Chapter 1: The Unforgettable Past
"Dad, it's my birthday next week. You promised me to buy me bicycle this time", the little girl asked her father. She was holding his hand and he was carrying her school bag. Looking at them, I rethink about the choice I made that day. The day I parted my ways with my father. He was the best father for me but was never once a good husband to my mother. Mom always used to say that it was a problem in their relationship and should never affect the bond I shared with dad. And that's how I lived until that day. The day I still remember as if it just happened last night.
"Mom, I can smell some delicious food coming my way", I rejoiced. She seemed to be in a good mood. " Yes, you know what day it is today? Today was the day when I met your father for the first time. It was our friend's party and he was looking so handsome ", she blushed. I wish every day to be like today. " Aera, my dear. Today I want to sort things out with your father. He is a very good man and I love him a lot. But you have to promise me one thing, no matter what happens you will not come out of your room. This is between the two of us, you shouldn't get involved in this, okay?", she explained. As a kid I didn't understand much so I just promised to do as said. I felt like everything will be different from tomorrow but never had thought that things would turn out this way.
I enjoyed the delicious meal that mom prepared, most of them were dad's favorite dishes. After savouring my food, I went to my room and lied on bed with a book. 'The Arabian Nights' I used to enjoy reading the adventures of Sinbad. After some time the doorbell rang. My heart skipped a beat. What is going to happen now? I locked my door and sat on the floor. I couldn't hear a single thing and soon I fell asleep.
My sleep was disturbed by a loud thud, I wanted to rush out to see what happened but I had to keep my promise. It was my mom's fight and I knew that she won't lose no matter what happens. "Aera, open the door sweetheart", there was a knock on the door. Hearing his voice it seems like everything is fine but what was that sound earlier. Maybe something just fell down. I slowly unlocked the door to see my father and an unfamiliar face. My eyes looked around the living room only to see my mother lying unconscious on the floor. I furiously looked at the lady standing beside dad. "What did you both do to my mom?!", I yelled. I pushed both of them to run towards my mother but dad pulled me back. " Leave her alone and come with us", he said. "Really dad!? You want me to leave mom alone in this condition and go with you. I used to love you so much. Not just because you were good to me but also because of the way you loved mom unconditionally. I don't know what happened to you suddenly but you are not my father anymore. I am not going anywhere with you. I give you 5 minutes to get away from my sight otherwise I'll call the cops." His eyes were filled with shame when he looked at me. He couldn't speak anything because he knew me too well. He knew that what I just said was bottled up into me from so long. Without speaking another word he just left the house. I ran to mom to see if she was alright. She had some serious wounds and was unconscious. Not wasting any more time I called the ambulance.
The sound of my heartbeat was as loud as the siren of ambulance. The nurse put an oxygen mask to mom, she was finding it difficult to breathe. I cannot hold myself back but in this situation I have to be strong since I have no one else. When we reached the hospital, mom was taken to the emergency room. After doing some tests, the doctor came to me, "Do you have any elders at home? We need to perform a surgery on your mom as soon as possible and we need someone who is adult to do the paper work", he said. The first person who came to my mind was aunt Grace. She was mom's close friend so I called her. She came running to the hospital in no time. After getting the formalities done, the surgery was perfomed and thankfully it was successful.
One week passed by and today mom is getting discharged. Aunt Grace didn't want me to miss my school so I went school regularly. Today I was very excited to go home to see mom back. I know she is not completely recovered but she will still cook something delicious for me. As I walk out of the school joyfully, I saw dad waiting outside. "Aera...", he called my name with sad voice. " I don't want to talk to you! Do you know that mom was hospitalized for a whole damn week because of what you did to her?! The doctors had to perform a surgery on her brain! If I wasn't on time, I could've lost her. From now on, we don't have anything to do with you. Leave us alone and this is my final warning ", I said sternly and pushed him away.
Within a few weeks we decided to leave Incheon and shift to Seoul. It's been more than a year and I am already a high school student. My mom now works as a marketing assistant. She has become a totally different woman from what she used to be. She now looks like a classy working woman. I kinda like her new personality and we both are doing our best to be happy. But there are some things that are stopping me from being happy. My mind is never in peace. I have stopped doing things I once used to enjoy. I have been spending more time by myself and I don't know why but I'm trying to make excuses for not spending time with my friends. My friend Jieun gave me a psychologist's number. He is her cousin's friend and she said that he is very good at counseling. Maybe I should just give it a shot.
"Hello, is this Dr. Min's clinic? I wanted to book an appointment for Sunday."