Page 48 of Perfect Happiness

“Mother gave you a chance to tell the truth.”

Mother threw the puppet and receiver on the bed and the Happy Meal paper bag on the floor.

“You should have told me when I gave you the chance. If you had, I would have only punished you for stealing the puppet. But now, I must punish you for also lying to Mother.” Mother took a step back from the bed. “Out of bed.”

Jiyoo got down from the bed and stood before Mother.

“Take your suitcase out of the wardrobe.”

Mother’s voice was a cold and fierce blizzard. Jiyoo could feel all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Why was Mother asking her to take out her suitcase?

“You disobey me, steal from me, and lie to me. I would have forgiven you if I thought it was just a mistake.”

A foreboding thought flashed across Jiyoo’s mind like a conviction. Jiyoo was too terrified to even tremble. She shook her head furiously.

No. Mother wouldn’t do that.

“But you knew. You knew what you were doing. You conspired with your Auntie and made a fool of me.” Mother then lowered her voice even further. “Even if everyone in the world betrayed me, I thought I could trust that you would always be on my side.”

Jiyoo desperately shook her head.

“No, Mother. I—”

“I can’t live with a backstabbing little cunt.”

Jiyoo heard a scream-like plea burst from her own mouth. “Mother! No. I didn’t mean to—”

“Take out your suitcase.”

Jiyoo’s intuition was right.

Jiyoo took a step back. She brought her hands together as if praying to Mother.

“Mother, I was bad. I won’t do it again—”

“I already told you. Twice. If you make me say it again, I’m going to run you out of the house in your pajamas. Take out your suitcase!”

Jiyoo took another step back. Her thigh was up against the bed.

She could hardly see now, and warm tears were beginning to well up around her eyes.

She couldn’t believe what was happening.

She wanted to believe that Mother wasn’t really going to chase her out in the middle of the night like this.

She wanted to think that Mother was just giving her a harsher scolding than usual.

“Mother, stop.”

Jiyoo collapsed to her knees at Mother’s feet. Her voice started to shake with sobs.

“Don’t kick me out of the house.”

Jiyoo started choking on her own tears. The back of her throat was contracting rapidly with convulsions. It felt like her head was going to explode with pain. Jiyoo was too distraught to realize she was making things worse.

Jiyoo had already made two mistakes. She wasn’t allowed to cry when begging for forgiveness.

Crying annoyed Mother and made her even angrier.

The proper thing to do was to explain what she did wrong and why she did it.

Jiyoo’s second mistake was asking Mother to stop.

Mother decided the punishment, not Jiyoo.

“Just take me to Grandma’s house. I won’t come home until you tell me to—”

And with that, Jiyoo had made a third mistake. An unforgivable mistake. Telling Mother what to do.

Jiyoo’s left cheek turned suddenly to the right. Lightning struck the other cheek. Pushed back by the force of the slap, Jiyoo hit her head on the corner of the bed and fell to the ground. A scream erupted. The ceiling was spinning above Jiyoo’s head. Everything became distant.

“Get up.”

Mother’s voice sounded distant. Jiyoo lifted her head. The taste of iron trickled down Jiyoo’s throat. She felt nauseous and started to hiccup.

“Faster.”

Jiyoo got up. She staggered. The floor beneath her feet felt unsteady.

Something was dripping from her chin. Specks of bright red were dotting the floor and her pajama bottoms. Jiyoo desperately focused her vision and looked at Mother.

She hoped that Mother would see that she had a nosebleed.

But it was in vain. A cold hand grabbed Jiyoo’s shoulder and pushed her.

“Go to the wardrobe.”

Jiyoo staggered to the wardrobe. Mother followed and stood behind her.

“Open the door and take out your suitcase.”

Jiyoo opened the door, but she didn’t want to take out the suitcase. If she did that, she would really have to go outside.

“Please, Mother. I said I was sorry.”

Jiyoo turned around and pulled Mother’s waist toward her.

“Let go of me.”

Mother tried to push Jiyoo away. Jiyoo buried her head in Mother’s stomach and shook her head furiously.

“No. I don’t want to go. Mother, please!”

Jiyoo didn’t realize she was shouting. She also didn’t realize how desperately she was holding on to Mother.

“Let go of me, you lying cunt!”

Mother’s voice erupted like thunder. Jiyoo went flying toward the wall. She felt her head hit the wall. There was a loud thud, and then Mother’s face grew distant. Her vision was going black. And then the world vanished.

“Jiyoo, wake up. Jiyoo.”

It was Jiyoo’s stepfather’s voice. She opened her eyes. Stunned eyes were looking down at her.

“Can you see me?”

Jiyoo tried to say yes, but her mouth wouldn’t open. Instead of answering, she just blinked at him.

“Are you okay?”

Jiyoo didn’t know. But she knew that even if she could get up, it would be best not to. If she pretended to be unconscious, Mother might show mercy. Jiyoo closed her eyes again.

“Don’t interfere.”

Jiyoo could hear Mother’s voice from her right. Jiyoo’s stepfather lifted her up with both arms.

“Put her down!” Mother shouted.

Stepfather brought Jiyoo over to her bed. Jiyoo’s heart was beating so fast she thought it might leap out of her body.

“Can’t you hear what I’m saying?”

Stomping her heels on the ground, Mother walked over to Stepfather and shoved him out of the way.

“I said don’t touch my daughter, you sick son of a bitch.”

Jiyoo didn’t want to believe it was Mother who was saying these things. She didn’t want to believe Mother had called her that name. Stepfather fell on the bed while holding Jiyoo. Jiyoo opened her eyes out of shock. Stepfather stood back up and started shouting at Mother.

“What did you do?”

Mother reached out with both arms and shoved Stepfather in the chest again.

“I said don’t touch my daughter!”

It seemed like Stepfather hadn’t expected this second attack from Mother. He lost his balance and was forced backwards. The third attack started immediately. Mother rammed Stepfather into the wall. There was a loud thud and Jiyoo could feel the wall shake.

“I told you not to touch her.”

Mother started thrashing and pounded her fists against Stepfather’s chest.

“What has gotten into you?”

Stepfather grabbed Mother by the wrists. Mother writhed violently as she tried to free her hands from his grip.

“Let me go, you son of a bitch.”

“Get ahold of yourself. Don’t do this in front of Jiyoo.”

Stepfather shook Mother a couple times before letting go of her with a gentle push.

Mother then took several steps back before falling to the ground.

Jiyoo held her breath as she watched them fight.

She remembered that Mother and Father used to fight like that a long time ago.

Mother would throw a fit like a child. She would shove Father and punch him.

And then when Father couldn’t take it anymore and pushed her back, she would run to the kitchen and come back with a knife.

“Did you just hit me?” Mother said as she got to her feet without breaking eye contact. The whites of her eyes were streaked with red, like a candy cane.

“If you want to keep going, let’s do this downstairs,” Stepfather said.

Mother pursed her lips and stood up straight.

“Go to the kitchen, drink some water, then meet me in the living room.”

At this, Mother turned to look at Jiyoo, who closed her eyes as fast as she could. A moment later, Jiyoo heard a voice. It seemed like Mother had finally left the room.

“It’s safe now.”

Jiyoo opened her eyes. Stepfather was picking Dad Puppet off the bed and looking down at it quietly.

“Is this why she was mad at you?”

Jiyoo nodded.

“Because your father gave it to you?”

This time, Jiyoo shook her head.

“You mean this isn’t yours?”

Jiyoo didn’t answer. Stepfather stared motionlessly at her.

“Okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Stepfather went out of the room and came back a while later with a wet towel. He perched himself on the edge of the bed and wiped Jiyoo’s face.

“Does it hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.” Jiyoo just barely was able to get these words out of her tight throat. But feeling like she should thank him, she opened her throat one more time.

“Thank you for helping me.”

Stepfather had a strange look on his face as he stared at Jiyoo. She had never seen someone make this face before. All at once, he looked sad, angry, happy, and like he had something to say.

“Should I turn off the lights?” Stepfather asked as he pulled the blankets over her.

“Yes.”

“Goodnight.”

Stepfather picked up the receiver, turned off the lights, and left the room.

Jiyoo pulled Dad Puppet close to her. She closed her eyes, but she couldn’t fall asleep.

Mother never let things go. And she never forgot.

Stepfather had only delayed Jiyoo’s punishment.

This wasn’t the end of it. She felt anxious and afraid.

Mother had gone down to the kitchen. But what if she came back with a knife, just like before?