episode_0023

The living room filled with a profound silence, and once again, those lyrics ringing in my head. Da Bin’s rough thoughts, his anxious gaze, and me watching over him—it feels like a war-like situation.

In a brief moment, various thoughts raced through my mind, and in an instant, I organized my thoughts and spoke up.

“Oh, ahaha. Sorry about that. It was a mistake; yesterday, Mom accidentally deleted some files while using Da Bin’s USB for a moment.”

Yes, the child’s mistake is the parent’s mistake. That’s how it turned out. The guilt rests on me.

I had warned to be careful.

Handing Da Bin the USB, I said, “Sorry. It’s Mom’s fault. Shall I convert them back to movie files and bring them?”

Upon hearing this, Da Bin seemed on the verge of tears, but I quickly pressed my lips against his ear and said, “Don’t cry. Let’s fix this quickly. Come on, hurry.”

As Da Bin entered his room, I fanned my flushed face, cooling down the embarrassment, and addressed the kids.

“Sorry, everyone. I feel like Mom gave you an unpleasant experience…”

Among them, Hyun Yoon was the first to regain composure and quickly spoke up.

“Oh, no… That could happen. Yes. Hahaha.”

No, Hyun Yoon. That can’t happen.

It’s embarrassing just to think about it. How would the kids perceive this? Wouldn’t they think that a lonely married woman, recently divorced, indulged in adult videos for comfort?

Why did I connect the laptop to the TV and expose this situation?

No, if such a thing happened in Da Bin’s room, he should handle it himself, but it’s better if I take responsibility.

Wait, but isn’t handling it oneself?

Nevertheless, feeling ashamed, I left the room for the kitchen. The kids complained about the heat, and my face felt hot, so I thought it would be nice for all of us to drink something cool together. I poured drinks into ice-filled glasses and offered each kid a glass.

Despite the awkwardness dissipating somewhat after having the drinks, there was still a lingering unease. Hyun Seung cautiously started a conversation.

“Um, ma’am. I also watch sometimes. Yes.”

“I, I actually…”

Ye Ji chimed in to console.

Please don’t. This situation where middle schoolers confidently admit to watching adult content to adults is not normal!

Unable to convey my true feelings, I simply smiled bitterly and said, “Um…, don’t watch too much. Be careful.”

At the end of the panic, only a profound awkwardness lingered.

Yes, I am an adult. Because I am an adult, I should handle this situation smoothly…

“Yeah, that’s right. You mentioned a movie club, right? What kind of movies do you all like? Ahj… I mean, Mom watched a movie called ‘A Family’ at the cinema recently, recommended by Da Bin, and it was very touching.”

“Oh, we watched that movie too because Da Bin recommended it. But Da Bin is a bit…”

Ye Ji seemed pleased as she talked about the movie, but judging from the reactions, it seems they saw a glimpse of Da Bin’s extreme rational side.

“Haha… Our Da Bin is a bit like that. But he’s kind-hearted, so please understand him.”

“Of course. Da Bin is very popular at school, both with girls because he’s handsome and boys because he’s kind-hearted.”

Oh, I didn’t know that. He was always obedient and well-behaved at home, but to maintain such traits outside is not easy. Truly, it may not be a mere stroke of luck to have a child like him.

“I see…”

Just then, Da Bin re-entered the room with the USB in hand.

“Um, everyone. Sorry.”

Da-bin, blushing all the way to her ears, handed out apples. But since the kids thought it was my doing, they just smiled and nodded.

I quickly calmed the situation, realizing it wasn’t worth being stubbornly silent, and got up to grab the USB and play the video again.

Luckily, this time the video played properly. But I thought it was an English-speaking film, so I was surprised when French dialogue came on.

“Hmm… a French movie?”

“Yes. It’s called ‘Sister.’ It was released in 2012.”

Huh, interesting. I’ve heard that even the children of executives and new young employees at the company don’t watch these old movies. They were so engrossed in the film that, despite having various film clubs, it was fascinating.

Anyway, feeling restless sitting there, I went to the kitchen. Even if we didn’t have popcorn while watching the movie, I thought it would be nice to have something to snack on.

I took out some bread from the pantry, cut it into cubes, drizzled caramel syrup over them, spread them out on the air fryer tray, and baked them for about 10 minutes. The sweet and nutty aroma filled the kitchen. I poured the finished caramel cubes into a large bowl and served them to the kids along with drinks.

“Wow, thank you.”

The kids, looking amazed after eating the cubes, said they tasted like popcorn. Watching them happily munching away, I decided it would be more of a disturbance if I stayed, so I headed to the living room. I could prepare the meal around the time the kids finished watching the movie.

With a running time of roughly 1 hour and 40 minutes, I figured I could leave in exactly 1 hour.

“A single drama should fit perfectly.”

Coincidentally, today was the day for a drama gathering with author Lee Young-woo, so after feeding the kids, I could go out and enjoy myself before returning. That was the plan as I settled in to watch the drama.

Engrossed in the show, an hour flew by quickly.

When I turned off the TV and returned to the kitchen, the kids were still watching the movie. I started cooking by taking ingredients out of the fridge. After making anchovy broth, dissolving miso paste, adding ingredients, boiling, grilling bulgogi, briefly stir-frying pre-soaked japchae, straining, and mixing everything in a bowl, the meal was ready.

As the meal neared completion, the living room grew noisy, indicating the movie had ended. Glancing at the time, it was exactly 1 o’clock – a good time for lunch.

I transferred the completed dishes to the table one by one, set up rice and utensils, and called the kids from the living room.

“Hey kids, come eat.”

Da-bin led the hesitant kids to the dining table.

“Mmm, smells good.”

“Wow, bulgogi. But why does the decoration look like… something from a magazine?”

“Our mom cooks well. She even runs a blog.”

“Oh? Really? That’s amazing!”

Seeing Da-bin looking particularly proud, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Well, since she pays attention to presentation and cooks well, let’s sit down and try it.”

The kids sat down and started eating.

“Aren’t you eating, Mom?”

Feeling awkward standing alone, Seung-yoon asked, tilting his head.

“Oh, I’ve been tasting while cooking, so I’m quite full. I’ll eat later. You guys enjoy your meal.”

In truth, besides getting a bit nauseated from the smell while cooking, the incident from earlier made it a bit uncomfortable to eat together with the kids.

While the kids were having their meal, I cleaned up the lies that came out while cooking, took out pancakes from the fridge, and started cooking them. They might get full after eating rice anyway, but aren’t they at the perfect age to eat a lot? Since it seemed just right for dessert if I controlled the portion, I decided to cook them right away.

It’s almost time for me to go out as well.

By the time the kids finished their meal, I completed the pancakes that I couldn’t make before due to lack of milk, decorated them, and placed them on the table.

“Wow, looks like something you’d buy at a cafe.”

Among them, Yeji, being a girl, seemed the most impressed, taking out her phone to start taking pictures.

Even though they each had two bowls of rice, seeing that no one refused to eat, I realized that they were indeed at the perfect age where meal portions were no joke.

But it’s actually nice. No matter what, if the person cooking enjoys watching others eat heartily, there’s nothing more rewarding than that.

As the kids ate dessert, I cleared another round of dishes, and Dabin brought the dessert plates to the sink.

“Mom, I…I’m sorry.”

It seemed like he was still bothered by that incident earlier.

“It’s okay. It happens in life. Don’t say unnecessary things to the kids. Let’s just consider it a mistake on Mom’s part and move on.”

“But…”

“Dabin.”

I stopped doing the dishes and made eye contact with Dabin.

“It’s okay, Mom. Okay? You understand, right?”

“Yes.”

Although the guilt didn’t completely disappear from his face, he nodded as if he understood.

Anyway, after finishing washing all the dessert plates, I went to the dining table where the kids were sitting.

“Ma’am, it was really delicious.”

Seungyoon said, raising his thumbs up.

“Ma’am seems to cook better than our mom. Oh, Dabin must be jealous. Are we going to eat this kind of food every day?”

Hyunseung looked at Dabin enviously.

“Um, Mom. Could you teach me how to cook next time?”

Yeji seemed ready to take cooking lessons from me as if she were attending a bridal class.

“Yeah. If you all enjoyed the meal, Mom is satisfied.”

After sharing some thoughts on the meal, I sent the kids back to their rooms. Then, I cleaned the dining table, finished organizing everything, and got ready to go out.

Even though it was just going to the cafe in front of the neighborhood, since I was meeting people, I thought I should dress up a bit more, so I quickly put on makeup and changed my clothes.

I didn’t really want to do makeup, but I learned it just as part of accepting that I have to live as a woman for my whole life. My mom was too old-fashioned, and Dayoung was just a freshman in high school. I had no choice but to send an SOS to my sister who was ten years younger than me. So, for about two weeks, I went to the beauty shop my sister frequented every day, barely learning a few basic makeup techniques. More accurately, I memorized a few makeup techniques that my sister said suited my face and just followed them.

Anyway, after finishing my makeup, I checked in the mirror to see if it was done well.

“Um, looks fine.”

Then, I took off my casual look and picked out clothes from the closet. A white blouse with a slightly slit black high-waisted skirt. Dressed up in a neat professional look and added a small chain bag, there was no other career woman like me.

The hair was always braided long as usual and pulled to one side. Did Dayoung call it a simple hairstyle? I don’t know why it’s called a simple hairstyle, but that’s what it is. Feeling a bit indifferent, I let my hair down, then decided it’s better to tie it back neatly. I picked up a hair clip from the dressing table and finished getting ready with half-tied hair.

Then I left the living room and knocked on Davin’s door.

– Knock, knock.

“Yes!”

As I heard Davin’s response, I opened the door and leaned in slightly.

The children’s reactions were unusual.

“Ah!”

“Eek!”

“Oh, Mom. Why?”

Davin seemed slightly surprised or impressed, then quickly regained composure and asked me.

“Oh, Mom, I have plans. I’ll go out for a while. I might stay until the ajumma comes, not sure. Have fun with your friends. Oh, Davin, there’s sliced watermelon in the fridge from yesterday, so take it out later and share it with your friends.”

“Yes, yes.”

With that said, I closed Davin’s door. As I was about to head towards the front door, I faintly heard Yeji’s voice.

“Davin, can I call your mom ‘Unni’ next time?”

I must have misheard, right?

I chuckled and left the house.