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MEANINGLESS NAMES -
THE MAN WATCHED THE WOMAN
hungrily scarfed down the food he had bought her down in quickened, large bites.
"You were hungry, weren't you, Kid?" Ju won asked the woman, as she nodded her head, noodles hanging out of her mouth, sauce all over her face.
"What has it been? Three months?" Mieko questioned, as justification for her sloppy bites of her food.
"So they said." Ju won commented, his eyes not leaving the woman's face that was practically down into the bowl. He stared for a moment, allowing the woman to fill her belly so much before he asked the question.
"So, 'Mieko', is that the name Nora gave you?" As Ju Won asked the question, he watched as Mieko's face dropped as well as her raised hand. She shuffled her seat in uncomfortably, finishing her bite slowly.
"How do you know about Nora?" Mieko asked with hesitation, peering up at the man through her bangs. It had been years since she heard the name of the first woman to home her, the first woman she called mother. Much less hear it from someone else. Ju Won didn't answer.
"Nyla... that was the name Nora gave me." Mieko mumbled, playing with her noodles in her bowl.
"So Mieko must be from Anna and Johnny?" Ju Won asked, the second question creeped Mieko enough for her place her chopsticks down, she sooted her chair out from the table, away from the man a little.
"How did you know about them?" Mieko asked, placing her foot on the ground for a quick run if need be.
Ju Won didn't answer. He kept staring at her with dark eyes, a nonchalant expression, the only hint to his thoughts was his fingers tapping the table. As fear grew in Mieko's stomach, she had started to take her quick, dashed escape, she only got a few steps away when his voice stopped her.
"I am your father, Cheonsa." Ju Won spoke. He watched at the way Mieko turned around to look back at the man. In the moment she looked defeated. Her eyes were lifeless, being held together by her tears welling.
"Cheonsa?" Mieko asked breathlessly.
It was a question she had for a while. Did she have a name given to by her biological mother? A name that would overpower all the names the adoption families had given her? A name to overpower all the names she gave herself as she moved country to country? But hearing the name, only wounded her deeply.
"It's the name your mother gave you as she placed in the boat to send you away." Ju Won said. He outreached a hand, signally for the woman to sit back in her chair. "If you want to know more, sit."
