YOU, ME, & SHE • |KTH AU| •

thirty

I'm paralyzed, mind reeling as I take in Mom - Jieun - for the first time in eleven years. Despite the years between, she looks well - almost overly so, as if she's barely aged at all.

Her dark hair is swept up in this fancy, complicated coiffure. Stray wisps have escaped near her face to soften the effect, keeping it from looking too severe. She's dressed in a fitted navy pantsuit, a white blouse peeking out at the neck and wrists. She looks so refined and elegant; it seems like the past decade has given her nothing but leisure and luxury.

A thousand questions and accusations swarm my thoughts but die silent on my parted lips.

Beside me, Hyejin gasps softly. I'd forgotten she was even there, my whole being shrunk down to this one massive, unbelievable moment.

Jieun's pale and trembling, eyes wide and unblinking like a frightened deer. It's as if she's seeing a ghost.

When I finally find my voice, it comes out barely more than a breath. "So you're Jimin's stepmom."

Jieun just stares and stares at me, saying nothing.

"How can this be??" Hyejin breathes, gaze darting between me and Jieun. "What on earth is happening??"

"What's wrong?" Jimin curiously asks, appearing in the doorway and stepping onto the porch. He stares from me to Hyejin to Jieun, frowning as he takes in our states. "Jieun? Narae, what's going on??"

I swallow the lump in my throat. "Jieun is my long-lost mother."

He gasps, staring at Jieun, then at me, then back at Jieun. "No fucking way..." His eyes widen further. "I saw it. I kept on picking up all these similarities between you two but I didn't think much of it, I didn't think it might mean this. You look similar, and you smile and laugh the same and shit. I thought..." Jimin trails off, scratching his head. "I just thought I was being silly."

So that's what he was referring to that day, just moments before our heated make out session. "Weird," He'd said, You're so much like her." He hadn't been likening me to an ex or a ho of his or anything like that - he was referring to my mother.

And the weird way his butler stared at me the first time I came over now makes sense - he was probably noticing how similar to Jieun I look

"Would you care to explain what's happening here??" Hyejin asks frustratedly, turning to her friend. "You told me you had no children from your past relationship."

"She lied." I say flatly, glaring at Jieun.

Anger sparks in me as I remember how her abandonment shattered Thea, the months it took for her smile to return.

"It's nice to see how easily you've moved on," I say to Jieun, who winces but holds my stare. "How well you've settled into your finer life without so much as a backward glance at your daughters left behind."

"How many of you are there??" Hyejin demands, turning sharply to me. "How come you've never mentioned any sister or sisters-" She narrows her eyes. "Come to think of it, your entire background story is quite sketchy and suspicious... Did you even ever have a grandmother who died??"

"I'm out of here," I abruptly spin around and start marching away. "Let's go Jimin."

"Narae..." Jieun rasps behind me but I keep walking.

"Keep living your luxurious life, pretend this moment never happened."

She's been dead to me this whole time, I'd like to keep it that way.

_______________________________________

The Next Day

I raise my fist and knock firmly on my old apartment's door. My heart thumps in my chest as I wait anxiously to see them again after so long away. A minute passes and there's no answer. I exchange a worried look with Jimin. Just as I'm about to knock again, I hear the locks turning from within.