The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim (ebook reader with highlighter .txt) 📕

Jennie appears in the threshold with a distinctly suspicious look on her face. “What are you dawdling out there for? Come in or leave.”

We take off our shoes and follow Jennie through the main foyer, which is huge, with double-storied high ceilings and a fancy chandelier. It also has one of those majestic staircases that princesses walk down in the movies, only for her guests (who are there for a fancy ball, of course) to go silent and watch in awe.

“Thanks for letting them in, door-sin,” Jennie says.

“Your floors are so shiny, door-sin,” David says.

“Your chandelier is amazeballs, door-sin,” Emmett coos.

Taeyo and I also give the door spirit a compliment each. I’d hate to be hit in the butt by such a heavy door.

Jennie leads us into a side parlor room with lavish gilded couches. It looks like something out of a K-drama where the parents are the rich, stuck-up owners of an international company. Not that I’m stereotyping or anything…

Jennie takes a seat on one of the couches but doesn’t invite us to sit down. Instead, she bites her nails nervously. “So what do you mean, a message from my halmeoni? I don’t have all day.”

“This might sound a little odd,” Taeyo starts, “but she wants to say something to you so she can finally find peace and move into the next realm. You can reserve judgment until afterward, if that makes you feel better. Let me deliver her message to you first.”

I notice he doesn’t introduce himself as Horangi, and a part of me feels bad for him. It sucks feeling like you have to hide who you really are. Especially when what happened thirteen years ago wasn’t his fault.

Jennie doesn’t seem to notice, though. “How do I know you’re not jerking me around?” She scowls at me even though it’s Taeyo who’s talking to her. She pulls her legs up onto the couch, huddling into a ball.

“I think you should give them a chance,” David says, sitting next to her. “I heard them talking about it at the restaurant, and I don’t think they’re kidding around.”

Good thing he came with us.

Jennie scowls some more but doesn’t say anything, and Taeyo takes that as agreement. We perch ourselves on the plush couch opposite her and David, and Taeyo opens Ghostr.

“First I’ll tell your halmeoni that we found you.” He starts typing into his phone. When he finishes, it buzzes with an alert. “Oh, she says she’s already here!”

I glance around the room, but there are no foggy outlines of an old woman that I can see. Jennie looks around nervously, too, and curls herself into an even tighter ball on the couch.

Taeyo’s eyes scan from left to right as he reads the message appearing on his app. “Your halmeoni says, ‘Don’t be angry at your parents. They work hard to provide for you. I know you wish they were home more often. It’s no fun eating dinner alone, and it can get lonely in this big house always by yourself. But you mustn’t forget how much they love you. You must always remember that.’” Taeyo speaks in chunks, reading as fast as the words come through.

Jennie shrinks. It’s like she has turned into a child and is going to start sucking her thumb at any moment. David calmly pats her back.

“Halmeoni?” she whispers, her throat closing up. “Are you really here?”

Then, just as quickly as she softened, she hardens again. She looks at me and glowers. “I bet you’re enjoying this, aren’t you? Seeing me like this. Is that why you’re here? To watch me squirm? Because I’ve got news for you. I won’t break so easy.”

Her outburst takes me by surprise. Sure, I can’t say I’ve ever liked her. I mean, would I ever choose to hang out with her? Heck no! Has she made my life miserable every weekend at Saturday School, and would I like her to stop being such a bully? Heck yes! But that doesn’t mean I want to see her suffer—especially over something so serious. That’s not how I roll.

I hear the bearded man’s words in my head. There are always two sides to every story.

The thing is, I’ve only ever seen the nasty side of Jennie, and I’d assumed she just hated me for some reason. But then I saw her being nice to David at the temple. And now this. Maybe there is more to her than meets the eye.

I keep my mouth shut and signal for Taeyo to keep interpreting for the gwisin halmeoni.

“There’s more: ‘I’m sorry for leaving you without saying a proper good-bye. I had a good life, a long life, and it was my time to go. I felt no pain at the end. But my biggest regret is not having told you how much I love you. I wish I’d told you every morning and every night.’”

He pauses as a new paragraph loads. “‘One of my favorite memories was when I taught you how to make a kite. You were only five, but you picked it up so fast and you were so proud of your creation. You cried when the one I made you—Mr. Magpie—got caught in the tree and ripped. I know you fly a kite for me every year on the date of my passing, and it makes me so happy to see it soaring in the sky.’”

Taeyo takes a breath. “‘I want you to know that all the meals I cooked, all the times I picked you up from ballet lessons, all the times we watched K-dramas in bed together, and even all the times I scolded you—those were all expressions of my love.’” He smiles. “‘I wish I had said the words more often, though, which is why I am saying this to you now.’”

Tears start falling down Jennie’s cheeks, and the pug jumps from Emmett’s lap to hers to lick her face. “Halmeoni, you were the only person I ever felt loved