Her Voice / han sanghyuk (#14)

Episode 72

Sanghyuk

I got off the bus at the bus stop and I made my way towards the neighbourhood that I was familiar, I have lived in this particular neighbourhood for a very long time ever since I was a young child and I spent most of my time there with my older sister and my late grandmother. My parents at that time were still doing their business overseas and would only come back on our birthdays and sometimes they would forget about it and I would get a gift by mail instead of getting the present from my parents themselves.

But I liked this part of my life, at least I got to live with my older sister and my late grandma who is good at nagging and cooking, she is an expert in this and I missed all of that after she passed away and I wished that she was still around so that I would hug her and eat her cooking.

Not long after, my parents got divorced and the both of us had to separate because they only wanted one child, I was about to move to Taiwan with my mother while my older sister was with my father in Seoul. And it is also because of Choi Jooeun's father that we had to go there immediately and we are not able to return home for about 5 years, I am also not allowed to tell anyone about it but I still told my sister about it.

She deserved to know everything that happened in Taiwan but I have only told her half of it, especially the part where we were forced to stay in Taiwan and we can't leave the country at all and I have a very good reason for that. If I told my older sister about it, she would go out of her way to make sure that she brings both of us back home and kill off Mr Choi while she is at it.

She would land in jail big time and I don't want to see my older sister behind bars so I never told her about it, things will get out of hand. I love my older sister a lot and I don't want her to do such a thing to help me, I can solve this problem on my own and I would prefer that no one would get in the way. The lesser people know about it, no one will get hurt and that includes Choi Jooeun herself.

I arrived at the doorstep and I ring the doorbell, the door opens after a few seconds and my mother peeks her head out. "It was you? You could just come inside without ringing the doorbell, you have lived here for almost a decade and it is still your home." She told me as I walked into the house, a sense of nostalgia hit me and a tear escaped from my eye.

It has been so long since I have returned home and it feels like I have never left at all, everything is still in the same places and the only thing that ever changed is that my mother is now with the both of us and this house is just a spare apartment for us and we have the apartment that we return home to. I am glad that we finally returned to South Korea, it was so long since I have back and I missed everything in my life.

We had dinner together with my older sister and my mother, my father is busy with his work as per normal and he would drop by to see me someday, he is always so quiet and mysterious even till now. I barely spoke to him my entire life and I only know that he was married to my mother for nearly 2 decades and they had a business together.

We finished up our dinner and my older sister is watching TV while drinking a can of beer, I emerged from the bathroom after taking a shower and she tossed me a can of beer. "I have work tomorrow," I told her. "I can't be drinking."

"Who cares? Life still goes on after that and it is important to live our lives to our fullest maximum, you will still get the same salary even if you work your ass off so it is better to just relax and have a drink with your older sister." I sighed and I walked to the couch. "To think of it, this is our first time having a drink together. You were barely an adult when you left for Taiwan that year."

I nodded my head and I sipped on the can of beer, it is best to drink alcohol sip by sip so that you won't get drunk too quickly. "How was your life been for you? How was your life in Taiwan? Did you drink milk tea all the time?" She is asking me too many questions and I don't know what to answer first.

"The bubble tea was nice and I drank it all the time, I hope that the milk tea here will be as promising as well," I answered the easiest question for me.

"Out of all the answers, you decided to answer the basic question. You are supposed to be telling about how life has been great for you ever since you moved to Taiwan, not something like this." She let out an annoyed groan.  "Forget about that, what about Choi Jooeun? Have you met her?"

She must have told Jooeun about it and that was the reason why Jooeun went to look for me, she is just too nosy in my matters. "Noona, did you tell Jooeun that I was stuck in Taiwan?" She nodded her head and I let out a huge sigh. "Why did you do that for? Why do you have to tell her about that?"

"I did that because she was so worried about you, she comes here every single week just to ask about you and you didn't tell me where you stayed at so I couldn't tell her anything much until you mentioned to me that you were staying in Taiwan and I told her about it." She yelled at me. "Can't you see that she is so worried about you? And you have the nerve to hide from her for nearly 5 years, but you did nothing to keep her by your side. That would be why she decided to get married to someone else instead of you."