HER MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS, ahn ilsung and kim kyunghee. when harlowe’s mother abandoned the family in 1999, her parents could have easily followed suit and ignored their existence, but instead they opened their doors to the remaining members of the seo family in their time of need. never once did they complain, or make any snide comments about the mistakes her father made that led them to the situation. they practically raised harlowe up until her early teens, and their unconditional patience and kindness has definitely transferred down to her. many of her good traits come from their teachings, from her commendable work ethic (waking up at 3am every morning to milk cows before school does that to a person) to the compassion that she shows to anyone in need, from a fellow friend to an animal on the street.
though she doesn’t regret moving to seoul, she does regret leaving their home at such an early age, and without giving them any notice either. while her sister hyebin might have felt that she was ready to leave and spread her wings, she was still young and impressionable, desperately in need of the guidance that they had to give her. between school and her idol schedules, she hasn’t been able to make it home to visit them again since she was sixteen, and there’s always the nagging fear in the back of her head that something fatal might happen to them before she’s able to make it back to joam. though she hasn’t been able to physically see them in years, she keeps in contact as often as she can between her schedules, and at times they even get some of their farmers to deliver boxes of their harvested produce to the spiced dorms when she’s feeling homesick (when her friends end up with jar after jar of homemade kimchi, applesauce, jellies, and pickled vegetables, in the end it’s her grandparents to blame). harlowe talks about her family the least out of the spiced members, but any time she does talk about her past and her life at home, she’s singing praises to her grandparents for everything they’ve done to make her the woman she is today.