"You look well, my daughter."
The woman's eyes sparkled for a brief moment as she threw a quick glance at Se Ah, she then turned her face back to face the window, and the room was filled with silence once again.
"You look thinner, though. Are you unwell? The nurse said you've been eating better these days."
Se Ah walked up to her mother and sat down on the windowsill. She kept looking at her mother's wilted face - a woman once famous for her beauty was now a pale empty shell of the person she used to be. Her mother brushed her long silver hair with the fingers of her left hand as if she was trying to comb it and replied,
"I am fine."
Miss Yoon knew that gesture well enough - her mother indeed was asking her to comb her hair for her. She took out a round pink comb from her backpack, stood behind the woman, and started brushing her long and heavily tangled hair.
"How is work? Is it hard?"
"No, not really. Just... work."
"I hope you're not overworking yourself."
Se Ah gripped a lock of her mother's har for a second, then loosened it up and resumed combing. Her mother continued,
"What about Da Hye?"
"She is fine. Her family's business is booming, she often goes to China now."
The woman smiled.
"Good. Da Hye is a good girl. I'm glad you managed to find friends and live a normal life after all."
Se Ah paused, slowly lowered her hand with a comb still in it, and looked at her mother's reflection in the window glass. Her face was smiling peacefully again.
"Yeah..."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"... No. Noone special."
"I see... Alright."
When Se Ah finished untangling her mother's rough silver hair, she sat back on the windowsill and tried to look into her eyes, however, as if embarrassed or ashamed, the old woman averted her gaze each time, and Se Ah decided to give up.
"Mom..."
She looked at her feet and paused. When that word was met with silence, she had no choice but to continue.
"It's not that I don't want you back, I just --"
"I know."
She finally faced her daughter and smiled confidently which made Se Ah's heart thump unexpectedly fast.
"I'm sorry. I need more time."
Miss Yoon took her mother's hands in hers and felt her warmth spread all over her body as if they were heating pads. She missed it. She missed her mother's warmth. She missed her mother's scent. She missed coming back home and smell her cooking. She had to grow up way too fast while her mother had to get old instead. It was all messed up.
"You should go now... Se Ah. The bus will be leaving soon."
The old woman looked at the small clock above the door in her room with teary eyes, then freed her hands from her daughter's tight grip, and gestured for her to leave. Se Ah got up from the windowsill, put her backpack on the left shoulder, and started walking towards the door without saying anything.
"Daughter!"
A sudden exclamation made her stop at once and turn her whole body around.
"Just live your life, alright? I did that so you could live."
The woman smiled unusually brightly and tilted her head to the right. Se Ah nodded softly and left the room so fast, one might have thought it was on fire. Heavy tears were filling her eyes to the brims, she was almost blinded by them, and yet, she kept walking as if nothing mattered, as if everything was perfectly clear. She preferred it that way.
The bus back to Seoul was already waiting at the bus stop, its driver kept pacing back and fo while smocking an extremely poignant cigarette, its suffocating scent made Se Ah's lungs explode with a rather violent cough. She almost jumped onto the bus, dashed to the end of the aisle, and fell onto the last seat next to the window. At last, it was over. For now.
***
"Lee Min Hyun! Would you like to join me for lunch? Mr. Woo and I are going to try that new lunch menu at our company's cafeteria."
Miss Lee looked at him with the eyes of a golden retriever and put on a bright friendly smile. Min Hyun, taken aback by her sudden invitation, looked at Se Ah with a guilty expression, then turned his gaze back to Miss Lee and replied,
"Well, Miss Yoon asked me to finish an activity report so I --"
"You can go, Lee Min Hyun. It can wait."
Se Ah interrupted him while still looking at her screen. She then looked at Miss Lee's perplexed expression and smiled like she always did.
"Miss Lee, please take him to lunch. Just because I'm mentoring him does not mean he has to inherit ALL my habits."
Miss Lee leaned forward, unable to hold back her excitement, and nodded her head.
"As expected of our kind Miss Yoon! You heard her, Min Hyun, come on, let's go have lunch!"
Although reluctantly, the guy had no choice but to stand up from his seat. He fidgeted with a few papers in his hand, then finally turned to face Se Ah, and asked unexpectedly loudly,
"What about Miss Yoon? Will she join us as well?"
Se Ah froze mid-typing and looked over her screen to see what kind of reaction his words had provoked in Miss Lee. The latter looked back at her with a rather bewildered expression, then laughed as if she heard a joke, and waved her hand in front of her chest.
"What kind of question is that? Of course, she can join us, we're not trying to create some exclusive lunch club here!"
She laughed awkwardly again, nudged Mr. Woo on the side, placed her new leather purse on her shoulder, and looked at Se Ah with eyes that were practically burning her alive. Miss Yoon sighed and resumed typing.
"I have ordered lunch from a Chinese restaurant so I'll eat later. Enjoy your food and do tell me if the new menu is worth trying."
"Sure thing, we'll be back then."
Miss Lee grabbed Min Hyun under his firm muscular arm and pulled him away from his desk like a rebellious child. The intern gave up on resisting, however, when he looked back again and saw Se Ah still immersed in her regular activity, he could not help but clench his fists. Everything about that situation was infuriating and he had to make an enormous effort to hide it.