May The Best Player Win ✔️

026: Half-Heart

"Mommy, why don't we go out that much like we used to?" Jiwoo asked her mother who mindlessly watched the news on their television. "Your appa is busy," her mother responded flatly before getting up to get some apples to eat.

Jiwoo pouted, watching her older brother play games on the playstation and her older sister chatting on her phone.

"Unnie, who are you talking with?" she asked her older sister who quickly hid her phone from her. "Secret," Yeji giggled as she continued to chat with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Appa, where are you..." Lonely, Jiwoo yearned earnestly for her father who had frequently been away. The children noticed their mother gradually becoming more depressed, more moody, and more anxious.

Jimin suddenly knocked on the door and invited himself inside. Jiwoo quickly hid the photograph below her pillows and once again buried herself beneath her blankets. "You should get out and share a meal with us downstairs," he urged, shaking her leg beneath the covers.

She kicked him away with the very same leg. "Go away."

Jimin sighed before standing up to leave the room. "I'll listen, anytime."

The door closed and Jiwoo was once again left to drown in her own thoughts. She suddenly thought of Taehyung then silently cursed to herself. Her chest trobbed. She didn't want to be a fool of love.

Jiwoo clutched her mother's arm and kept close to her as they walked further down the street. Her eyes wandered around, stomach growling as they passed by restaurants and stalls. She glanced at her mother whose eyes remained soulless as they stared ahead.

Remembering she had brought a bit of money with her, Jiwoo gleamed at the thought of trying to cheer her mother up. "Eomma it's my treat, do you wanna eat?" Her mother finally smiled and nodded.

Jiwoo led her to a hamburger station which was not far across a fancy dining restaurant. She bought two cheeseburgers with her meager savings. They sat on tall stools as they peered over the glass, looking over the busy street. She once again gazed over the expensive restaurant across them, silently munching on her snack.

A man and a woman, hand-in-hand suddenly entered their range of vision then into the restaurant. Jiwoo scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "A-Appa...?" She continued to look at her father whose hands playfully roamed across the woman's body, giving her kisses now and then. She examined the woman's features and tried to familiarize them. She then peered over her mother whose eyes now welled up in tears. "Eomma..."

Despite the heavy pouring of the rain outside, the piercing sound of the vase smashing into pieces echoed throughout the whole house.

"How could you!" She cried, her voice hoarse with all the shouting. The three children cried with their mother, although separately as they sat on top of the staircase and watched the scene unfold before their eyes.