Remember 1999

Chapter 21 - Letting Go

Hours slipped and she found herself increasingly growing impatient in waiting for the sun to rise. She hadn't slept after what happened last night. The news of kidnapping, a man falling off the building, and his son on the scene, brought chills to her bone. How could Tae Pyung put his life in such peril? What if it was him who fell? Did he not even think of her? What will happen if he's gone?!

She rose anxiously and glanced at the empty side of the bed beside her. More than her failing marriage, the thought of losing her son will break her.

"Both of you don't even care about me," She whispered in bitterness and contempt but with a will of determination.

"Seoul?" Her son looked at her with a perplexed expression.

"Yes, we are going back to Seoul. I shouldn't have agreed to come here in the first place. It did not do anything to resolve our family issues. And look now, you're also messed up! Do you even realize how you fared up in your exams? How it will affect your future?"

"Mom, I'm sorry. I will fix everything, I'll do my best this semester. I'll focus now, I promise. Let's just stay here," he said softly.

She stared at her son, but his pleading eyes only intensify her fears, "No! It's not just about that. I have called the school to prepare your transfer documents already. Next Monday, we will go back to Seoul."

"You can't do that, Mom! Why did you decide on your own?" He demanded.

"Why? Can't I decide for my son? Can't I decide for this family?!" She yelled hysterically. Her frustrations building up.

"Is this all about you and dad again? Don't involve me in your issues!"

He turned his back angrily and walked off in a huff towards his room.

"Yah, Tae Pyung! I'm still talking to you!" She cried.

She slipped her legs out of bed and sat on the edge. She opened the bedside drawer and lifted a brown envelope. The bold print on the document brought her different emotions: anger, insecurity, but at the same time bliss. Bliss for something she had been longing of...

Freedom.

It was all been settled anyway. She just has to sign. It was easy for her husband. There was nothing that binds them anyway. Not even her son. HER son.

She took a pen and signed the document. In the next few days, she will no longer be Mrs. Kim.

But Ms. Hyun.

She looked past the wall to her son's room and she drew a deep breath. She knew she will break his heart with what she was about to do, but it was for the best. There's no way she could talk things with him easily. Like his real father, he is persistent and determined. But those qualities were the reasons why they lost him. And she vowed that his son will not face the same fate again.

She should do something.

The sun was not yet high and the sky is in pinkish-blue when she reached the hospital. She supposed the staff in the reception already recognized her, for he stood up abruptly upon her arrival.

"You already know whom I'm gonna visit, right? What's the room number?"

The staff paused, it was barely six in the morning. He was about to say that it wasn't visiting hours yet but she stared at him with impatient eyes, he realized that making her wait will bring the hell out of her. He gulped and immediately checked the logbook. He gave her the room number.