Spring Day | k.nj

TWO

August 2019,

It's been years since Areum last talked to Namjoon. By years, she meant ever since he left. The first few months in Seoul, Namjoon still contacted her daily; they would talk every 7 PM about her day in school, his day practicing, and how much they missed hanging out with each other. But it didn't last long. He became busier as season changes. She would message him and he would reply the day after. In every reply he never forgets to send "Sorry for replying so late". He meant it, every word.  Yet she felt that this sentence has become a formality, so she stopped texting. And altogether, they stopped texting each other.

A year after he moved to Seoul, his family decided to move as well— they told Areum's mom that it would be best if they move as well so they could help Namjoon in case anything happened. It made her sad, she cried as much as she did when she dropped Namjoon off at the train station to go to Seoul. To Areum, Namjoon's family moving away felt as if her only connection to Namjoon, has been cut off from her life. Now, she's not really bothered by it. His face is everywhere in the country; from ice cream cups to soda cans to billboards and television. He. Is. Everywhere. She even saw his name tattooed on a foreigner's finger! That day she realized Namjoon is now a big deal, someone out of her reach.

She's a little annoyed though. Not because of his success or that he's everywhere, but her annoyance is caused by how he stopped contacting her as if they weren't around each other for 15 years. For the first three months after his family moved, she would call them once a week, but they always responded with the same words:

"Areum, he doesn't live with us... he's really busy I hope you can understand that.. in order for him to reach his dream.. he misses you.. we'll tell him you said hello".

They probably forgot to tell him. I mean if you rarely see your son and are only able to see him once every month—and that too for a limited time—you wouldn't bring up something so trivial. After three months, she stopped calling his family. Not at her will, but because her mom forced her not to. Her mom thought she might be annoying The Kims—even though every time her mom is on the phone with Mrs. Kim, Mrs. Kim would ask if Areum was okay and wanted to know why she suddenly stopped calling them. And her mother would say:

"Areum is busy with school and she's having fun with her friends, as teenagers always do".

Areum blamed her mother—and she still does to this day. She hates her mother, and she proudly expressed that hatred. Not only because her mother cut off her ties with The Kims, but also because her mother ran off to god-knows-where with someone else's husband. That happened three years after Namjoon left. It was heart-breaking; Areum loved her mother, she was kind, loving, a great cook, and a beautiful singer. They weren't that close, but they liked each other. Or at least, Areum liked her mother. After her parents got divorced, she never saw her mother again. A beautiful family of five now became four.

Four years after Namjoon left, her father decided to start fresh in another city, in Seoul. Areum was ecstatic. She thought it was finally time for her to meet Namjoon. Little did 19-year-old Areum know about how big Seoul is and how little time she had to even search for him as she started college and eventually got busier. She somehow managed to get into the psychology major in Ewha Womans University. Her father said the day she got accepted is the happiest day of his life. He looked happy, but she knew her father was a little disappointed that she didn't choose med school and follow his path. Daehyun, her little brother, told her to relax because he will follow their dad's footsteps and become a doctor. It wasn't nonsense as Areum thought then, he was speaking the truth. Daehyun really did follow their dad's footsteps. Moving to Seoul was the second-best decision her father ever made, after divorcing her mother, of course. Areum, Daehyun, and her father became really close—even closer than they were already before. The kids would talk to their father about every hardship they were going through and they too would share about the things that they were grateful for. They also adopted another cat so now the family of four became a family of five—again but happier.