Three

                                    

                                          
Minji Pov
After having lunch with Seokjin and his hot, ball-busting friend, Hanni Pham, I'm beat. I know that jinnie doesn't think that all of this shit with the label affects me, but it does. I just don't stress about it like he does. Do I want to end up back in Yeoju working on the ranch next to my brother and dad? Hell no. I always knew that wasn't gonna be my calling. I didn't know music was going to be what took me away from that life—we all just assumed it would be lawyer. You learn fast what you're good at and what you're not when one of the only things you ever gave a shit about is taken from you. As I is I'm lucky. Turns out I'm good as hell at music. Now I'm on the verge of losing that too.
Pulling up to the ranch, I put the truck in park. I have a house on the property, but if I drive past the main house without first stopping in, my mama will take a switch to my ass no matter how old I am. Plus I need the distraction so I don't just sit and dwell on the fact that my music career might very well be over. I can't go there right now. I have to hope that Jin is as good as he thinks he is, and that Hanni is as enamored with him as she appeared. I need a miracle right now, and she's it. I'm not used to putting all my faith into one person, but I guess if I'm looking for a miracle, I could've done worse for myself. Miss Hanni Pham and her sweet as hell rack are a damn sight nicer to look at than Glenn and the rest of the guys I was used to dealing with at my old label.
I cut the engine and give the dust a second to settle before getting out and climbing the porch steps to the back. The screen door creaks and claps shut behind me as I enter the mudroom that leads to the kitchen.
"Sea is that you, baby?" my mama calls.
"No, ma'am, it's your other daughter. Your favorite." The house smells like it always does, of something baking or simmering away on the stove. Walking through the doorway, I see her wiping her hands on the apron she has tied around her waist. Her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail makes her look younger than her fifty-eight years. Not that my mama looks her age.
"Oh my stars, my baby is home." It's been a couple months since I've been home. I always call but it's not the same. "Come give me some sugar, Minji. Why didn't you call first? I would have made your favorite supper had I known." I step into her outstretched arms, bending to accommodate her much smaller frame. My brother and I are both well over six feet like our father. We've towered over mama since we were young kids.
"Wanted to surprise you is all," I lie. If I tell her why I'm really home, she'll be dragging my ass right to church and have the whole damn town praying for me.
"Come in here and sit down. You hungry? Your brother and daddy will be in soon. They just got back from the auction a little while ago. Got two new bulls for stud and a beautiful paint mare to breed. Your brother sent pictures of the horse, pretty little thing." My mom is a rancher's wife through and through. She knows the ins and outs of the business and the unforgiving hours and hard work it takes to run a ranch this size. I tried to get my dad to retire and sell off some of the cattle when I signed my first record deal and my album went platinum, but he wouldn't have any of it.
"Kim have ranched on this land for generations, boy, and we'll continue to ranch on this land for generations to come." Stubborn bastard.
My mama puts a plate down in front of me, and I can't help but smile. I don't dare tell her that I've just eaten. "You want sweet tea?" she asks even as she's pulling it from the fridge.
"Yes, ma'am," I answer. No use in saying no. Setting the tea down, she takes the seat next to me, covering my hand with hers.
"How you doing, baby? I know it's been hard for you since Min-Soo passed. Bless her soul. You must miss her something fierce. God knows I do." I glance up to see the tears in her eyes. My mama loved Min-Soo. She was the daughter she never had. Her death has been hardest on my mama, I think. Every breakup we'd ever had since freshman year of high school, my mama took her side. Scolding me for breaking Min-Soo's heart and not seeing a good thing when it was standing in front of me. Sometimes I think Min-Soo and I were together for as long as we were because of my mama. Because who in the world wanted to hurt Mrs Kim? Sure as hell wasn't me.