De Novo

Chapter 3

Luna was the one who opened the door for her mother to come inside the house, as yongsun was still in trance from the prospect of meeting Taeyeon at the mall. 

It was the last thing she expected in her whole life to happen.. to meet her childhood friend who had maimed her fragile heart back in those days when the girl left the country after they graduated high school. She was yongsun's bestfriend, protector, companion.. her first young love. 

Seeing her again feels so unreal. It's quite shocking since yongsun never thought she'd see her again.

"Mom, who was that teayeon woman we bumped into earlier? You look so disturbed." 

Luna gently placed the shopping bag on the top of the table while yongsun took a seat on the couch, thoughts wandering in another dimension. Her daughter was silently assessing her, waiting for something that would explain why yongsun was acting like that. 

Yongsun took seconds to assimilate luna's words as she cleared her throat and formulated proper phrases to respond. 

"Uuh.. she's just a friend." 

That didn't sound right, luna was sure about it. 

She sat beside her mother and crossed her arms against her chest, analyzing yongsun from head to toe, trying to evaluate if her words negated her actions. 

It certainly did. 

"Oh yeah? Why do you seem so... reserved?" 

Luna insists on prying as she innocently smiles at her. She would do everything to meddle with her mom's life and make sure that woman wasn't someone who her mommy hyejin always told her to not let get any closer to her mother. 

She promises to make yongsun happy, and to make that possible, she won't let those people who hurt her mom stand near her ever again.

Before yongsun could respond to her daughter's accusation, she didn't have time to open her mouth when hyejin came walking down the stairs with her reading glasses still on, getting the attention of the two lounging in the living room. 

"Oh, you two are home already?"

"No mommy hyej, this is just our hologram. We're not home yet. What you see is just an illusion." 

Luna sneered using her adorable little voice as Hyejin rolled her eyes at the girl. She was immune to that kind of reply that she's not surprised anymore every time luna develops a reply to tease her. She's even proud that the girl learned it from her.

"Spare me with your savagery, kid. And what happened to you?" 

Hyejin's attention was all on yongsun now when she saw the woman sitting on the couch and looking so occupied with her thoughts. She was about to say it's nothing but luna already beat her to it. 

"Does teayeon ring a bell, mommy?"  

Hyejin, who was about to take one more step down the stairs, almost stumbled on her feet as she heard the name come out from luna. Her gaze quickly shifts to Yongsun, silently inquiring why Luna knows that woman, and Yongsun simply widens her eyes at her. Hyejin straightened her posture as she walked closer to them as if the name 'Taeyeon' didn't matter much, smiling sweetly before dropping herself beside luna.

"Oh, taeyeon? Her high school friend? Yes, I know her. Why?" 

Hearing that the name didn't sound so interesting to hyejin, luna was convinced that taeyeon was just indeed her mother's friend back in those days and not a threat to yongsun's life. If she's a danger, hyejin will surely react the opposite, like yell or pry extreme details.