IZONE: Slow Journey

3: parent visit

"YA AN YUJIN! YOU HAVE VISITORS!" Chaewon hollered from the base of the stairs.

"WHAT?" Yujin ran down the hallway, skidding in her socks until she crashed into the banister. Seeing the people at the front door, her expression lit up.

"MOM! DAD!"

Her parents had mentioned that they would visit to see how she was doing in her new home, but she hadn't expected it to be so soon. She shot down the stairs, eager to meet them.

"WOAH! Hold on there little puppy." Eunbi said, grabbing her by the hood of her hoodie before she could go flying down. "Take your socks off first if you're going to run like that. You're going to slip and fall if you're not careful."

"Yes unnie."

Yujin pulled her socks off, tossing it on the ground behind her before running down. Watching her, Eunbi shook her head in amusement, kicking her socks to the side so that no one else would step on it.

Hearing the ruckus, Wonyoung also emerged from her room, curious to see what was going on.

"Wonyoung ah!" Yujin's parents called. Since they had been best friends for years, Wonyoung was familiar with her parents too and they brought the duo out together occasionally.

"Hi Auntie! Hi Uncle!" She bowed in greeting.

"Yujin ah, how have things been going? Have you settled down? You seem to have nice housemates." Her mother chuckled, referring to Eunbi who had stopped her from slipping earlier.

"Mhm. Everyone here is super nice and we're best friends too! We go into each other's rooms whenever we want and share our food." Yujin said enthusiastically.

"That's nice to hear. Have you been catching up on your schoolwork instead of playing basketball all day?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Nope."

Her mother smacked her playfully on the head. "I'm going to have to rely on Wonyoung to make sure that you're working hard. Wonyoung is so hardworking, you should follow her good example."

"But I'm good at sports! I just won another competition last weekend!"

"That's great honey, I so proud of you but you need to study hard too. It's important to be knowledgeable."

"Yes Mom."

"Let's go out for lunch, shall we? We can catch up there." Her father suggested.

"Okay! Let me go up and change." Yujin said, flying up the stairs once more. "UNNIE! I'M GOING OUT WITH MY PARENTS FOR LUNCH!"

"Okay! Have fun!" Eunbi waved goodbye to her before picking up Yujin's abandoned socks and tossing them into the laundry basket in her room. Yujin was starting to remind her of Yena with how she was running around all the time and leaving her things all over the place. Just yesterday, the two were playing with Yena's hoverboard in the hallway and nearly ran over poor Minju who got the shock of her life.

Upon walking into her room, she was surprised to see Wonyoung sitting on her bed, staring off into space. So looked a little... sad. There was an invisible storm cloud hovering over her head.

"Wonyooo" she called softly, sitting on the bed with her.

"Hi unnie."

"Is everything okay?"

"Mhm. Why wouldn't it be?" She flashed Eunbi a smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Eunbi could see right through her act. Something was bothering her, and she had a feeling that it was related to Yujin and her parents.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Ah- okay." Wonyoung sighed in defeat. Eunbi could see straight through her lie.

Eunbi scooted behind her, hugging her from behind as if she was a giant stuffed bear. Wonyoung relaxed at her gentle touch. It was nice having someone older take care of her, even if she was much smaller in size.

"I envy Yujin sometimes." She started, exhaling heavily. "She's from a loving family and has supportive parents. Even if her parents are busy, she has an unnie who takes good care of her. She is pretty much never lonely, and they go on family vacations every year to have fun together. Me on the other hand, my parents are too busy to take care of my and just hire help at home to keep me alive. They're travelling through different countries so much with changing time zones that they barely have time to call me either. I'm an only child and I have no siblings to talk to at home. Most of the time, I eat dinner alone at the giant dining table which makes me feel even more lonely. Yujin's parents take her out on spontaneous outings for fun like earlier when they took her out for lunch, meanwhile I don't even remember when was the last time I had dinner with my parents. My parents barely talk to me and even when I get good grades at school, they shrug it off like it's nothing. I'm usually the one forging their signatures to sign my report books since they're not in the country to do it themselves. Why can't I have a family like hers and have parents who actually care about me?"

"Aigooo" Eunbi tightened her grip around her, resting her head on her shoulder. "I'm sure your parents love you, it's just that they don't have the habit of expressing it. It's common in Asian culture. It's okay, I get how it feels but don't worry, you have us now. Even if your parents don't shower you with love, we will. I'll always be here if you need anyone to talk to. Even if you just want a hug, I'll be here with open arms, okay?"

Hearing Eunbi's words, her eyes filled with tears. She had never heard anyone speak to her so lovingly before and it struck a chord in her heart. She'd always thought only parents or other family members were capable of loving her like that but perhaps she was wrong. Sometimes, if you were lucky, you could find a friend who was so amazing that they had the capacity to love you like family.

"Thanks unnie." She croaked, her voice caught in her throat.

"No worries, it's nothing. Don't cry, okay? I want to see your beautiful smile more often." Eunbi chuckled, wiping away her tears with her thumbs. She cupped Wonyoung's cheek in her hands, looking straight into her eyes to assure her that it was okay.

"Unnie, if you don't mind me asking, what did you mean when you said that you get how it feels?"

"I get how it feels because I don't have a good relationship with my parents either. My parents had high expectations for me as a child, especially after my oppa became a lawyer. You should have seen their faces when they found out that I was going to major in dance and become a dancer. They were very disappointed in me and tried to force me to switch to something like medicine instead, but I refused. We had a huge argument and my mom said that she didn't want a failure living under her roof, this is how I ended up living here."

Wonyoung's mouth fell open at her words. How could her mother have said that to her? That was a horrible thing to say, especially to your own child. Judging by Eunbi's expression, she could tell that her words still hurt her even after much time had passed.

"I think you did the right thing in pursuing your dreams. If it makes you happy, you should go for it. I've seen you dance and you're amazing." Wonyoung said, her eyes sincere.

"Really? Since when have you seen me dance? I don't dance at home."

"Yena unnie showed me a video the other day of a performance you did in university with Chaeyeon unnie. Both of you are really good dancers."

"Ohh that one." Eunbi's cheeks flushed at the thought of Wonyoung seeing that performance. It was... sexy to say the least. Things like that shouldn't be seen by her innocent eyes.

"Don't worry unnie, I'm eighteen." Wonyoung laughed at her expression. "I can drink now you know? If I'm old enough to get drunk, I'm old enough to see that."

"You may be an adult in terms of age, but you'll always be a baby to me." Eunbi smiled, squeezing her in a hug.

"Hehe"

AN: update cos it's their 5th anniversary <3