Fix It

Mina watched helplessly as Chaeyoung disappeared from the street. Why was she so weak? Why couldn’t she just put on her shoes and coat as well and just follow her?

Her hands were shaking, not entirely sure if she was really registering everything that happened. Chaeyoung was gone, but there was a part of her that hoped it was just for a couple of minutes. If she waited long enough, Chaeyoung was going to come home and stay.

No, she wasn’t going to wait. Mina was not going to let this slip away exactly like what she did in the past. She stood up from the entrance of the door and rushed back inside to go to her room, but Kai grabbed her arm before she went upstairs, dragging her back down to the living room.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asked, still angry.

She shoved his hand away and then slapped him across the face again. He almost raised his own hand to hit back out of frustration, but she was quick to hit him again.

When he staggered back, she grabbed his shirt. “You think I’m going to allow you to disrespect me just like what you did with your wife?” Then she pushed him away and glared at him. “You think just because you throw your money at us, you’re already considered the golden parent? That you’re suddenly a great dad?”

Then she looked at Yukiko, who was still kneeling on the floor in the kitchen, staring at the torn piece of paper, silently crying.

Mina pointed at Yukiko to him. “Did you know that she's part of the top students in her whole batch?” She glared at him. “Did you know she’s getting bullied at school? Or that she spends most of her time at her best friend’s house because she really needs that kind of escape? Do you know she also has anxiety?” Then she punched his chest. “Did you know that she genuinely loves Chaeyoung?”

Mina wiped her tears harshly from her face with her wrists and scoffed. “Chaeyoung has only been here for nine months, and yet she never hesitated to attend events in Yuki’s school, she went to that recital that your daughter desperately wanted you to attend. Chaeyoung attended PTA conferences with me, she cooks for Yukiko when she’s sick or when I’m sick, she cleans your house, she even repaired the broken part of the roof that you were supposed to fix years ago. She buys groceries and gifts for your daughter. She loves your daughter.”

Mina didn’t wait for him to respond, and she ran upstairs, changed into jeans and wore socks, grabbed her phone and wallet then rushed downstairs.

“I don’t know what happened to you,” she said as she wore her coat, still wiping the tears that were inevitably falling from her eyes. “You used to be my best friend. But ever since I moved to Korea, you’ve been nothing but an asshole.”

“I didn’t want you to move away,” he said quietly. “It was like you were leaving me behind.”

“And your answer to that was to transform into the worst person in my life?” Mina stopped to glare at him again, her brows furrowing as she tried to understand his words. “Don’t you remember how I skipped school to be here for your birthday? For Yuki’s birthday? For Mom and Dad’s birthdays at the cemetery because you guilt tripped me if I wasn’t there?”

Kai tried to step forward, but Mina stopped him. “You can’t blame me for that when you were so willing to leave us here. Mom and Dad died, and I had no one else but Yui and Yukiko.” He tried to fight back.

“When Yui-chan died, I immediately dropped my career just to be here for Yukiko. I’m still young, Kai, I could have had a career in my dance school and yet I feel trapped because of you.” Then she looked back at Yukiko, feeling her heart twist, seeing her niece look so lifeless on the kitchen floor, leaning her head on the counter. “I did it because I love you, I love my niece and I loved Yui-chan.”

He was about to say more, but then it suddenly hit him and looked down at the floor. “I-I’m sorry,” he tried to say. Then the two of them whipped their heads at the doorway of the kitchen when Yukiko was standing there, gripping onto the torn plane tickets. He tried to step closer to her. “Yuki, I’m sorry.”

“I hate you,” she said in a whisper, making Kai stop. Then she looked at him, eyes red from crying and her face couldn’t be read, contorting because she couldn’t hold back her tears. “I wished you were the one who died instead of mom.”

Mina and Kai were quiet when she said that. Kai took a step forward again to her. “Yuki, please don’t say that.”

Yukiko pulled away from him, she dodged him and then ran to the stairs. She stopped at the first step and breathed in. “I would rather have Chaeyoung as my parent than you.” Then she turned to Mina and started crying again. “Auntie, did Chaeyoung leave us for good?”

She threw her hand to her mouth. The words of a confused and hurt child twisted her heart even more. Mina rushed to grab Yukiko to a tight hug, letting her niece let out the loudest sobs she had ever heard. “Chaeyoung is gonna be back. I promise.” She tried to hold back her tears as she held onto Yukiko.

“I want to go to Korea with Chaeyoung!” Yukiko cried into her chest. “I want Chaeyoung here! I want her to come home!”

Then Mina glared at her brother, watching his face turn into the most pathetic look ever and he looked away. She pulled Yukiko back and wiped her tears with her fingers. “Let’s go get Chaeyoung.”

Yukiko nodded immediately and ran upstairs to her room. Mina took a deep breath and turned to look at her brother again. “Kai, I hate you,” she said simply. “But not because of tonight. Not because you disrespected my girlfriend. But because you keep thinking you know what’s best for us but you’re only making us miserable. All cause you need to have that sense of control.” Then she walked towards him. “If you don’t see what you’re doing to your family, then you will lose Yukiko forever.”

When Yukiko rushed downstairs, she was already in her winter coat, jeans, boots, and had a blanket tucked under her arm. She didn’t spare her father a glance and waited for Mina to put on her shoes by the door.

Mina walked towards her shoes and slipped them on, then she opened the door and held Yukiko’s hand tight. “I don’t care what you do, just fix this.”

With that, Yukiko and Mina walked out to the street to look for Chaeyoung.

They didn’t know where to start their search. The snow was pouring down hard that night and all that Mina could worry about was if Chaeyoung was warm and wasn’t freezing to death. She was glad that Yuki brought that blanket, in case they did find her, and they could wrap her up immediately. Mina silently scolded herself for not bringing more warm clothes for Chaeyoung.

She and Yukiko checked the train stations, the convenience store and even the local post office in case Chaeyoung was there, since she frequented there to send letters and packages to her mother. But to their dismay, she wasn’t.

“Do you think she’s at the park?” Yukiko asked as she tried to warm herself up in her scarf and jacket.

Mina thought for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, she could be there.” She took Yukiko’s hand, and they went out again to continue their search.

She tried to hold back tears when she remembered how she desperately asked Chaeyoung to stay. The way Chaeyoung looked so hurt, the way the tears fell from her eyes, it made Mina's heart ache and the pain was so great that she didn't know how she was able to survive it. She had never seen Chaeyoung cry like that before. Maybe from a sad movie they watched but not like this.

But Mina had to remind herself what she had to do, she had to look for Chaeyoung.

When they entered the park, they immediately walked towards their usual spot there. It didn’t take long for Yukiko to let go of her hand and ran towards the bench where they saw someone slumped on it.

“Chaeyoung!”

To her relief, the person shot their head up and it was indeed Chaeyoung.

Mina let out a sigh of relief and ran towards them, Yukiko was already hugging her, crying on her knees. “Chaeyoung, please come back home,” the girl cried, holding onto Chaeyoung's cold hands.

Her heart clenched when she saw Chaeyoung’s face stained with tears, trying her best to hold onto Yukiko’s hand. When Chaeyoung looked up, she couldn’t hold back her tears when she met eyes with Mina.

“I-I’m sorry,” Chaeyoung said weakly. Then she dropped her head and sobbed. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Mina rushed to her, grabbing the blanket that they brought with them and wrapping Chaeyoung with it. She took off her gloves and grabbed Chaeyoung’s face. Mina didn't stop hear tears from falling when she felt how cold her face was and brought it close to press soft kisses on her cheek.

“Don’t apologize, please,” Mina whispered, then she hugged her tight. “Just don’t go, please.”

Yukiko stood up from the snow and threw her hands over Chaeyoung, her small body was shaking from the crying and held onto her tight. “We love you, Chaeyoung. We want you to stay.”

Chaeyoung started sobbing again. She held onto the both of them tightly. “I love you guys so much.” She tried to breathe. “I just wanted you to be happy. I didn’t want to cause problems with your family.”

“You didn’t, okay?” Mina said in a shaky breath. She cradled her head towards her chest and kissed her head. “Yukiko loves you and you’ve done so much for us. Even if you didn’t have to, you still did, and we’ll always be thankful for that.”

“I’m sorry.” Chaeyoung cried again. “I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want you to beg. I feel so horrible for making you do that.” Her voice was strained, her chest was heaving on Mina’s body. She pulled back and looked up at Mina, trying her best to hold in her tears. “I don’t want to leave you guys. Please don’t make me go.”

More tears fell and Mina cupped Chaeyoung’s face. “You’re not going anywhere, okay?” She wiped Chaeyoung’s tears with her thumb. “I love you.” Mina’s lips were trembling. “I love you so much, Chaeyoung. You have no idea how much I do.”

Chaeyoung grabbed her for a hug, she wrapped her other arm around Yukiko and held them both tightly. The three of them cried and held each other until the snow covered their shoulders and their heads.

Once they felt Yukiko shake from the cold, they pulled away and Mina held her hand out and smiled at Chaeyoung and Yukiko. “Let’s go home?”

The two nodded their heads and they helped Chaeyoung up from the bench, making sure she didn’t leave anything, and they finally started walking home. Mina and Yukiko held her hand and told her one last time that they loved her.

A year ago, Mina thought she wasn’t going to have anything good in her life. She had already moved on from her first heartbreak, her brother only spent one day with them, and he had already left to go back to the States to resume his training. She was left alone in the big house with her niece who was as lonely as her.

Now, she couldn’t believe she met someone who turned their lives around and did everything in her power to make them happy again. If her sister in law was alive again, she would have felt the same gratitude towards Chaeyoung.