A Silent Lover

24. TaekWoon

KyungMi's office at the orphanage was like seeing a reflection of the woman herself. Painted in warm tones of brown with comfy chairs and shelves full of books, it was neat and inviting. Under any other circumstances, I would've been wholly comfortable sitting in the snug room with a good coffee. But in this moment, I couldn't help but fidget nervously in my seat, my foot shaking impatiently as we waited for confirmation of the identity of the woman we'd spoken to on the phone.

And even though neither Imani nor I were exactly willing, it was inevitable that we meet with Jae's mother, if that's who she was. She had, in obedience to Imani's rushed words, called again the next day and the day after that. While my wife was and had always been strong since I'd known her, talking to the woman who may have birthed her son seemed like more than she could bear. I did the only thing I knew to do and talked to the woman myself.

Her name was Kang SooRi and like she had asked the day before, she wanted to meet JaeHyun. I hadn't agreed immediately; no matter what she said she was still only a voice over the phone. But she had agreed to speak with law enforcement to verify herself and KyungMi had volunteered her own time to investigate Kang's claims.

It was a trial in patience, waiting for the background check to clear, and for KyungMi's own conclusions. Imani sat next to me, lost in her own world as she watched her mentor with wide eyes, her nerves palpable. I reached out my hand to take hers and she sent me a tight smile, squeezing it hard when KyungMi finally finished her phone call.

"Well, Unnie?" Imani asked hopefully, her voice clearly stating she wanted this all to just be a bad dream. I was hoping just as hard.

KyungMi looked at both of us with exhausted eyes that shimmered with unshed tears. I felt my heart drop suddenly and held Imani's hand even tighter.

"I'm so sorry dear one, but she checks out. I know this seems bad, but it's your decision whether you let her see JaeHyun though, you're his legal guardian now."

Shock and dismay showed plainly on Imani's face, her lip trembling at the words KyungMi spoke. There was now no evidence doubting that Kang was who she claimed to be; we had no choice but believe that she was in fact Jae's biological mother. Imani turned to me with tears sliding down her cheeks and I took her into my arms, holding her tight as she shook in my grasp. My heart ached at the thought of what she must be feeling, over what I felt too. I had never imagined that after so long, a biological parent would just show up. I was shaken and fearful; I could only imagine that Imani must feel ten times worse.

When Kang called Imani back a few days after we'd had her checked out, I had taken over the talks about her meeting JaeHyun. I hated to think it, but Imani hadn't been handling the news well at all. I'd never imagined something could shake her so completely but each time I had spoken to Kang, she had waited anxiously by my side as I'd discussed possible meeting times and places, her hands clasped tightly together against her chest, her eyes wide as she barely breathed.

There was nothing I could do to ease the transition of another person coming into claim a part of Jae's life and if Imani was suffering, JaeHyun was living in his own heightened state of confusion and fury. After our last call, when we had finally agreed to have JaeHyun meet her, Imani and I had worked up the nerve to tell him exactly what was going on. To say that he hadn't taken it well was an understatement.

Our son had clearly been shaken, not by the fact that he had a biological mother, (because he was too smart and had already understood that that was the case) but because she now wanted to meet him. There was anger in his voice when he talked about how she had left him, about what reasons she could've possibly had to do it.

And even though we had tried our best to explain that people make mistakes, and how much of a difference knowing her could possibly make in his life, he had remained stubborn and stated multiple times that he didn't want to go. It had taken days of persuasion to get him to relent to just going, and even then, he'd declared passionately that he wouldn't say a word. Imani and I were both worried about how Jae would react as we left Seoul and went into the outskirts of the city near Gapyeong, were Kang resided.