“Don’t be nervous. They’ll be shocked at first, but I didn’t want to tell them beforehand and get mom worked up on the flight home. It’s better for her to be calm at all times.” Jyeon is pacing the Livingroom of the house that used to be my home as I sit on the long beige couch. The entire place seems to have been redone and updated in the last two years and looks even more like a cold, uninviting show home. It’s familiar, yet not, and surreal to be sitting here again.I’m silently pensive and watch him trying to stay chill, even though he’s very uptight. He’s more wound up about this than I am, which I’m not sure about why. In contrast, I’m emotionally blank from being back here and trying to take in all manner of feelings about it in a detached kind of way. Greta is home sulking because I told her I wanted to do this alone.&l

I’m trembling inside at the turn of this conversation and annoyed that I keep giving him angles to have these heart to hearts. I walk myself into it every time, and he’s being so god damn vocal and open, unlike him of the past who would never share his thoughts and feelings with me, that it always catches me off guard. Trapped between him and his words while being faced with a sea of memories back when I thought Jyeon would be my entire life.“So, what happens to her now? If I’m here and I remember everything. If you get your way and I stay married to you against my will? Does your mistress still stay in the picture too? One cosy little happy family.” I turn on him, thinking face to face, acting cold is the better option for this chat. Show him I’m not affected or that I care. That the bitch he hated before can still show face. To turn it back to something negative.I’m startled to find him right behind me, staring at the back

I walk away and stand by the corner of the bookcase as he seems to pull himself back together physically. Flicking a glance my way and exhaling like he’s disappointed by their arrival. I ignore him, well aware I was just saved from a colossal mistake, and concentrate on self-calming the internal chaos he caused with what he almost did to me.The main door, which faces side on from where I am, is opened, and two figures wander in arm in arm. Yoonah supports his mother as though she has difficulty walking and wheeling in a case with them. They are semi-concealed by the low glass separator that makes the open-plan space into a defined hall and living room where they stop to remove their shoes. Oblivious to my presence at all because of the way they are facing. I watch in wide-eyed silence, my heart erupting with nerves as the two people who used to be my everything take off their outer wear, turning my insides to absolute mush

This is one thing that’s been bothering me a lot. That Jyeon hasn’t placed much emphasis on the drastic humanizing of Sohla Park or acted like it’s a massive factor in our past. Somehow he doesn’t seem to notice how significant a change it is. What happened to all the reasons he despised me? All our differences? Why is he now able to talk of Tia with less venom but couldn’t back then? He says he loves me, but now I am a completely different person. Even I know that.“Because you’re the Sohla I grew up with. You’re not different. You’ve returned to who you were. Before marriage, OLO, loss……. To me, it’s finding the girl that was missing much longer than before the accident. The girl I already loved.”I wish I could argue with that logic, but I guess there’s truth in it. I vaguely remember me of my youth as I seamlessly transitioned over the years. I don’t know what I was like or

“Greta…” I warn, cutting into her bitch fight that’s ready to roll and look Claire up and down with cool disinterest. Not going to allow Greta to make a public scene when news only just hit of my miraculous appearance. This is all we would need. Someone filming us and posting it online.“Apologies, my friend is very loyal and has a code of conduct that she lives by. Some things are just shamelessly abhorrent to her.” I smile sweetly, bile rising in my stomach when faced with this wench, and yet I act perfectly. Crazy how even after two years, being back here, I found that mask I could pull out and stick on when faced with tramps like this. That old me can still pull the old trick out.“Wow… you may look different, but you seem the same to me.” Claire yawns on cue as though bored by us and drops her arms to return them to her trolley.“Don’t let us keep you. I’m sure you’re very busy