Family

Sae-byeok spent the weekend with her parents. Gi-hun was a bit mad at first, but after a small talk with In-ho, he realized he couldn’t stay mad at his child for defending her best friend, even if he hated violence.

They played some board games, and cooked together. They only went outside to buy wet food for their cats.

Giving their cats food was something Sae-byeok enjoyed doing very much. She loved seeing how excited the cats were, especially her favourite one, Roc.

When she was preparing their lunch, the black-and-white cat jumped on her lap, and she stopped for a moment to talk to him.

“Hey, little one…” she said, even though the cat was about to turn six, she saw him as her baby. “I wish Ji-yeong could meet you,” she sighed. “Do you think I should convince my dads to let her stay here for a night?”

The cat just meowed, desperate for the food.

“Ok, ok, I get it,” she laughed, as she continued preparing his food. “You’re jealous. Don’t worry, Roc, she’s my best friend, and you’re my best friend. I’ll make sure the three of us will be the best friends ever.”

When she finished preparing the food for every cat, she gave each of them their bowl. She smiled.

She didn’t realize she wasn’t the only one smiling, until she looked up and saw Gi-hun grinning at her. He approached her, and gently kissed her forehead.

—

When Monday arrived, Sae-byeok felt nervous. She didn’t really want to see her classmate, the one she had hit, whose name she didn’t remember.

She entered the classroom, and everyone started whispering to their friends while staring at her.

She sighed.

On the other hand, Ji-yeong grabbed her by her arm and pulled her towards the end of the room.

“What were you thinking?!” Ji-yeong asked, furious.

Oh, of course. Sae-byeok hadn’t even realized after the incident she hadn’t even had time to speak to Ji-yeong.

“I know everything,” she replied.

“What are you talking about?!” the shorter girl asked, still mad.

“I know about your parents. I know what they did to you,” Sae-byeok said, as calm as she could.

Ji-yeong stared at her, anxiously. She was shocked. Sae-byeok continued.

“I hate how you didn’t tell me. You should have at least tried venting to me about it. I’m your best friend,” she said.

Ji-yeong felt like her eyes were getting watery, ashamed. She didn’t want to deal with this. She wished she could have just stayed in the orphanage instead of accepting to get adopted by those awful people, so she wouldn’t have to have lived those experiences.

But back then, she had been so excited to have a family she didn’t even think twice.

She regretted it, deeply.

“Are you mad at me?” she finally asked, after staying silent for a while.

“What? No! Of course not!” Sae-byeok said, getting closer to her. “It just makes me sad. I feel like you thought I would stop loving you. Because, Ji-yeong, I would never, ever, stop loving you.”

She felt like tears were running down her cheek.

Sae-byeok cleaned them with her thumb, and hugged her tightly.

“I love you, too,” Ji-yeong whispered, loud enough so Sae-byeok could hear it and could cause her a soft smile.

While the teacher hadn’t arrived yet, they spent a few minutes like that, hugging, as if it were just them, no one else, until two boys interrupted them.

“Hi,” one of them said, nervously. “I’m Yong-sik, and he’s Woo-seok,” the mentioned one nodded. “We just wanted to say we think it was really cool what you did last Friday, Sae-byeok.”

Sae-byeok giggled, while Ji-yeong looked at them with a death glare, as if she was warning them not to encourage Sae-byeok.

“We’re serious!” the other boy, Woo-seok, said. “It was soooo cool! Bon-hwa totally deserved it.”

Bon-hwa. That was the bully’s name. Sae-byeok started laughing. She put her hand on Ji-yeong’s shoulder, and noticed how her friend was about to start laughing too.

The four of them laughed for a minute, until the teacher was there. They silently decided to sit together.

The day had just started, but it hadn’t been a total failure like Sae-byeok was expecting. Deep down, she had known, and knew, that while having Ji-yeong by her side, she would always find a way to make her happy.