Chapter 14: The Sisters Rhee
Linda sit's alone in her kitchen, she's angry and confused. She's bitter about how things turned out in her life, she's always been bitter because of that reason.
On the table is a half empty bottle of rice wine. She's been drinking for the last hour or so, her throat stings from the amount of alcohol that she's been pouring down her throat. Her head hurts not just from the wine but from certain things that she buried a long time ago. Their starting to resurface.
Her eyes are angry but sad. Her heart hurts in so many ways that it's beyond healing.
Linda starts to remember what happened before she started drinking. She's sad not because of what happened because of what she did, it's something that she can't seem to explain.
She just can't get it out of her head...
Two hours ago
Linda paces back and forth in her den. All she could was remember were her words Why are you doing this? You were someone that I always could depend on, what happened? every word kept echoing through her head I never forgot...I never forgot the way I hurt you guy's...you don't what it's like living with the nightmares... it wasn't just those words but the look in her eyes that bothered her. They were real, heartbreaking and sad, they were genuine. It made it difficult for her to think. Linda did her job on patrol and arrested people as usual but something was different; it all started the day after her spat with Sunny. Linda arrested a 15 year old for shoplifting, she tracked him down to his mother's house.
"Hey, come on, can't you cut me some slack?" the punk pleaded "Shut up. I'm taking you in for shoplifting" she asserted, his mother comes over "Officer, please, you can't take him like this! He's hanging around bad people, I swear I'll make sure he goes straight!" she pleaded, Linda ignores her as she slaps the cuffs around his wrists, suddenly she saw a little girl come towards her mother "Mommy? What's going on?" she curiously wondered. Linda got a look at her, her brown hair, her cute face but it was her eyes that gave her away. Scared but sad, curious about what's going on with her brother. Something flashes through her eyes, something that shakes her in a way that hasn't effected her in a long time.
A young girl with sad and tearful eyes. Her eyes tell a story that's too horrible to repeat. Tears start to flow from her eyes, someone hugs her and tell's her it's alright.
"Mommy, why is the police lady here?" the little girl wondered, Linda kept looking at her No...it can't be her, no, this is a joke... she thought.
"Please just let him go...! Please...don't take him away..." the mother tearfully begged, Linda's heart beat uneasily for some reason; something else flashes through her eyes.
A woman is in tears, she hugs a young girl in tears, the girl says that she's sorry and says that she loves her. They both hold onto each other until the girl finally breaks off and quietly walks out the door.
Linda growls a bit, she take's the key and uncuffs the punk. "Listen," she turns him around "I'm going to let you go but if you try anything like that and I hear about it, then I'm going come back for you, believe me you don't want too piss me off, got it?" she threatened, he simply nods. As soon as she was far enough from the house, her mind races back to that little girl. Her sad eyes make it difficult to concentrate. Linda stops at a diner and tries to think, she wondered why she's suddenly remembering that peculiar moment Why? Why am I thinking about her like that? her thoughts go to Sunny. That girl looked 5 or 6 years old, they had the same look of sadness; they were just mirror images of each other. No she told herself She's-She's nothing but a punk! She's just toying with me! Linda grips the steering wheel hard, she breathes in then out Get a hold of yourself, why should I care about someone like her? she shakes her head and pulls out of the parking lot. The radio comes to life, a 273 D (Domestic Violence) is happening at an apartment complex; days not over yet.
When she was sleeping later that night, she was twisting and turning; she was hearing a familiar voice in her dreams. Linda is walking pretty fast, Sunny is behind her "Linda Slow down!" she pleads "You better hurry up Sunny! Otherwise I'm going to leave you!" Linda playfully said, Sunny tries to keep up "Please, don't leave me!"; suddenly she trips and falls. Linda looks back as Sunny starts to cry, her knees are scraped, "Oh, Sunny! I'm so sorry!" Linda apologizes and then hugs her, Sunny cries into her chest "Gwaenchanh-a (It's okay), shh, gwaenchanh-a (it's okay)".
Linda wakes up. Her eyes wide and her forehead covered in sweat, she splashes water on her face. Linda looks into the mirror, her reflection is the only thing that she see's. It stare's back at her, she wonders why she's thinking about Sunny? She's a thug, a menace, someone who needs to be locked away and never to be seen again. But then she starts to wonder why she still see's her as the little girl with skinned knees and laughing like a goofy brat? Linda wonder's if she still cares about her, she keeps looking at her reflection. Why? Why should I care about her? Linda kept asking herself that but never got the answer. She shakes her head and walks back to her bed, unable too get Sunny out of her head.
Today is different. She has the next two weeks off, her supervisor found it odd that she was asking for some time off; it was unlike her because she never once took a day off, shows how much of a hard worker she was. As Linda is in her den, her thoughts keep going to Sunny. She keeps thinking about Sunny over and over again, it's too the point that she want's to bang her head against the wall Why? Why do I keep thinking about her? Linda kept asking herself and still no answer. She has two weeks off and Sunny is in her thoughts, so much for me time.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
Four knocks are heard at her door, who could be at her door? Probably somebody who's selling some type of new protein drink, Linda did work out but honestly that protein stuff tasted like chalk. She goes to the door, opens it and surprise, surprise the person whose in her thoughts a lot more than usual is standing right in front of her with a white box in her hands and a big smile on her face. Life is just of surprises, ain't it?
"Annyeonghaseyo! (Hello!)" Sunny cheerfully greeted, Linda slams the door in her face; so much for a proper greeting. "Mun-eul yeol-eojuseyo? (Open the door, please?)" Sunny politely asked "Deo meolli gal! (No, go away!)" Linda shouted at the door "Butakamnida...? (Please...?)" she pleaded again "Juri gaseyo! (Go away!)" Linda repeated herself through the door, time to bring out the big guns. "I have treats from Uncle Kang's bakery!" Sunny happily shouted "I have Bungeoppang bread, Gyeongju bread, Kkularae, Yakgwa and your favorite, Yeot! Come on, I know you can't resist Uncle's pastries!". Hearing all of that made her hungry, she hasn't had anything from Kang's bakery in years, honestly who could resist Yeot? The door opens and Sunny enters "Kitchen" Linda orders. As Sunny walks in Linda notices a bag with a bottle of rice wine around it her elbow, what she was up too?
Sunny got a glimpse of Linda's apartment; she was quite stunned, literally. Linda's apartment was bigger than Sunny's, the living room area was more spacious; a 40 inch flat screen that would put her t.v. to shame. Her sofa's looked better than her's, a little bit more comfortable, but still her couch was just as comfortable. Sunny looked at her kitchen, it was neat but above all just remarkable in it's structure. Sunny saw the stove, it was an electric one; the kind that someone would see in the rich part of L.S., it's something too be jealous about. She saw the table and headed to it, suddenly she heard a very familiar sound that she didn't quite expect too hear. Click! The sound of a hammer cocking is familiar too anyone who's heard it.
"Put the box and bottle on the table, now" Linda calmly ordered "W-What?" Sunny nervously questioned "Put them...on...the...table" Linda repeated, she puts the box and bottle on the table obediently. "Lean forward against the table" she ordered "What?" Sunny questioned "Just do it" Linda orders, Sunny leaned forward against the table. Her hands start patting down Sunny's body, as usual, which was really annoying "Seriously, I don't have anything on me" she truthfully exclaimed; this is safety precautions and paranoia, of course. After finishing her pat down Linda puts her gun behind her waist and goes to take a seat closest too the box full of treats, Sunny sits down across from her. Sunny reaches over and opens the box, there lies numerous scrumptious treats all arranged neatly from small too big. "See...I wasn't lying!" Sunny smiled.
Linda slowly reached for a piece of Gyeongju, she carefully examines it and sniffs it; it doesn't smell funny, she catches a glimpse of Sunny sitting across from her. All she could see was her smirking rather funny "Eat a piece..." she plainly demanded as she shoves the bread in her guest face, Sunny raised a brow "It's not poison, it's just bread...I swear it's nothing more than that" she said giving a honest but heartwarming smile. Linda slowly and carefully bit into the bread, slowly and gradually she chewed it; the amount of flavor of red bean paste surges through her mouth. It's been years since she had Gyeongju, she forget what this tasted like.
Linda finishes that one then she get's a piece of Kkularae and scarfs it down, Sunny could see that she still had a sweet tooth. She herself grabs a piece of Bungeoppang and Yakgwa, they both quietly scarf down as much of the pastries that were in the box. The last thing left was the Yeot, Sunny reaches for it; a hand quickly slaps her's. "Ow!" she exclaimed, Linda grabs the Yeot and chomps down on it. "Well I see you're still very possessive of Yeot..." she quipped. The whole box was empty now, not even a crumb was left.
Sunny got a look at Linda; her face was covered in powdered sugar from the amount of Kkularae that she wolfed down. She starts to snicker "What?" Linda questioned "Nothing, nothing" she still snickered "What's so funny?" Linda questioned again "You-You have so much powder on your face..." Sunny finally let out a small laugh. Linda went to a mirror located near the den and saw the powdered sugar on her face, she wipes it off her face as Sunny let out a big laugh "Stop laughing!" Linda angrily exclaimed "It's not funny!" Sunny just laughed harder; something triggered in her mind Why does this seem familiar? she wondered.
After wiping off the sugar from her face Linda goes back to her seat. For a good ten minutes they both sit in silence. Sunny pulls out two wine glasses, she opens the bottle of rice wine. She pours one glass for her and one for Linda. Sunny drinks her's, her cheeks turned red; this stuff was strong and would knock anyone out.
She coughs; definitely strong. Linda takes her sip, she herself coughed, the thing about Korean wine is that it really was like drinking lightning. It was only one shot of wine after that they just sat in silence again. Their was a sort of tension in the air, it was really a sense of awkwardness between the two women; it was just so odd seeing the tension between them. "So..." Sunny opened her mouth "how's work?" she asked, Linda just stared at her "Um, good, just good" she plainly said, the awkwardness was still there "Why are you here? How did you find me?" she wondered "The phone book; you weren't that hard to find" Sunny stated. Again, another moment of silence. "Do you remember that place where we used to get ice cream? It's now some vegan grill" Sunny says with an annoyed expression "Yeah...ate there once, tasted like crap. Damn hipsters" Linda cursed "Do you remember how mommy would save up her money and she would take us to get ice cream?" Sunny asked as her eyes lit up "Yeah..." Linda quietly recalled "She would take us to get sundaes, I would get chocolate on my sundae and you'd get caramel on yours...". Slowly the wall that she put up started to crumble.
"She would take us to the park and we would play on the swings and monkey bars, I would climb up and you would follow me!" Linda started to chuckle a bit "Mom would freak out and yell at me for allowing you to follow me!" she started to chuckle a bit more "Remember when you rode that bike and you fell down?" Linda asked "Yeah, I do and that was your fault because you let go!" Sunny exclaimed "I was supposed to let get go! It's not my fault you were a crybaby!" Linda laughed harder "I was little! I didn't know any better!" she shot back. After a moment Sunny started to laugh herself, they both started to laugh. Laughter was the only thing heard. "Good times" Sunny remarked "Yeah..." Linda responded back. "Why are you bringing this up of all sudden?" Linda wondered "Because...we-we can't keeping doing this, you and me, we can't be enemies".
Linda looked at her, somehow a part of her knew she was up too something. "Are you...telling me to bury the hatchet between us?" her mood quickly changed back to her angry self "N-No, I'm not saying that" Sunny stammers as she gets up from her seat "I know you're still angry...I know you won't forgive me for what I did but...mommy wouldn't want us to be fighting" she gloomily said, her eyes had that sad look again. "I-I-I don't know..." Linda stuttered as she gets up "I mean, yeah, you did something bad..." Linda starts to shake, something seems to be coming "It's been years...too much went on" she starts to breath a bit faster, Sunny notices that her hands are shaking; she goes over and holds them. Linda looks up at her, confused at was going on with her "I'm not asking you to forgive me...I just want you to be in my life again, just like the old days".
Come on, you're almost there... Sunny told herself. "I...I...I..." Linda couldn't seem to word it, suddenly that angry feeling from before crept back into her soul "I see what you're trying to do..." she coldly says as her voice changed "You're trying to sway me, you bought that wine so you could get me drunk and I'd take you back...!" she growled "What? No-No Linda, I'm not doing that, this is genuine" Sunny swore, Linda released herself from Sunny's grasp "Get out..." she suddenly ordered "Get out of here...", Sunny looked at her not wanting to leave "No, listen, I'm not going to leave; we need to work this out". Linda balls up her fists "Why should I start over with you? Why?" she angrily asked "You think that I'm just going to take you back?" "N-No, that's not it" Sunny backed away as Linda slowly starts to approach her "You think that it's going to be right as rain?! That everything is going to go away?!" her body starts too shake with anger "No" Sunny answered honestly "Then what is it?" "There's still some good in you...".
Linda stops as Sunny's back is against the wall "I...I...I" Linda starts to stutter again "Come on, let's just sit down...". Sunny puts her hands on her sister's shoulders and tries to move her back into her seat, she moves her back a bit but somehow she planted herself against the floor. Sunny tries to move her but can't seem too. Linda shoves Sunny back against the wall "Why did-?", a hard slap strikes her across the face. Some spit flies out of her mouth as her head snaps downward. Linda pants as whatever anger that she had left her body. She felt the stinging pain in her hand, she looked at that hand and then looked at Sunny. Linda could that she was shaking and gasped, realizing what she just did "Shit, I-I, S-Sunny oh my god...I didn't mean to do that! Oh my god..." she quickly apologized "I'm sorry!" her hands reaches for Sunny's face but her hands slaps her's away. Linda looked down at the floor and saw some tears splashed against the wood.
"I...I give up...I don't what I was thinking, maybe I was kidding myself thinking that you had any good in you" Sunny sadly replied "I'll leave now...I won't bother you anymore" she turns and goes to the door "Sunny! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! It was an accident!" Linda runs up and grabs one of her hands, Sunny yanks it away "You can keep the wine, it's yours..." she says as she reaches the doorway.
As she starts to open the door, she stops "Ppaleun jilmun (Quick question), dangsin-eun ajigdo naega museun jis-eulhaessneunji nal silh-eohabnikka? (Do you still hate me for what I did?)" she suddenly asked, Linda stood there unsure if she should answer "I-I...don't-!" her head starts to hurt, suddenly that anger came back "Ne...(Yeah...)" she bitterly answered "Nan yeojeonhi dangsin-eul silh-eo (I still hate you)"; Linda didn't know why she answered a question like that. What she hears next hits her like a ton of bricks. Sunny turns around, her eyes were the same as before; sad but covered with tears. "Jal...(Well...)" she tearfully replies "nan dangsin-eul salang gyeolko meomchuji ahn-assda! (I never stopped loving you!)". Sunny opens the door and rapidly exits, slamming the door as hard as she could. Linda stands there, unsure what she just heard, she starts to shake "What did I just do...?". She stands there for a bit and looks over to the table, the bottle of rice wine was still there.
...
"Oh..." Sunny groaned, she was sitting in her usual spot at Kang's bakery with an empty bottle of whiskey. After the spat with Linda, Sunny went into a nearby alley and cried, she tried to make it work with her and she slapped Sunny for it. That slap brought back that painful memory. Sunny went to a nearby liquor store and bought that bottle of whiskey, she came to the bakery and has been drinking for the last hour. One gulp after another. Uncle Kang asked if she was okay, she never answered and all he could heard was her sniffling.
Roberta comes into the bakery, she got a call from Sunny's uncle saying that she wasn't feeling well and that she needed to help her out. Roberta saw Sunny sitting in her spot with the empty bottle of whiskey "Sunny? Are you okay?" she asked, Sunny slowly looked up at her. Roberta saw her eyes, red and tear filled. She gasped as she saw not only her eyes but the mark on her face.
"Sunny what happened?" Roberta asked as she knelled to her "I-I just want to go home..." she sadly replied "Okay, let's just take it easy", she carefully helped Sunny up to her feet and took her too her car.
When they arrived at Sunny's apartment, Roberta seated her next to the table in her kitchen. She see's an old photo of a woman and goes to see. The woman looked a bit younger than Sunny, her face was beautiful and her hair was tied into a bun "Who is this person?" Roberta asked "That's my mother" she sniffled, Roberta studied the photo "She's so beautiful" she remarked. Sunny was crying softly, Roberta puts the photo down and goes to her love "What's wrong?" "My life sucks, everything that I did get's destroyed because of the stupid shit that I had done" she sniffles "What do you mean? What did you do?" Roberta curiously wondered; Sunny looks into her eyes and shakes her head. "You wanna know why my cheek is red? Because my sister slapped me", Roberta's mouth opens in shock "Why-Why would she slap you?" "Because she hates me for what I did all those years ago. We used to be so close back then...! We were inseparable!" Sunny started to sob. Roberta saw more than tears, she saw the pain and anguish on her face.
"What do you mean by 'all those years ago'? What did you do?" she asked, Sunny clammed up again; Roberta grabbed one of her hands and holds it warmly. "Just tell me. You can trust me..." she affectionately pleaded "My mother was pregnant with me when she came here with my sister. All she had was $300 and two kids to take care of, it wasn't easy for her; she worked in a sewing shop and as a waitress, she just wasn't making enough money" Sunny says as she wiped some tears away "She knew she needed more money and so...she decided to work in an underground casino run by the Kkangpae, the Korean mob, she needed the money because she knew that we would starve if we didn't have it. It paid off, we got lots of money; we managed to buy a house on the beach and we were living a good life".
She shakes her head slightly "Then the boss of the group, Old Man Park, saw that my mother could help them out and invited her in. She had to do certain things like hold bags of money and hold meetings for them; we ended up getting so much money, we were living the life. Then...things got complicated. Things went downhill from there on". Roberta kept looking on. "My mother got addicted to gambling and she ended getting into debt with some loan shark, then some people in the organization pressured her into doing more things like holding big bags of meth and keeping guns in our home. She's under so much pressure. I had...the bright idea of joining the Five Star Dragons to help pay off her debt, me and Kenny joined. I held their drugs and guns for them, looked out for the police, even spied on their enemies for them. Of course my mother and sister didn't like it, Linda told to get out of it because I was going to get hurt or killed. My mother said the same thing, she said that wasn't a debt that I had to pay off; oh, I should have listened but I didn't and I kept running with the gang."
Sunny starts to shake, that one memory starts to crawl back into her mind. "You wanted to how I got this thing on my back? Why I have to carry this with me? It's to protect me and my family...I was only thirteen when I got this...I hate thinking about that...!", with her free hand she grasp the side of her head as it starts coming back...
The walk from school was the same, boring and nothing to do as usual. Sunny reaches the front door of their house, she opens the door and hears a familiar voice "Where's my money?" the voice asked. She goes to the kitchen and see's the man who her mother owed too "Mommy what's going on?" she worriedly asked, before her mother could say anything someone grabs her from behind. The goon shoves her down to the floor next to Linda. "What's going on?" she asked but no one would say anything to her. "So, now that we got your attention, I want to know one thing...where's my money?" the shark asked "You just have too give me some more time! I'll get you the money!" she pleads "Time? Time? You keep saying that word and I don't get anything from you! Do you take me for some fucking fool!?" the shark shouted "You think that I'm fucking around? Is that it!? I'll show you what happens if you're fucking with me!" he motions the goon; he pulls a .38 snub nose revolver and points it at the two girls.
"No! No, please don't hurt my daughters! Please! You have to be patient! I'll get you the money!" she pleads; their's that word. "Patient?! I tired of you dodging me! You don't think I won't go far! Maybe I should shoot one of your girls!" he shouts "No! No! Please don't! Please!". The goon cocks the hammer of the revolver. The shark's too busy making another threat against Young Shin to notice what's about to happen next. Sunny kicks the thug in his private area; he gasp in pain and drops the revolver. The shark see's the goon go down. Sunny picks up the revolver and points it at the shark.
"Leave my family alone or I'm going to kill you..." she warns, the shark starts to laugh a bit "You think you're tough don'tcha kid? You got guts I'll give you that but I don't think you're gonna shoot me!" he laughs, he grabs Young Shin and pulls a knife from his pocket; he places it close to her neck. Her mother has fright in her eyes "You don't have the heart to pull that trigger" he reiterated "Let my mom go and leave my family alone...I'm warning you" she threatened "I said let her go!" she started to shake, the shark just grinned. "Let my mom go!". Bang! A shot rings through the house. The knife drops, Young Shin manages to escape from his grasp. The shark grunts in pain as he covers his arm as blood starts to seep out out of his wound.
Young Shin looked at Sunny, she looked different; the expression on her face was more aggressive. He leans against the snack cupboard, he looks at that girl; his blood starts to boil "You little piece of shit!" he screams "No!" Young Shin shouts. Bang! Bang! One shot hits him in the shoulder, the other one goes into his gut. The shark falls back against the cupboard. He tries to get back up. Bang! Bang! Two hit him in the lower left part of his chest, he coughed up blood "You...fucking little (coughs) bitch...!". Bang! The bullet goes through his right eye, the right side of his head explodes. Blood along with skull and brain matter splatter against the cupboards. With the other eye still open he had that look of 'what the hell just happened?'. The goon manages to get up and run away. He's gone.
"Oh my god!" Young Shin exclaimed in horror. Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Sunny keeps squeezing the trigger of the empty revolver. "Sunny!" Linda runs over to her sister "Sunny!" she called out again. She's in a trance still pulling the trigger. "Sun Hi!" her mother shakes her, she finally blinks her eyes and looks over to her mother "What just happened? Is he-?" her eyes turn to the bullet ridden shark. She starts to shake and looks at the gun, it falls out of her hands. "Sunny look at me!" Linda orders "What-What j-j-just-?" she starts stuttering, Linda hugs her and she starts crying "Shh! It's okay...it's okay". Young Shin embraces them. "Sun Hi...", Sunny turns towards her mother and hugs her; she still cries. Young Shin's turn to the body, she knew she had to call him.
"Listen to me you two, I need you to go into the living room and not come out until I tell you too..." she ordered "I need to make a call". Sunny shakes her head no "I don't want to leave..." she tearfully said, Young Shin puts her hands on her face "Please...just go with your sister. It's going to be okay...I promise", Sunny sniffles as Linda takes her by the hand and they go to the living room. Young Shin grabs the phone but notices something showing from the shark's wounded arm. The bloody hole where his eye was makes her feel nauseated. She carefully rolled his sleeve upward and saw something made her blood run cold. A black dragon wrapped around a red star tattooed on his arm.
He was associated with someone from the organization. "Oh no...".
She dials the number as fast as possible. "Yeonboseyo? (Hello?)" "Park...? Nan nae jib-e hal pil-you (I need you to come over to my house)" "Young Shin moo-seun moon-jeh-yeh-yo? (What's the problem Young Shin?)" "Geunyang yeogi geugbog (Just get over here)" "Gwaenchanh-a naega geogiiss-eulgeoya (Okay, I'll be there)".
15 minutes later
Park and his crew arrive, Young Shin escorts them to the kitchen. "What seems to be the...problem?" Park trails off as he see's the bullet ridden corpse slumped down against the cupboard "Jeo ssibal (Fuck me)" one man silently muttered. Park take's Young Shin aside "What-What happened? Who is this man?", she hesitated at first but manages to muster her courage to speak "He's...He's a loan shark"; Park looked at her with curiosity at what he just heard. The men start to get too work, they carefully lay the body down on the floor, another looks in the cabinet below the sink for cleaning supplies and finds some bleach, carefully he pours it on the blood and with a towel cleans the anatomy off the cupboards. "Why was their a loan shark in your house? What's going on?" he slowly began to question her "I...I started gambling, I just couldn't stop; I kept playing and playing, I took out some money. But I ended up getting into debt with this man".
Park shake's his head "Oh my god...why didn't you say anything to me? I could have helped you", Young Shin looks down "I was too scared to say anything, I wanted to fix this on my own...his man took my daughters hostage and tried to hurt them". Park see's the look of concern on her face "Well, he's gone; he won't harm you or anyone else", one of the men see's the tattoo and realizes that they have a problem "Bosseu...(Boss...)" he motions Park to come over; Park see's the tattoo. Now he knows that they have bigger problem. "O ttong (Oh shit)". He steps away and goes back to Young Shin "Do what you know you just did? He's associated with someone, they're bound to look for him" he says giving her a hard look "Can't you cover everything up?" she says with a begging eyes "Yes, we're going too have to...we also got to find his accomplice, he won't get far...", Young Shin breathes a sigh of relief. "Did you pull the trigger?" he asked suddenly "N-No, my...daughter did" she reluctantly said. Park stood there in utter silence "Your...daughter?" "It...just happened" she explained "Lee Yeon did...that?", she shakes her head; it finally dawns on him who pulled that trigger.
"Sun Hi...?", Young Shin puts her hand against her forehead "She just-just took the gun and..." "She did that?" he questioned "It happened so fast, I can't believe she did that, she was just...different". Park looked as the men took the body away, he knew that he had to work fast if he was going to save them. "I need to talk to Sun Hi, it's very important that I do", Young Shin worriedly looks at him "No, Park, please no...she's innocent in this" "I'm not going to hurt her" he assures "Listen, I'll clean this up but I need to talk too her; what I'm going to do isn't just for yours and Lee Yeon's safety but it's also for her's", she shakes uneasily. He puts his on her shoulders "Trust me, I'm not going to harm her...but it's important that I talk to her". It took her a couple of minutes to think, she had to go too Sunny. Linda held Sunny as was she still shaking. Young Shin explains to her daughter, she can't stop shaking "I don't want to leave...don't send me away" she tearfully begged "It's going to okay, he's just to talk too you that's all", Sunny couldn't stop shaking. She puts her hands on her face "It'll be okay, don't worry...you'll be back before you know it", they hug and she goes off to Park.
Park's private office, Little Seoul
She was still shaking. She's been doing it since the shooting. Park sits on his desk and looks at her, he wonders how a girl like her could take down that shark? He looked at her left arm, the numerous black stars cover her arm. He heard that she joined the dragons, she was making moves among things. He grabs a paper cup, fills it with water and hands it to her. Sunny drinks it fast. She still shakes but is somewhat calm. "I heard what you did from your mother, quite impressive for someone of your age..." he enthusiastically praised, Sunny looked away "Your mother didn't say much to you so I'll get the point," he takes a quick breath "you did something that could get you and your family killed. You're in a bad situation and you need my help; their's a solution to this but you're not going to like it" he grimly states, Sunny looks on with concern "You have to become a member of our organization".
"W-What? No...I won't do that!" she shoots back "You have too. It's for your safety and your family's safety" he states "No! You're crazy! I won't do it!" she screamed "You have to" "No! I'll just run away! I'll just disappear!" she exclaimed as tears began to form up in her eyes "You love your mother and sister...if they can't find you then they'll go after them to get too you and I know you don't want that to happen, you have to choose and I suggest you choose quickly". She shakes even harder "If there was another way out then I'd give it to you but their isn't, this is your only chance to live". Sunny shakes harder and harder, she slowly starts to cry. She has a choice to make: run away and put her family at risk or take the deal so she could protect herself and those closest to her heart. It was the most regretful choice that she had to make. "Okay, I'll do it...just protect my family".
"Don't worry, I will. That's all I've doing since I've known your mother" he replies "I'll take care of everything, my people are searching for his accomplice; he's not that smart". A man with many visible tattoos appear's out of the shadows. In his hands was a box, he carefully pulls out and assembles a machine. She recognizes it, at tattoo machine. "What's that for...?" she nervously asked "I'm going to have too tattoo your back. It's too protect you and your family, as long as you have this no will harm you". Sunny looked on in horror "No-No, not that" "I'm sorry...it's for you're own good".
The needle pokes her skin, the blood and ink mix as the dragon starts too take it's place on her back. The sound of the machine drowns out her whimpers, tears cover her pain is unbearable as she squirms to make it stop. The shading of the design soon follows, that was more painful than the outlining. After an hour and an half it's all over, she finally cries, crying was all she could do. These weren't of joy, they were tears of shame.
07:58 p.m.
Young Shin can't sit still, Park never called. She's nervous that Sunny hasn't return yet. Did Park go back on his word and do something bad to her? No, she thought, he wouldn't do that to her. She can't get over on how scared she was. The horror that she actually killed someone in their kitchen of all places was something that was going to give her nightmares for years on end The image of the bloody hole where the shark lost his eye and life is going to keep her up at night. Their kitchen is remarkably clean, Park's people really did a good job; however that doesn't mean that she'll be cooking kimchi or galbi. She saw enough blood as it is and doesn't want to see anymore. "Mom, do do you think that Sunny's alright?" Linda worriedly asked "She's alright, I can sense her. She just scared, I just want her to come back home" she nervously said. They hear the door slowly open.
They both go to the door. Sunny slowly walks in "Sun Hi, you're back!" her mother excitedly says. Linda looks at her, her eyes are red from crying; her eyes tell a story that's too horrible to repeat.
Linda goes over to her "Sunny, did they hurt you?" she asked but Sunny remained tight lipped. Tears start to flow from her eyes, Linda goes up to her and gives her a hug "It's alright, you don't have to say anything...let's just go to bed". She feels something wet against Sunny's back and notices blood on her back "Sunny why is their blood on your back? Are you hurt?", Sunny collapses on her knees and started to cry. Linda see something peering out from under her shirt "What is that?". "Lee Yeon what's wrong?" their mother questioned as she noticed the blood on her shirt. Linda lifts up her shirt, both their eyes widen in horror. Their lies a green dragon holding two giant pearls in it's claws splashed on her back. Sunny starts to cry louder. Young Shin drops to her knees, the shock and horror makes herself cry.
"Sunny what did you do?" Linda asked as her voice shakes with anger "I'm-I'm sorry, just let me explain..." she pleads, Linda suddenly grabs her both wrist "What did you do? Tell me what did you do?!" she violently begins to shake her sister "Sunny what did you do?!" "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just let me explain!". Sunny cries as Linda let's her go "Get out!" she angrily ordered "No, Linda just me explain!" "I said get out!". A hand strikes her across the face, she's shocked at the slap "Get out!" she yells as tears start to come out "Please let me..." "Get...out...!" Linda tearfully repeats. Sunny turns around and slowly walks towards the door, she see's her mother still on the floor in shock "Mommy...?", she manages to look at her daughter. Young Shin is in tears, she hug her daughter. Sunny is in tears, they both cry "I'm sorry..." she cried out "I love you...". Young Shin holds on tightly not wanting to let go. They hold onto each other until Sunny finally breaks off and walks out the door.
Young Shin wails in a way that no person should. Her pain at losing her daughter is something that will never go away.
Sunny whimpers and wipes away some tears away. Roberta stared, her mouth agape at what she just heard. Her own eyes filled with her own tears. "Their's my heroic story..." she sniffles "S-Sunny, why didn't you say anything?" "Roberta what do want me to say? That I killed someone? That I made a deal to protect my family but screwed up my life? What do you want me to say?" she starts to cry again "I'm such a bad person...I hate myself so much", Roberta looked on Sunny started to sob "Why are do you want to make up with your sister so badly?" Roberta asked "Because...I love my big sister!". Sunny sobs more "I want her to love me again! I want her to hold me! I want her to protect me like she used to when I was little...I give anything to have her in my life again...!".
Sunny sobs more loudly now, Roberta kept looking on as she saw the pain on her face. "Sunny? Sunny look at me..." she says puts her hands on her face "You-You can't make your sister love you again, not like this" Roberta explained "But I-" "I know you love her and I know you want to make it work with her but you can't, not like this", Sunny looked at her confused "Your sister, like you, has been living with this for years. She...She needs time, that's all"; she wipes some of Sunny tears away. "You know maybe it's just me but maybe your sister feels the same way about you, maybe she stills loves you and doesn't know how to deal with it". Roberta grabs a hanker chef and wipes Sunny's face "Do you still...want to be with me? If you don't want to then I'll understand" she states "I'm not going anywhere, you know why? Because your the sweetest person that I've ever met...you're kind, you're smart and you're the most wonderful person that I've ever known" Roberta replied as she wiped some of her own tears away "You protected your family and you paid a bad price for it but you protected them...I'm not going to leave you, I love you too much to leave you", with her words Roberta gives her a warm hug "Can you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone..." "Alright, I'll stay...".
They're still clothed, Sunny sleeps quietly next to Roberta. She slept quietly. Only once did she start whimpering, relieving another nightmare. Roberta gently shushes her and quickly falls back asleep. Roberta strokes her hair; she now knew about what she did and the price she paid for it. To be living with the decision to save one's family but paying a horrible price for it is truly nightmarish for anyone, Roberta knew her story and now knows why she was twisting and turning in the night. Who was she crying out to though? A bigger riddle that maybe should left alone for the time being. Roberta's eyes goes to the balcony, the night is the only thing that's alive. Her mind goes to Sunny's sister; what kind of pain has she's been going through? What kind of demons did she have? She's no different than Sunny, she went through the same thing as she did and she's been living with the same nightmares as much as Sunny has. The amount of pain that they've been through was immense, as she looks to the night and wonders how Sunny's sister is dealing with her own problems?
How much pain has she bottled up?
...
The last of the rice wine is nearly gone. Linda's head throbs as the wine makes her head spins. All she's done is drink and drink, she feels angry and sad ever since their spat. But she's confused. "Why do I care about her? Why do I care?" she was asking herself that ever since she started drinking; she can't get it out of her head.
With the wine bottle she carefully gets up and heads to the bathroom. She wobbles trying to keep her balance, she wasn't much of a drinker.
Linda breathes slowly and looks into the mirror. Her reflection stares at her again, she had the questions but couldn't get the answers. All she can think about is Sunny, she can't make sense of it. Why do I care about her? I shouldn't.
Nan dangsin-eul salang gyeolko meomchuji ahn-assda! (I never stopped loving you!) Nan dangsin-eul salang gyeolko meomchuji ahn-assda! (I never stopped loving you!) Nan dangsin-eul salang gyeolko meomchuji ahn-assda! (I never stopped loving you!) Nan dangsin-eul salang gyeolko meomchuji ahn-assda (I never stopped loving you!) Nan dangsin-eul salang gyeolko meomchuji ahn-assda! (I never stopped loving you!) Nan dangsin-eul salang gyeolko meomchuji ahn-assda (I never stopped loving you...)
Her words echo and echo. They don't stop. They get louder, louder, louder and louder; she balls up her fist and she clenches her teeth. Linda takes the wine bottle and hurls it against the mirror, it shatters and the mirror cracks. She lets out a powerful shriek "Why do I care about you!?" she growls "Why?! I hate you!" she screamed, she hyperventilates and puts herself against the wall. The gun was still tucked behind her waist, she pulls it out and looks at it. Every cop that can't handle it usually considers getting it over with, Linda never thought about it until now. She wobbles her way out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. Her bedroom was a place where she could lie down and sleep her worries away but she also had her own issues to contend with. She never had much of a social life other than her job. She had a relationship here and there but nothing serious. The many people that she brought home and lay down with her were in and out of her life fast.
She tried to make it work with them but they always said that were was a problem, they never said what it was though. Thinking of it now Linda knew what the problem was. It was her. If anyone met her they would say that she was hard working and committed to helping those in need. But she didn't know how to act around people, peculiarly those who were in a relationship with her. She was kind in her own way but she never let it show. The last person that she was with, which was about 3 years, left because he claimed that she had some "unresolved issues". Whatever that means. She had no real friends, other than people on the force, and hardly had anyone to be with. She has nothing but her anger and those "unresolved issues" whatever they were. She never thought about doing it but now it seems easier for her to get it over with. Linda sits on her bed and slowly inserts the gun into her mouth. They say that cops who die in the line of duty get quite the funeral, that something she would like. She turns the safety off and cocks the hammer. Her breathing starts to increase. Goodbye world, nice knowing you.
"What do you think you're doing?" an unknown female voice asked, Linda takes the gun out of her mouth "Who's there?" she asked "W-Who's there...?" "Out here..." the voice called out, with the gun in her and carefully went outside. She checks the den, nobody there. The living room was next, even drunk she could still shoot a gun. Nobody or nothing was there. Must be the wine. "Behind you" the voice suddenly said, with her gun ready, she turns around and points the gun at her would be intruder. Her eyes are with shock and complete disbelief, she falls down against the back of the sofa. There's a Korean woman wearing a dark Chanel suit leaning against her table, she's pale but had a youthful appearance. Her hair is tied into a bun similar to the way she would tie hers. "No-No-No, it can't be you...their's no way..." it was either the shock or the wine that made her feel this way. "M-M-M-M..." she stuttered "Come on, you can say it..." "Mom...?".
Young Shin smiles "My, you've grown" she complimented "No, t-t-this isn't real...I'm just drunk" Linda says as she shakes from fright "That's right," her mother remarked "I'm just an illusion caused from the alcohol that you consumed; which is quite a lot", she shakes her head "No, no, no this a joke...you're here to punish me, is that it?" Linda suddenly questioned "No" Young Shin plainly answered "Is this because of what I did to Sunny?" "A part of it, yes" "I knew it...you're here to punish me for slapping her and then you're going to drag to hell, is that it?". She let's annoyed sigh "No, I'm not here to drag you to hell but I am upset at you for doing that to your sister", Linda scoffed at her defending Sunny "Oh please! You always do that! You always take her side, you never punish her! Admit it, you loved her more than you loved me!" she jealously exerts, Young Shin rolls her eyes in annoyance "Sesang-e...(Oh my god...)".
"Are you really going to play that card with me?" she annoyingly asked "Well it's true! You always treated her better!" "You really thought that it was a competition between you two? I loved you both equally" she retorted "You're crazy if you think that's true" "It is true!" Linda tearfully yelled "Why are you here? Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Are you trying to drive me crazy?" "No, I'm here to show you the things from the past to make you understand what you're doing is wrong". Her head starts to throb "Wrong? What do you mean?" "The way you treat Sun Hi, you're hurting her as much your hurting yourself". Linda looks up at her mother "Hurting her? I knew it, you're just trying make me feel bad", Young Shin just looked at her and shakes her head "I'm going to show those things...you need to remember and I'm going to help, whether you like or not...". A white flash suddenly engulfs them...
"Let's begin when Sun Hi went to jail after the incident...".
"When she went in, I visited her as much as I could but you...you never once visited her" "Why? She didn't deserve to see me. Not after what she did to us" "Is that so...? Let's watch this peculiar moment". They are suddenly in their home. Linda see's her mother doing her makeup and bunning her hair up. She then see's herself coming into the room. Angry and fuming at her mother's decision to keep visiting Sunny. "Oh my god, I'm so young" she commented.
"Why aren't you dressed? Go get dressed now" she ordered "I'm not going..." Linda coldly replied "You can't keep ignoring her, I know you don't like it but Sun Hi needs our support...she's scared and all alone in that place" Young Shin shutters when she thinks about it "You're treating her like she's still a little kid, she did something bad; she made her bed, let her lie in it" Linda quips "She's still my daughter, I'm not going to treat her any different; now get dressed' she ordered again. Linda lets out an annoyed sigh "You still think that she's a baby and needs your protection?" "She's scared and needs our support, now, I'm not going to say it again...get dressed now" Young Shin sounded a lot more threatening now.
"No. Period. She did something bad, so let her rot in that place" Linda defiantly says "She's not a little girl! So stop treating her like on-!", Young Shin's hand connects with her cheek. "Ow! What the hell did-?" "Dagchyeo! (Shut up!)" she fired at her daughter "Are you any different? You think you're better than her?", Linda feels her cheek as it turned red "What she did was a horrible thing...getting that thing on her back and going to jail after that..." she balled up fist "She's scared and alone, I'm not going to stop visiting her because you're too angry at her!" she breathes in and out "I'll never stop loving her, she's still your sister...she's still my daughter...she's still my baby...I'm always going to love her".
Linda suddenly felt a jolt, almost like a mini bolt of lightning striking her across the face. "W-W-What was that?" "That slap was meant too hurt. You buried certain things, certain little jolts will unearth them, so they might hurt a little". She still felt the sting of that jolt, it was starting to hurt. "You still didn't visit her, she so sad and lonely. You just left her there all by herself" Young Shin looked at her "Sunny was a criminal by then, she gotten into trouble at school and how many times did the police arrest her? She was a hood and nothing more than that!" Linda yells, her mother frowns "Oh? That's very funny coming from you".
"What's your job again? That's right, you're a police officer. You arrest bad people and put them in jail if they break the law" "That's right" she shot back "Did you think that your sister had it easy when she went in? Do you think she didn't suffer when she went on the inside?" Young Shin looked sternly at Linda "W-What do you mean? It wasn't my fault that she went in" "Let's take a look then at what she went through...".
A hallway is now in front of them. Sunny walks down the hallway, Linda got a look at her. Her hair was the same, all she was wearing was a white jumpsuit. Her eyes spelled a different story, they looked tired but anxious. Like she was expecting something to happen. "Why is she...?", suddenly someone appears from behind and starts to approach. This girl was a lot taller than Sunny, she had bright orange hair and green eyes. She was skinny but seemed capable of doing some damage. She pulls out something sharp. Linda knew what was going to happen.
The girl starts to pace a lot faster now until she's in range. Just as she's about to take action, Sunny pivots and punches her in the face. The girl falls down and the shank flies from her hand. Sunny pounces on the girl and assaults her, she punches like a mad man. For a little kid she sure could punch hard. Two others run towards them, she see's and charges at them. Sunny grabs a caution sign and speeds towards them. She hits the first one in the stomach and hits the thug in the head, the sign makes a loud smack. The second one has a shiv in her hand, Sunny swings the sign into her arm and hits her directly in the face. Two down, not bad.
"Sunny look out!".
A broken mop handle strikes her in the arm. Another strike hits her in the stomach, the wind is knocked out of her. She falls to the ground as the red headed girl starts to beat her with it. The other two managed to get back up and join the fray. They kick, punch and beat her. They behaved like a frenzy of crazed animals. At one point their was a sound of a crack around her rib cage area. Sunny covers her head as best she can to make sure her head doesn't get bashed in.
"Stop! Stop...! I don't want to see this! Please stop!" "You have to see the rest of it".
A group of guards run down the hall, the three see them and run for it. They don't get far. One guard turns Sunny over; the right side of her face is bruised. Her nose and mouth have blood seeping out. She coughs a bit, her breathing is painful. Her right eye is partially swollen, no one can tell if she can see. The guard gets on the radio and calls for a stretcher. Sunny was muttering something but because of the chaos of what was going on it was muted out.
Linda drops to her knees, the shock along with the pain break her. "Oh my god...! Sunny...god...what did they do to you...?" "Here's the part that you need to see".
Sunny's laying in a hospital bed, the right side of her face is bandaged and her nose is also bandaged. Her rib cage was heavily taped, anyone who's had bruised or broken ribs would know that it'd be impossible to breath or move without feeling some pain. "Linda..." she suddenly called her name out "Linda...Linda...", tears start to come out of her eyes "Eonni...(Big sister...)" she sadly calls "neo eodiya? (where are you?)" she asked "Naleul guwonhasigi balabnida...(Please save me...)". She lays there crying out for her sister the whole night, no one ever came for her.
With horror and shock, tears start to pour out of Linda's eyes. She covers her mouth which she gasped from. "You were supposed to be there for her but you left her there to fend for herself" "I-I-I didn't know...you can't blame that on me...I didn't know that would happen, if I had known I would have gone to her...". Young Shin frowns "That's right, you didn't know but you still didn't visit her" "I would have but I-I mean things were complicated back then..." "Complicated...of course, moving on".
"That girl that she's with, she is quite pretty; I don't approve of the job that she has but what mother wouldn't" she smiled "Those two are quite the couple, what was it that you said to her? That she's just using her to make herself feel better" "She could be...! I-I don't know okay..." Linda gripped her head to make the pain stop "She loves that girl with all her heart but you say that she doesn't love her and that she's going to put her in danger" "After what she's done, I don't trust her...I mean what if she puts her danger? What if this is a con or something?". Young Shin simply looked at her "Really? You think that she's faking her feelings for that girl? Her feelings are real and that girl loves her back", Linda starts to writhe in pain "What is this?! Why am I feeling this much pain? I don't want to feel this!" "That's your sisters pain, hurts doesn't it?". She cries out in pain "Make it stop! Please I don't want to feel this!" "No, you have to feel it. When I left this world your sister found out that I was gone, she wasn't faking what she felt. Let's watch shall we?".
Sunny was sitting in her cell, the bruises on her face have slightly healed and her arm is wrapped heavily in bandages. "Rhee, you got a letter" the guard slides a letter under the cell door. She goes to pick it up. It was addressed from Uncle Kang. She eagerly opens it. She carefully reads every sentence, her hands shake when she realizes what she was reading. "No...no...no-no-no-no...this is a joke...it has to be" her breathing starts to increase. The letter reads that her mother has passed away, she's gone. "No...please not that..." she starts to cry. She lets out a mournful scream "Nooo! Oh no please! This can't be true! No!" she yells and bangs against the cell door over and over again. She eventually falls to the floor and curls into a ball, she cries for the whole night. "I sasil-i doel su eobs-seybnide...(This can't be true...)" she pleads to herself "Mommy...! Mommy I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry".
Linda looks on in shock "Do you think that she was faking that? Those looked like real tears to me..." "I...I...I...don't know...I-" she stuttered "She wasn't faking anything, it hurt her a lot when I went away, just like it was with you...only you did it in a different way...". The pain starts to increase "Ow! I-I don't want to remember that! Please don't make me remember that! Please I beg you!" Linda pleads "This is the most important part...you're going to have too remember and it's going to be painful".
Linda sits in the front row as everybody pays their respects to her mother. Her mothers death was sudden, it just happened out of the blue. She was fine one minute and the next minute she was gone. She looked at everyone, some were mourning, others were smiling and making gestures to each other. Disgusting she thought. The one thing she can't stop thinking about is Sunny, that girl caused all of this. Her stupidity and her foolishness put their mother in the grave early. "Stupid girl..." she muttered under her breath, nobody noticed her anger bubbling on the surface. Linda looked at the casket, she looked so radiant. It was so depressing seeing her lying in that casket. Kang comes up to her with concern in his eyes "Lee Yeon, I'm sorry about your mother; if their anything we can help with, let us know" he says with sadness in his heart. Someone comes up to him and whispers something into his ear. Linda's eyes were hollow and sad, she looked empty. "Lee Yeon?" Kang called her "Your sister...your sister unfortunately...they won't let her leave the jail, I'm sorry to say Sun Hi will not be able to make it".
Her hollow eyes now turned angry "Sister? Sister? It's because of that girl that my mother is gone..." she bitterly let out "I don't have a sister..." she coldly stated, everyone overheard her "What?" he questioned "You heard me, I don't have a sister!" she yelled "I hate her!", Kang and everybody else looked at her in complete shock and disbelief. She get's up and runs out of the funeral home "Lee Yeon!" Kang calls out her name.
It's raining and she's now wet. Everything is soaked. Linda stops running, she huffs and puffs after all that running. She looks up and starts to cry, the rain mixes with her tears. Everything crumbled down. Her mother is gone and it's because of that girl that she's gone. She keeps crying. This pain will never go away. It'll last forever.
Linda finally collapses on her knees. She cries in pain as she starts to remember all of that. More memories start to come back.
Linda tries to reach for the jar of chocolate chip cookies, her favorite, it's too far for her to reach. Sunny see's her sister trying to reach for the jar, Linda looks at her and hatches a quick plan "Sunny? Do you want to share some cookies with me?" she asked, Sunny could barely speak by then but she did understand the word cookie. She slowly walks towards her sister. Linda grabs her and hoist her up, Sunny reaches for one of the handles and manages to grab the jar. She carefully slides it over and grabs the jar. Linda brings her down; they sit on the floor and start eating the cookies. "Open wide" Linda playfully said as Sunny opens her mouth and Linda shoves the cookie into her mouth. They both giggle as they eat the cookies.
She grips her head in pain.
They play tea time with each other. "Would you like some tea, Miss Linda?" "Why yes Miss Sunny! I would like some tea!", Sunny pours the imaginary tea into her cup. They're dressed in their mother's dresses. Hopefully their mother won't mind a few wrinkles in her dresses. "Do you want some some sugar with your tea, Miss Sunny?" "Yes Miss Linda! I would like some sugar with my tea!". Linda pours some imaginary sugar into Sunny's tea cup.
The pain becomes more and more overwhelming, her head just wants to explode.
Sunny sneaks up next to Linda as she watches t.v. "Sunny go to bed" she ordered "No, can I stay up with you?" Sunny asked "No, come on, mom's gonna go crazy if she see's us up this late" "Please...just for tonight?" she says with a pouty expression "Okay" Linda caved in "But just for tonight". She scoots over to make some room. Sunny's eyes soon start to get heavy, she eventually falls asleep in her big sisters lap. Linda turns off the t.v. and falls asleep herself. She's huddled next to her little sister. Their mother eventually comes home, she notices the girls sleeping on the couch. Young Shin simply smiles and doesn't disturb them. They should be in trouble for not going to sleep in their rooms but she'll let it slide this one time. She quietly goes to them and simply covers the blanket that's on top of them.
Linda is now openly weeping. Remembering everything was too much for her "Do you remember everything now?" Young Shin asked, with some whimpering Linda finally looked up "Yes...yes...I remember...!" "Do you know what you did? You buried your feelings and you pretended that she didn't exist" she lifts her daughters face up "You put that badge, gun and uniform on; you buried everything and you didn't look back. You hurt yourself just by doing this, you used your anger in such a bad way" she wiped some of Linda's tears away "You acted tough and you talked tough just to hide your pain, you pushed others away just to hide that pain. You never let anyone get close to you; your uncle. Your friends and your sister". Linda sniffled as the pain finally subsided "I want to ask you a question: when Sun Hi came back home, were you glad and excited to see her again?".
Linda pulled away "I-I-I-I don't-I don't know..." she stuttered, she closed her eyes and exhaled "Yes" she finally answered "Yes...I was glad to see her. I was so happy to see her, she just looked so different but it was her; I was just glad that she came home" she truthfully says "But you didn't treat her right, you treated her like another criminal, isn't that right?" "Yes! I treated her so badly! I was still angry at her...every time I saw her I just relieved that moment again...". Linda wipes her face "Do you still see her as that little girl with the goofy laugh and the skinned knees?" her mother asked "Yeah! I still see that little girl! She's a thug but I still see that little girl! I feel so conflicted about it!" she cried again, Young Shin raised an eyebrow "Do you still care about her?" she asked "Yes! Yes! I still care about her! I want her to live a regular life! I just want her to be normal!".
Young Shin frowned "She still looks up to you, you know? You're still her big sister, someone she idolizes and still loves", she shakes her head and wipes her face again "If you could see her again, what would you say?" "I'd say that I'm sorry...I'm sorry for hurting you and I'm sorry for not being a better sister". Young Shin smirks "Time's up, I have to get going" she says as she turns around "Please don't leave...stay please" Linda begged, Young Shin looked back at her "Do you remember the promise that you made to her?" she asked as Linda looked at her confused "P-Promise? What promise?" "You'll remember when the time is right. Make it right with her, she needs you and you need her" "Please don't go! Please!" she pleads "Good bye dear..." she whispered as Young Shin faded away.
She's gone, Linda is now curled up on the floor. The alcohol makes her pass out.
8:58 a.m.
The morning light makes her wake up, Linda's head hurt. The amount of alcohol that she consumed still resonated in her body.
She manages to get up. She heads to the bathroom.
The mirror was still cracked, her reflection is now cracked into many pieces. She doesn't know who she is anymore.
All she could think about was her mother and her words You'll remember when the time is right what did she mean by 'when the time is right?'. And that talk about a promise, what promise?
The more questions that she asked, the more answers that she didn't get.
After what happened with Sunny, she must now hate her for that slap. The sadness in her eyes never left her mind, it was going haunt her for a long time. Her stomach starts to churn, all the contents start rise back up through her throat. She rapidly goes turns to the toilet and spews last nights contents into the bowl. Linda spews one last time, she leans the against the wall. She starts to cry again.
"Sunny...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...please forgive me..." she pleads. She cries for the rest of the morning.
She knows that she's going to have to work a lot harder to make it work with Sunny again. That's if Sunny wants to make it work with her. Linda now knows that she's done lots of damage to her, she's probably going to hate her and never trust her again for as long she lives. How many times has she patted her down? How many times has she harassed her for something she didn't do? How many times did she threaten to lock her up?
Linda wants to make it right with her but how can she?
Time heals all wounds but these type of wounds don't heal right away. Just like Sunny, Linda has her wounds. Only time will tell if they'll heal properly. And that's time that they don't have.
Chapter 15 is coming soon. Rate and Review.