Hwayoung was not expecting her parents to be waiting for her when she swept into the hut. The girl froze in the doorway, knowing from her filthy dress and tangled hair it was incredibly obvious where she had been. Her mother’s hands were twisted into an incoherent knot into the fabric of her shawl, and her father’s eyes, normally twinkling and friendly, were strained. Those were the only giveaways that something was wrong.

              “Hwayoung, thank the gods,” her mother stood and released her shawl in relief. “Look at the state you are in.”

              Hesitating, Hwayoung looked at her parents tentatively, unsure why they were pretending that they did not immediately know where she had been. In fact, neither her father nor her mother would meet her eye.

              “Please, go clean yourself and put on something presentable,” her moth ushered her filthy daughter towards her room with frantic arms. “Your betrothed is soon to be here to talk of auspicious dates for your union. We cannot have him come in and see you in such a state.”

              Freezing mid-step, Hwayoung suddenly whirled to face her mother in horror but did not miss the meaning in those words, either. “Surely I cannot marry him still. He is a madman.”

              Her mother’s eyes welled with pity. “Nonsense. He is a fine man and a fine match for a girl with as few prospects as you. Our family is lucky that you have prospects at all from the way you have damaged your own reputation.”

              Before Hwayoung could argue further, her mother gently pushed her up and hurried towards the fireplace to poke at a substance she had warming over the fire. Hwayoung sighed and looked for a moment at her mother’s troubled brow and how it was furrowed so. Before Minji had died, her mother had been beautiful, but now she looked tired and much like the laundry did as it sat out on the banks of the river after it had been wrung out and beaten over the drying board.

              Hwayoung used a damp rag to dab the sweat from the back of her neck and pulled her hair back into a plate that traced a crown over her brow. It made her look older, wiser, Hwayoung thought as she stared at her reflection in the dingy wash bowl. Thinking back to the reckless days in woods when she would spend fevered afternoons with Taemin seemed so far away, she thought to herself. She had been so naïve to think that things could ever remain so.

              Automatically, Hwayoung undid her braid and let her long hair spill wildly over her shoulders like a river of night. It reminded her of the way things were before. Just a bit.

              As she was pulling on a clean dress, her mother gently pushed her way into the room, holding a jarringly red bundle of cloth.

              “I had originally made it for your sister to wear on her wedding day,” her mother murmured so quietly Hwayoung almost missed it. She placed the fabric into her daughter’s arms and Hwayoung marveled at how smooth in felt against her calloused palms. “But I think this belongs to you.”

              It was a shawl, Hwayoung realized. She pulled it close around her body and relished its warmth, and although it had never truly belonged to her sister, Hwayoung felt as though Minji could walk into the room at any moment and exclaim over her sister wearing her clothes.

              Just because I am not wearing it does not give you the invitation, Minji would say.

              Smiling sadly Hwayoung turned to hug her mother tightly. “It is beautiful. I love it very much.”

              Her mother breathed her daughter’s smell in, a smile playing around . “You have been very brave this season. My little wildcat.”

              Her mother’s smile turned to a frown when she saw the uncontrolled state of Hwayoung’s hair. Clucking with her tongue, her mother grabbed a bone-carved comb and began methodically working it through her wild daughter’s locks. As her mother began to plait Hwayoung’s hair into a braid nearly identical to the one Hwayoung had been wearing just minutes before, the young girl closed her eyes. Her mother could see the way the skin around her eyes darkened upon her daughter’s pale face.