The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

39

Taoyuan, Taiwan.

The Yeh family house, how her father liked to call it, was older than she could remember, she knew her grandparents spent their childhood there and so did their parents so to say the house was old was an understatement, Shuhua was pretty sure the word ancient would fit better, but they still manage to keep that place standing still, somehow.

The house obviously belonged to her father's parents, her mother just moved in once she found out she was pregnant, and they got married a few weeks later; Shuhua never known anything about her maternal grandparents as her mother 'lost contact' with them once she got with her father, it was a good lie to tell to a child but now that she's older the girl realized that her mother just didn't wanted to admit she was kicked out. 

"This place is as big as I can remember" She heard her mother say once they got out of the taxi, Her father had a big smile on his face due to finally being back home, plus being able to sleep more than 5 hours back in the airplane, Shuhua was glad that for once the dark circles under his eyes were gone and now they would be able to properly relax at home. "The house looks so different" She heard him comment as they finished taking their stuff and paid the driver for the ride.  

Her grandmother, the first one to show up by the house's front gates, had greeted her like any grandmother would, speaking softly and squeezing her cheeks as she claims her parents aren't feeding Shuhua properly and how she'll cook all of her favorite foods while also lecturing her father for almost never calling them, all in the same breath. 

"Look how thin you are!" She heard the woman say and she laughed at her worried expression; Her grandmother looked a lot like her father, and Shuhua realized that the eyes were their main traits. "Come, Come" Shuhua held her hand and let the woman guide her inside with her parents right behind talking about all the things that have changed since the last time they were there. 

.

.

.

Her old room was properly changed into a guest room after her family left for South Korea, the old pink room full of toys, given by her doting grandparents and uncles and aunts, was now looking like any guest room would; The bright pink colors replaced by green ones and the princess themed furniture was gone and Shuhua felt a wave of relief hit her as she finally sat on the bed and looked around before taking her phone from her backpack; She almost forgot that she had changed her wallpaper from her to a picture she took with Soojin a few weeks ago and she couldn't help but smile once she saw the older girl's face. 

Shuhua:

Hey.

It didn't take more than a minute for her phone to be bombarded by the girls' messages about how her trip was and everything which made Shuhua laugh at their excitement.

Shuhua:

It's a 2 hours flight, nothing much happened.