Her Mother's Wish
"Turtle, come here."
Haley's tone had softened a little since the first time she and Yohan had spoken. By now, enough time had passed that the two of them had grown somewhat closer.
"You buying me ice cream?"
"Is ice cream all you ever think about? But what's going on? Why do you look so happy?"
Seeing the pure, radiant smile spread across Yohan's face, Haley asked, and he answered with his white teeth on full display.
"I get to go to the club camp over break."
"Camp? What kind of camp?"
"Football camp. You know Roma?"
"We're in Rome."
"No. AS Roma. The football club."
"Never heard of it."
"You live in Rome and you don't know AS Roma?"
"Did you just laugh at me? You wanna die?"
"I wasn't laughing. Anyway, the sisters said they're sending me there over the break, so I'm happy."
"Hmm... is that so?"
Haley rolled her eyes upward as if turning something over in her mind, then fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
"How long is it?"
"Three weeks."
"When does it start?"
"Middle of June, they said. Why are you asking?"
"No reason. Anyway, about that math homework the teacher gave us today?"
"Yeah."
"Do it and hand it over tomorrow."
"No. Homework is something you do yourself."
"You can't show me even once? I'm asking nicely. I buy you ice cream almost every day."
"That's that, and this is this. If it's some other favor, I can help."
"You're seriously weird. Fine, no more ice cream for you?"
"I don't like that."
"Aren't you being a little shameless?"
"I don't like it, but if that's how you feel, I'll accept it."
"Oh, for crying out loud... whatever. Is today a football day?"
"No. Rest day today. Why? You coming to watch?"
Haley snorted.
To her, football was nothing more than a boring sport where twenty-two people ran this way and that after a ball until it was over. She had no idea what anyone found entertaining about it.
"Why would I watch that?"
"If you're not going, you could just say you're not going..."
"That's my business. So you're free today?"
"Yeah."
"After school, tell your mom you're going out somewhere with me."
"Where?"
"My mom said she'd buy you something delicious."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You free?"
"Yeah. I'll let the sisters know."
Spending time with Haley had taught Yohan one thing: her family had an enormous amount of money. She never bragged about it outright, but he could sense it, and he saw the evidence often enough—the way she arrived at school in a very expensive car.
Dinner bought by a rich person. How good would it taste?
The thought alone made Yohan's mouth water.
"Look at you getting all excited... Since I'm treating you to dinner, let me copy your homework."
"No. If it's that hard, how about we solve it together? I'll help you."
To Haley, Yohan's suggestion seemed like a reasonably fair compromise. She wasn't the one buying dinner anyway, so free help was a good deal. She nodded, privately congratulating herself for bringing up the meal in the first place.
"Fine."
With Sister Caterina's permission, Yohan followed Haley and found himself looking at a beautiful woman who seemed exactly like what Haley would grow up to become.
"That's my mom."
Haley's introduction was short and almost perfunctory—hardly an introduction at all, really, since they hadn't even approached her mother yet.
"She's really pretty."
"Is she?"
Maybe praise for family landed better than praise for strangers. One corner of Haley's mouth curved upward.
Whether she liked it or not, Yohan trotted straight over to her mother, bowed his head, and offered a proper Korean greeting.
"Hello. My name is Yohan Lee."
The polite greeting briefly startled Haley's mother, but she answered with a smile.
"I'm Caroline Newman. Haley's mom. Don't bother with anything formal like Mrs. Newman—just call me Carrie."
"Pardon...?"
Yohan's eyes went wide. The idea of calling a friend's mother by her first name—let alone a nickname—filled him with enormous pressure.
Reading his expression, Caroline gave a light laugh.
"You can call me Aunt Carrie, if that helps."
Only then did relief wash over Yohan's face.
"Yes, Aunt Carrie."
Strictly speaking, Caroline was far too young to be anyone's aunt. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and her actual age was still under thirty. She had given birth to Haley at a remarkably young age by modern standards.
"Who's an aunt... this is ridiculous."
Caroline shot a sharp look at her muttering daughter, then pointed to her car.
"Want a ride? Let's go get something good to eat."
"Ah, yes!"
Haley and Yohan climbed into the back seat. Caroline reminded them both to buckle up, then pulled away from the curb. As she drove, she spoke to Yohan in a tone that made clear how grateful she was that he spent time with her daughter.
"My daughter's pretty rough around the edges. Thank you for sticking with her."
"Not at all. Haley's kind."
That statement had some issues. Even as her mother, Caroline could see that Haley had a terrible temper. She had been spoiled from a young age, and with enough money to buy her whatever she wanted, she had grown rather selfish. Being the child of a well-known mother had also meant Haley received plenty of attention and princess treatment when she was little. As for the way she picked unnecessary fights with people—that seemed less like upbringing and more like genetics. Caroline herself had been exactly the same as a child.
That didn't make it any more excusable, though. Acutely aware of the flaws in her own parenting, Caroline was truly grateful for Yohan's presence.
He really was raised well.
Before meeting Yohan, she had spoken with Sister Caterina. Just from the sister's manner and way of speaking, Caroline had known Yohan was a good child—and seeing him in person confirmed it completely. He and Haley were total opposites, but having such a gentle boy around her daughter was a stroke of good fortune. Spending time with him, Haley was bound to pick up something from the way he treated people.
Coming to her mother's—Haley's grandmother's—hometown had been the right decision.
Thinking that, Caroline checked the rearview mirror.
"Haley, stop shaking your leg."
"This is shaking? I'm just moving it."
"You'll shake all your luck away."
"I've never even heard that before."
"They say it a lot in Korea."
"This isn't Korea."
"You're right. Then go ahead and shake."
"I said I'm not shaking."
"Alright."
"Ugh..."
Caroline watched her daughter sigh at Yohan's unhurried way of speaking and felt a quiet surge of delight that her prediction was coming true. Ordinarily, Haley would have simply ignored anyone who talked that slowly. She hated how frustrating it was, and if their movements were sluggish on top of it, she hated them even more. She no longer even got angry when people called her by name. She just let it go—or rather, she was choosing to let it slide, and even that was enormous progress.
Caroline was thrilled by her daughter's small changes. Whether Haley sensed any of that or not, she crossed her arms the way she always did and called out.
"Mom."
"Hm?"
"After we eat, can we go home for a bit?"
"I'm dropping Yohan off and heading straight back."
"No—bring him too."
"Why?"
"We agreed to do homework together."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Not only had she started talking to him warmly—now they were doing homework together? Was this the first real friend she had made in Italy? Caroline was happy. She hoped Yohan and Haley would continue to get along for a long time to come.
"Gio. I called the convent yesterday and the sister said you weren't there. Where'd you go?"
The next day, the moment Yohan arrived at school, Ciro came over and sat down beside him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I had dinner with Aunt Carrie and Haley."
"Aunt? Oh—Haley's mom?"
Ciro had spent enough time hanging around with Yohan that he was good at decoding even Yohan's more abrupt remarks.
"Yeah. It was delicious."
He wasn't exaggerating. Yohan had felt as if he had visited heaven. It was the first time he had ever eaten food like that, at a high-end restaurant—from the appetizers through the main course to dessert. Even the sauces had been pure happiness.
"Nice."
"And we did homework together at Haley's house. I didn't know people actually lived in places that big."
"How big?"
"Um... I can't really explain it. Just really big."
Yohan started folding his fingers one by one as if counting units, then gave up. Ciro snickered at the familiar sight of him, then replayed what Yohan had just said and his eyes went round.
"Homework? You did homewo—"
He started to say something, then flinched at the sight of Haley approaching and carefully offered a greeting.
"Hi...?"
Now that Haley caused far fewer incidents while she was with Yohan, the other kids were slowly beginning to speak to her. She whipped her head away with a prim little turn and glared.
"Who said you could talk to me?"
"....."
"You said hi, so I'll take it."
"Th-thanks."
"Yeah."
Of course, Haley handled the approach on her own terms. From her point of view, everyone else—including Yohan—was still a bunch of country bumpkins who didn't belong in her world. Well, maybe Yohan got a little more leeway, since he said whatever he wanted right to her face.
"Come on. Be friendly with each other."
"I was being friendly."
"That was intimidation. Don't do that."
Haley snorted at Yohan's quiet scolding, then slapped the math homework they had worked on the day before down on his desk with a sharp thwack.
"Hey. Did you solve this right?"
"What's the problem?"
"The last one. Isn't the answer five?"
"It's two and three."
"Really...? There are two answers?"
"Yeah."
"When I worked it out I only got five. Alberto buys fifteen loaves of bread and divides them among three people including himself. That means Alberto should have five left."
"I already said no."
The answer still looked highly suspicious to Haley, but she remembered Yohan saying he was good at studying and decided to drop her doubts.
"Fine. Follow me."
"Why?"
"Ice cream."
"Yes!"
Yohan bounced up and followed the excited Haley out. Behind the two of them, Ciro watched with a gaze full of sympathy—aimed not at Yohan, but at Haley.