Chapter 104.1

Chapter 104.1

After finishing their meal, the two went into Juran’s room and pulled out a brown briefcase hidden deep inside the wardrobe. Juran entered the code and clicked the lock open. The number was Miran’s birthday.

When Miran picked up a faded black-and-white photograph from inside the case, a small gasp escaped her lips.

“Wow. I look just like Dad.”

“Yeah. You really do.”

“That’s amazing…”

At that moment, she finally understood where her brown hair and those foreign-looking features had come from.

She looked through the faded handkerchief Juran had embroidered as a farewell gift, and the postcard covered in handwritten words, then asked without lifting her head,

“Then… can I call you Mom now?”

“Mm.”

Juran clapped a hand over her mouth, nodded hard, and began to sob uncontrollably.

Saturday was usually a workday until noon, but that morning, Juran called her boss, explained the situation, and took a half day off.

She said Miran must have lost weight because the food in New York didn’t suit her, and since it had been three months, she set out a table so full it looked ready to collapse.

When they checked the scale, Miran’s weight hadn’t changed at all since three months ago. Still, she didn’t complain—it was nice to eat a proper home-cooked meal again.

“American food could never suit a Korean’s taste. Hamburgers, cola, French fries—greasy and unhealthy. It’s all junk.”

Stuffing a large bite of rolled omelet into her mouth, Miran suddenly started choking. She barely managed to swallow, and when she looked up, Juran was watching her with narrowed eyes and asked abruptly,

“By the way, what happened with that man you went to see in New York?”

Miran’s hand went limp, and her spoon slipped from her fingers. The spoon clattered to the floor, while her chopsticks fell askew across the table.

“H-how did you know?”

When Miran began to stammer, Juran let out a scoffing laugh.

“How could I not know?”

Miran gulped down cold water to wash the food out of her mouth. Juran shot her a sharp look.

“The photo under your pillow. You went to see that man, didn’t you?”

“…You went through my room?”

Miran glared at her, and Juran fired right back.

“You think I did it on purpose? I was just changing your sheets and lifted your pillow, and there was this photo of some handsome foreign actor. I looked at it, and there was something written on the back. What did that mean?”

“Ah, why’d you look at that!”

Juran ignored her complaint.

“Now that I think about it, when you moved back home after living on your own, you were always going to the post office with those airmail envelopes. I figured it was some pen pal, but last winter you caught a bad case of lovesickness—crying and moping around, living off roasted sweet potatoes and tangerines for days. Then a few days later, you were laughing and running out the door with another letter.”

Juran chuckled as she recalled it.

“You must’ve thought you were hiding it so well. Pretending not to notice was the real effort. You went to see that man, didn’t you? I raised you, you think I wouldn’t notice something like that?”

Miran wanted to deny it, but her tongue tangled up.

“N-no, that’s not it! I went there to study English! I was going to be a flight attendant.”

“You can only learn English in New York? There’s LA, there’s Canada. But you picked expensive New York of all places—clearly that’s where he lives. Obvious.”

Avoiding her gaze, Miran gathered the chopsticks that had fallen onto the table.

‘Crap, she found out everything.’

She had done every single thing Juran had told her not to, so there was plenty to feel guilty about.

“Miran, you’re pretty enough yourself, but looking at that photo, I had to wonder if he was too handsome for his own good.”

“…He’s not that kind of person.”

When Miran muttered in a small voice, Juran let out a deep sigh.

“Since I went through something like that when I was young, I sometimes wonder if I was too strict with you while raising you. That’s why, when you said you wanted to go to New York, I closed my eyes and let you go. Someone once told me this—the world’s changed now, and you have to experience dating to know later on whether someone’s right for you or not. You’re twenty-five already. If you like someone enough to be lovesick over him, you should at least date him once.”

Miran lowered her eyes and stayed silent. But Juran showed no mercy and went straight to the point.

“You went all the way there. Did he dump you?”

“…Mom.”

“…Yeah.”

At that single word, Juran’s nose turned red. The word “Mom” had slipped out so naturally that Miran herself was startled. Maybe it was because, in her heart, she’d already been calling Juran that for a long time.

Worried that Juran might start crying, Miran quickly changed the subject.

“People who are similar get along better, right? If two people are too different, it’s hard to be happy together, isn’t it?”

“Who told you that?”

Miran’s head snapped up.

“You did, Mom.”

“I said that? When?”

“When we were watching Love in Your Arms! You definitely said it then!”

Juran let out a laugh and shrugged with a shameless look.

“I don’t remember, but it’s not wrong. People who grow up in similar environments tend to understand each other more easily. But I’ve also heard that opposites can make it work too. They’re drawn to what the other lacks and fill in each other’s gaps.”