Just Enough For Her Little Dream: Book Two

Luna

I stayed in Jeju for a day. I couldn't drive back with such pain. The pain on my side has faded but the one in my heart only grows deeper.

I called Mr. Jeong to tell him that I won't be there for class today. He then said, "Hey. Punk. What are you doing? You better not be causing trouble, you hear me? I won't take you in if you do anything stupid!"

I sigh and say, "I'm taking care of some things here."

"Where are you?"

"Jeju."

"What the hell are you doing there?"

"It's none of your business."

He clicks his tongue in frustration. "Hey. Don't speak to me like that. Do you have no respect for your elders? Tell me where you are now so I can go."

I furrow my brows at this. "What are you? My father? I don't need you here."

"Oh my goodness. Youth today are so stubborn! I don't want you to get hurt. Where are you?" I stay silent as I scoff at him. "Fine. If you don't tell me, I'll ask your police friend. I bet he knows where--"

"I found my parents."

He stops talking and realizes why I don't want him here. He clears his throat and says, "I see. Are you sure you don't want me there, Luna?"

The softness of his voice makes my heart shiver and I quickly ignore its longing for warmth. "I'm okay. Thanks."

"Be careful, okay? If you do need me there, just give me a call. Will you be back tonight?"

"Maybe. I don't know yet."

"Okay. Take care, Luna."

"Thank you. You too."

I let out a slow breath as I come near my parents' place. The drunk man from last night seems to be picking lemons from their small tree. The woman comes out with an empty basket. She puts it by his feet and hits his back. He jumps in pain and frowns at her as she angrily tells him something.

I swallow down the dry lump in my throat. I push back tears much further down than ever. I find all the walls I can to put around my heart. Once I feel its numbness, I start towards the shack. They don't seem to notice me since my dark clothes help me blend with the darkness of this street. There's barely a street light that illuminates a glimpse of my face.

The woman is the first one to narrow her eyes at me. When she seems to realize who I am, her eyes grow wide, and says, "Hey! So you have the audacity to come here?! Hm?!"

I furrow my brows at this sudden interaction as the man turns from the tree. His eyes grow wide and he says, "In-joo? What are you doing here? How did you find us?!"

In-joo?

For the first time in my life, I'm left speechless from confusion. I want to run away and pretend like I did not just meet with my parents. They seem to see my confusion and they also exchange confused looks until the woman gasps and turns to me with a hand covering her mouth.

"Impossible," she whispers. "It can't be..."

I watch her slowly come up to me and I instinctively stand firm. She lingers inches away from me as she takes in every aspect of my face. She then turns around and says to the man, "It's...it's Luna."

The man's eyes grow wide and he comes up to me now. He tries to take my arms, but I quickly step back and instinctively brush his hand away. He scoffs and says, "So rude. We're your parents, you know?!"

"You may be my parents but I have no sympathy for you." I look at the woman in front of me. She's still so mesmerized by my face. "I'd like to speak to you."

"Oh yes! Come come!"

Her eagerness disgusts me. At least the man doesn't hide his annoyance at my arrival, but it seems to start making cracks in the walls I made in my heart. I try to hold them up as I quietly sit in front of them in their small living room. The woman comes back with a cup of tea and I just look at it. She seems uncomfortable at my firmness so she looks at her husband. The man is in deep observation of my face again. This is getting on my nerves now. So I bluntly say to him, "What?"

"You look just like her." He scoffs as he leaves me in confusion again. "Honey. Don't you think she's just like In-joo? It's incredible!"

"Hey," I firmly say. "Who the hell is In-joo?"

For the first time since I've arrived, the man seems to grow small and he looks at his wife with a hint of sadness in his dark eyes. The woman lets out a long sigh and the look she has on her face breaks down all the walls inside me.

"She's your sister. Your twin sister."

It feels like I'm suffocating. The walls seem to be closing in on me but I stay frozen as I hear her say, "You have two other sisters. One is In-kyung. She's two years younger. Then it's my little In-hye."

She talks about them as if she loves them, but if there's something I can see in a person, it's when they're lying. She's really good at her drama. I'll give her that.

I look around her dirty place. Bottles of soju lay all over the kitchen floor and I say, "Are they not here?"

The woman lets her smile fall and swallows. I scoff at her and sarcastically say, "I can tell you've always been a wonderful mother."

I nearly laugh when she gasps with offense. Her husband grows angry at me and firmly says, "Hey. What do you want from us? We have no money. There's a reason why we left our daughters."

Oh wow. They're worse than I thought.

"I don't want anything," I firmly say. "I just want to know why."

"Why....why what?" the woman says.

I swallow down my dry throat and fight back tears eager to spill out. "Why...why did you leave me? Was it money, too? Why did you keep the other girl and not me?"

Their silence is heavier than ever. They make it difficult to breathe and my mind yells at me to run away already, but I can't this time. I must persist until I get the answers I've been searching for all my life.

"Why?" I whisper.

"Because of money." The woman doesn't even hesitate as she says this. "We had very little money. We didn't think we'd get two babies that day. We barely had enough to feed ourselves, imagine two other mouths? So we decided to let one go. I didn't want to do it. I cried so much when I left you, but it had to be done."

These words are like a stab in my heart. I can't help but let cold tears slowly fall down my cheeks. I numbly say, "Is that what you thought when you left your other daughters?"

She's quiet again and only lets her eyes fall. I scoff at such disgust. Yet, this pain is worth it. I finally got the answer I wanted. I guess poverty and misfortune run in the family. Luckily, I'm not the only bad guy in the family.

"At least I gave you a name," the woman says. "Luna. It was my mother's name."

"Gee thanks," I say as I start to get up. "You should've just killed me instead."

"Hey!" The man speaks up and it makes me even angrier. I turn around with my muscles ready to fight. But I hold back my eagerness to choke him as he says, "You have to understand. Not everyone gets to be born into a rich family. Not everyone is lucky. Do you know how much we've suffered? You're not the only one, you know!"

I look at the bottles of soju surrounding him and scoff. "Good. People like you deserve to suffer."

I ignore their yells telling me to go back with cold tears racing down my cheeks. They yell at me to show some respect. But I've never shown respect to anyone. No one taught me. They never gave me a reason to respect them anyways.