Page 5 of Perfect Happiness

Jiyoo’s mind was whirling with questions. But she had no answers. The longer she thought, the more confused she became. It felt as if she were trespassing in Mother’s secret world. Suddenly, she thought she could hear Mother’s angry voice.

Quick, put everything back!

A loud thud came from somewhere. But Jiyoo couldn’t tell if it came from inside the house or outside. It sounded both like the front door being closed or the wind knocking something over. Jiyoo listened closely. But she couldn’t hear any sounds coming from downstairs.

Jiyoo could feel a sense of unease returning to her.

She needed to go back to her room as quickly as possible.

Remembering that she shouldn’t leave any traces behind, she placed the puppets back in their original positions.

The mom in the mom’s seat, and the baby brother in his.

But in Yuna’s seat was something strange.

She hadn’t noticed it when she took the puppets out.

It was a severed puppet leg. It didn’t belong to t a human puppet.

The leg was covered in light-yellow fuzz and connected to a webbed foot.

A duck’s foot , Jiyoo guessed. She wondered where the rest of the duck was but decided she wouldn’t go looking for it.

Nor did she have time. She sat Yuna on her chair and closed the lid to the box.

She was planning on only taking Dad Puppet back to the room with her.

If he were Mother’s imaginary father, perhaps he could also be Jiyoo’s imaginary father.

Jiyoo returned to her room. When she lifted her legs onto the windowsill, she realized she was in the clear.

The downstairs was still silent. She felt relieved.

The attic was locked again, Mother was fast asleep, the night was still young, and Jiyoo had slept plenty during the day.

Not even Mother would be able to figure out what she had been up to—as long as she returned the puppet before morning.

Jiyoo put the puppet in her hand and brought it to eye level. It was so strange. In the moonlight, the puppet looked just like her real father. The glasses, the clothes, even the sneakers. She mimicked her father’s deep voice as she talked to herself:

“Jiyoo, what did you do today?”

“I read a book,” Jiyoo said in her normal voice. “It’s called Frozen II . It’s my third time reading it. After that, I took a nap.”

“Wasn’t that what you were reading in the car?”

“Yes, that one. I do like it. But I wanted to go to the Half Moon Marsh. I wanted to know if the loons were okay.”

“Are loons your favorite?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re strange. Sometimes they howl like ghosts, and other times they scream like children. You heard them last night, didn’t you Father?”

“Strangely enough, tonight I haven’t heard them.”

He was right. Tonight, they had been silent. Jiyoo looked out the window.

“I guess they’re asleep. They must have hoarse voices after last night.”

The moon, which was hanging from the maple tree in the front yard, drifted through the sky toward the wetlands.

Unlike last night, the moon wasn’t crimson in color.

It was large, white, and even rounder than before.

The moonlight was so bright that Jiyoo felt like she could see individual reeds in the Half Moon Marsh if she opened her eyes wide enough.

The fog suspended above the field of reeds was following the movements of the wind and dancing like waves of mercury.

The night was still silent and bright, but it was not boring anymore.

“Father, why did you leave?” Jiyoo finally asked the question she had been dying to ask.

“I’m sorry. Something came up. I bet you were disappointed?”

Jiyoo batted her eyes as if to say yes.

“Just a little. But, Father, are you really not coming back?”

“No. I’m coming back. What, did you forget the promise we made at the Half Moon Marsh last night?”

Jiyoo hadn’t forgotten. How could she forget that promise? Her father’s movements, his words, his expressions, his voice—from the moment he got into the car to the moment Jiyoo fell asleep, she remembered everything.

Yesterday, Mother showed up unexpectedly at Jiyoo’s school and had her dismissed early. It was just before lunch time. Seating Jiyoo in the back seat, which was not where she usually sat, Mother said something Jiyoo could hardly believe.

“We’re going to meet up with your father in a bit.”

Jiyoo was so excited she stopped breathing for a moment. Did she mean Father and not Stepfather?

“There are two secrets you must keep from your father.”

First, Mother told Jiyoo that she mustn’t tell father that she was living with Grandma.

And second, she mustn’t mention anything about Stepfather.

Jiyoo didn’t ask why. There were a lot of secrets she had to keep.

The exact secret depended on whom she was talking to.

But regardless of who it was, Mother never explained to Jiyoo why she had to keep each secret a secret.

But perhaps she would make an exception for Father.

Actually, Jiyoo was most curious about whether the father Mother was referring to was her real father or stepfather.

And it turned out to be her real father. There he was, standing at the lonesome bus stop in the middle of nowhere. Slung over his shoulder was a bag, and in his hand was a McDonald’s Happy Meal. He got into the back seat as soon as Mother brought the car to a stop.

“My daughter,” he said as he sat down. He was out of breath, as if he had run here.

He looked at Jiyoo, placed the Happy Meal by his feet, and spread his arms as wide as he could.

Jiyoo knew he was trying to initiate a hug, but even so, she didn’t move.

She just gave Father a blank stare. Something was off.

Was this really her father? He seemed like a mirage, one that would disappear as soon as she reached out to touch it.

“Jiyoo, did you forget Daddy?”

His eyes were begging her to hug him while there was still time. Jiyoo glanced at the rearview mirror. Mother’s icy stare was locked onto her.

Mother couldn’t bear to see Jiyoo acting close with other people.

Holding hands, hugging, maintaining eye contact for too long—all of these were things Mother hated to see Jiyoo do with other people.

Jiyoo wasn’t even free to do these things with Grandma.

Jiyoo was the only one who could recognize that icy glimmer in Mother’s eye’s when Jiyoo showed another person affection.

She knew what Mother was going to say the moment the two of them were alone.

I guess you love Grandma more than me. I guess you’d be happier living with Grandma from now on.

“Hello, Father.”

Jiyoo decided to go with a greeting instead of a hug.

She placed both hands on her lap and politely bowed her head.

This would usually win her compliments, but not this time.

Father dropped his arms, his eyes moist. And his lips, which had been wearing a smile, puckered into a strange shape.

It took several seconds before he finally spoke.

“Hi, Babe.”

Babe . . . Jiyoo had almost forgotten. That’s what Father used to call her.

“Look at you. You’re all grown up.”

His voice was trembling slightly. Jiyoo could feel her chest pounding. Her breathing was becoming irregular and her throat tight. She wanted to say something, but nothing was coming out of her throat. She didn’t know what to say. She felt like she had been too harsh on him.

“Honey, put on your seat belt,” Mother said.

The eyes staring at Jiyoo disappeared from the rearview mirror.

Her father placed his bag on the car seat and fastened his seatbelt.

As he did this, she couldn’t help but stare at the strap on his bag, hanging from which was a fist-sized keychain of a bumblebee.

The keychain was grubby and had multiple stains on it.

Jiyoo had a hard time believing this could belong to her father.

“Ready?”

Mother turned on her left turn signal and stepped on the gas.

As the car exited the curb, the sound of music started playing from Father’s coat pocket.

Mother’s eyes appeared in the rearview mirror again.

Father hurriedly stuck his hand in his pocket and took out his cellphone.

As soon as he pressed accept, a girl’s voice started talking on the other end.

“Joon-young, where are you?”

“Kyochon.”

This time it was Father who glanced furtively at the eyes in the rearview mirror.

“Min-young, I’ll call you back later.”

The girl was beginning to say something when Father abruptly ended the call.

“You haven’t changed at all,” Mother said.

“I won’t answer the phone from now on,” Father said as he shook his head.

Mother was smiling gently through the rearview mirror.

“You must have forgotten about what you did at Lotte World on Jiyoo’s birthday.”

“That was an emergen—”

“You better not make any mistakes today,” Mother said, cutting Father off. “Only then will I believe you and let you look after Jiyoo. You said you wanted to see Jiyoo alone next time, didn’t you?”

Father made eye contact with Mother as he gave her a nervous smile.

His expression looked as though he still hadn’t figured out what it was that Mother wanted.

Jiyoo was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

She was afraid that Mother and Father were about to fight again, only moments after reuniting.

Jiyoo didn’t know who Min-young was, but she wished Father would turn off his cellphone already.

After all, wasn’t that what Mother was asking?

“ I don’t answer phone calls when I’m with Jiyoo.”

Mother had decided to teach Father a lesson. She took her phone from the cellphone mount and showed it to Father.

“I just turn the thing completely off. Because I want to have a good time with my daughter, distraction-free.”