coming back? Isn’t two weeks too long to be gone? Do you not miss us at all?
Please don’t be mad at me. I was afraid that if I asked you, you would never let us go. In a way, I’m helping you, so you don’t have to make a tough decision. The decision has been made for you, and now you can look forward to a great future in a great country!
I know I am doing the right thing, and I will explain it all to you once you get here. We’ll be staying with my parents. The address is on the back. It is in English, but I think you can read it.
Hurry to your new home.
Your husband,
Min
Soo-Ja made a mad dash to Min’s desk, looking for her in-laws’ phone number. Her mind raced with thoughts. She had been gone for too long. She had given Min too much time alone to plot and plan and go back and forth in his decision, until he finally began packing their bags. This couldn’t have been a spur-of-the-moment decision—it took too long and too much work to get the tourist visas and plane tickets. Soo-Ja wondered if her absence had made him feel abandoned, and maybe she had, in fact, abandoned him, choosing her father’s memory over his live, anxious body. Still, he’d done this in the most cowardly and hurtful way possible. Not even a phone call.
But why the sudden departure? Soo-Ja knew that for years Min had yearned to reunite with his father, but she never thought he’d act on his own like this. There had to be more to his decision. And how could he take Soo-Ja’s own daughter away from her! Without consulting her! Soo-Ja asked herself how he could be so selfish. Hana must have been thrilled, of course, to go to America. She was too young to understand what her father was doing.
Soo-Ja found her in-laws’ number on the inside of the back cover of one of Min’s notebooks, scribbled in pen in his uneven handwriting. It was the longest number she’d ever had to dial, and she had to do so carefully, so shaky was her hand. Soo-Ja held the phone close to her face as it rang, breath caught in her throat. Miss Hong looked at her with anguish in her eyes, helping her sit down. When Soo-Ja heard the voice answer on the other end, she knew immediately who it was. She had not spoken to him in almost seven years, but it was the same hard voice, unsmiling and emotionless.
“Hello?”
“Father-in-law…” said Soo-Ja.
“Hana’s mother,” he said, like a reprimand.
“Is Hana there? I want to speak to her.”
“She’s outside. In the pool. It is still morning here.”
“Tell her to come to the phone,” said Soo-Ja, gripping the phone cord with her fingers. “And Hana’s father, too. I want to talk to him.”
“He doesn’t want to talk to you. He’s afraid you might yell at him. Or that you’ll talk him into coming back,” said Father-in-law.
“Are you saying you won’t let me talk to my daughter, or my husband?”
Father-in-law sighed, as if Soo-Ja were simply too unintelligent to understand the situation. “I’m going to raise your daughter for you. The school district here is very good. Of course, once she finishes high school, she’ll have to pay me back, but she can work in my warehouse for a few years and earn back the money I spent on her.”
“She’s not staying there, she’s coming back home with me,” said Soo-Ja, steel in her voice.
Father-in-law did not say anything, but he did not hang up, either. Silence followed him, and Soo-Ja assumed he’d gone to fetch his son. Although, knowing her father-in-law, she figured he’d probably just leave the receiver facedown on the counter, until someone inquired about it.
Soo-Ja felt suspended in time, each second an eternity. Finally, Soo-Ja heard Min’s voice on the line. “Soo-Ja?”
“Considering all the things you’ve done to me, I still never imagined you’d take my daughter away from me,” said Soo-Ja, practically yelling on the phone.
“We’re going to start fresh here, Soo-Ja,” said Min, also skipping any pleasantries. “We’re going to start over again.”
“How could you do this? Without even asking me?”
“I have every right to, according to the law. It is within my rights as a father.”
“You’re coming back here with Hana,” said Soo-Ja, boiling with anger. “Right now, do you hear me?”
“This is our chance, Soo-Ja,” said Min, his voice rising to match her intensity. “A lot of