The Mother's Silent Agony
“Huu...”
Lee Woo-jin’s voice broke the silence as he stepped quietly from his bedroom, leaving only the faint sound of his footsteps behind.
Cha Se-yeon hurried back to her own room, doing everything she could to avoid being caught.
Her older sister, Cha Ji-yeon, called out to her anyway.
“Se-yeon. Where have you been?”
“Oppa’s room.”
“What?”
Ji-yeon’s eyes widened in shock. Just moments earlier she had been the one who had slipped into Woo-jin’s bedroom and received that same hidden punishment. The thought that her younger sister might have witnessed it made her stomach twist with unease.
“What were you doing there?”
“Um? I was hiding under the bed so I could scare Oppa and then... but my sister showed up halfway through and ruined everything.”
“...
Are you still a kid? To do something like that.”
“What’s wrong with it? I was just trying to get closer to Oppa.”
Se-yeon’s careless reply earned her sister a scolding laced with irritation.
“Enough of that. From now on, you’re not to enter Woo-jin’s room.”
Though Ji-yeon issued the order, Se-yeon wasn’t about to stay silent.
“Why? What right does you have to tell me that?”
“It’s simple. A girl walking into a boy’s room without permission isn’t normal. Oppa probably has important things to do, and you’d be bothering him.”
Se-yeon refused to accept the words so easily. She had her own reasons for being there.
Yet seeing her sister interfere only made her feel like an intruder.
“Then what is your reason for going to Oppa’s room?”
“I was looking for you since you disappeared.”
“Why? You live in the house, don’t you? There was no need to come looking for me in Oppa’s room.”
Se-yeon suddenly remembered Woo-jin’s words from earlier.
He had asked her to ask her sister what they had talked about.
Se-yeon decided to test the waters.
“But, sister... what were you talking to Oppa about earlier?”
“Nothing. I just asked if you were there.”
Ji-yeon turned her head sharply, her posture uneasy.
Se-yeon instinctively sensed that her sister was hiding something.
“Really? You two were talking for a long time, though.”
“I told you, there was nothing to talk about!”
Se-yeon felt a strange chill. The memory of a similar conversation from a long time ago surfaced in her mind.
Back then, when Woo-jin had been living with them after being kicked out, Ji-yeon had suddenly seemed in a very good mood.
“Sister, did something good happen?”
“No?”
That “no” answer itself had already felt wrong.
Se-yeon had never heard her sister sound so happy with a simple “no”.
“What is it? What happened?”
“Nothing happened.”
Ji-yeon’s behavior was simply suspicious.
Se-yeon kept pressing her sister with questions whenever she found a chance.
Finally, on the second night, Ji-yeon confessed everything to her.
“Actually... I kissed Woo-jin.”
Se-yeon stared at her sister, stunned.
“...
What?”
Kiss.
Even though she was still young, Se-yeon knew exactly what that meant.
“Sister, are you dating Oppa?”
“No? It was just a kiss. We’re in middle school now. Everyone kisses, right?”
The words hit Se-yeon like a blow.
She had liked Woo-jin for a long time.
She had also vaguely known that her sister secretly felt the same way.
She thought of herself as Ji-yeon’s rival when it came to Oppa.
Yet she had always assumed Oppa would never choose the sharp-tongued Ji-yeon over her.
But it was the opposite.
Woo-jin had kissed Ji-yeon.
That meant he liked her sister more.
Se-yeon refused to accept it.
She decided to tell their father.
She thought he would separate them.
But her plan backfired.
The very next day, when Se-yeon returned from school, Woo-jin had already been kicked out.
He had taken only what he could carry—his clothes, his belongings, his phone—and left.
Father had told them he could no longer come home and they would never see him again.
Se-yeon protested.
Her sister protested too.
But their father would not budge.
Even their mother, who usually spoiled Woo-jin, sided with the father this time.
“Cha Se-yeon. Did you tell him?”
Se-yeon and her parents argued.
Se-yeon and her sister argued.
Her sister and their parents argued.
The atmosphere inside the house shattered in an instant.
And it never went back to the way it had been.
“Maybe that’s when everything started. Our family’s downfall.”
Se-yeon regretted those memories. Her heart ached just thinking about them.
“Stop talking nonsense. From now on, do not go near Woo-jin’s room. Do not even try to get close to him. Do you think he’s some saint who suddenly decided to live here?”
“Sister.”
Se-yeon ignored every word and asked seriously.
“You still like Oppa?”
“What?”
Ji-yeon looked as if she had been slapped.
“Am I crazy? Who do you think I like? Lee Woo-jin? Me?”
Se-yeon knew that strong denial was the same as a strong affirmation.
Seeing her sister’s reaction, Se-yeon nodded as if she had already figured it out.
“So you still like him? That’s why you’re telling me not to get close to Oppa.”
“Cha Se-yeon!”
Ji-yeon exploded.
“Do not ever say that again! I will really not let you off if you do!”
She looked ready to slap her sister at any second.
“Why are you making so much noise?”
Mother Seo Hye-su rushed over after hearing the commotion.
Se-yeon quickly darted behind her mother and hid.
“Mom! Sister is trying to hit me!”
“Enough.”
“Shh!”
Hye-su quickly calmed her daughters.
“Children, please. Mom is asking you. Keep your voices down.”
Seeing their mother pleading, the two girls stayed quiet.
“Ji-yeon, Se-yeon. Do you even know how bad our situation is right now?”
“Of course. I know better than Mom.”
Her blunt older sister replied sharply.
“You know? And you’re still yelling and fighting with your sister.”
“What? Because Oppa kicked us out, you want us to stay silent?”
Her sister’s temper flared again.
“That’s not what I meant. At least stop causing trouble.”
“Why? Are you afraid Oppa will kick us out again?”
“Ji-yeon, please. Lower your voice. Oppa might hear.”
“Hear? If it’s so loud, just kick us out already!”
“Ji-yeon!”
Now the argument had turned into a mother-daughter fight.
“Oppa... also...”
Se-yeon, watching everything quietly, finally spoke in a small voice.
“When Oppa was living here, was it like that?”
The argument between mother and sister stopped.
“He couldn’t even raise his voice, had to watch what he ate. Did he really have to live that way, always watching our every move?”
“Hmph.”
Her sister laughed mockingly.
“Watching him? Lee Woo-jin? Hah, if he had that much fear, he wouldn’t have been kicked out!”
“Sister, Oppa was kicked out because of you.”
“You’re the one who told Dad!”
“Children, please!”
Hye-su forcibly separated the fighting sisters.
She led them to the corner room so Woo-jin wouldn’t hear.
“Both of you come sit down. And listen to Mom first.”
Although the sisters argued, they didn’t truly hate each other.
Hye-su knew it was simply frustration and exhaustion.
“Let me get one thing straight first.”
Once the girls were seated, Hye-su spoke seriously.
“When we kicked Woo-jin out of the house, it was me and your father who did it.”
Her serious tone made the girls fall silent and listen.
“None of you did anything wrong. Ji-yeon, you could have kissed him out of curiosity. Se-yeon, you could have told us because you were scared. But the one who kicked him out was your father, and the one who didn’t stop him was me. None of you were at fault.”
“Mom...”
In truth, every member of the family carried guilt.
Her sister Ji-yeon had been the one to suggest the kiss first.
Se-yeon had been the one to tell their father.
Her mother Hye-su had been the one who refused to protect Woo-jin.
“If... if Woo-jin resents us because of what happened back then, then the resentment is all mine. If he feels he has to leave this house, I will leave. You two did nothing wrong. So do not blame each other. Do not fight. If you want to hate someone, hate Mom.”
“Mom...”
Tears welled in Se-yeon’s eyes.
In reality, it was not her mother’s fault.
After all, Hye-su had always loved Woo-jin the most.
She had simply been unable to endure their father’s shouting.
Yet seeing her mother take all the blame made Se-yeon’s heart ache.
But Ji-yeon thought differently.
“Mom is acting like she’s sacrificing herself again.”
“Sister, what do you mean?”
“Shut up!”
Ji-yeon’s sharp glare silenced Se-yeon.
She glared at her mother.
“Do you think Woo-jin will pity us because you look so pitiful? Do you think he’ll comfort our broken family?”
“Ji-yeon...”
Ji-yeon cried out in pain.
“No way! I remember everything about that guy! Mom and Dad kicked him out! I suggested the kiss and he slapped me! After we were kicked out, he never contacted us! Now that he needs us, he suddenly calls! Everything!”
“...
Then what? Mom is supposed to take all the resentment? So only Mom gets blamed by Woo-jin and we’re all forgiven? Who said that?”
“That’s...”
“Mom knows nothing. What he thinks of us. How much he resents us! What he thinks of me!”
Heavy tears streamed down Ji-yeon’s cheeks.
“I can never get his forgiveness...”
Ji-yeon broke down and sobbed loudly.
Even when chased by debt collectors, she had never shed a single tear.
Seeing her sister cry like a child shocked Se-yeon deeply.
It felt as if everything was her fault for telling their father.
Her sister’s pain, their family’s ruin—everything was because of her.
So Se-yeon started crying too.
She hugged her sobbing sister and cried with her.
“Children.”
Hye-su hugged the two sisters who clung to each other in despair.
“Stop crying. Okay? Pretty faces break if you keep it up.”
“Mom...”
But the girls’ tears refused to stop.
Hye-su stroked their hair gently.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. From now on, we can fix this. Whatever wrong we did to Woo-jin back then, we can make up for it now. Mom will try, and you two will try too. One day you’ll get his forgiveness. Understand?”
“...
Yes.”
The sisters nodded in harmony, though moments ago they had looked ready to devour each other.
“Good. For once, let’s all eat together. Mom, you, and Se-yeon.”
“Yes...”
Even the defiant Ji-yeon nodded quietly this time.
“Ah.”
Se-yeon looked troubled.
“I... I can’t!”
“What? Why?”
“I have homework...”
“Homework? Since when?”
She no longer attended school.
Se-yeon stood up quickly to avoid her mother’s curious gaze.
“I’ll sleep in my room! Mom, sister, sleep well!”
Se-yeon slipped out of the room as if running away.
The mother and daughter left behind simply stared at each other with puzzled expressions.