XOXO, Miss Minnie - Chapter 57
CHAPTER 57
His father’s mind had already shattered with his mother’s death. What remained was just a shell of a man, and he abused his body to hasten his demise. His young son was the easiest target to project his guilt onto.
Minhee whispered words of comfort as she gently stroked Taejun’s back and shoulders for a while. Her tears of sympathy and sweet gestures of comfort were like warm rainwater pouring into a pit he’d never experienced before. Taejun wished this moment would never end.
As her sobs subsided, Minhee tried to pull her arms off his shoulders and push herself up, but he didn’t let her go.
Instead, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her closer, until she was sitting on his thigh, and burying his face in her shoulder.
Startled, Minhee stiffened for a moment, then relaxed and resumed stroking Taejun’s shoulders. She interpreted his actions as a gesture of seeking comfort.
“So… after your father passed away, you went to live with your brother in New York?”
Minhee asked Taejun hopefully, her voice filled with optimism as if she desperately wished his misfortune ended there.
There was a moment of silence. Taejun seemed mesmerized by something. He was acutely aware that he was exposing his raw, unhealed wounds to her, something he had never shown anyone before.
But if it meant not losing this comforting warmth, he felt like he could expose those wounds a hundred times over.
The momentary hesitation passed. Slowly, Taejun lifted his head from Minhee’s shoulder and looked into her glistening eyes.
“We didn’t have the money for my father’s funeral, so we had him cremated at the county-run public health center. That day, whether my brother contacted him or not, Professor Silverman heard the news and came to visit us…”
***
Professor Silverman said that he felt some responsibility for the tragedy that befell Taejun’s family. He suggested to Taejun that he could live with him for a few years, study, take academic exams, and enter college early.
It was a generous offer, and for Taejun, the only option. His brother insisted it wasn’t necessary and that he could live with him. But Taejun could imagine how difficult it would be for his brother, who was on a scholarship and needed to support himself, to also be responsible for him.
The first two months at Professor Silverman’s home in Boston felt like life returning to the way it was when his mother was alive— routine and peaceful.
During the day, he studied for his academic exams, and in the evening, he would debate or play chess with Professor Silverman and read books he had borrowed from the library.
Due to various changes that occurred after his mother’s death, Taejun had become extremely emotionally withdrawn and less talkative. However, as he lived in Professor Silverman’s house, engaging in intellectually stimulating activities, he gradually began to regain his former self.
Mrs. Silverman, a former student of Professor Silverman, had a smaller age gap with Taejun than she did with her husband. She was cheerful and friendly, occasionally playing silly pranks on him.
Claiming cooking as her hobby, Mrs. Silverman often made Taejun try unusual dishes for the first time. Thanks to Taejun’s enjoyment of whatever she cooked, she was extremely happy.
As the two months of living in that house approached, Taejun began to feel uncomfortable being alone with Mrs. Silverman. Sometimes her silly jokes went too far. There were times when she would instigate childish roughhousing, leading to awkward positions, and she had even stolen a few unwanted kisses.
Then one night, feeling something strange, Taejun woke up to find Mrs. Silverman in his bed.
[Shh, you’ll come to enjoy this too. This is our little secret, okay?]
Mrs. Silverman whispered in his ear as she reached down to his lower body. Startled, Taejun pushed her away and got out of bed, but she approached him with a chuckle.
As he backpedaled, Mrs. Silverman approached him, clad only in her underwear. She grabbed the hem of his T-shirt where he was cornered against the door, pressing her lips to his neck. Taejun pushed her shoulders.
[Stop!! Why are you doing this!]
Ignoring Taejun’s rejection, Mrs. Silverman reached out for him, but he grabbed her wrist. He opened the door, threw her out as hard as he could, and locked it behind him. There was a loud crash as she fell. It wasn’t long before she started screaming hysterically.
[Don’t do it! Taejun, you can’t do this! Aaaahhh!]
Taejun froze, clutching the doorknob as he heard heavy footsteps approaching. Mrs. Silverman began to wail loudly, and Professor Silverman’s voice could be heard trying to calm her down.
[Honey, what’s wrong? Why are you like this?]
[Taejun……! Taejun tried to, ah, r*pe me!]
At that moment, the door rattled. When the lock wouldn’t open, Professor Silverman banged on the door.
[Taejun! Open the door. Is this true? What on earth is going on?]
Feeling desperate, Taejun reluctantly unlocked the door and opened it. Professor Silverman burst into the room. He nervously flicked the lamp switch by the door.
The bedspread lay strewn on the floor, and Taejun stood there, shirt collar stretched, looking visibly shaken. Professor Silverman scanned the scene with furious eyes and spoke fiercely.
[Explain this situation!]
Taejun stared blankly down and muttered numbly.
[…I locked the door to protect myself from Mrs. Silverman. If I had committed the act she’s accusing me of, she would be in this room, not lying outside my room at this late hour.]
Mrs. Silverman screamed tearfully.
[He’s lying! Look at his size, I’m the victim here!]
Professor Silverman, who had been lost in thought for a moment, turned to his wife and asked.
[Cecilia, why were you in front of Taejun’s room at this hour?]
[……I was going to ask him if I could bring him some of the oatmeal cookies I made during the day for a late-night snack!]
He glanced briefly at the clock in Taejun’s room. The clock’s hands pointed towards half-past eleven.
[At this time? Taejun said goodnight and went to bed at 10 o’clock.]
[Well, uh, he sometimes stays up late reading and falls asleep later…]
[How do you know that?]
[…How could you suspect me? He tried to r*pe me!!]
Professor Silverman sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead with his hand.
[Taejun. I’m sorry. Let’s talk about this again tomorrow.]
Professor Silverman sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead, dragging his protesting wife by the wrist as he closed and left Taejun’s room.
That night. Taejun switched on his computer and stayed up all night searching for roommate ads and job opportunities in the nearby area. Luckily, the money he had saved up along with the funds his brother had given him were securely tucked away in his worn-out wallet. It was enough to sustain him for a few months on his own.
In the dim hours of the early morning, Taejun quietly left the house and walked to the bus stop, about twenty minutes away. As he waited for the bus, Taejun resolved to try living on his own. At that time, he was only 13 years old.
***
“Actually, living on my own wasn’t hard at all. Even when I was in Lawrence, my father was just barely present, so it was almost as if I lived alone.”
He called his brother from a payphone at the bus stop. When he mentioned leaving Professor Silverman’s house, his brother didn’t ask for an explanation.
“He told me to come to New York. He was so worried, so I said I’d come in a few days, but that day I went to Boston instead. I found a place with eight people sharing two rooms. A month later, when I called my brother, he got angry. But he kept sending me money, even though I said it wasn’t needed.”
Taejun never failed to understand or made a mistake after a single explanation, he was a big guy, and he worked hard without complaining when asked to do hard work, so he was welcome everywhere.
In fact, once he decided to live on his own, life became easier. He didn’t have any specific plans for the future, but he took the educational qualification test in case he needed it.
“My brother married his college sweetheart early and settled in New York. He said he was studying to be a lawyer.”
During their phone calls, his brother constantly tried to convince Taejun to move in with him. Each time, Taejun would say, ‘Okay, I got it,’ but in the end, he held out on his own until he turned 18.
“As soon as I turned 18, I enlisted in the military to resolve my illegal immigrant status and obtain citizenship. Once I went, the military suited me quite well. They provided three square meals a day.”
For the first time since he began telling his story, Taejun chuckled.
“With the regular meals in the military, I kept growing until I was 22. Can you believe it?”
“I, I, believe it.”
Minhee, who had been listening to Taejun’s story in silence through her sobs, spoke up for the first time.
Taejun chuckled and wiped the tears from Minhee’s eyes. She seemed to carry an endless well of tears within her. Taejun pulled her tightly into his embrace.
Thanks to the disciplined training and nutrition, or perhaps the exercise, Taejun’s muscles had swelled dramatically. The military had also offered to send him to college. Thinking it would help with his livelihood, he earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in just three and a half years.
While he was getting his degrees, he received a Green Beret recruitment offer from a special unit. After completing the special training, Taejun was deployed to Afghanistan as part of the Green Berets.
“The war in Afghanistan had been dragging on for a long time, with the US military delaying its decision to withdraw. It was clearly a failed war. Just before the US military began formal peace negotiations, the Taliban launched simultaneous terrorist attacks in the capital, Kabul. That’s when I got injured and discharged.”