Hush [Semi-Active]

Ch. 35

"So you're really adopted?"

"Yes, Jimin. I am." You sigh as you fall into the cushions of the sofa. Struck with disbelief and wonderment for your birth mother. Jimin takes a seat beside you. The two of you had been up all night, 4 AM, talking about this. It was very big news for the both of you. So sudden too.

"What are you thinking Ji Eun?" Your silence gave him the idea that you were deep in thought. You look at him and shrug a bit before sitting upright.

"I'm thinking about my biological mother."

"What about her?" Jimin's voice rose high near the end as he asked. You played with the hem of your shirt as you wondered about her. Without looking at him, you continued to look down at the hem and play with it.

"I wonder what she looks like. If she's beautiful and amazing. What her voice sounds like, how tall she is. What she's like in person. All those things." You finally look at him and gave a pursed smile. Jimin nods his head and held your hand, kissing it.

"You want to meet her?"

"I want to. The second I found out, I wanted to meet her. But I can't."

"Why not?"

You thought of your halmeoni and shook your head no.

"I don't want to leave my grandma. Something might happen while I'm away."

Jimin was in awe at your love for your grandma. How endearing you were when it came to relatives. He loved that about you. Jimin smiles as he gently strokes the back of your hand with his thumb.

"I can take care of her while you go to Alaska."

"No, Jimin. I can't let you do that. You already have Jihyun to take care of and if you help me out, I'm worried you'll overwork yourself helping my grandma."

"But this is your biological mom we're talking about here. You can go visit her. Do you have her number?"

You shook your head. "I do have her name and address. I can look her up on Facebook and message her."

"Let her know you'd like to meet her. See how she feels about that."

   You nod your head and go to the bedroom. Sitting at your desk as you open your laptop and type in the password. Jimin comes in behind you and sits in your bed. You double click on Google Chrome then type in Facebook which then brings you to the page. You bit at your lip, picking at your skin. Typing in her name in the search bar and her profile appears along with many others. Though you knew she was Native Alaskan. All you had to find was the town she lived in which was Bethel. You find it and tap on her name which leads you to her profile.

"Wow." Jimin says. "You look.. so much like her." Jimin smiles as he looks at you. "You could pass as her younger sister too."

   You chuckled and shook your head. Your fingers hovering over the keys. What do I say? Hi, sorry to bother but you're my biological mother. No. That's too straight forward. You look over to Jimin for some answers but he just shrugs at you. Taking an inward sigh, you slowly begin typing.

"Hello."

You press the send button and suddenly her active light turns on. You froze as you see those three little dots bouncing. Telling you that she is replying to your message. You shoot a quick glance at Jimin as you worried what her response would be. Jimin nods his head in reassurance and tells you that it's going to be okay. She replies to your message.

"Hello Aryanna. So you found out. Haven't you?"

You purse your lips and turn your attention to Jimin.

"She knows Jimin."

"That's good isn't it?"

"I mean.. yeah but I don't know what to say."

"She already knows so why don't you ask if you can ever see her."

You mod your head as he was right. Although you still didn't want to ask her this too soon.

"Yes.. I have."

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me. You can ask them if you'd like."

Your heart slowly picked up it's pace and you can feel your hands becoming clammy. Slowly but surely you type out the question.

"I know it's sudden but I was hoping to ask if I could ever meet you in person."

Vanessa has read the message but has not replied to it yet. You kept seeing the three dots appearing but no message was ever sent yet. You wondered if she was upset or uneasy by the question and immediately you apologized to her.

"Forget it. I'm sorry. I never should have asked."

As you sent yours, she sends her answer.

"Of course you can. I've been wanting to meet you too. I've only seen pictures of you since you were a baby girl. Your parents hadn't sent me any photos after your 16th birthday."

Jimin smiles at the response and gives you a gentle hug from behind to reassure you all is okay. You smiled as well and could feel this excitement growing in you. I'm going to meet my mom. I'm actually going to meet my mom. Your smile falters when you read her next message.

"Have you heard about your dad's passing?"

"I have. I was really hoping to meet him."

"I'm sorry you didn't get to. He loved you so much you know. He kept all the photos your parents sent us in a memory box."

You smiled as you read that but the thought of never meeting your dad or getting a chance to talk to him left you despondent. You pushed through the sadness and continued to talk with your mom.

"So when should I make reservations to meet you? Are you busy any time next week?"

"No. I'm off for two days next week. Monday and Tuesday. So you can come this Friday if you'd like."

You grab your phone and quickly check your calendar to see if you'd be working those two days. Surprisingly you wouldn't and had shifts for Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. You gave a triumphant smile and replied to your mom.

"I won't be working those days too. Okay. I'll make the reservations today for Friday, morning flight. It's really late here for me and I need to get some sleep."

"Alright. Well it was nice talking to you Aryanna. Can't wait to catch up with you :). Goodnight 💜."

"Goodnight :)."

You close your laptop and heave out a sigh of relief as you see Jimin, who was wearing only black shirt pants and a white baggy shirt, beginning to flutter his sleepy eyes closed as he lay in your bed. You chuckled and stood up, turning the lights off and removing your jeans before crawling into bed. Too lazy to change into your sleep wear, you just slept in your T-shirt and underwear. Immediately, Jimin snakes his arm around your waist and pulls you close to cuddle. You hum in response and didn't bother to remove his arm as you didn't want to fuss about it. This was comfortable and you enjoyed it a lot. Before closing your eyes, you bid him goodnight and whisper an 'I love you' to which he replies back and gives you a sleepy kiss on the cheek. You smile and soon, as the ticking goes by, you fall into a deep slumber.