IT'S NEVER DIFFICULT TO LOCATE Lalisa Manoban. There's only two possible locations where she would be throughout the day; in her diner or at home. I find her in the back this time, one of her assistants Chaeyoung is upfront covering for her while she's restocking some of the pancake mix in the back. She pauses when she sees me.

"Can we talk?"

So we're sitting on a bench near the rear exit, near the dumpsters. The air is cold and dry, I wrap my arms around my knees, resting my chin in between them. This is the first time in a long time that we were actually sitting next to each other, being civil. A white flag, for sure.

"Were you ever going to tell me, Lis?"

"I don't know." She admits. "There's a lot that you don't know about the Gorgons, Mai. It probably wasn't the best idea that I kept it all hidden from you...but I thought I was doing the right thing. For Thistlethorn, for you."

"Many years ago," Lisa continues. "when I was in high school, there was this incident. Now back then, the Gorgons roamed freely throughout both sides. There hadn't really been much of a divide between the east and west. Our family was always a huge part of the Gorgons, and though I hadn't exactly been dubbed a member yet, our mom was really trying to get me to become one. During an after party, one of the Gorgon members got into a fight with a non-member. Knocked them out too hard. They died. And suddenly, everything went to hell. This had been purely accidental, and because of that one of the older Gorgons took the fall for them, they were around my age and had a bright future ahead of them." She sighs.

"That was Yeonjun's dad. And he's still in jail because of it."

"From that incident, things only continuously went downhill. Many of Gorgons were pissed that he went to jail, the mayor became extremely harsh on the gang members, literally would not let them breathe. So they began to retaliate, they caused chaos everywhere. Broke into stores, caused mobs. Our mother was one of the people in charge, and she was letting all this happen, rather than take the smart route. So I told her that she needed to move them to the east side. That this couldn't continue. People were getting hurt because of their actions, innocent bystanders. She didn't even see the sense in what I saying, since she too was angry. That's what we were fighting about most of the time. She only came around when I mentioned you. There was no way I wanted you to grow up with this kind of life."

"But she told me that if I wanted the Gorgons gone from the west side, she was leaving too. That pissed me off the most. She put them over you, and finally showed her true colors. She's not a good woman, Mai. You might think I'm awful, but she never really cared about us. She just needs someone to carry on her legacy as one of the spear-headers for the Gorgons."

"I know that I haven't exactly been the best at keeping you informed about all of this. Maybe if I had, our relationship would have turned out differently. But I did what I thought was best for you. That's all that this has really been about."

Now it's all out there in the open. No more lies, no more secrets. And I have no idea what to say. The fact that she truly wasn't trying to be the bad person throughout this all, leaves me speechless. I had been incredibly wrong about her in my judgment, and had been pretty stubborn and obstinant to changing my views.

Almost makes me feel guilty.

"I probably should have been a little nicer to you, huh." I mumble, this makes Lisa crack a smile.

"Maybe just a little."

"And I shouldn't have had that thing with Doyoung." I add. "But the whole reason around it was that I didn't have that support that a parent should have given me. You were there, running your restaurant, trying to keep the roof above our heads, but you weren't really there as a sister. For a while, it felt like I had no one." Hearing it aloud, I find my words to be that much truer.

"I'm sorry." She says. "I tried."

"Yeah, I know you did. And I definitely didn't make it easy for you, either. I'm surprised you still kinda' stuck around even after all of this. Everyone's been leaving lately." I slump further into myself. "I feel so awful for lashing out at Yeonjun. I really thought for a second that he was making a mistake. I kept thinking I was right, that it clouded my view on literally everything."

And now he's gone too.

"I really hurt him."

"It's not too late to fix it." Lisa glances my way. "I don't know what happened between you two, but he cares about you a lot Mai. Those feelings don't go away in a blink."

Our argument continues to echo in my mind. Even when I try not to think about it, it lingers there. I glance up at the trees in front of us, rubbing at my red eyes.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

"Look, things will come around Mai. This is the first civil conversation we've had in years, you know? I never thought we would get to this spot, but we're here right now. This, if anything, proves that people can change. So you can fix whatever's going on between you and him." She stands up. "My break is about to get cut short soon, but whenever you're ready to see Mom...let me know."

I watch her retie her apron, tightening her dark bun. "Okay. Thanks Lis."

My older sister nods. "Yeah. We're good now, right?"

"I think so."

Then she smiles, genuinely, before heading back inside.