||Koi No Yokan|| Park Seonghwa

||Chapter 22||

“Mom? What are you doing here?”
The woman in front of her smiled. She was still in her work uniform, holding a plastic bag in one hand and a covered Tupperware bowl in the other.

“Your dad told me you were sick, so I came to see how you were…I brought soup!” she chirped.

“You didn’t have to, mom… I’m already much better, see?” she told her, still inviting her in. 

“I just wanted to check up on you…I’ll leave these here” 

She left he plastic bag on the kitchen counter and opened the Tupperware, the delicious smell of warm soup filling the air. 

“Have some, dear, you can save the rest for tonight if you want” 

“Thank you mom…what’s in the bag?” she asked, peeking through the plastic. 

“Some medicine, I figured you’d need some…”

“Well…thank you” she answered, sitting in front of the bowl with a spoon in her hand and an almost empty stomach she wanted to refill. 

“How did you manage to come down with a cold in the summer?” her mother asked. 

Carys almost choked on her first spoonful of soup, masking it up by making it seem that it was just too hot to eat. 

“Last night I went out with some friends on the beach, it was pretty windy…”

“Well next time bring a jacked, will you?” 

Her mother’s tone made her laugh. She sounded exactly like she did when she was still in high school, still helping Yeri to sneak out to go to some party, and promptly forgetting to bring a jacket for the cold nights they spent walking themselves home thinking that their parents would’ve never found out. 

“Anyways…how’s it going with that boy you told me about?” 

The sole mention of Seonghwa made her want to hide in a ditch and never come back up again. What was she supposed to tell her? The truth?
Lying to her parents was never something she liked to do, but in that situation it was the only acceptable option. No one would’ve believed her anyways, so a little white lie to protect her parents and the other people she loved would’ve been the only good thing to do. 

“Good. We’re taking it slow for now, we’ll see how it goes” she answered, trying her best to sound more calm than she actually was. 
Liar, she thought to herself. Liar, liar, liar. 

“That’s good” her mother looked fondly over her, in a way that only her could pull off. She felt at peace, rescued in that look that cured every sickness, every feeling of sadness. 

“You know, call me hopeless, but when I met your father…” she continued, a smile forming on her face “It may sound silly coming from an old woman like me, but I truly believe it was love at first sight. I was working my shift at the coffee shop, I worked part-time to pay rent during med school…and I see this tall man walk in, ask me for a black coffee and sit in a corner with a sketchbook and a dozen different pens. And I just thought it must be him”  

Carys chuckled at the thought of her parents meeting like in those cliché romance novels that were so popular between teenagers and middle-aged people. She was reminded of the first day she met Seonghwa: all the sensations came rushing by, only to be stopped by a pain in her nape that reminded her of the harsh truth. 
Although the mark was invisible to the human eyes, she could feel its weight on her skin, reminding her that, at least for the moment, Seonghwa and his loving gestures meant nothing.