Page 35 of Perfect Happiness

Yuna tilted her chin to the side as she made a slight sneer.

Jane stared silently into Yuna’s brown eyes, which were twinkling in the lights of the apartment garage.

Jane had always been amazed at Yuna’s mastery over conveying emotion with just her eyes.

One moment, her eyes could be as cold and menacing as an ice pick, and the next they could be as dazzling as a starry night, or as brilliant as a beam of spring sunlight.

Right now, Yuna’s eyes were that of a cat that just found a defenseless bird.

“You did a good job looking after Jiyoo,” Yuna said.

Jane took a silent breath. Yuna’s tone was the kind someone might use to tell a housemaid to go home. Jane couldn’t let this bother her. She knew that Yuna would use her reaction against her: Why are you so sensitive? I was just trying to thank you.

Jane erected a wall made of mirrors inside her mind so that she could deflect whatever Yuna said.

“Did Joon-young agree to changing Jiyoo’s last name?”

Yuna answered this question with one of her own.

“What, you think you’re her mom now just because you looked after her for a few days?”

Jane did Yuna one better.

“Does Jinu Kim know?”

Yuna didn’t react to this. She just blinked twice in silence. Jane decided to push Yuna a bit further.

“I heard he graduated from the same school as you. Were you two close?”

“How do you know Jinu Kim?”

This meant she knew him. Jane nodded.

“I met him by chance while doing research for an article I’m writing. He said he’s a friend of your husband, and of yours.”

“What’s your point?”

Jane was convinced now. “K,” the friend Min-young was talking about, had to be Jinu Kim.

Jane had done research and found that there were two biology teachers at Cheongyeon High School.

Coincidentally they were both males and both about the same age as Eun-ho.

The reason she picked Jinu Kim, and not the other man, was because of his last name.

There was a higher probability that someone nicknamed “K” would have the last name Kim and not Park.

“No point. I just thought I’d mention it.”

Jane decided this was her time to retreat. She couldn’t make Yuna feel like she was on to her. At least, not yet.

“Should I tell Mom? That she can relax and stay until New Year’s because you’ve taken Jiyoo back?”

“Do whatever you want.”

Jane turned her head and examined the inside of Yuna’s car. Jiyoo was sticking her head out through the space between the two front seats. As soon as Jane and her made eye contact, she withdrew in shock. Jane looked back at Yuna.

“Can I at least say goodbye to Jiyoo?” Jane asked. “I did look after her for the last ten days, you know.”

“Like I said, do whatever you want.”

Jane walked past Yuna toward Jiyoo. She opened the back door and stuck her head in as she pulled out her business card from her bag.

“Auntie,” Jiyoo called out in quiet voice.

Jane suppressed the urge to hug Jiyoo. She didn’t want to make things harder for Jiyoo than they needed to be. She knew it would make Yuna jealous and start interrogating Jiyoo about her loyalty: Since when were you so close to your Aunt?

“Bye, Jiyoo.”

After this, Jane withdrew her body from the car. Not surprisingly, Yuna was staring blatantly in her direction. Taking the full brunt of Yuna’s gaze, Jane returned to her previous spot. Afraid Yuna might feel left out, Jane gave her a farewell, too.

“Let’s not cross paths again if we can help it.”

Yuna squinted her eyes at Jane. Her lips moved slightly as though she were about to say something. Jane ignored this and started walking. When she arrived at the elevators, she glanced back to find Yuna opening the driver’s side door.

Just like the nanny had said, the house looked like a debt-collector had come through.

But as Jane expected, it was way worse than that.

Old sneakers, summer sandals, slippers—all Jiyoo’s shoes were scattered across the floor.

Her room was also a mess. The closet and drawers had been turned inside out and stripped of all Jiyoo’s winter apparel: coats, padded jackets, sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves, earmuffs.

On the bed were all the other articles of clothing that Yuna decided not to take.

The desk drawers were either open or had been completely removed from the desk.

Yuna had gone through everything, it looked like.

Crayons, pencils, colored pencils, sketch books—everything was in one big pile.

Jiyoo’s school bag was under the desk, and the art set that Jane had bought Jiyoo was lying wide open on the ground.

Jane went into the living room to find a similar scene.

The doors to the cabinets were all open.

Even Mom’s room hadn’t been spared Yuna’s wrath.

The album she kept in the closet had been dragged all the way out to the middle of the floor.

This didn’t look like the work of someone who was simply trying to pack their things.

It was clear that Yuna had torn the house apart looking for something.

But what?

Jane’s cleaning started in Jiyoo’s room. She reorganized all the items in the drawers and hung the clothes piled on the bed back into the closet. She returned Apeach to its proper place. It was then that Jane noticed Dad Puppet. He was lodged between the top of mattress and the bedframe.

Last Thursday, after being in the hospital for three days, Jiyoo asked Jane to bring her Dad Puppet.

“And where is Dad Puppet?” Jane asked, pretending not to know what Jiyoo was talking about.

“In my school bag.”

Jane brought her the puppet. Jiyoo didn’t let go of the puppet once after that.

Nor did she really play with it. She just hugged it tight or put it on her finger and stared into its eyes.

To Jane, it looked like Jiyoo was in constant conversations with the puppet—both when she was awake and when she was asleep.

Strangely enough, Jiyoo stopped having nightmares after that.

“Jiyoo, are you not having any more bad dreams?”

“Yes. Dad Puppet is protecting me.”

Jiyoo wouldn’t leave Dad Puppet behind if she didn’t have to. It was clear that Jiyoo had hidden the puppet from its original owner. Another way of saying this was that Jiyoo had stolen the puppet from Yuna.

Yuna didn’t share, not even if it was just borrowing. She hated people touching her things. Jane thought it might be different if it was with her own daughter. But she had been wrong. People don’t change that easily. Jane placed the puppet back where she found it so that Jiyoo could find it later.

Jane went into the master bedroom. The picture album, which was in the center of the mess, grabbed Jane’s attention again.

It was open to a page with two pictures of Jiyoo.

Earlier, Jane had passed this by without much thought.

But now she realized what it meant. It was telling her that Yuna had been looking for Jiyoo’s passport.

On her way out of the country, their mom had brought Jiyoo’s passport with her to the airport, hopeful that Yuna and Jiyoo might show up before she left for Russia alone.

She only handed it to Jane at the last possible moment, requesting that she hide it inside the family picture album.

The album was open right to the place where Jane had hidden the passport.

Jane was amazed by Yuna’s tenacity. How had she found it? How could she even have guessed it would be there? But Jane’s astonishment quickly turned to confusion. What could Yuna want Jiyoo’s passport for? Surely, she wasn’t planning on taking Jiyoo to Russia to see their mother.

Jane decided to call her mom while this was still on her mind. As soon as she picked up the phone, she started quizzing Jane.

“Jane, where do you think I am right now?”

It sounded like she was talking with a mouth full of food. Jane wasn’t in the mood for a quiz, but she humored her anyway.

“A restaurant?”

“Wrong!”

She was on a high-speed train headed for St. Petersburg. She bragged about how Russian trains were like airlines, complete with attendants, meals, and free coffee. Jane didn’t ask, but her mom told her all about the itinerary for their four-day trip.

“The first thing we’re going to do when we arrive in St. Petersburg is visit Henri Matisse’s paintings.

Then we’ll have dinner at a fancy restaurant, after which we’re planning on going to see Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theatre.

I’m crossing off two items from my bucket list in one day. Isn’t that amazing?”

Jane didn’t want to ruin her mood. But she didn’t necessarily have the patience to listen to this boasting. Plus, international phone calls weren’t exactly cheap.

“Mom, I have something to ask you. Can you go out into the hallway?”

Jane’s mom did as she was told but seemed confused.

“Okay, you can talk now. I’m in the hallway. What’s wrong?”

“On the day Dad died, you mentioned that Yuna had dropped by the house, right?”

She said this was true.

“Did Yuna mention the divorce that day?”

“Yuna said that Joon-young had left the house and filed for a divorce. But why do you ask? That was years ago.”

“I’ll tell you why later. Tell me first what happened that day when Yuna came by the house.”

Yuna had showed up at the house that morning with Jiyoo.

Noticing a bandage on Yuna’s hand, Mom asked what happened.

Yuna said she and Joon-young had a big fight because she found out that he had molested Jiyoo.

He picked up a knife and was threatening to kill himself and Yuna.

Yuna cut her hand while trying to stop him.

He left the house after that and filed for a divorce. This was all according to Yuna.

“I couldn’t believe it. Joon-young of all people. He should have gotten on his knees and begged for forgiveness. Then again, what he did was unforgiveable.”