Paris En Tu Invierno (ChuuVes FF)

xxxvii.seoul,south korea.

Jiwoo.

I woke to the smell of Heejin making breakfast. It smelled like home again. I stepped out of bed to see Sooyoung and Hyunjin drinking coffee. I pull my robe close to me. "Good morning, everyone. Heejin, you didn't tell me these two were coming this morning."

Heejin grinned at me. "Didn't have to. They came on their own." She scraped eggs onto four plates. "Plus, they can always come uninvited."

I sat beside Sooyoung, who looked more casual. I never seen her in anything this casual in a long time. Her hair was pulled back into a messy poinytail and she was wearing a a black and white floral shirt, over a blank white one and jeans, with her old messy Converses. I grinned. This was the Sooyoung I came to fall in love with way back when. "What are we doing today?"

"Seeing our families," Sooyoung said. "I think it's right that we go see them together...for support. You and I." She held my hand. "If you want to...we can go..."

I thought long and hard. It was a while since I saw my parents. I did want to see them. But, I can't help but remember the painful memories from before I left. When they kicked me out after graduation. When my brother coldly treated me after he found out about Sooyoung and I. I wandered what they thought of me now. As their child. I looked at Sooyoung. I knew that because I was with her, I wouldn't face them alone. "It's okay. We can try." I swallowed my food.

I stood in the shower, thinking about it. Would my parents look the same? Would they still love their child? I pulled my hair back into a ponytail with a bow, the hair color slightly fading a little. I set a little mental reminder to color it again when I got back. I pulled on a dress and got a pocketbook. I stepped outside to see Heejin and Hyunjin bunched up near the TV watching Pororo with banana milk. Sooyoung was just casually on her phone and then she looked up to see me. "You ready?" I nod and then we go out to a new convertible car.

"Another one?" I sigh. She smiles and just holds the door open for me. "I should become your financial advisor at this rate. Stop splurging your cash."

Sooyoung jumped into the driver sear and turned the key in the ignition. "I won't crash this one because I actually spent three paychecks on the down payment for this baby," she says. She looks at me and kisses my lips. "You know I love you so much. If they still don't accept you, just know, you always have me. I know I'm not much but, I got you. I'll never leave you like I did before."

I nodded. "You will always have me too. And you better not leave me."

Sooyoung laughed. "Alright, where we going first?"

"Let's see your mom first...."

It was a short drive to Sooyoung's mother's new house. It was a small home where the elderly usually live. Sooyoung opened the door for me and we walked to her door. Sooyoung breathed in nervously and knocked on the door. There was a small dog yapping and two women's voices were muffled through the door. Sooyoung grinned. "Mom finally got a dog that she always wanted." The door swung open and a woman who had Sooyoung's eyes was there. I was guessing that this was her mother. She blinked twice and yelled for her other daughter to come to the door. Another woman stood there who looked like the mother exactly.

"Hey-hey mom. Unnie..." Sooyoung's cool demeanor was now replaced with a childish one. She looked cautious and worried. "It's been awhile." She was using a different dialect. I forgot that Sooyoung was from Busan. She grinned softly with tears threatning to pour from her eyes. I never saw this side of Sooyoung. She was more vulnerable with her mother and older sister than she was with me. These were the women who made my Sooyoung the woman she is now. Well, a part of who she is now. I knew it was difficult for her because they didn't talk to her much when she lived with her father. I would see how it broke her heart entirely whenever the phone calls would be cut short with her mother or sister.