part of me likes to imagine zoey (reluctantly) coming back home to burbank for the first time, and her entire maternal family has no idea that she’s a famous musician.
like, they know she’s in a band, but they think it’s one of middling popularity. her stepfather asks her how her “little band friends” are doing. her stepbrother jokes that “who knows, zo, maybe your music might make it on the radio one day” (it has. in fact, one of her songs came on while her mom and halmeoni were making food in the kitchen earlier. zoey just didn’t point it out). her stepsister makes a snide comment about whether or not her music is worth listening to. her halmeoni scoffs and says that she needs to find something better to do or else she’ll never make money. her mother doesn’t say anything, but zoey knows her silence speaks volumes.
meanwhile, zoey is already one of the most famous people in korea at this point. she has 1/3 ownership of one of the largest towers in seoul. she’s actively waiting to hear back about an award she (and her alone) may be nominated for for songwriting for the very song that played on the radio earlier.
she doesn’t tell them about this, partly because she’s always found the “look at me now” in your face kind of revenge to be cringy, and partly because she doesn’t want them asking for anything.
the amount of nights she was left abandoned by her mother to make her own food when she was only 10 years old. the fact her stepfather didn’t even know about her until he and her mother were a month away from the wedding, and he didn’t care that his wife had been hiding her from him. the ways her halmeoni spit vitriol at her for years. her stepsiblings’ bullying of her from the moment they met.
she doesn’t owe them shit.
halfway through dinner, she gets a call from bobby. she excuses herself to take it. her halmeoni shakes her head about how rude it is. her stepfather has been called away from the table three times at this point, and she only ever smiled and gushed about how successful her son in law was.
she got the nomination. almost everyone knows she’s a shoo in to win it. this award is one of the most prestigious songwriting awards in korea. she is 18.
she knows she must look like the cheshire cat when she returns to the table.
“what are you so pleased about?” her stepbrother asks.
zoey’s in such a good mood that she throws out reason number 1 for not telling them, and decides to just have self control for reason number 2. “that was a call from my manager.”
her stepsister rolls her eyes. “what? did you find out you sold your second ticket to a show?”
zoey’s smile somehow widens. “no. i just found out i got a songwriting nomination from one of the most well respected music organizations in korea.”
the activity around the table slows down. her family (well, everyone except her younger half-siblings, who don’t really know what’s going on; she makes a note to put aside some money for them, and them only) all stare at her in disbelief. “is it an organization that specializes in lesser known musicians?” her stepbrother asks, struggling for something to latch onto.
“no,” zoey shakes her head smugly. “i’m not a lesser known musician.”
her stepsister frowns. “a few hundred people buying your song doesn’t make you well known.”
“what about a few million?” zoey asks her. “like, 20, 30,” she pauses to think, “50 million?”
her family’s shock unsettles them from their seats. “what?” her mother asks.
“sorry. i’m underselling it.” zoey takes a sip of her water. “it’s 50 million sales on our single, 5 billion streams.” she shrugs. “my mistake.”
there’s a collective sputter around the table. “j-just because you’ve had one song go platinum-”
“5,” zoey interjects her stepsister. “5 songs. this is just the first one they nominated for this particular award. and guess what?” she turns to her stepbrother. “you did hear it on the radio earlier, jason. it was that one song you were whistling along to in the kitchen.”
her stepbrother’s face pales.
five voices ring out with questions asked over one another. before she can answer any of them, her phone rings again. it’s rumi’s ringtone, but she knows mira will be there, too.
she decides it’s far more important right now to speak to the two people who love her most in the world (even if they still haven’t talked about exactly what kind of love that is) then the people who made her feel like shit for years.
zoey leaves the table to take the call without excusing herself.
the sound of her girls’ voices makes her day even brighter.
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