With my heart pounding fast, I pause in front of my mother's guest room. With my eyes closed, I take a deep breath through my nose and hold it for ten seconds before slowly exhaling through my mouth.
It's been almost a week since my father's court hearing. Today is the day I want to tell my mother about Sunghoon's and my engagement.
Now I am standing here in front of your room door and knocking. "Come in," I hear my mother's soft voice.
Briefly I consider letting it go, just turning around and going back to my guest room. But then my hand reaches for the door handle as if of its own accord. I push it down and open the door.
"Dolores, mi hija", my mother says in surprise, lifting her eyes from the book she holds in her hands to look at me.
Rooted to the spot, I stop in the doorway and return my mother's gaze. My sweaty fingers still clasp the door handle, while all thoughts run through my head. How will she react? Will she be happy? Or will she dislike this news?
"Are you all right?" my mother inquires anxiously, sitting up in her bed. She folds the book closed and places it on her nightstand.
"I have something to tell you," I inform her. Hesitantly, I close the door behind me and approach my mother's bed. With each step in her direction, the heart in my chest beats faster and faster.
When I finally stop right in front of her bed, it finally skips a beat. I think I'm about to keel over. "What's wrong?" my mother continues to ask. The confusion and concern are written all over her face as she scrutinizes me out of her brown eyes.
Again, I take a deep breath before holding my left hand in front of her face. "Sunghoon and I are engaged," I inform her straightforwardly.
Silence... Nerve-wracking silence. I can even hear the blood rushing in my ears.
With slightly parted lips and widened eyes, my mother stares at the ring on my finger. But instead of saying anything, she averts her eyes from me. "Say something," I beg her. Silence...
"Please," I murmur. My mother looks at me. Her brown eyes fill with tears. "I don't know what to say," she confesses to me, shaking her head.
Now it is I who am silent. Immediately, I wish I had never told her, because unlike what I had hoped, my mother doesn't seem particularly pleased with this news.
"I've been so out of it these past weeks and months that I haven't noticed any of this," my mother informs me. A tear runs down my cheek before I allow her to reach for my face. She strokes my cheek with her thumb. "But believe me I'm happy for you guys. Sunghoon has proven that he's a good man, and if he makes you happy, I'll be happy too."
Now tears are running down my cheeks too. Tears of joy and relief at her positive reaction. "How long have you been engaged?" my mother inquires. "Since a little over a month ago," I confess to her, lowering my eyes in shame at having kept it from her for so long. "I wanted to tell you sooner, but there's been so much going on, and I didn't want to add to your burden."
"It's okay, I understand why you waited so long," my mother replies, wrapping her arms around my petite body to pull me close.
Lovingly, the middle-aged woman pats my back. I bury my face in her light brown hair and breathe in her familiar scent.
"There's also one more thing I want to tell you," my mother announces. She breaks away from our embrace to look me in the eye. "I've filed for divorce." Surprised by my mother's words, I raise my eyebrows. "I never want to see that man again," she adds firmly.
I can't describe how proud I am of my mother for finally finding the courage to take this step after all these horrible years of suffering silently under this man. "I'm proud of you, Mamá," I say, nodding affirmatively before pulling my mother into another hug.
At that moment, I notice her half-packed suitcases lying on the floor in front of the closet. "You started packing," I state in surprise, breaking away from our embrace to look at my mother.
"I want to go back home," she informs me. "Now that he's gone, I feel ready to do that. But of course, I can understand if you want to stay with Sunghoon."
On the one hand, I would like to return home with my mother and Teresa because I will miss them terribly when we no longer see each other every day. But on the other hand, I want to stay with Sunghoon.
"I'm going to miss you guys," I sadly inform my mother, which I guess makes my decision that I'm going to stay here pretty obvious.
"We're not out of the world," my mother replies, lovingly stroking my brown hair, which falls wavily over my shoulders. She then breathes a kiss on my forehead. "I'm not at all ready to let you go, now that I just got you back.... But my little girl is growing up."
I haven't seen my mother as composed as she was tonight in a long time. She's doing well again. Or at least she seems to be doing better. And that makes me incredibly happy.
After we talk for a while, I leave her room. On the way to my own guest room, I stop in front of Sunghoon's bedroom door.
For a moment I toy with the idea of going in to see him, but then decide against it. His day must have been exhausting, because Sunghoon had an all-day company meeting.
He has probably asleep for a long time now, because it is already late. I don't want to wake him up.
"Why don't you go inside?" his voice, of all things, rings out from behind me just a few feet away.
Startled, I whirl around to look at the young man with widened eyes, who seems to have just come out of the bathroom, for he is wearing a white towel wrapped around his hips and his brown hair hangs dripping down his forehead. I catch myself staring at his bare chest.
"I-well...I thought you were already asleep," I reply, stammering. Ashamed of my stutter, I avert my gaze from Sunghoon.
With a grin on his lips, he approaches me and wraps his strong arm around my slim waist to pull me against his body.
I place my hands on his bare, wet chest and rest my head slightly on the back of my neck so I can look him in the eye.
The heart in my chest beats wildly against my ribs as blood rushes to my cheeks. Sunghoon approaches my face and pauses just before my lips.
"No need to get nervous, jagiya," he breathes, placing his hands against my heated cheeks. "There's nothing you haven't seen before," he reminds me, winking.
"My mother wants to return home," I inform Sunghoon, changing the subject. His facial expression changes abruptly; instantly he becomes serious. I press my lips together and lower my gaze.
"And what about you?" he wants to know hopefully. "You're my home," I reply without hesitation, echoing his words.
A smile curls around my lips. The corners of his mouth instantly pull up into a smile. He then leans in toward me to completely close the already small gap between us by placing his lips on mine.
I wrap my arms around his neck to return the soft kiss. Sunghoon opens his bedroom door to push me into the room, our lips moving continuously on each other.
With his foot, he kicks the door shut behind him and leads me towards his bed, onto which he pushes me.
A/N: Yeah what happens next you know yourselfs :))