The Only Child: a Novel by Mi-ae Seo

Author:Mi-ae Seo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

15.

AFTER HER DAD WENT OUT OF THE ROOM, HAYEONG WENT limp and dropped to the floor.

Something awful might have happened if he hadn’t come in time. Looking at the scissors on the floor, Hayeong thought of Seonkyeong’s face. She had really wanted to stab her. She couldn’t understand, no matter how she thought about it. How could Seonkyeong touch someone else’s belongings? Thinking about her, Hayeong felt angry again.

She grabbed and hurled whatever came into her hand, screaming. Then it occurred to her that her dad might come up if she went on screaming like that. She didn’t want to listen to him nagging again. She had to be quiet.

On her first day here, he’d taken her into his arms and whispered, “If you want to live here with me, you have to listen to her.”

Because of his words, she’d put up with everything, no matter how much she disliked something.

She didn’t complain, even when Seonkyeong picked out old-fashioned clothes. Kids her age didn’t wear stuff like that. As if playing dolls, Seonkyeong had taken her shopping, making her try on one thing after another, when she herself was the only one who was enjoying it. Hayeong was hungry and her legs hurt, but she’d put up with it because of what her father had said.

There was a pink blanket on the bed. The moment she came home and saw the blanket, she felt like puking. She didn’t let on because Seonkyeong was at her side, but she got the creeps thinking she had to sleep under a pink blanket from now on. On top of that, the curtains were made of pink-and-yellow-green-checked fabric. When she came into her room, she felt sick to her stomach because of all the crazy colors. Pink was the color she hated the most in the world. But she hadn’t complained about it.

She’d kept quiet because of what her dad had said, but grownups never listened to you anyway. They just made you do what they wanted you to do. If you ever spoke your mind, they scolded you, calling you impertinent. Living with her grandparents, Hayeong had learned that it was better not to speak at all. It hadn’t been all that different living with her mom, either. She wouldn’t even let her say “Mom.”

Even when Hayeong broke an arm and was hospitalized, her mom wouldn’t let her answer any questions from her dad or the doctor. If she so much as moved her mouth, her mom pressed down hard on her arm, which she was holding. She pressed so hard that Hayeong’s eyes welled up with tears, preventing her from talking. Then her mom would speak for her. She felt unhappy thinking about her mom. She quickly shook her head to get her off her mind.

She didn’t like this house, but it was a hundred times better than living with her grandmother in Eungam-dong.

From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning until she went to bed at night, her grandmother would nag incessantly, even when Hayeong was asleep.

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