There's always room for another

Chapter 16: 3.3 - the hard truths

3.3

The place Moon Byulyi grew up in was nothing like what Yuna had imagined. Somehow, her perspective of the city was all coloured in greys and blues, gritty and tired.

(Yuna heard Lala's voice in her head, telling her you can be anyone you want in the city. It doesn't care.)

The neighbourhood in Bucheon was quite the opposite. A brightly coloured playground sat in the center of a cluster of pastel orange flats, towering higher than Yuna had ever seen. She counted at least twenty stories in total, completely in awe of the structural integrity of it all.

"And people live here?" She asked, her head tilted back to take it in. She started counting windows then, wondering how many there were, and which ones Byulyi apparently grew up looking out of. "In these flats?"

"Well, yeah. Pretty standard for city living. You've never lived in one of these?" She lit up a cigarette, flipping the hood of her jacket up with a grimace as the drizzle that had started while they had been in the cab began to fall heavier. "Lala lived in one."

"Yeah, but it wasn't this tall." Yuna wrapped her arms around herself as she counted the floors again, lingering on the eighth. "My family - they live up on the eighth floor?"

"According to this." Ining peered at the directory. "This seems like a good neighbourhood. My place in Seoul is pretty rough."

"Yeah." They'd passed by a school, a shopping mall, and a small road that was packed with restaurants and cafes side by side on their way here. Yuna had just assumed that was how most city places looked like.

(There was so much she still didn't know about the world.)

(She wondered if she would ever catch up.)

Taking her silence as nerves, Ining gently bumped Yuna with her shoulder. "They're excited to meet you, you know."

"I mean, I am their daughter, freshly risen from the dead." She tries to keep the apprehension - the ruefulness - out of her tone. "I suppose most people would be."

"And you're not?" Ining didn't sound judgemental, just curious. "You seemed pretty excited yourself last week."

And Yuna had been. Had been ready to embrace everything and leave it all behind but -

"I am." She squared her shoulders, battering her pessimistic thoughts into submission. She stared out at the now pouring rain, watching it start to form a puddle in a dip on the road. "I can't wait."

"It's okay to be scared." Ining dropped her cigarette with one last puff, grounding it with her shoe. "I would be, in your position. But," she crossed her arms and joined Yuna in staring out at the rain. "You know these people. Even if you don't remember them, you know them. Or more importantly, they know you. And they won't hurt you." The private detective opened her mouth to say more, but seemed to think better of it. Instead, she sighed and rolled her head to loosen some of her tension. "We probably shouldn't linger down here too long. They're waiting for us." Something made Yuna feel like if she had disagreed suddenly, if she changed her mind right now and asked to be taken away, that she needed more time - Ining would have given it to her.

And it was that understanding and patience that eventually gives Yuna enough courage to nod. Ining smiled.

The private detective buzzed the intercom and announced their arrival to be let into the lobby, holding the door open as she ushered Yuna in. As they waited for the elevator, Yuna tried not to think about the voice she'd heard on the intercom. Had it been her mother on the other end? Had they been able to see her in the screen? Were they still excited to see her?