Jade
Being here with Min-ho makes me feel like I'm in a bubble. My head is confused, and so many feelings are shaking my soul.
I had planned to spend a couple of days in a hotel, recover from what happened, and then face my family.
Instead, the Min-ho cyclone hit me.
I was sad at the thought of not seeing him again, but I felt lucky to at least have someone to keep in touch with.
Instead, he wanted to talk to me and see me.
And now, sitting on this couch, I'm getting ready to tell him my sad story.
Who knows if he'll run away from me.
But now there's no point in grinding my soul for people who are no longer worth anything to me.
I swallow and mentally prepare myself to speak.
"You know, I was born in Seoul. My mother is Korean, the eldest daughter of a well-known chaebol family, and my father is American from Los Angeles. They met at the University of Seoul, where my father came to specialize in data analysis; he's a computer scientist. He hadn't decided to come to Korea specifically, but a friend of his won a scholarship and, seeing as a boy had turned it down, followed him. He met my mother, who was majoring in economics; they dated for a while, and she got pregnant. She didn't want to have an abortion, so she defied her father and married him. When I was born, a few months later, her mother and brother died in a car accident, so my grandfather called her home as the sole heir. We moved into his house, and the problems began. My father was always out late at night working on his projects, and I stayed with a nanny until my mother got home from work. I saw her very little, but she looked for me as soon as she got home, and I was very happy."
I stop for a moment and look at him. He's staring at me with great interest.
"I almost never saw my grandfather, and on the rare occasions he did, he paid me no attention. I looked for him, I said hello, but he ignored me, so I stopped being in the same room as him when he came to our apartments. One evening, my cousin Kang Jun, the son of my mother's brother who had died, arrived; his mother had given up custody of him and entrusted him to our family for education. I was very happy that there was another child in the house; we got along well, and I had many happy moments, until, about a year later, my father had a violent argument with my grandfather and said he was leaving the house. It was then that my relationship with my mother also changed: she was absent, she treated me with aloofness, and then one day she told me to go away with my father. At first, I didn't understand; I thought we were going to the US for a vacation, but then I learned that she had divorced my father and had decided she no longer wanted to see me."
I sigh, trying not to let my voice tremble.
Min-ho comes over to me and takes my hands.
"Why did he do something like that? Didn't he think about your pain?"
I grimace.
"She wasn't interested. I started having problems. I'd wake up from terrifying nightmares, I'd cry nonstop, I'd run away from home because I wanted to be with her. I couldn't accept not seeing her anymore."
"How old were you?"
"Seven."
He shakes his head, pained. He pulls me close and hugs me tightly.
I swallow several times to keep from bursting into tears.
"If you keep being so sweet, I won't be able to finish the story," I murmur against his shoulder, sniffling.
He apologizes and lets me go, but holds my hands in his.
"What happened after that?"
"A lot, but I'll give you the short version. I had a lot of problems at school until Sherry, a special education teacher, the one who later became my father's new wife, took me to some specialists, and I was diagnosed with stress disorder and ADHD. That's why I'm so hyperactive, but with the right therapy, I've managed to find my outlet, which is dance."
"So I have your new mom to thank for meeting you," he says with a smile. "But I suspect you came here for your real mother. Am I wrong?"
I nod. He immediately understood my feelings.
"Yes, I couldn't accept that silence and rejection, so after writing to her for years, I went to her in person. She didn't see me; they said she was out of town. But when I started getting popular thanks to the talent show, she sent her lawyer to intimidate me. She let me know that, even though I was using my Korean name, she didn't want anyone to know I was connected to her family because she has a minor child to protect."
I grit my teeth and Min-ho hugs me again.
"What bastards! How could they? Do you want me to consult my lawyer? Do you want to sue them?"
I shake my head and hug him tightly.
For the first time, I feel understood, protected.
"I told him I was giving up my Korean name and that I didn't want to see them anymore. And when I was attacked for favoritism by my fellow talents, I wondered who I was fighting for to stay on the show... I had come for her, who never wanted me. What was the point of staying?"
"You were doing it for yourself, for your amazing creativity, not for her!" he says, letting me go. "Jade, you're so good, why let that woman destroy you?"
"I know, but I understood this thanks to you. That's why it didn't make sense to stay in a place where I wasn't wanted. Now I feel free and I know that my place isn't here, in Korea, but I have to go back to where I feel like myself, which is LA."
He gives me an unhappy look.
"And me?"
I study it with love, a great and wonderful feeling.
"You're my sunshine, you know. You always will be, but I don't belong here. We're young, you have a fabulous career ahead of you, and I would never do anything to make you uncomfortable, you know that, right?
"Jade, but I'm not prepared to lose you!"
I hug him tightly.
"We haven't had time to get to know each other, we couldn't be together anyway, it's not our time yet. But I belong to you, like my heart. It's just that I'll be somewhere else... I'll be there for you whenever you want, we'll talk often, we'll text each other, I want to know everything about you, about your day, your tantrums, your music, your girls and..."
He pulls away from me and glares at me.
"Girls?"
"Okay, sorry, don't tell me anything or I'll get jealous," I laugh, tickling him to loosen up a bit.
"Can't you stay here a little longer? A few weeks?" he tries to convince me, making a heart-shaped mouth.
"My father will kill me.. And then he kills you. Even though I'm a recent adult, he's very protective, and it gets worse if I tell him I like a Korean guy," I confide, smiling. "I think he still hasn't gotten over the trauma of the divorce."
He nods, but he's very sad.
"But I can give you two days before I leave. Will you keep me with you?"
His eyes widen, a smile playing on his lips.
"You're staying with me? Really?" he asks, surprised.
"If you want me... I just have to book the hotel nearby and..."
He puts a hand over my mouth and shakes my head.
"Stay here with me! Here!"
I frown.
"But if anyone finds out..."
"No one will know, I never invite people here. Only Seo Joon knows this place, and he already adores you."
"Really? Um, actually, I seem to remember him calling me noona," I reply, remembering his words. "Okay, I'll enjoy this fairytale for two days, and they'll be the best moments of my entire life. Where shall I sleep?" I ask, pointing to the suitcase waiting to be unpacked from the entrance.
"In my arms," she says with a sweet smile.
And I don't need to be told twice, as I dive into it with all the joy and love I feel for him.
I want to live the fairytale!