I Need You

Forgiveness

Chae-sul's POV

I heard a knock on the door for the first time in weeks. Knowing who it was, I tried to sneak off to my room (Solar had renamed the guest room to my bedroom) but Solar grabbed my arm and forced me to sit back down on the couch. I pulled my feet onto the couch, sitting criss-cross, and crossed my arms over my chest. She opened the door, greeting our visitor.

"Please fix this," she said as they entered the living room. Without another word, she went to her room, leaving us alone.

"Hey Chae."

"Hello Christopher." I continued to stare straight at the TV. He sighed sitting next to me.

"Chae, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have left like that."

"Then why did you?" I asked, finally looking at him. "One night, I'm sitting on the couch, waiting for Friday so I can see you again. Next thing I know, I wake up and Solar tells me you're gone, that you even came by and told her you were leaving." He looked down.

"I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye to you." We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "Can you ever forgive me?" I sighed, not being able to stay mad at him anymore.

"Fine. Only if you promise to never do that again."

"I promise." He held up his pinkie, and I took it mine.

Bang Chan's POV

I sat down at the table with Ara (she refused to let me use formal names when addressing her) and she sat across from me.

"You said you wanted to talk?"

"Um, yeah. Would you mind telling me more about your daughter?" She sighed, the subject of her daughter obviously still made her very sad.

"She was such a bright young girl. She wasn't but a year old when she went missing. She'd be about seventeen now, I think." Seventeen. I did not like how the dots were connecting.

"What's her name?"

"Jihya." He could have changed her name.

"If you don't mind me asking, where's her father." I she smile a small, sad smile.

"Sung-ho and I split up not long after Jihya went missing. He remarried and moved to Japan."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Ah, don't be. It's better this way. He wanted to move on, but I couldn't. We stay in touch, he's still one of my closest friends." She checked her watch.

"I have to get back to work. I suspect I'll see you again?"

"Definitely," I smiled as she left.

Chase-sul's POV

"Wait, let me get this straight. Jin-young isn't her dad, he hit her, he may have kidnapped her, and you may have found her mom?" I was sitting in the kitchen with Solar while Chae-sul was sleeping on the couch. She had a thing for falling asleep during movies.

"Yes. How did you not know he hit her?"

"Well, I always thought something was going on, but she never wanted to talk about so I never pushed her to."

"Understandable. How long have you known her?"

"We met when she was a freshman. That's the year I transferred, and she had just moved to the high school building."

"Damn it."

"What?" I took the folded up flyer out of my pocket and handed it to her.

"That means you wouldn't know if that was her."

"Well, it does look like a younger her. But you're right, I wouldn't know." She handed the flyer back to me. I rubbed my forehead, frustrated.

"What am I going to do?"

"Well, you obviously can't ask Jin-young." Then it hit me.

"No, but I can ask some of the staff. Who would most likely have known Chae-sul when she was 'adopted?'"

"Probably the elementary building secretary. Chae-sul said she used to babysit her before she was old enough to go to school."

"Perfect. I'll talk to her Monday morning before breakfast." I got my things and was about to leave when she stopped me.

"Um, I don't know where you think you're going, but if she wakes up and you're gone again.." I sat back down.

"You're right. But it's late, what should I do."

"You could sleep in her bed."

"While she sleeps on the couch? No way." She rolled her eyes.

"You're such a gentleman. While you figure out where you're sleeping, I'm going to bed. There's extra blankets in the hall closet." I sighed as she went to her room. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed a blanket and curled up in the arm chair and went to sleep.