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Q. No learning disability?
A. Yes, a learning disability. I don't know what. She came here when she was seven and didn't know the language.
Q. How did your relationship with her begin?
A. One night, just fortuitously, I was over at Mia's, and I had no one to go to the basketball game with. And Soon-Yi said, I'll go. And so I took her, and I found her interested and delightful. This was a couple of years ago. Mia had encouraged me to get to know her. She would say, Take a walk with Soon-Yi, do something with her. Try and make friends with her, she's not really as hostile to you as you might think. Mia thought it was fine I took her to the game.
Q. So then you started secretly dating her?
* A. No. I took her to a game again, maybe a month later. And this happened on a few occasions. And we struck up a relationship. It was strictly -- I don't want to say an intellectual relationship, because I'm not saying we were discussing Kant or anything, but we chatted about different things.
Q. Did you talk about Mia?
A. Well, yes, I'm not sure I want to get into that too deeply, but she told me things that were surprising to me about the family, and that it was not exactly as happy as I thought it was. She and other kids had problems with their mother. Soon-Yi did not have a good relationship with her, and we spoke about that. She said her mother had been very cruel to her.
Q. Physically?
A. Physically, and mentally. Mia was very impatient with her. She had hit her with a brush. She had written English words on her hand because she couldn't learn them, and made her go to school with them on her hand, and that humiliated her. I believe also she threatened to put Soon-Yi into an institution because she was impatient with her for having trouble learning the language. There were many other things. But I don't want to say, because I don't want to get anybody in trouble. But if I do have to say them someday, I will.
Q. But she may have been telling you these things because she was interested in you or trying to get back at her mother. How do you know they were true?
A. Because when I made it my business to check about it, I found out. She was worse to Soon-Yi because she stood up to her. And there was a definite difference in the way she treated the adopted children and her own children.
Q. How did your sexual relationship with Soon-Yi come about?
A. We'd chat when I came over to Mia's house. It started to become hotter and heavier late last year, very late. We had a number of conversations, saw a couple of movies, and you know it just -- well, I can't say there was any cataclysmic moment.
Q. But you fell in love with her?
A. Yes, yes. My flair for drama. What can I say?
Q. She fell in love with you at the same time?
A. That's hard to say. My guess is after. She returned my feelings.
Q. But didn't it occur to you, worry you, that her feeling had something to do with her resentment of her mother?
A. I did not think that. I never think of those things. When you're having a nice time, you don't look for those motivations.
Q. Weren't you worried that the emotions and motivations were too complex for a young girl?