The morning light peered into Ki Sub's room. He had awoken early in an attempt to contact his mother. He'd been living with his dad for six months now and everything was different. He looked at the clock on the wall. It would be the perfect time to call his mom, who lived back home in South Korea. He couldn't understand why they weren't living together anymore. He just knew what his dad told him, that they were divorced and that meant they wouldn't live together anymore. Ki Sub couldn't fully comprehend what a divorce was but he did know that his mom and dad did not love each other anymore. They were not like the happy family that you'd see on TV. His mom didn't cook dinner every night and they didn't sit around the dinner table and talk about their day. Ki Sub sighed in frustration. He was not happy about this new life without his mom. He was sad because he missed her. He wanted to see her, to hug her, to kiss her.
His dad could not cook or wash his clothes like his mom could. They needed her. She knew how to do the things his dad could not. He wondered how they would survive without her. Ki Sub could not understand why she would let them leave and why she had not followed them to the United States. She was his everything, even if he wasn't hers.
Ki Sub picked up the white cordless phone listening for a dial tone. He dialed the number his dad wrote in a notebook for him. He placed the receiver to his ear as he sat on the blue-carpeted floor in his room. They had moved to New York City, and at first Ki Sub had liked it. It was cool and different from Seoul. It was fun like a vacation but now he was ready to go back home. He was homesick. He missed their old apartment. Even though their apartment in New York was a nice luxury high-rise apartment in Manhattan. The luxuriousness was great but it was not home.
"Yeboseyo?" The female voice answered in Korean.
"Mom," Ki Sub said with joy. He had almost forgotten her voice.
"Oh, Ki Sub honey," she spoke back to her son in shock not expecting to hear his voice. She was still at work getting ready for a very important meeting. She really didn't have time to talk to him at this moment. She didn't really have time for anything anymore. Her work was demanding and time-consuming. She wondered how she had ever managed to take care of her son and her former husband, all while navigating her career. Apparently, she hadn't done a good job because she no longer had a family, only her job, which she excelled at.
"Mom, I'm ready to come home now."
"Ki Sub, you have to stay with your father sweetie." She explained. "It's what we agreed on." She had given up full custody rights. It was better for him. She didn't have time to be a good mother. Her career had always been her priority and her family second.
"But mom," Ki Sub protested.
He could hear people in the background talking to his mother.
"Mrs. Won, we're ready."
"Son, I have to go. I'll call you later."
"Mom," he yelled in vain, as the phone disconnected.
Ki Sub slammed the phone down on the hook and climbed back into his bed pulling the covers over his head. He couldn't help but feel disappointed. The tears flowed down his round cheeks as he cried himself back to sleep, as it was the only thing left to do.
He awoke to the smell of burning food. His dad was cooking breakfast again. Ki Sub just couldn't understand why his dad and mom couldn't get back together. They needed each other. How would he survive on his dad's bad cooking? Ki Subs' father's food was so bad that he was more than happy to eat in the school cafeteria. Ki Sub just wanted to be a normal family again.
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