Silver (Girls of the Wild's fanfic)

18: Home

"...Mr. Han for the weekend, okay?"

Eunseung jolted out of her thoughts, staring blankly at her mother. "Huh?"

Her mother gave her a deadpan. "I got knocked up by a stranger and Mr. Han is going to be my maid of honor, so Mr. Han will be helping me plan the wedding this weekend, okay?"

Eunseung made a face. "Gross, mom. Your jokes are wrong on so many levels."

She rolled her eyes, throwing an apple at Eunseung's head. "Then listen up, yeah? Or who knows? Maybe you'll have a sibling next year!"

Eunseung caught the apple, giving it and her mother a look, and bit into it. "Mom. Please stop."

Pak Hyejin rolled her eyes. "I was saying, Mr. Han has the weekend off, so he wants to go to a more peaceful setting while he does Tai Chi. Good for the mind and lungs, as he said."

"And you're going with him because...?"

"Because I'm his instructor?" She rolled her dark eyes again. "Come on, Eunseung, don't treat it like a bad thing." She raised an eyebrow, smiling conspiritavely. "Your mother is going on an island getaway trip."

Eunseung raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was for work?"

"It is," her mother grinned, eyes twinkling above the rim of her coffee cup.

Eunseung sighed internally. Her mother didn't even drink coffee.

"But it doesn't change the fact that I am taking a trip. Away from here. Going to an island. And it's for freaking Tai Chi of all things. We'll be listening to traditional chinese songs--did I ever tell you that Mr Han's mother is Chinese?--to get into the mood, breathing in the JeJu island air, and drinking green fucking tea! Or whatever tea they drink there."

"You love green tea," Eunseung sighed.

"I love booze," she corrected, with a tilt of her head. "But I guess it would be best if the teacher didn't drink on the job. Though, I do love my TsingTao beer. They have the best slogan, love. 'From China to the World'!" Hyejin laughed.

"Sure thing, mom," Eunseung rose from her chair, taking her plate to the sink. "Look, you have fun, okay? I gotta get to school now."

"Hm? Okay, yeah, yeah, sure. Make sure those punks know not to mess with you, yeah?" She grinned at her daughter, turning around to look her in the eyes.

Eunseung tried not to notice how her mother's gaze flinched after a couple seconds and relocated to the bridge of her nose.

"Nothing less, mother," she said softly.

Hyejin's eyes softened, and she hugged her daughter for the first time in weeks. Eunseung widened her eyes, but slowly melted into the hug, wrapping her arms around her mother and rested her chin on her lower shoulder.

"Oh, what did I do to deserve a daughter like you?" She sighed.

Eunseung said nothing, not knowing what to say. So she just closed her eyes and smiled, relishing the mother-daughter moment.

Then her mother took in a shuddering breath, pulling away to hold her daughter at arm's length. Looking all over her face, she pulled Eunseung's face down to kiss her forehead.

"Make me proud, Silver Tiger," she said softly, eyes somewhat wistful. "And come back with the gold."

~*~

'Next stop, Ganseo District...'

Eunseung's body leaned as the subway started moving again, feeling of cold anticipation settling in her stomach. It was unpleasant, but she brushed the feeling off, knowing it rooted from something other than the fights.

She checked her makeup again for the thirty thousandth time, making sure nothing was out of place. She'd be painting her stripes as soon as she got out of the subway station, and got into a public restroom.

For now, she had on fake lashes and eyeliner in a cat's eye style, the black, water resistant ink  traced thickly around the rim of her gray eyes. She highlighted it with a silver tint around the edge. Eunseung had applied a smoky brown base for her eyeshadow, adding the silver closer to her eyes. Her jawline and cheekbones were sharper than ever, with the highlights and the darker shades making her face more triangular. Eunseung had blood red lipstick on, in shocking contrast to her black and white face. Her face was removed of all blemishes, freckles, and open pores. With her dead, shark-like eyes, she was the face of death.

Oh, shit... she cursed, staring in outrage at the mirror. One of her eyebrows was longer than the other. Shit, shit, shit, shit....

She sighed, leaning back in defeat. Ah, well. Eunseung had come this far. She wasn't gonna mess with her eyebrow. Chances were, it'd be worse if she tried.

Eunseung started, then bit back a smile, incredulous.

She was an illegal fighter, going to go fight for her life.... worried about a fucking eyebrow. 

How embarrassing.

'.....arrived at Gangseo station. Doors, opening...'

Eunseung stood up and got out of the train, exhilaration making her force down a smile of excitement.

She stepped off the train and walked to the closest escalator, taking it to the world above.

Ironically, to the underground fights.

Eunseung took a breath as the warm breeze hit her face, as the steps raised her up.

Tonight was a night of feasting.

Silver Tiger was home.

~~~~~
A/N:

If I'm being completely honest I have no idea if Ganseo is a good setting for the fights.. my research was lengthy, but as I don't live in Korea it gets difficult with things like this…… ;;;-;;;