bed. He sat next to you and waited for you to speak. "Did you understand any of it?" He shook his head and you laughed lightly. Then you sighed and told him everything. He was just as angry as you were. "How could she leave you guys like that? Doesn't she know that being a mother means she gives up her dreams and her kids become her dreams?" You nodded in agreement. He took you in his arms and comforted you. "Don't worry about her, Rach. She doesn't know how amazing you are. You life a happy life without her. You are talented, beautiful, and worthy of love." His kind words brought out the sorrow in your heart and touched you. You cried into his chest as he held you. Kim Heechul, the tough guy-ladies man-arrogant idol, had dropped all his attitude and was holding his broken hearted girlfriend, comforting her. You were so happy and lucky to have him. Eventually, you fell asleep and he laid you down on the bed. Your day was crazy and he understood your exhaustion. He heard a knock on the door and went to answer it.

It was the Japanese man from before. He was surprised, but he walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. "Uhh...I noticed that you guys did not leave so I wanted to see how she was doing." He said in English, completely confusing Heechul. "No...no english." He said. The man nodded, but then narrowed his eyes. "I think I know you...are you Korean?" He said the second part in Korean. Heechul's brows shot up and he nodded. "You speak Korean?" The man smiled and nodded back. "I am a business man. A lot of my work is done in Korea." He repeated his first statement about Rachael. "She is doing okay, but if I may be honest.....that was a really dumb excuse from her mother." The man sighed. "I agree. I did not even know she had a child until today. Rachael looks just like her." They stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say. The man, who went by Tashi, spoke again. "What should be done? Her mother is a mess." "So was Rachael. She's asleep now." Tashi nodded once again. "When do you leave to Korea? Does she live there too?" "Yes. We leave tomorrow and she lives near my company, SM." Tashi smiled. "I knew I recognized you. Super Junior, right?" Heechul laughed. "Yes. I am Kim Heechul." They shook hands and did a real introduction. "Nice to meet you. Sorry it's in these circumstances." Tashi laughed awkwardly. "It would be nice if we could meet again sometime. I will be in Korea next month for work and I want Rachael and her mother to work things out. If I would have known my wife had a daughter, I never would have let this happen. We even have kids of our own." He looked down and sighed, obviously stressed out. "I will give you my phone number. I can't promise Rachael will want to meet again, and I'm pretty upset with her mother too. Rachael is very special to me. She never deserved being abandoned." Tashi nodded. "Of course! I wish I knew about her. This never would have happened if I had known." Heechul nodded again and gave Tashi his number so he could contact him when he came to Korea. They bid goodbye and Heechul walked back into the room and laid down with the still sleeping Rachael.

He kissed her head and whispered to her. "It's gonna be okay." He snuggled with her, forgetting about his typical character for his hurting girlfriend. Even though it hadn't been an entire year with her yet, he had loved her since the beginning. And if it meant doing things he normally didn't do, then he would do it without a second thought. He hugged the girl he loved close and hoped that the next meeting with her mother would be less intense...and that he wouldn't get angry at her either.