Mrs. Kim came out of her bedroom in the middle of the night.
The chaos in the living room and from Eun Jin's room had already been subsidized after Ashley went to sleep in the guest room.

She remembered that she forgot to put the water bottle there. She went to the kitchen and took a jug of water and went into Ashley's room. She put that on the nightstand and was about to leave when she heard the soft whimper and sobs.

She looked around and carefully switched on the reading lamp on the nightstand.
She saw Ashley crying in her sleep, her pillow was wet and her knuckles were pale with clutching on to the duvet.

Her heart ached at the sight. Was she having nightmares?

Mrs. Kim slowly sat beside her and proceeded to wake her up but stopped when she saw the scar on her shoulder near her collarbone.

Was she ever in a bad accident? That scar looked nasty.

Her mind went back to Taehyung during Chuseok in Daegu when her son told her that he confessed his love to this foreign girl.

Of course, she was a little bit disappointed at first when she heard the whole thing from Mr. Kim.

No family, no bondings, an unwanted child, a free bird. She always wanted a good-mannered Korean girl who knows the culture and traditions well with good family background.

She was disappointed knowing all the barriers including languages and everything, She had mixed feelings about this girl.
But she knew her son was a good judge of character and she respected that.

She had no objection to Ashley being a good human being or any less deserving of her son, but still, she had little hesitation in her heart.

But surprisingly, she found herself defending Ashley when these two got into a so-called argument.

She remembered what Taehyung said to her when he talked about his feelings that night in Daegu. Taehyung was sitting on the floor near her feet keeping his head on her lap. She was stroking his hair lightly to ease his mind.

He was mumbling about hurting her, his insecurities of never being good enough for her, fear of scaring her again, hurting her even more. She remembered him saying about her nightmares. The nightmares which were still there, his inability to do anything about those, his insecurity of seeing fears in those eyes still whenever she wakes up, his fear of her being afraid of him as a man, his fear of her seeing him as one of those men of which she is terrified off.

Taehyung just mumbled to himself the whole time, and she just patted and comforted her loving son, didn't ask anything that all these were about. She just let him out of everything without any questions.

But seeing the scar now, an idea was forming in her mind, she was faintly adding two with twos finally. And the thoughts of the probabilities were scaring her now. Is it what she thinks it is?

She didn't know what to do anymore.
She stood up to leave but Ashley woke up with a sudden jerk and sat there like a hypnotized person. Looked like she was in a daze, far away from the reality around, oblivious to the presence of another person in the room.

Mrs. Kim sat down in front of Ashley again,

"What happened, sweetie?" her voice was a piece of comfort.

"Oh, I am sorry for the inconvenience," Ashley bowed a little coming back from the trance, "it's nothing, just a nightmare. I am really sorry."

Ashley felt a comforting hand wiped her wet eyes gently, "Are you ok?"

"I am ok, don't worry Mrs. Kim. Again, I am very embarrassed for bothering you," Ashley tried to smile a little.

"What was the nightmare about? Wanna talk about it?"

Mrs. Kim noticed a protective aura suddenly rushed over her demeanor, "No, it's ok. I'm ok."

"Are you really?" this time Ashley felt the piercing gaze of Mrs. Kim as if she could see her thoughts.

Mrs. Kim saw her eyes changing like a deer caught in the light. "Yeah. Why?"

"I feel there are a lot of secrets in you," her voice was calmer. She was looking at the scar.

"What do you think about me, Mrs. Kim?" Suddenly Ashley's voice was calm. She was composed and in full control of herself.

Mrs. Kim felt it, Ashley guessed her thoughts and she was coming clean. Charging her upfront with a direct challenge. A very common survival drive. Going offense when defeat is a must.
She felt so bad for this fragile little girl with the mask of a strong woman.

"I think you are a lost child trapped in the world of grown-ups and trying to fit in ever since," Her voice was calm. "Just like my Tae."

"Would you say the same when you'll know about myself? What if I tell you I was born out of wedlock, by an illegitimate relationship, and was undesired? That I have no family or whatsoever, no family name, respect, or dignity to be proud of?"

Mrs. Kim saw the stubborn challenge in her eyes as if she was trying to prove that Mrs. Kim will be the one like any others who never stuck around for these things.

"Girl.."

"What if I tell you that I was abducted, tortured, and raped? That I was forced upon ripping off my dignity and honor which in your society is a huge concern? What would you think then?"

She saw the borderline vulnerability covered with a stubborn aggressiveness, a scared girl trying her everything out to prove what she thinks but expecting to be wrong for once.
She was terrified inside, but putting on a damn care face, challenging her to be honest about her thoughts. Putting on the face like she couldn't care less and she is sure about how the elderly woman would react.

Her heart melted at the sight.

"What would you say Mrs. Kim?" she again asked firmly.

" I'll say, does Tae treat you right?"

Her soft voice surprised her. She wasn't ready to hear this response and certainly wasn't ready to accept that. Her eyes desperately sought truth and authenticity in her eyes and she got calm yet affectionate eyes staring back at her. It felt unreal, it felt impossible.

Taking in the reality, her eyes dropped the walls, the cold armor that she built around her to hide behind. Her eyes gave in as she ripped open her vulnerabilities in front of that elderly woman.

Mrs. Kim took her into a tight embrace as she broke down. She let her weep like a little girl and held her with all her might.

"I don't know what the future holds for both of you, but don't you dare call yourself without family anymore," Mrs. Kim didn't know where these words were coming from but she felt happy saying these aloud, "Not because you saved my husband, not out of pity, not out of sympathy, I want to be your family. You'll be always my little girl, even if you two part ways, I won't let you go away. Got that?"

Ashley nodded faintly, she was over the edges. She was embarrassed about her earlier behavior, everything that happened just now, but at the same time, she was happy. The warm feeling was something new that she never experienced before and she was beyond grateful to this remarkable lady.

"Shhhh......" She gently hushed,
"Want me to stay here? With you?"

"Please," Ashley tightened her arms around her. "Please."

Taehyung sneakily entered Ashley's room at dawn. The first thing on his mind after waking up was Ashley. He wanted to see her.

But the scene in front of him left him speechless and flustered for moments.
Ashley was sleeping peacefully. But there was his mother who was patting slightly on her back. Ashley's one hand was wrapping around Mrs. Kim's waist and she was snuggling close to her. It was an unbelievably sweet scene, but since when they got so close?

Taehyung was surprised and his ears turned red when he saw Mrs. Kim frowned at him and looked at the clock beside her.

She carefully lifted herself trying not to wake Ashley up in the process.
She came in front of Taehyung and easily grabbed his one ear despite he was trying to get away from predicting her next actions. She pulled him out of the room and shut the room behind her.

"Eomma it hurts!" Taehyung screeched trying to free himself.

"Why are you here at this ungodly hour?"

"I just came to see if she was having nightmares again!" Taehyung blurted out whatever comes to his mind first.

The grip on his ear loosened a bit, but she didn't let it slip entirely.

"Eomma!" Taehyung pleaded,
"let me go!!"

Mrs. Kim released him this time.
"Honey bear?"

Taehyung looked at her curiously. She doesn't use this nickname often.

" You treat her right, boy?"

Taehyung at that moment knew she knows. She didn't need many words to make him understand that.

Taehyung hummed in response, "I try to, eomma."

She hugged him gently, "Never hurt her, ever. This girl is so precious. You hear me?"

Taehyung hugged her back, "Thank you eomma, thank you for taking her in."

"Always, honey bear, always."

[ in my short career, I happened to work in the ER and specialized sections for sexually assaulted victims. I spend enough time around them to know the trauma and nightmares they go through and it's unbearable. With first-hand experience, it's tough to write it down without disclosing too much violence or raw stories..... it's tough to not mask it, but its tougher to mask it even...........these chapters where I wrote about them, I tried to write it subtler and easily, but it was tough............. there are some readers here, underage and innocent, I didn't want them to face it so harshly. Let me know if I trigger something unintentionally, cause someone already PM me saying it's triggering...]