Mature| KTH

𝒪𝓃𝑒

Tears stream down the six-year-old girl's face as she stares down at her father's casket. Her mother keeps a straight face while pulling her daughter back when a tear slides down her face.

She looks down at her daughter, Sallem. "Stop crying, he's gone and won't come back, it's time to move on."

Her mother looked around her to make sure no one was too close to hear her, "So forget about him we're on our own now. We're leaving this place"

The girl's lip quivers as she looks at her family members one last time. All of them grieving her grandparents holding each other.

"Mommy, where are we going?"

She holds her mother's hand tightly worriedly looking up at her and her surroundings while they walk to a car parked in front of the cemetery.

"We are going to Seoul," As they both stop beside the car a man steps out of the driver's side. He pulls off his sunglasses as he walks up to the young girl's mother. The young girl looks up curiously at the man as he stops in front of them.

"Jihye did you ever tell your husband what was going on between us before he died or was that the cause of his death?" He chuckles and asks the young mother snickering. "Look Tim I don't want to talk about this here, his funeral just ended plus my daughter is here," she says looking down at her.

The man almost rolls his eyes looking at the young girl as she looks at the ground staring intensely at an ant carrying a piece of a leaf. "Just get in the car and we'll talk about it on the way," He walks back to the driver's side. Sallem smiles at the ant and before bending down to touch it her mom drags her by the hand to the other side of the car. Her mom opens the door and leads the young girl into the backseat.

"Sallem we'll be heading to Seoul now, there is water and chips under your seat if you want some," Her mother sits in the passenger seat and Sallem mumbles, "I miss daddy."

Sallem doesn't pay much attention to what the adults converse about. She looked out her right side window while eating some cheddar crackers that came in cute star shapes.

From Gwangju
4 hours later...

"Sallem wake up we're here" Her mother shakes her shoulder a bit more rough a second time.

"Sheesh, Ji-Hye didn't know you were so rough with your kid" He exits out of the car and opens the trunk.

"Well, I have to otherwise she won't wake up, she's a sleeper." The young girl blinks and steps out of the car to look around.

The girl looks up at the building in front of the parking lot "Mommy are we staying here?"

The man closes the trunk and grabs the two suitcases off the ground and starts walking towards the apartment with the mother walking behind him. "Yes, Sallem now walk faster" Sallem's legs move faster almost to where she was jogging to keep up with her mother's pace.

They go inside and walk to the elevators. Going inside, the man presses the third-floor button. The elevator dings and opens up, they walk into the hallway and go through until they stop in front of a door with the number 132 on it. The man shuffles through his pockets as he then takes out a small silver key and opens up the door. "Home sweet home." He sighs out.

They walk in and the man sets the suitcases down near the couch. Sallem looks at the furnished apartment, the living room has two black couches with a coffee table in the middle with a bunch of magazines on top. The medium-sized television hung up on the wall with a small bookshelf underneath it. The kitchen that is connected has a few dishes in the sink waiting to be put back in the cupboards. Sallem walks out and into the hallway, she peaks into the first small room.

It looked very empty and simple, with white sheets and pillows, a dresser, and a small closet. Sallem walks out and goes to the room right next to the last one. The only similarity was the bed size but otherwise, this room had clothes in the open closet, the walls were decorated with posters of women in provocative poses and smelled weird to Sallem. She guessed this room must belong to the man they came with, so she exited the bedroom and went into a bathroom across the hall, but there wasn't much to it except for a small tray with cigarette butts in it. She turns back to exit the bathroom when the man walks into the bathroom "So what do you think?...of your new home?" He asks.

Sallem looked up at the tall man, "Good. How do you know my mommy?"

The man crouched down to her level and smiled at her quiet figure, "Your mommy and I go back to when we were in high school in love"

The young girl looks at him with a look of confusion and asks him "My mommy and you were in love? It was before she met daddy right?"

The man snickered, "Yes, it was before... and when she was with your daddy, but don't worry bout it kid," With that said he stood up and walked out of the bathroom, leaving the young girl confused.

The man yelled out and asked the woman, "Ji-Hye I have soju would you like some?" Sallem stayed in the bathroom thinking for a while until her mother called her over.

"Sallem it's almost bedtime so go to bed in the small room, I already put your bag in there which has your pajamas and toothbrush."   

The young girl nodded, "Mommy will I go to school here?" Her mother slightly rolled her eyes and responded "Yes Sallem but it'll be a while before that happens, now go to bed."

Sallem walked away into the small room and closed the door. She went to the window and looked at the sky outside. She breathed out "Daddy I miss you... a lot, I hope you're happy in a better place now. Mommy seems ok and her friend seems nice but I'm not sure," she says the last part more to herself as she thought back to what that man said.

An Hour Later...

Sallem was still awake thinking about her father. She could hear her mother and that stranger chatting away and laughing which made her struggle going to sleep with the noise. The noise settled down for a bit before she heard footsteps and closed her eyes.

"Is she asleep?" She heard the man ask. "Yeah, I- stop... wait till we get to the bedroom," Her mother says to Tim. "Then we better go now because I'm becoming impatient" Then the door closes. She opens her eyes and stares at the door.

She hears giggles from the room next door until she hears what she doesn't know are moans from pleasure with light creaks. She covers her ears with the pillow until she falls asleep late after midnight.

_

After a few months of staying in their new apartment, Tim left after a big argument with Sallem's mother. it consisted of Tim and her mother yelling at each other about her mother being accused of doing something over and over again. She didn't pay much attention to it as she was staring out the window of her room. It ended with her mother crying when Tim left.

He never came back. Her mother, Ji-Hye cried for a whole week calling in for work sick, befriending alcohol after she got back from work every week and didn't pay much attention to her daughter Sallem, leaving her to care for her self. Although she did make occasional small meals for Sallem and herself. The apartment always seemed to be quiet growing up, but it always got interrupted when her mom would drink again and yell at Sallem to do something for her.

On the bright side when Sallem entered school it was pretty normal and easy for her as she made a few friends, and passed her classes always being part of the top ten students her class would brag about.

As Sallem got older her mom would get tired of being alone again and when they showed up Sallem went to study at cafes, libraries, or hang with her friends. Anything to distract her from what her mom was doing at their apartment. She knew she had to get used to being independent.

That's the official first chapter, hopefully it wasn't cheesy at the end. If you read this story/chapter I'm grateful for you reading it. So please let me know what you're thoughts are in the comments! Thank you!❤️😊