Translation of Love

39

Parents

Taeyoung parks the car. We sit in silence for a moment, looking at the humble house in front of us. We're nervous. I can feel the anxiousness radiate off his body, and I know he can feel it off of me too.

"Let's go," he says, finally getting out of the car. He grabs our bags and we walk up to the door. He rings the bell. Very soon after a woman opens the door. I recognize her eyes immediately.

"Taeyoung!" She says, her hands moving to hold onto his face. He leans down since her height shrinks in comparison to his. He has a small nervous smile on his lips. She looks like she's really missed him.

"And this must be Sohee." Her eyes move to fall onto me. She looks me over, calculating my physical features in mere milliseconds. It is as if she is matching me up with him, seeing if I can compare to his handsome features. Of course, I don't think I do.

I bow and say my greetings to her. She smiles at me warmly now and gestures for us to step inside. We take off our shoes. I look to Taeyoung for cues of where to go, my body attached to his by an invisible string. We end up in a seating room, and his mom focuses in on me again when he leaves to put our bags away somewhere. I watch him leave the room with a bit of dread.

"So Sohee, what are you in school for?"

It takes a while for me to understand her since her dialect is so unlike the standard dialect heard in Seoul.

"I'm in a Korean program for now," I reply with a polite smile. She seems to like this as she nods her head with an open smile.

"Are you Korean?" Her head tilts to the side a bit, something that Taeyoung does too when he asks a question. This causes me to grin.

"Half. I was born here but grew up in Canada."

Her eyes light up, "Ah! Canada!" She says in English.

My eyes widen in shock from the sudden change in language. I forgot what Taeyoung said long ago about her living in America for a bit.

"I was not sure if you spoke English," she explains. Her excitement levels are clearly increasing rapidly. I then hear noises carry into the room as Taeyoung and another man enter. They both have stoic faces on. Taeyoung comes to sit beside me, the other man sits across from us.

"Hello, I am Sohee," I greet him with a bow.

He doesn't smile back at me.

"여보 [honey], be kind to our guest," Taeyoung's mom whispers to him. She looks back at me with a smile and goes back into her excitement about English. "I lived in America when I went to university."

Her pronunciation is impressive. It falters at some difficult sounds, but for being an older woman now, she has held onto it well.

"Oh, is she already trying to practice English with you?" Taeyoung laughs a bit. I notice his father withdraw, clearly blocking out the foreign words and not making effort to join.

"You know I don't have anyone to polish my skills with anymore since you left." Her last words drag out solemnly. Clearly, she's still sad he left.

Taeyoung sighs as if he's heard this many times. "엄마 [mom], just call me if you're that desperate to practice."

"You can call me too if you want," I politely add-on. Her eyes light up at my words.

"Oh what a sweet girl you found Taeyoung!" She exclaims, her hands clasped together.

The way she is acting now makes it hard to believe that a while ago she was judging my appearance. But then again, I guess that's what any parent would do if their cherished child brought someone home.