Got Her Back

Let's Leave This Place

—Her mother held her hands tightly. "Should we leave this place, Rona?" her mother asked, suddenly, out of the blue.

Rona's eyes widened and she looked at her mother in disbelief. Did I hear it right? Is the universe finally on my side? 

"Rona, what do you think?" her mother asked again, slightly shaking her hands, getting her attention.

"C-Can we?" Rona asked, slightly smiling. Her eyes were filled with hope but her smile faded and she immediately looked away as she realized something. "W-We don't have enough money to do that. How--"

Yoonhee put her left hand on Ronas shoulders and smiled at her when Rona looked at her. "Don't worry about that, Rona-yah. Where should we go, Rona? US? Italy? Just tell me where." Yoonhee smiled, raising her eyebrows at her.

"Can we really do that mom?" 

"Of course, Rona. Why not?"

"Why all of a sudden? Is there something wrong?"

"I-I'm just worried about you Rona. You always seem anxious. So I thought maybe leaving the country will make you feel at ease."

So is she too. She seems distracted these days. Now she suddenly asked me to leave the country. Is this related to what she took from ahjumma? Because from that day, she's always talking to someone on her phone and when I approach her, she ends the call right away.

"Should we just go to the US? You're smart so you won't have any problem familiarizing with the language. And also, Rona," Yoonhee paused for a moment to think about whether she'll tell her when they get there or tell her right now. She chose the latter. "Let's look for an art school there. You should still pursue music--"

"Mom, I already told--"

"You're so talented. It'll be such a waste not to continue singing. Please, Rona-yah."

Rona looked down at her lap, not responding because she's not sure what to say. Singing ... this is the reason why they suffered so why would she continue it?

"If you're worried about Seojin finding you out, don't worry. I'll make sure she can't lay a finger on you. I'll kill her if she does."

K-Kill her?

The thought of her mom killing someone made her more anxious. It's as if her anxiety keeps growing more and more as the day goes by. And also, her nightmares are getting scarier every day. She pushed the thought from her mind and turned to her mom.

"Mom, let's do that."

"Which one? Kill Seojin?"

"No. Not that."

"I'm just joking," Yoonhee chuckled.

"Not a good joke mom," she nagged.

"I know. I'm bad at telling jokes."

"Mom!" Rona scolded, slightly laughing at what her mom said. She knew her mom was doing this to uplift her. "Let's go abroad," she finally agreed. "You said you wanted me to study music. I'll do it as long as we stay away from this place."

"Really Rona?" 

Rona nods in response.

"That's great. I'm going to find a good school when we get there," Yoonhee said excitedly. "By the way Rona, we are going to leave with someone." 

We're going with someone else?

"Who?" Rona asked.

"You will meet him soon. Get off the bed now-- Oh, right. Your friends are here," Yoonhee took the comb from the table behind her and started combing Rona's hair. 

"Friends?"

"You're beautiful even in the morning," Yoonhee said, admiring her child again, not responding to Rona's question.

"Let's go."

Rona was about to protest but Yoonhee already opened the door of Rona's room and Rona was left with no choice but to follow her mom.

Yoonhee went out first and when Rona got out of her room, she stopped by the door and was shocked to see the friends her mom was talking about.

The one was smiling at her while the other one said, "Hi." 

She walked back to her room and closed the door.

What are they doing here?

***