Night Lilly

Night Lilly 2

    Chapter 2

Lilly

After that eventful night I didn't see much of my parents, which I was fine with. I was still upset with what had happened at dinner that I decided to leave Korea a week earlier than anticipated. The good thing about going to school abroad is that I didn't have to see my parents so much, but no matter how far I was, they still managed to control my life. I started to pack my bags since I would be leaving the next morning, but before I did I went on a quick shopping spree for things to bring back to Australia. It was around 11.30pm when I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I said

An older woman walked in with a tray with some cookies and milk.

"I saw your light was on and was wondering if you had a hard time falling asleep." She said placing the tray on my night side. It was a glass of milk with strawberry oreos.

"Ah! My favorites, I couldn't find these when I went to the store." I said, popping one of the cookies in my mouth.

"I was able to get them before you came home, there's more in the pantry if you want to take them with you." The woman said, smiling warmly at me.

"Thank you Lola!" I said, kissing her cheek.

Lola was my childhood nanny, and someone who is very important to me. She helped raise me and Yunjin, and introduced so many things to us. She's originally from the Philippines but she taught us so much about the world around us and life lessons. Her real name is Sophia but I call her Lola, which is grandma in filipino. I always saw her as my grandmother, and we were much closer than my actual grandparents.

We chatted a bit and talked about my life at Thornhill while I had my milk and cookies. 30 min later she left and I went to bed. Tomorrow I was heading back to Sydney.

...

After I said my goodbyes to everyone I headed to the airport and got situated. My parents gave me an earful of things to do and Lola gave me 3 more things of strawberry oreos, which was a temporary fix to my parents' nagging. Once I landed in Sydney my sister Sophia came to pick me up from the Airport. We were driving back to her house, which was conveniently 30 min away from Thornhill.

Sophia glanced towards me with a smile.

. "You remember that time we snuck out to that little karaoke place near the Han River? You were so nervous Mom and Dad would find out, but you sang like you owned the place." She said laughing. "I just saw a karaoke place and it reminded me of that."
I relaxed into the seat

"Oh, I remember. We made it halfway through that 90s ballad, and I completely lost my voice. I think that was the first time I saw you as more than my 'bossy big sister'—you were actually kind of... fun." I said teasing her.

"'Kind of' fun?" She scoffed. " I was the life of the party, thank you very much. I even bribed the guy at the counter not to tell Mom and Dad." She said, I let out a small sigh.

"Those were good times... before Thornhill, before everything got so... complicated. I feel like things were easier back then."

Sophia nodded her head, her smile slightly fading.
"Yeah, I get that. When you're young, you don't notice the weight of expectations as much. You just... live. But Thornhill, how is it really going?" She asked.

"Thornhill is going great, I feel like I really found myself and enjoy what I'm doing but... Mother and Father want me to do ambassadorship for them. And that will take lots of time, you remember all the campaigns we did, how time consuming. I just want to be free to do what I like and find my own way through life. But here I am still worrying about what they'd think of me if I didn't. Maybe I do owe it to them..."

I said, I stared out the window, the lump forming in my throat.
"Hey," She places a hand on my shoulder. "I've been in your shoes too, they wanted me to become someone I wasn't. To them, success is the most important thing in life. I know that pressure they put on you is exhausting, but listen, you're more than their expectations. In fact if I can follow my dreams then so can you." She said, squeezing my shoulder. I gave her a half smile.

"I wish I could be as confident as you are, Sophia. I wish I didn't care so much about what they thought about me." I said, clenching my fits again.

"Hey, they might see you as an asset for Diamor, but I see you as you. The smart, creative, resilient little sister I watched grow up. The little girl who learned how to push back the bullies at the park. You're allowed to have dreams outside of theirs. Just because they provided this life for you doesn't mean you have to give up yours to repay them.Live your life without guilt, Okay?"

Then when I remembered how much Sophia meant to me, she was always there for me and supported me unconditionally. If I had the love support from her and others then maybe I didn't really need my parents validation.

I gave her nod and flashed her a bright smile.

"Thanks,Sophia. I really needed this."

She ruffled my hair.

"Anytime, Just remember, you're a lot stronger than you think."

...

After we arrived at Sophia's house, I unpacked and we made a list of all the things we wanted to do for the remainder of summer. I would have to find something to do on my own some days because Sophia was still working. She was working at a exotic veterinary clinic for wildlife animals, so she had to leave from time to time. But When she wasn't working we went to the beach, amusement parks, shopping ect. All the fun things we could find. But sadly all fun things have to come to an end. Before I knew it was time to head back to Thornhill to prepare for the school year.

"Do you have everything?" Sophia asked, putting my stuff in the uber.

"Yep, and if I forget something I can always drop by and get it." I said

"Okayy." She said, while she pulled me in a hug. " I'm going to miss you."

"Going to miss you too." I said.

We broke apart from our hug and I got in the car. As we pulled away she waved to me, I waved back. I then started laughing to myself, we were so silly. We act like I'm not going to see her in about a month or the fact that I call her every week.