Sonju by Wondra Chang

Author:Wondra Chang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction - South Korea - Korean War - Women's fiction - feminism
Publisher: Madville Publishing
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

The following Saturday, Brother-in-Law had been with his father since he arrived home. From the kitchen, Sonju watched her husband come home and enter the men’s quarters to greet his father, his usual routine. Half an hour later, her husband walked out of the men’s quarters with his head hung low. Brother-in-Law bowed to her but no smile, no words of greeting. Her husband must have told them both about the divorce.

In less than five minutes, Father-in-Law sent for her.

“You called for me.” She knelt in front of him ready to hear her father-in-law’s words against the divorce. She looked at him with a resolve not to waiver.

His face was glum. He cleared his throat. “I have received a letter that you stayed at a man’s house twice.”

For a second, she was utterly confused. A letter? She couldn’t breathe.

He continued, “You will leave in two days. You will have absolutely no contact with Jinju until she finishes high school. Your contact will confuse her, and she will have problems bonding with her new mother.”

She let out a scream, “No! She is my child. I can’t live without her! I can’t! Please let me take her. She is my child.”

Father-in-Law’s mouth was firmly closed.

A woman’s cry, all muffled. Her own cry. Father-in-Law’s face was out of focus. Touching her own hot, wet face, she pleaded between halting nasal sobs, “Please let me take her.”

“We will take care of all the necessary legal procedures for the divorce. Your father will be informed.” Turning his face from her, he said, “I have nothing more to say.”

Jinju must not see her crying, she told herself. She hurried to the back garden, whimpering and tripping. She leaned on the prickly juniper fence, and covering her face sobbed into her hands. Her life without Jinju. It felt like a chunk of her was about to tear off. Her daughter. How would she live without her daughter? Her mind was blank, and she couldn’t think of any means to take Jinju with her. Her exhausted sobs dribbled out. Perhaps an hour passed. The earth swallowed the sun. Then a few faint stars appeared and trembled.

When Sonju went to her room shivering, her husband was on his yo, quiet and still. She lay on her yo next to her sleeping daughter. She felt Jinju’s little chest rise and fall, and heard an occasional puff of soft breath. Her life without this puff of breath next to her. Her own breath quickened and her heart squeezed. She sat up beating on her chest to get the pain out of it. She was dizzy. She was losing herself. Breathe in, hold, hold, hold, breathe out. Again. She would have to pull herself together. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. One day, Jinju would want an explanation.

The night hours were long. Feral cats shrieked. The wind whooshed. Windows rattled. Sonju wept silently under the blanket until dawn.

A maid brought a basin of warm water. All of her meals would be served the

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