The Flight to Paris
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is French Airlines Flight 5072 from Miami bound for Paris. The flight time will be….”
Heesoo gazed out the window with excitement.
She took the photo of the airplane wing just like everyone else, as well as snaps of her flight ticket and passport for social media.
Although she was a designer at a hair salon, at this moment, she was just a traveler who was excited for her trip.
Heesoo had achieved her dream.
She made her passion her profession and succeeded in her field.
But the story of her life wasn’t always full of roses and sunshine.
She was raised in a single-mother household.
When young, she often wondered why she was the only one without a father.
But each time she asked that, her mother answered with a whip rather than words.
Heesoo’s mother didn’t like her so much.
When drunk, she would come home and slap Heesoo’s back as she slept, causing young Heesoo to tremble with fear.
Of course, it wasn’t all hatred.
Her mother was usually indifferent, accustomed to Heesoo’s presence and treated her as her daughter, but her occasionally psychotic and violent demeanor terrified Heesoo.
「You should never have been born.」
‘You ruined my life’—it was a cliché reaction that could often be found in many parents from unhappy, crumbling families, but watching her mother’s tears fall onto the worn, yellow wooden floor made Heesoo regret her own existence.
Seeing her mother fall asleep after beating her, Heesoo often felt a complex mix of emotions.
Heesoo knew that to her mother, her existence was more of a curse than a blessing.
‘Why does Mom hate me?’
After a visit from her aunt, who looked at her as if she were an enemy, Heesoo never again mentioned her father.
She clearly had something within her that caused great distress to her mother.
An existence that should not have been brought into being.
A being that should not have been born in this world.
For her mother’s sake, she should have quietly died.
In short, Heesoo was a ‘mistake.’
Though the exact details were unknown, it seemed her mother and father were a disastrous match, never meant to meet.
It wasn’t Heesoo’s fault, but it felt that way.
She hated her mother, but as she grew older, pity overshadowed hatred.
Entering puberty, Heesoo seriously contemplated her existence and reached a conclusion.
‘I need to leave ths house as soon as possible.’
It would be better not to be in her mother’s sight.
Since her presence led her mother dig deeper into the dark realms of depression, sadness, and alcohol, simply disappearing seemed the best solution for her.
Heesoo wasn’t a wanted child.
Since it was apparent that she was a ‘mistake,’ the best thing was to vanish, for her mother’s sake.
Despite her conflicting emotions, she loved her mother, surpassing any feelings of love and hate, and pitying her as a fellow woman.
Time couldn’t be turned back.
Heesoo chose the only path available to her.
Not as a daughter who was hated by her mother, nor as a daughter who hated her mother, but an inevitable choice that had to be made simply as a human being.
To live her life to the fullest, that was the only choice she had.
Though she was a good student with excellent grades, the desire for independence outweighed any regret of not attending college.
Fortunately, Heesoo had one thing to be thankful for: she already found something that she loved doing.
Heesoo always enjoyed styling others.
Though she never had the chance to tell her mother, Heesoo had always wanted to be a hair designer.
Her mother probably still doesn’t know that Heesoo’s childhood memories began with braiding the hair of Barbie dolls.
Starting as a staff member in a beauty salon, she earned far less than the minimum wage.
Life was tough, but Heesoo had patience far greater than others.
Enduring and bearing hardships was what she did best.
Regardless of what was said or how she was treated, Heesoo could endure it.
Her calm and stoic nature was a significant advantage that helped her navigate a successful career within the industry.
For 8 years, she was on her own.
Constantly striving for success, she was suddenly met by an unexpected turn of events at the age of 28, which caused her to have serious doubts about her life.
「…Heesoo, I’m sorry,」
It was the news of her mother’s late marriage.
Since her mother was only 18-year older than herself, Heesoo understood her mother’s decision.
She thought it was nothing to be so sad or mad about.
However, she still couldn’t help but feel a weird sense of resentment towards her mother, and the fact that she was being influenced by such negative emotions made Heesoo feel even worse.