Koi No Yokan

Fourth Birthday

Hyewon's POV:

It was the fourth year since we've lost both dorm parents. Last year before the third year ended, I was able to reunite Dayeon Oehaelmoni and with the reunion came the revelations. The bitter truth why Dayeon Oehaelmoni and her brother were given up to a Korean Adoption Shelter and why Dayeon Oehaelmoni doesn't seem to remember anyone but her brother and mother. Her Father was a local Gang Member and with his membership came the violence. Her Father would always beat her up, it was her specifically who her Father targeted, being that she was a girl and her brother was a toddler, she was seven that time. Dayeon Oehaelmoni's mind escaped her realities and only remembered her Mother's face and her Brother's face. It was human instinct to only remember certain parts of your past as I've learned through researching what Dayeon Oehaelmoni remembers. Until her Mother escaped their house one early morning her Father didn't come home.

She and her brother were brought over to the Adoption center, they were tied on the door handle by her mother. She whispered to her ears to find her when she grows up and gave her her name Kang Seol Jin. Ever since then, she developed this mission to find her Mother. No matter if she was sent Six thousand six hundred and forty miles away to Tulsa, Oklahoma, her young mind held on to her Mother's words. Her Father died a year after their Mother escaped and lived for a year at a local halfway house trying to rebuild her life that she lost once she married her Father, her breaking point was the day before she gave up Dayeon Oehaelmoni to the Adoption Agency, her Father came home drunk and have beaten Dayeon Oehaelmoni, she escaped unscathed through the night of beating. Because her Mother made her wear thick clothes so that when her Father beats her, she will at least survive it with a few scratches here and there.

The reunion brought bitter tears for both Dayeon Oehaelmoni and her brother Kang Dong-chan, to which she named her son after, they all hugged and cried. Chan Oeharabeoji was a successful Manager for a clothing company, he manages a store and had been saving up his hard earned money for his long lost sister and mother. Chan Oeharabeoji, remembered his eldest noona and her Mother he barely remembers. A year before both of them were separated by the Adoption agency, he recalled the promise Oehaelmoni Dayeon made, she told him to live his best life until she comes back to meet him. Dayeon Oehaelmoni taught Chan Oeharabeoji how to be frugal and how to save money. She told him before Oehaelmoni was flown to Oklahoma, if he saved for the future, she will come back after he fills his coin bank that she made him.

Kang Chang-bin as he is named now, was adopted by another Kang Family from the Gwangju Province, his adoptive parents were mid-thirties who had trouble having their own child. He was beloved by these Kangs, he was raised in a loving environment, he was given his own free will to decide on his future and he saved up money to splurge on his Noona and Eomma.It was now six months since the Kang Family of Seri Eomma was reunited, they've been spending weekends together, every Sunday Minju and I visited them, we even gathered at Seri Eomma's final resting place, it was a good thing that somehow for the last six years since Dayeon Oehaelmoni came back to Korea, her family was here in Gangnam all along, Dayeon Oehaelmoni was elated to find out once I told her last year for the meeting, I made them meet at the cemetery where Seri Eomma was laid to rest on a winter afternoon, December Ninth was Seri Eooma's birthday, so I arranged that all parties meet at the cemetery, though there was initial queries about why they should go to a cemetery in a Winter afternoon and why not meet someplace else.

When I explained to the Mother and Brother of Oehaelmoni that her Daughter who was set to find them was buried there, I didn't go into details as to why she died, as it wasn't my place to tell both parties. So they both agreed and came into the cemetery, where they got to meet Seri Eomma posthumously. Dayeon Oehaelmoni told them the sad news as to why Seri Eomma died. Her voice quivered as she was held in her Mother's arms. Seol Jin Oehaelmoni aged beautifully, she never again found a family of her own, she forged on with her life, hoping to someday find both kids she gave up for adoption. She moved to Gangnam in the 80's and has since quietly lived there for quite some time. She makes Dalgona Candies at the night market, often selling out Dalgona Candies at the second hour of her work and I could see why, because Seol Jin Oehaelmoni was charismatic with everyone who came across her. She always had a beautiful smile on her face. It was a warm and welcoming smile when I initially met her with an investigator.