The sound of birds chirping from the outside window could be heard even from the room.
The sunlight came through and shone brightly in the room. The brightness slowly woke me up. I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar room. Looking through the room, I finally remembered that I had moved to my grandparents' house.
I lay down for a moment while basking in the sunlight that fell onto the bed.
So peaceful
Today I think I'm going to look into the storage room to see what's in it because yesterday both Aunty and I didn't have enough time to tackle it.
But before that, I needed to freshen up and have breakfast first.
Slowly I arose from the bed and walked to the bathroom attached to the room.
After done washing up and brushing my teeth, I went to the kitchen and checked the stuff in it.
Of course, there's nothing
When I looked at the newly cleaned pantry and refrigerator there was nothing in it, just some leftover water and side dishes from yesterday's takeout.
I seriously need to stock up today.
So I checked the nearest grocery store which was around 1 km from here. It was not too far and I could walk there.
Then I noticed that this neighborhood was not too far from Seoul but still had some distance. I also noted that the nearest bus stop was around a 7-minute walk.
After finishing looking through the kitchen, I grabbed my shopping bag and prepared to go out.
As I walked past the houses around me, I noticed that the houses around here were quite close to one another.
Just when I passed the second house from mine, I passed by a grandma who was sitting on her front porch.
"Ah, Agassi (young lady) good morning. Did you just move here?" The grandma greeted me and asked curiously as she had never met me before.
"Yes Grandma, I just moved to the Hanok house over there," I answered politely.
"The Hanok house? Do you mean the "Hwa" family house?" Grandma looked surprised when I answered.
"Right Grandma, the "Hwa" family house." I smiled while meeting her surprised eyes.
"Omo! You're Sooyun, right? Omo, it has been years since I saw you. Why do you still look so young? Do you remember me? I'm Mrs. Kim, Kim Haesun. I like to visit your parents' tea shop when they are still open." Grandma's surprised face turned into a happy one and she kept patting my arm.
"No, grandma. I'm not Sooyun, that was my mom. I'm her daughter. Hwa Aerin."
"Aaa, Sooyun already has a kid now. My, my I'm so old that I didn't realize it." She then started to rumble.
"You know that I know Sooyun from her as such a wee child. Sadly, after she moved to college she never returned. Even your grandparents were also very devastated as their only daughter never contacted them again. So how's your mom? Was she also moving back here? The last time I saw her was during your grandparents' funeral." After finishing her rumbling she asked me with pure curiosity.
"My mom died a month ago grandma, it's only me that moved back here," I answered her truthfully.
"Aigoo, you poor kid. To be here alone…" Grandma said with a sad and concerned voice then she hugged me.
"No, no it's okay grandma." I felt a bit emotional while hugging her, but I tried to control it and also calm her down by patting her back.
"It must be hard for you. Don't carry the burden alone, okay? You can talk to grandma all the time. Aerin, right? You can call me Grandma Kim."
"Ah let's not stay here, come inside, come inside." she invited me to her house after she let me go and started to guide me to her house.
"I'm sorry Grandma, I need to go to the market to stock up on the fridge." I declined her invitation as I remembered my original goal when coming out of the house.
"Aigoo, sorry that this old lady held you up for too long right?"
"No, Grandma. I like talking to you."
"Next time visit my house, okay? I lived here with my grandson until last year, but he has been busy with his work this year. So I'm getting lonely." She said in a longing voice while still holding my hand.
"I'll visit you next time again grandma." I nodded at her.
"I'll send you off now. Don't forget to visit me, Agassi!" She patted and waved at me.
"'Kay, grandma. See you later, it's nice talking with you." I bowed to her and continued to my original goal of the day.
By the time I was done shopping, it was no longer breakfast time, but more like brunch time. I only bought a week's supply as I couldn't bring more than that as it already occupies both of my hands.
When I walked back, I couldn't find Grandma Kim in front of her house anymore.
Maybe she's inside? But I didn't think I could visit her today, as I needed to reorganize the house first.
So I walked directly to the gate, and entered back into the house.
I put down the heavy grocery bags and started to take out the items for making today's brunch.
I didn't have any desire to make a lavish dish, so I just heated some pre-made kimchi dumplings and made a Tuna Rice Bowl along with it.
After I finished eating and doing the dishes, I stocked up the fridge and pantry first with the stuff I bought. Then, like I planned this morning, I went to the storage room to see what was in it.
When I stepped into the room, it was quite dusty as the cleaner hadn't come to this room yesterday.
So, I went out again to grab some cleaning stuff along with some gloves and a mask to help me clean up the room.
I walked back to the storage again and started to sort out the stuff in it.
It was filled with a lot of old books and belongings of my grandparents, that was what I thought.
While sorting the books and some of the stuff, I recognized some photo albums and a handwritten recipe book. My interest was piqued by looking at them, so I started flipping the photo album first.
I was filled with a lot of pictures of a young couple that shared some characteristics like Mom. Sometimes they posed alone, some together in front of the Hanok house. There were also some photos in the tea shop, I presume.
As I flipped more, I found more photos of that couple now with an infant. The more I flipped, the more the infant in it grew. Until she looked like a child in my mom's old photo.
It was Mom's childhood photos. She looks so bright and happy here unlike any mom that I know of.
She looked delighted when she was posing in the tea house, and most of her pictures were there.
From brewing tea, conversing with what I presumed was a customer, and even when making some tea blends. She also posed with a lot of teas, some of which I think she created on her own.
Until the last photo of her that I found here, it was when she was enrolled in college I believe.
There was even a banner in the photo that said Freshman Orientation ceremony.
After finishing looking through the albums, I moved to the handwritten recipe book.
When I opened the book on the front page, it said Sooyun-ie.
So it's mom's book
There are a lot of tea blends, tea recipes, and some tea-pairing foods written there.
It was filled with so much love for the tea shop.
The conclusion saddened me deeply, as the mom that I knew never drank any fancy tea that she wrote about here. She always drank cheap and processed tea bags that she could buy at a discount price.
As I thought, she had sacrificed a lot during her relationship with that man and even after getting out of his grip.