I TRIED TO PAY ATTENTION OT THE ROADS we turned down as I followed Mrs.Park in my Honda, knowing I'd need to find my way back to EunJi's on my own eventually. At least now I'd be able to drive the car that Mr.Park had helped me pick out a few months ago, after I'd finally got my licence. There hadn't been any need to drive when EunJi and Sehun chauffeured me every day. But now I was going to be responsible for getting myself to school.

It took about twenty minutes for us to reach the outskirts of Daegu where my mother was renting a house. We veered way down an interwoven maze of streets within the disorganized neighbourhood. Unlike EunJi's neighbourhood, a grid of large homes all lined up neatly, this swirling road map had much smaller houses. Kids ran from one snow-covered yard into another, since most of the properties overlapped their neighbours' without a bordering fence. 

Mrs.Park pulled into the driveway of a house at the tail end of the maze. With only one neighbour, it was isolated at the dead end, across from the stack woods that surrounded the neighbourhood. I pulled up alongside the kerb so Mrs.Park could back out when she left.

The small yellow two-storey house was quaint, with white shutters framing the windows and a weathered white porch welcoming us to enter. The front door opened, and my mother appeared, propping the screen door open with her hip. She waited for us to each grab a bag with her arms crossed, shivering from the winter air.

I didn't make eye contact as I passed her going into the house, fearful that her clear blue eyes would reveal something other than the words that came out of . 'Hi, SooJi. I'm glad you're here.'

'Thanks for letting me stay with you,' I replied awkwardly.

'Of course,' she answered, her voice coated with nerves. 'This is your house too now. You even have your own room.'

'You have to see it,' EunJi burst out, taking me by her hand and dragging me up the wide wooden staircase set in the middle of the small hall. Mrs.Park laughed, making me suspect that they had done more than shop yesterday.

At the top of the stairs was a small landing. Straight ahead was an open door that led into a bathroom, and two closed doors flanked the stairs. EunJi opened the door to the right and flipped the light on. I slowly followed her.

Stepping into the room, I let my eyes trace all four walls, three of them white, and the wall where the door stood open, solid black. I turned in a circle to take it all in, inhaling the lingering fumes of fresh paint. My lips curled up.

A full-sized bed sat across from the door, covered with a black-and-white baroque duvet, accented with white pillows bordered in black. Above the bed was a three-dimensional art piece that looked like a hundred black butterflies were bursting out of the white wall, tethered by black wires.

Two small windows to the left of the bed were framed dramatically by thick black curtains. A white chest of drawers rested against the black wall next to a full-length white-framed mirror tilting on a stand.

On the opposite side of the room was a desk; its glass top was stencilled with black flowers and butterflies and set upon two white bookcases. A cloth-covered board with the same black-and-white baroque pattern hung on the wall above it. There was a note pinned to the board that read, 'Welcome Home, SooJi,' in EunJi's undeniable scrawl. 

'Do you love it?' EunJi demanded in anticipation.

I turned to find Mrs.Park and my mother in the doorway awaiting my reaction.

'I can't believe you did this,' I gasped, 'Thank you so much.'

'Of course,' Mrs.Park replied. My mother stood a few steps behind Mrs.Park, watching.

'Do you want something to drink?' she asked Mrs.Park when EunJi started ping the duffle bags to put my minimal possessions in their places. The two women disappeared down the stairs, Mrs.Park's voice drifting away as they neared the bottom. 

'EunJi-ah, really, thank you.'

EunJi paused with a stack of shirts clasped between her hands, recognizing the sincerity in my voice.

'I knew you were nervous about moving in with her,' she explained, setting the shirts in the opened drawer, 'even if you wouldn't admit it. My mom wanted to get to know your mother too, so this seemed like the best idea. We spent the day together yesterday - shopping, painting and decorating. SooJi-ah, I don't think you have anything to worry about. In fact, your mother is probably more nervous than you are.'

I wasn't sure if that was possible.

When EunJi was finally pleased with her work - having put away my clothes, arranged my books and set up the laptop and router that I'd recieved from Mrs and Mr Park for Christmas, she announced, 'I think you're all set.' Nerves shot through me, realizing she was preparing to go.

I tried to think of a way to delay her, but then Mrs.Park hollered up the stairs, 'EunJi, are you ready?'

The truth was, I wasn't ready to be alone with my mother. And I gathered from her fidgety body language that she wasn't ready to be left with me either.

We said goodbye and lingered on the porch until they pulled away, inevitably leaving us alone. I walked back into the house and the awkwardness hit me in the face.

'So.... you can look around if you want,' she offered hesitantly, closing the thick wooden door, the pane of glass in the middle rattling when she clicked it shut.

'Uh, okay,' I replied, veering right and stepping through the arched entrance of the kitchen. My mother remained outside the room in the hall, watching me intently.

Besides a layer of soft yellow paint, the kitchen probably hadn't been updated since the house was built. The doors on the wooden cabinets hung slightly askew above a scarred countertop. A deep porcelain double sink sat below a window that looked out at the woods. A refrigerator that was smaller than me hummed loudly in the corner, with a white gas stove sticking out next to it. There wasn't a lot of room for much else in the kitchen except for a small round table with four mismatched chairs. One of the chairs was pinned against the wall to allow room to pass to the entrance.

'Help yourself to whatever,' she said from the doorway. The tight space didn't allow two people to avoid each other. I peered into the refrigerator to find condiments and left over Chinese food that looked like it had been in there a while. 

'Thanks,' I replied, closing the door.

'Guess we need to go shopping, huh?' she noted with a nervous laugh.

My mother stepped back with her hands in the