An Autumn to Remember: A Novel (Elmtown Series Book 1) (15 page)

20

   Chelsea stretched her muscles, getting ready to go for a run around the neighborhood. She was feeling tired lately and knew she had to get back to fitness like Jamie suggested. With the load of work she had coming up soon, she couldn't afford fatigue now. She was going to start helping her supervisor with running participants on Saturdays, analyze a lot of data and coordinate some of the undergrads volunteering at the lab. Coupled with all the classes she had to attend during the week, it was going to be a hectic period.

   She decided she would still hang out with Jamie late in the evenings as she wasn't going to let work come between them. Spending time together is important to any relationship, she thought. She believed if you truly cared about someone, you would create time for them.

   She checked for Jamie in the basement but Helen told her he already left for his early morning run.

   “Could you please tell him to call me when he gets back? I called his phone but he didn’t answer.”

   “OK I will,” Helen said. “He left his phone on the table.”

   Chelsea wanted to talk to him about what she was considering after the discussion with her mom.

   She was already thinking of moving out.

   She would get a downtown condo because she didn’t want her mother prying into her relationship. No, not at the age of twenty-one am I going to allow her dictate who I should or should not date, she thought. She figured it would definitely be better if she had privacy away from her.

   She thought about eighteen-year-old girls she knew who already had their own rented places so it wasn’t as if she was too young to move out. She’d never been away from home but after thinking about it for hours she came to the realization that it wasn’t going to be a big deal. Plus she would visit during the weekend. Tyler could also come hang out at her place anytime he wanted.

   She loved her mother dearly but Teresa Braithwaite was the last person she would ever take counsel from about men or relationships. The way she spoke about Jamie the night before was too hard to take, like he was beneath Chelsea, and the idea of moving out had become inevitable.

   Once she found out Jamie’s opinion, the next dilemma was how she was going to have time to search for a place. I might as well just go see an estate agent. But when? They aren't open on Sundays, she thought. Searching online had become so futile because of the increase in the rental market. People weren’t buying homes but they were renting in droves so one needed an expert who would keep an eye out for available apartments. I guess I'll have to call an Estate Agent then, she thought.

   She always believed you could get people to do things faster if you spoke to them face-to-face rather than over the phone but she had no choice, there would be too little time to spare in the coming week.

   She walked past the orchids which were her favorite plant and a smile formed on her face. Apart from her mother's disapproval of Jamie and her strained relationship with her father, her life seemed to be blossoming and the world felt like a wonderful place. Jamie made her world beautiful.

   As she set her timer, the boy himself appeared.

   “You didn't wait for me. I thought we were running together. Now I have to go all by myself,” she said sticking out the inside of her lower lip like a child about to cry. Gladness wrapped around her heart like a comforting blanket. His presence still made her blush.

   Jamie smiled at her and said, “I know, I'm sorry babe. I had to do a bit of thinking this morning and didn't wanna wake you up.” Then a straight face appeared as quickly as his smile had disappeared. “Can I talk to you? It’s important.”

   “Sure, what's up hun?”

   “Umm not here...let's go to my room?”

   “Yeah, sure. After you lover boy,” she said slipping her hand into his. “I love it when you call me babe.”

   They walked back towards the side of the house and took the door that led into the basement. As they strolled into the living room, Chelsea noticed Jamie’s trembling hand and was about to ask about it when Jamie suddenly froze in front of her.

   “Hey what’s going on?” Chelsea asked tilting her head to see why he was stalling. Then her eyes caught the image before Jamie.

   An Asian woman sat with three little boys squeezed around her on the couch. Helen who stood near them looked dumbfounded and her face was covered in tears. The look of shock on Helen’s face and Jamie’s unreadable facial expression began to worry Chelsea. What’s going on?
Who is this woman and who are all these kids?

   A silence settled over the room, the type that makes one hear the heart beating away in anxious nervousness.

   The Asian woman broke the silence with her high-pitched voice.

   “It’s taken me five years to find you Jamie. Five long years but looking at you now,” she said shaking her head, “I don't know if finding you was worth all that trouble.”

   Helen’s throat was too dry to speak, her teary eyes fixated on the faces of the three four-year-old boys she just discovered were her grandchildren. Two of them had brown hair and dark eyes like Jamie. The third looked like Ji-Min but had blonde hair that could have come from their grandfather (Helen’s dad).

   “Is this bad timing? 'Cause you look very disturbed.” She rubbed the head of one of the triplets affectionately. “I just wanted you to see your sons. To see if you think it was worth running away. Hope this isn't too inconvenient,” Ji-Min said sarcastically.

   Chelsea removed her hand from Jamie’s hold and clasped it over her mouth, her eyes widened in horror. What on God’s earth is happening?
she screamed in her mind.

   Jamie couldn’t process what he was seeing. He couldn’t form any words. “I’m sorry” seemed too insufficient for a situation of such magnitude.

   “Jamie can you please tell me what is going on?” Chelsea demanded. She could barely move.

   Jamie looked at her then cleared his throat. “This was what I wanted to talk to you about...umm, this is Ji-Min. Umm...” Jamie stammered. He sighed regretting that he hadn’t told Chelsea or his mother earlier. What was shocking for him was that the day he decided to come clean, Ji-Min emerged from the darkness. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how she found him.

   “I guess you are his girlfriend,” Ji-Min cut in. “Please allow me to give you some advice for free, it will help you darling. If you want him to stick around, don't get pregnant. He never waited to even know I was pregnant with triplets.” Everyone’s eyes moved toward the three candy-eating four-year-old little men. Ji-min intentionally made it sound like she had been his girlfriend. She was going to take advantage of the situation and make his life as miserable as he made hers. It was like twisting the knife that already pierced his heart.

   “The boys don't need you in their lives but I still had to find you. I wanted to have answers when they start asking about their father in the future. At least they’ll know where you are and that I wasn’t lying to them. Besides, I was itching to see that look on your face. I think its time for me to leave now as I can see you have a lot of explaining to do these two women.”

   “Would you like something to drink?” Helen asked. She had no idea what to say or do. Her mind was far removed from the words coming out of her mouth.

   “Thank you but I think it’s better we leave now. Our flight to England is tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll keep in touch. Maybe I won’t, who knows. I really can’t promise anything but thank you Helen for letting us in. I can see you are a wonderful woman. It’s a pity you have a selfish boy for a son. Goodbye now.” She passed by Jamie and Chelsea, the boys following behind her like tiny little carriages.

   “Please...” Helen started but Ji-Min was gone before she could finish her sentence.

   Chelsea felt an urge to pinch herself so she could wake from this horrible nightmare. With pain in her chest, a furrowed face, a lump in her throat and confusion in her head she could not yet make sense of what she had seen and heard. Sinking into a nearby chair, she began to sob uncontrollably as though someone just died. Her head was pounding like her brain was trying to burst out of her skull.

   Jamie moved with fear slowly toward her to offer some comfort and said, ”Chelsea look I can explain...”

   “Don't,” she snapped, “just don't.” He moved away quickly. Her eyes were red with anger and wet with tears.

   “To think that I trusted you more than anyone else I've ever known makes me sick to my stomach. I guess Mom was right about you after all,” she said with tears flowing down her cheeks unfettered. She shook her head and then stormed out of the apartment, just like Ji-Min had. She left like Jamie left South Korea, with a sense of finality and no intentions of looking back.

   Helen didn’t know that it was possible to feel anger and compassion at the same time but that was exactly how she felt that morning. Without saying anything to Jamie, she went into the bathroom and cried as she got ready for work. She was angry that she was just finding out about her grandchildren after five years. Triplets?
she thought. But then she felt so sorry for Jamie. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now but how could he do this?

***

   The first time Jamie and Ji-Min had sex together was a week after they met at the gym. It was also three days before she told him she was married.

   “I wouldn’t have slept with you if I’d known,” Jamie said angrily. “That’s a very important piece of information to forget, don’t you think?”

   Regardless of being upset by her confession, it could hardly hold him back from doing it again. He always imagined his first experience with sex as the moment when all those hormones that came with puberty would finally calm down. He would be free. But he was wrong all along; having sex for the first time only increased his appetite for it. It only ignited a fire in him and he wanted more.

   It all happened so quickly that first time. They were making out in his apartment when it got really steamy on his couch, then his bed. When she realized he wasn't going any further despite her being naked, she asked, ”Wait, are you still a virgin?”

   “What makes you think that?” he asked defensively.

   “We've been making out for two hours and...” she giggled and continued, ”never mind.”

   When he shyly admitted that he was, she kissed his forehead and said, ”Don't worry, I'll teach you.”

   That was the beginning of two weeks of unrestrained sex, but it was safe. Her husband was away on a one-month business trip in Europe and they always used a condom. It was very safe. Until one day she forgot to bring condoms like she normally did. He protested saying they could wait till the next day, but she said it was OK, she would take her morning after pill–she promised. She knew about these things more than he did, so he trusted her. They did it on his bed, on the floor and in the common living room because his housemates were out clubbing.

   And that was the only time they had unprotected sex. Just that once. Everything seemed fine after that, except that she had forgotten to take the promised morning after pill.

   When Ji-Min found out she was pregnant, there was no doubt in her mind as to what she would do. It was illegal to have abortions in South Korea but people always found ways to navigate their way around the system. Besides, if she didn’t find a way, she could go on a trip back to England and get it done. She knew a friend who had done it so she asked for help and thankfully she got it.

   She was introduced to the doctor who conducted her friend’s procedure. There was no way she would jeopardize her marriage with the fling she was having with a teenage American boy who was only in Korea for a year to teach English and who she knew nothing about.

   Nine weeks into her pregnancy, she went through with the abortion and stopped seeing Jamie who was the most relieved eighteen-year-old boy in the world at the time.

   It was a bit of a shock when six weeks later, Ji-Min still felt pregnant. She went back to the hospital where she was told it was common to feel that way after an abortion and there was nothing to worry about. Days later, still feeling weird, she went back to the doctor and demanded an ultrasound.

   Sadly it was discovered that she had a failed abortion and was in fact pregnant with three babies.

   “How did you guys miss the fact that I was pregnant with three babies?” she barked. Then because of new complications, the doctor told her she could not go through with another procedure as it could cost her her life. At midnight, she called Jamie.

   “I have bad news. The abortion failed,” she said with a low tone. She snuck downstairs to speak to Jamie while her husband snored away in their bedroom. He was too exhausted from his trip to even notice the little bump around his wife’s belly.

   “What? What do you mean failed?” Jamie asked, his eyes widening. He sat on the bed beside his open suitcase and folded clothes. He was leaving South Korea in three days and didn’t expect another call from Ji-Min at all. He thought they closed that book.

   “I’m still pregnant Jamie. My husband is back and I don’t know what to do. Look I need to see you, can I come over tomorrow morning? There’s more. I can’t have this conversation over the phone.” She needed to tell him about the number of babies they were having face-to-face. Lying to her husband was out of the question, besides, the babies were going to look mixed.