The miasma swirling in the living room was palpable.
Needless to say, dinner was about to become ‘interesting’. Seulgi started by asking Yeji how she managed to deal with her mother so easily.
“Easily? What are you talking about? I was terrified,” Yeji lied so easily that Seulgi nearly believed her. That was some smooth work, Yeji had obviously done this before with scarier people than her mother. Just what sort of shenanigans had Yeji been up to in her sordid past?
This was neither the time nor the place to inquire, so Seulgi made a mental note and dropped it. This was much to Yeji’s pleasure.
“Yeji? Some more tea, dear,” Seulgi’s mother asked for a refill on her nearly full glass. Her ploy was transparently obvious.
“Right away, ma’am,” came the reply. Yeji brought out the half full decanter of amber liquid and went to the living room. She didn’t even bother to wonder why she was being called out like this.
Yeji’s diplomatic judo was far stronger than the older lady’s pathetic attempt at wheedling information out of her. Polite inquiries turned into requests followed by demands and ended up with threats and strident words. All of which affected Yeji like a neutrino passing through lead.
The hushed conversation in the doorway was even more infuriating. No matter how hard any of them tried to eavesdrop, nothing could be heard. It was as if they had cast a spell of silence about them that none of them could pierce. Fortunately, there was only one actually trying.
Soon, dinner was ready.
“Yeji, please set the table, I’ll get dad.”
She did not bother waiting for a verbal response as she knew she would not get one. She silently padded down the hallway to find her traitorous cat in the arms of Sonja.
She didn’t quite snatch the cat, but it was a near thing. “Dinner’s ready.” She walked back to her bedroom, threw the cat on the bed, and stalked back to the kitchen to bring dinner to the table.
Alfred came back into the apartment, without the Wanton Woman, and sat at the dinner table. Seulgi and Yeji sat, too. Seulgi’s mother was growing more vexed by not being invited to the table. They figured that she was a grown woman who could choose to make her own decision to join them or not.
Someone was getting angrier that she was not being catered to. Turns out that she will get angrier by the night's end.
Disgruntled, she finally got up and joined them. Yeji served her a plate out of being polite. She noticed that Alfred was serving himself, so this nearly mollified her before she remembered that she was still mad.
Alfred mentioned that dinner was wonderful, just like usual. Yeji nodded in assent.
Seulgi’s mother, however, started criticizing everything. Nothing was good enough, no matter how good it actually was. To her surprise, Seulgi stood up, took her plate away, setting it in the kitchen, and sat back down to continue eating.
“Wha – wha- wha – what are you doing, Seulgi?”
“I thought you were unhappy with your meal. I was not wanting you to have to suffer any further under my substandard cooking. It’s still early, you can either order some dinner to be delivered or find a local place to go get something to eat at. Please remember that I go to bed at ten o’clock and won’t get up to answer the door past that time. If you decide to go, you’d best go soon.” This was the unexpected answer that she got.
“What are you talking about? Bring that back,” her mother demanded.
“It’s too late, mother. I threw it out already. After all, it was so bad. I would not want you to upset your stomach, right? Would you like seconds, Father?”
“Yes, please. You’ve outdone yourself tonight.” Alfred was courtesy personified.
Yeji didn’t bother waiting to be asked, she just got more by herself without prompting.
When Seulgi got extras, everything was gone and there was nothing left for the aghast mother. Nobody was especially concerned. She has had her chance to enjoy dinner with them and turned it down.
While stuffing their collective faces, Alfred and Seulgi talked about her day at work. Alfred made sure to include Yeji as well. While her answers were brief, they were complete.
Seulgi’s mother tried to interject several times but was ignored unless the question was about the subject that was being talked about.
Suki was finally to come out of the bedroom and was watching them from the comfort of the back of the couch.
“Alfred? Who is Alfred, dear?” was asked for the third time, but it was still ignored like the first four times,
She slammed both palms on the table and demanded attention. Suki became a cream silk blur back into the bedroom.
Alfred and Yeji both glared at the infuriated woman. But, it was Seulgi who spoke.
“Mother, you know that I love you, right?”
“I am your mother, so yes.”
“Just because you are my mother does not mean that I have to love you. As a matter of fact, I do not even have to like you. And right now, I may love you, but I really do not like you. You showed up unannounced. You have insulted my friend. You have terrorized my cat. You have criticized my cooking. You have pestered father. You are unbound and unreasonable and you are acting with less manners than an average three-year-old.
“Currently, you are in my house. My home. My sanctum sanctorum. This is my place of peace, my place to refresh and restore myself. This is not a place for you to be unreasonable, make demands, and try to change it to your satisfaction. If you are unwilling or incapable of acting with a modicum of decency, you are welcome to leave. Whether finding a hotel, a motel or going back home will be up to you.
“You are a hairs' breath from being uninvited.” The glare the other woman received pinned her to the chair. “If you are uninvited, you will be requested and required to leave the premises with a ban from coming back until I decide to let you back. From the way that you are acting now, that will be a very long time if ever again.
“Do you understand?”
She started to draw a heavy breath for a lengthy response.
“Yes or no, mother. Anything else will get you tossed out. Do. You. Understand?”
With eyes wide and mouth unhinged, she croaked out a simple, “Yes.”
