This Burns My Heart Page 0,65

asked sheepishly.

“You didn’t tell them that?” Soo-Ja had wondered why no one had come to help her look for Hana. So that was why.

Na-yeong inhaled a deep breath. “No. I didn’t want them to know I followed you. That was wrong of me.”

“Na-yeong, I don’t really feel like speaking to you right now.”

But Na-yeong continued. “They were looking for Hana all over the neighborhood. I felt a little silly, watching them call out for her, when I knew she was nowhere near.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone that you followed me, or that you lost Hana in the market,” said Soo-Ja frostily. It wasn’t all forgiveness—she simply doubted that her in-laws would punish Na-yeong. But it didn’t matter—she had Hana back.

“Thank you.”

Na-yeong turned, as if to sleep, but Soo-Ja was wide awake now. Na-yeong had passed on her restlessness to her. “When did Min come back?” asked Soo-Ja.

“Right after you left. My mother told Du-Ho and Chung-Ho to go to the hiding place and tell oppa what happened. The three of them were looking everywhere for you and Hana. Oppa was very sad. He thought he’d lost both of you.”

Soo-Ja thought about Min having to go back to the hiding place tomorrow. So that’s how long the happy ending lasted—only a few hours.

“And where’s your father?”

“He’s in Daegu.”

“Why did he go back early?”

Na-yeong shrugged. “I don’t know. But I guess we’ll see him tomorrow when we get back home.”

“I guess so. You should sleep now, Na-yeong.”

“Eonni…”

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” said Na-yeong, and Soo-Ja could hear the anguish in her voice.

“Go to sleep.”

“Do you forgive me?”

“Go to sleep.”

When they arrived back in Daegu, Soo-Ja immediately headed with Hana to her father’s, so she could tell him what happened. But when she got there, Soo-Ja’s mother greeted her very coldly. She offered her something to eat, but with a strain in her voice. She seemed angry at Soo-Ja, but also appeared to be trying to hide her anger. Soo-Ja wondered what she had done this time. She assumed that her mother was still annoyed at having to host Jae-Hwa for so long. Jae-Hwa had taken her time getting her bearings, and had only recently left their house, to take a job at a factory that manufactured electric fans.

Soo-Ja and her mother sat in awkward silence, waiting for her father in the main room. Hana alone ate the rice cakes on the tray, smiling each time she put one in her mouth.

“I hope your husband’s family enjoys the second dowry,” Soo-Ja’s mother finally said.

Soo-Ja looked at her, confused. “Second dowry?”

“Your father worked very hard to build that factory. He can’t keep selling off parts of it. Things have not been easy since President Park took office,” said her mother sharply.

“Does Father need money?”

Her mother’s face suddenly changed, as if she’d just realized something. “You don’t know? They didn’t tell you?”

Soo-Ja started to worry. “Did something happen to Father? Is he all right?”

Soo-Ja’s mother put her right hand over her mouth and began to laugh. “Oh, this is too, too precious. They didn’t say anything to you, did they?”

“Eomma, please, what happened?”

Soo-Ja’s mother then told her that Father-in-law had come to see her father, and had told him about his debt, and about Min facing possible jail time. Father-in-law had explained that he needed 50 million won.

“He didn’t say straight out that he had come at your request. He just let your father assume,” said Soo-Ja’s mother. “And your father thought you were at home, too worried and ashamed to come yourself, to ask him for the money. The thought of you, feeling so badly, really got to your father. He felt like he had to rescue you. He was happy, I think, to almost ruin himself so he could help you. He went back to an old friend, who had been asking for years if your father would sell him the branch in Jungangtong. You can imagine how happy this man was when your father, out of the blue, told him he’d do it if he could get the money right away. Fifty million won. Into the hands of your father-in-law.”

Soo-Ja looked at her mother, stunned. “Did abeoji—did abeoji give Min’s father all that money?”

“He said whatever belongs to me belongs to Soo-Ja,” said her mother, her eyes growing big. “But what about your brothers? Or your father? He’s getting old, he can’t work like he used to. So I hope your husband enjoys his liberty, because it has come at a dear