Start-Up

Mom

Ji-pyeong turned the lights on and In-jae kicked her heels off at the entryway, when suddenly her phone rang.

Fishing her phone out of her bag, she sighed in exasperation when she saw Dal-mi's name on screen.

"Dal-mi, I already told you, I completely disagree with your proposal--"

"In-jae, you need to come over," Dal-mi interrupted.

In-jae shot a look at Ji-pyeong who was looking at her curiously.

"What happened? Is it Grandma?" In-jae demanded.

"No, not Grandma, she's fine. But it's important. Just come over, please?" Dal-mi hung up, leaving In-jae to look at her phone's screen.

"What was that about?" Ji-pyeong asked, and In-jae shrugged. "She just said it was important and I needed to come over."

Ji-pyeong held In-jae's arm to keep her steady as she slipped her heels on again. "I'll come with you," he said, switching the lights off as he opened the front door, "Grandma will need company while you guys talk."

The two of them drove over to Dal-mi's house quickly, and found her waiting for them at the gate.

"Come on," Dal-mi said impatiently as she led them up the stairs into the house.

In-jae hurried after her and said as she went through the front door, "What's so important that-- Mom."

Dal-mi looked at her sister with a grim look as their mother stared at them both. "Hi, In-jae," she said tentatively.

Ji-pyeong took in the scene before him, then cleared his throat as he circled around them, "I'm just gonna go help Grandma make dinner." He helped Grandma up from the couch and together they went into the kitchen, leaving the three women in the living room.

"What are you doing here?" In-jae asked her mother, crossing her arms over her chest.

"She says she ran away from home," Dal-mi said to In-jae. "Which doesn't make sense. Don't you live in a mansion?"

The two sisters watched as their mother sighed and sat on the couch. They both stood in front of her, waiting for an answer.

"I didn't exactly run away from home," she said slowly, "I just left home."

Dal-mi scoffed, "And what? You've been sleeping on the streets?"

Their mother shook her head and said quietly, "I've been eating and sleeping at Internet cafes and saunas."

"And now you want to live off us?!" Dal-mi said incredulously.

Their mother looked up, "I want to work part-time for your grandmother. I need money, she needs help. I saw her posters." Then she stole a glance at the kitchen. "But she doesn't seem to want my help."

"Well, you don't exactly have a track record of being reliable," Dal-mi retorted, then looked at her sister. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

In-jae looked at their mother. "Why did you leave home?"

She sighed and replied, "The usual. We fought, he hit me, I left."

Dal-mi's eyes widened in surprise, and In-jae continued, "So what's different this time?"

They watched as their mother picked at her fingernails. "He started by freezing my credit cards, like he always would. He knew that once I ran out of money, I would go back to him," she said softly.

"Then I remembered something your father had said to me, on one of those many times we had fought about money. 'I've been working like a dog for other people for 20 years. Now I want to work for myself,' he had said."

She laughed bitterly at the memory, "I had replied to him, 'When a dog runs off, it only becomes a stray dog. And then what happens? It either freezes or starves to death.'"

A lone tear escaped from her eye, and she wiped at it quickly. "I finally understood what he meant. All this time, I've been that dog, desperate for the affection of a man who hits me and only uses his money to keep people around him. So I left, even it it meant becoming a stray dog that freezes or starves to death. At least I was free."

She looked up at her daughters tearfully. "All your father ever wanted was to be free. He wanted to be free to dream, to find his own destiny. But I was always too afraid to dream with him. And now, I don't even know what I'm doing or where I'm going, much less have any dreams of my own. I just--" she finally broke down and buried her face in her hands.

In-jae and Dal-mi looked at one another. Having seen her stepfather for the man he really was, In-jae understood how her mom felt and supported her decision to leave him. After all, she did the same thing herself. But having her live here was Dal-mi's call.

She watched as Dal-mi stood over their mother, then finally heaved a sigh and broke the heavy silence.

"We're going to make a self-driving car," Dal-mi said, taking a seat beside their mother.

In-jae rolled her eyes and said as she sat on their mother's other side, "Not just yet, your proposal still has a lot of holes in it."

"But I told you, Do-san said--"

"I didn't hire Do-san, I hired you."

Their mother looked up and watched her two daughters argue beside her.

"Anyway, the self-driving car is on the table," Dal-mi glared at her sister, "But right now we're using AI to help the visually impaired."

"And help prevent crime," In-jae added, then took her mom's hand. "Dad would love this."

Dal-mi took her mom's other hand and said, "Dad had always said that the time would come when you could do everything on your phone. And he was right." She smiled at her sister. "We're just taking his dreams to places he never even would have imagined."

Their mother was overcome by emotion as she hugged both her daughters to her, and Dal-mi and In-jae both hugged her back.

Then Dal-mi pulled away and said, "You're going to need to learn to make the batter."

Their mom looked at her in confusion, and Dal-mi explained, "It's why Grandma won't hire you. She doesn't trust that you can make the batter."

"And you're terrible at numbers, so you can't exactly keep track of her sales," In-jae said wryly. "Just learn to make the batter."

"This is what you need to know," Dal-mi said, and started giving their mother a crash course on making corn dogs.

In-jae smiled and stood up, making her way to the kitchen where Ji-pyeong stood by the sink, washing the greens for the salad.

"All good?" he looked at her, and she nodded. "Yeah, I think so," she replied, stealing a glance at Dal-mi and their mother.

He kissed the top of her head and said, "I'm glad. Could you help me with these then? I've washed those so you can take them to the table."

In-jae kissed him on the cheek before taking the bowl of greens he had set aside. She stood in the middle of the kitchen and surveyed the scene around her: Grandma at the kitchen table, Ji-pyeong by the sink, Dal-mi and their mother chatting in the living room. Everything seemed just right, and for the first time in a very long time, In-jae finally felt like she was part of a family.