🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
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The house was dark when Rin stepped inside. Even with the early morning sunlight, the curtains thrown over the windows did everything they could to mute it. As he padded into the living room, his mother's turned back greeted him.
"Kaasan," he rushed over to where she sat on the couch and took hold of her shoulders. Slowly, her cloudy eyes glazed towards his. "How long have you been here? Where's Hye-jin? What happened to Kaito?"
His mother looked at him with a stare as flat as the floor covered by the rug. "A while," she answered. And that's it. His other two questions were ignored. He'd find out for himself then.
He gave his mother a light squeeze on the shoulder and glanced at the kitchen counter. A couple of food containers sat on the surface with a plastic lid thrown over them. There's no note or anything, but he knew. It's from Hye-jin. But...where was she? Why didn't she tell him where she was going?
Who's taking care of his brother throughout the night?
His breath hitched. He glanced at his mother, how her fingers twiddled each other, staring unblinking into the windows hindered by the curtains. She wasn't seeing anything of significance and she seemed fine with that.
The door to his brother's room slammed open. A series of gurgling noises emanated from the crib, short and stubby fingers reaching past the balustrades. He rushed over to the baby, checking him for everything. Kaito needed cleaning up, starting from his diaper. And what's that rancid smell in the air?
After he finished all of his errands on the baby, he checked the supplies to see if he had been fed. This time, there was a note in Hye-jin's handwriting. Beside it were a couple of oral hydration packets. Was Kaito throwing up last night?
He read the note again and set it down. That's all Hye-jin had to say to him—don't let his brother be dehydrated and take him to the doctor if the vomiting continued until morning. He went back to the living room and searched for his phone. Then, the memories of last night flooded into his mind.
Right. He left his phone in Ashley's house. He froze. Hye-jin was calling that night. Did she ever call after he ran off the house? And worse, did Ashley answer? His heartbeat hitched. It's within the realm of what's possible. Hye-jin then heard his boss' voice on his phone. There's no denying what she must have thought.
It occurred to him then. She's not in this house.
Not anymore.
Then, where was she?
He dashed towards the guest room and snatched his mother's phone. They bought it for her to let her call them over when there's an emergency but she never used it. His slippers scratched against the dusty floor on his way back to the living room. With shaking fingers, he scrolled through the saved contacts and tapped Hye-jin's number. He slammed his pointer finger on the call button and placed the phone near his ear.
