It Ends with Us • Kim Mingyu

[nineteen]

"Oh, you are here. You took forever."

After the lock makes a beep sound, Mrs. Kim pokes her head out of the door. My eyes nearly widen. I take a step back, thinking she might come outside and greet us, but after a minute passes, she still stands inside like a reluctant teenager being compelled by her parents to get the door for a stranger. A voice inquires in my head, "Is this Minseo, perhaps?"

To prove its credibility - no one but to myself - I take a good look at her. It happens within seconds. Not too conscious, not too clandestine. I look forward and then around. This woman looks substantially young, a kind you'd see when you pass by a university in Seoul. She has a circumspection in her eyes that's hard to miss. It makes you think what you're going to say to her; is it the right thing, perhaps? Will she be able to see through my dubiousness? Will she correct me, or keep it to herself as a personal register of all my shortcomings?

"Miyeon?"

I nod.

"Have you been well?"

Mrs. Kim shrugs. "I have been. Thank you for asking." She takes a look at the luggage and asks me how I have been.

"The road must have been long. I heard today the traffic was unusual. You must have had difficulties."

Mrs. Kim has such a pleasant voice, and to add to that, she sounds eloquent and straightforward. Even a simple utterance from her makes me think.

"It's been a few hours," I say carefully. "We would have arrived earlier if it wasn't for the commotion in the alley. What was the name..."

Losing momentum, I glance at Mingyu for help. He says casually that the alley didn't have a name. "You know the one by that real estate agency? Two blocks backward from the primary school playground. We took that."

Mrs. Kim nods emphatically. "Nothing ever happens there. It is strange, " she says. With her head slightly tilted downwards and eyebrows pinched, she seems to be attempting to recall past incidents regarding that alley to add to her remark, however, ends up shaking her head.

"I cannot remember. Nothing really ever happens there. I am sure it must have been something urgent." She looks at me again. "Miyeon, come inside. Leave the shoes inside the case. Gyu, carry her luggage inside."

Mingyu twists his mouth as if he's goaded. He pulls down at the strap of my backpack and transfers it over his shoulders. His face says to me as our eyes meet, "It's all air inside. You're completely capable of carrying it yourself just a few more inches into the house," but he looks at Mrs. Kim and says, "Not even a minute and I'm your small chore doing housemaid."

"Where are your suitcases?" Mrs. Kim asks as we take off our shoes.

"It's inside the car." Mingyu says. He kicks off his boots in front of the in-built shoe rack, but just as Mrs. Kim narrows her eyes at her, he gently puts them inside one of the squares.

"I'll get the suitcases tomorrow. We don't need anything from there today," he says.

I didn't even know Mingyu brought a suitcase. I thought we were gonna stay only a few days. Just how many days is he planning? Jeonghan will be so mad.

"Here. I am holding it for you." Mrs. Kim tugs at the mass of shopping bags, just as I struggle to pull down the zipper of my boots. Before I can smile and say I got it, she transfers the paper handles to her wrist. She watches me for a while, then peers inside the bags through the gaps the stapler pins have left at both ends.

"What have you brought?" She asks.

After the boots finally come off my feet, I look up and expect Mingyu to cover for me while I place them inside the case, but he's nowhere to be seen.