Koala 2

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Chapter 8

That night…

“Are we a stepfamily?”

Jae Duc spit out his rice, choking while Si Eun gave him a good whack on the back. Jae Jung stares at his parents nonchalantly, innocent about the point of his question.

“Where did you get that from?”

“Well, I told this man that you’re not my dad so he says we’re a stepfamily.”

Jae Duc slammed down his bowl of rice, breaking it against the table. He was instantly outraged by the information Jae Jung had just given him.

“Who the hell said that to you? I’ll murder his ass!”

“But he’s right though, Duckie… if you’re not my dad, then who is my dad?”

Jae Jung kept prodding, insistent about the answer to his question. Si Eun looked at Jae Duc as if she wanted to know the answer herself.

“No, we’re not a stepfamily…”

Jae Duc hesitated for a moment before he continued. Si Eun had breathed out a sigh of relief while Jae Jung is still perturbed about the answer.

“I’m not your father, Jae Jung. Your father is another man. A good man.”

Si Eun knew they both bore no real affection for one another but she hadn’t figured that Jae Jin would go this far, denying that Jae Jung is his real child. She gasped.

“Jae Jin!”

“I am NOT Jae Jin!”

Jae Duc turned over the table in anger at the mention of Jae Jin’s name. Si Eun’s fear held her silent while Jae Jung threw a raging tantrum.

“I hate you both! I hate you for not being my daddy! And I hate you for not telling me who my daddy really is!”

Jae Jung ran out of the house with Si Eun running after him. Jae Duc started to follow but then stopped himself. He decided it was best that Si Eun explain it to Jae Jung instead of him.

He cleaned up the mess he caused and decided to wait for them to come back.

“Jae Jung!”

Si Eun lost Jae Jung in the dark when he took a shortcut in the road. She ran further down the road and collided into someone when she turned the corner.

“Oof!”

“Oh, I’m sorry miss, are you okay?”

Si Eun wiped the dust off her skirt and turned her gaze towards the person she just bumped into. They stared at each other in shocked recognition.

“YOU!”

Ji Yong’s mouth curled into a evil smirk as he grabbed a hold of Si Eun’s wrist. He and Ji Won had heard from a reliable source that there was a couple that matched Jae Duc and Si Eun’s description in the area.

They had been searching for days and Ji Yong finally found one of them. His hold on Si Eun tightened, nearly cutting off her circulation.

“Ji Won and I have spent the last five years looking for you and that traitor, Jae Duc. Tell me… where is he? I promise to let you die a painless death if you let me know where he is.”

“No! Let go of me!”

Si Eun tried to twist free but it made Ji Yong hurt her even more. Jae Jung ran out of nowhere and started to pound on his mother’s captor with his little fists.

“Let go of my mommy!”

“Who’s…”

Ji Yong realized instantly who the child must be. He must be Jae Jin and Si Eun’s child. He grabbed a hold of the kid around the collar and decided it was best to keep him alive for security reasons.

He knocked Si Eun to the side while the child squirmed to get away. The kid started to bawl and Ji Yong was confident that he had overpowered them both.

“You’re mine now, kid.”

“Boo hoo…”

Obviously Ji Yong wasn’t as clever as Jae Jin. When Ji Yong had let his guard down, Jae Jung stabbed him in the thigh with his bow.

Ji Yong lost his hold on Jae Jung and collapsed to the ground. For a fleeting instant Si Eun turned to look at Ji Yong, wondering why he hadn’t attacked them yet again.

A rake had been left on the ground and Ji Yong had landed on it. Sharp razors were poking out of his chest and he writhed above it in pain.

Si Eun covered Jae Jung’s eyes to prevent him from seeing the gruesome sight.

“Hey, Ji Yong! Where are you?”

Si Eun instantly recognized that voice. She grabbed Jae Jung’s hand and ran for it. She was running too quick, she didn’t see the little pothole in the road.

She stumbled over it and twisted her ankle.

“OW!”

Jae Jung felt his mom’s hand letting go of his and he turned to see what was the matter.

“Mommy! Are you okay?”

“Jae Jung! Leave me and run for it!”

“Why? I can’t leave you!”

“Listen to me! I told you to go! The bad men are coming after us!”

Jae Jung turned back to look at his mother in desperation. He didn’t know what to do. Suddenly a face loomed over his mind and he remembered Jae Jin’s promise to meet him later on that day.

Jae Jin inhaled the fresh scent of nature as the crickets chirped merrily around him. He couldn’t remember a time when he felt so relaxed. But then a familiar but frantic voice broke his state of serenity.

“Ahjusee!”

“Jae Jung, what’s wrong?”

“My mommy’s hurt! She’s too heavy for me to carry and I can’t…”

Jae Jin held onto the trembling child. He patted his back and started to whisper reassuring words into Jae Jung’s ear.

“Don’t worry, Jae Jung. I’ll help your mommy. Take me to her.”

Jae Jung started leading Jae Jin to a narrow street not far away from the fields. The road was closer to many of the homes but many of the houses were run-down.

Jae Jin had decided earlier that he would pay a handsome price to the tenants so they could move out of the decrepit area.

“Mommy! Where are you?”

Jae Jung let go of Jae Jin’s hand when he saw that his mother wasn’t there at the original spot he had left her. Jae Jin looked around for an elderly woman as well but wasn’t able to spot any.

“Mommy! Where are you? I have a nice ahjusee that is going to help you.”

“Jae Jung…”

Jae Jin turned towards the corner where the voice came from. His grin of relief slackened as he stared as the woman’s face shone in the moonlight. His heart squeezed as he stared at Si Eun.

He lost his voice to speak but Si Eun didn’t.

“You. It’s you…”

Si Eun’s eyes widened in terror as she recognized the man before her. His face had haunted her dreams nearly every day of her life. She backed away when Jae Jin took a step closer.

“G-get away from me! Somebody, help me please!”

Jae Jung grew distress as his mother started hurling blades of grass or whatever she could at Jae Jin. Si Eun pulled Jae Jung closer for protection while Jae Jin looked on helplessly.

“Mommy! This is the nice ahjusee I’ve been telling you about! He’s going to help us!”

“No, Jae Jung! He’s an evil man! He killed your uncle and your grandparents!”

“No! I…”

Jae Jin was unsure of what to say in his defense. He took a step closer unconsciously when he saw Si Eun’s swollen ankle. He wanted to help her.

Si Eun gasped several times in fear and finally passed out from the fright. Jae Jung continually yelled for his mother and shook her but she wouldn’t wake up.

“Ahjusee… my mommy has fainted.”

“It’s okay, Jae Jung. I’ll take her home.”

Jae Jin lifted Si Eun’s frail body into his arms with ease. He noted faintly that she had lost a lot of weight despite the fact she had given birth to Jae Jung.

Time had not been kind to her. She looked weary even though she was unconscious. Jae Jin knew it was because of him that she still wasn’t able to live a comfortable life.

Jae Jung followed behind them quietly as Jae Jin carried her to their house. He waited for Jae Jung to open the door to let them in and carried her inside.

Jae Jin laid Si Eun’s limp body on the couch and watched her breathing become regular. A photo frame on the TV stand caught his eye and he saw Jae Duc in the picture, his arm around Jae Jung and Si Eun was on the other side.

They looked like the picture-perfect family. Jae Jin wondered if Jae Duc was upstairs but didn’t bother to check. His conscience was telling him that Jae Duc and Si Eun must be a family now so he shouldn’t interfere with their lives.

“Ahjusee?”

Jae Jin began to realize that Jae Jung was still in the room with them. He gave the boy a reassuring smile and looked down at Si Eun once more.

He leaned down to press a tender kiss on her forehead and whispered his farewell. He turned back to Jae Jung, knowing that he was his son and gave his first and final instructions as Jae Jung’s father.

“Goodbye, Jae Jung. Be a good child to your mother and Duckie.”

“Ahjusee, where are you going?”

Jae Jin smiled and didn’t respond. He walked out the door and using all of his willpower, he forced himself not to look back.

In the midst of her swoon, Si Eun realized that Koala had kissed her. Her mind kept screaming get away yet a part of her wanted him to stay.

She wasn’t able to wake up but she was able to think in her subconscious state. She thought of her family and her betrayal of feeling this way towards the man that killed them.

Si Eun hated Koala but yet, it was him that she thought about every single day. She was torn between her mixed emotions of love and hatred for him. As her thoughts made her more perplexed, she became glad that sleep finally took over.

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