Sheets | Chaelisa converted

Chapter 42

"The offer still stands," Lisa said, pulling up to the curb in front of Chaeyoung's house. "You know you're always welcome to stay at my place."

Smiling, Chaeyoung turned to Lisa, closing her eyes when Lisa reached out to caress her cheek.

"I know," the Korean girl replied, sighing heavily. "But it's okay. I'm sure my mum is worried about me. I did kind of run off without telling them where I was going." A kernel of guilt lodged itself in her throat, her smile dropping.

"Mm," Lisa murmured, kissing her on the forehead before letting go of her face, expression a little downcast. Chaeyoung's skin immediately felt a little colder, body already missing the feeling of Lisa's touch, but she steeled herself and climbed out of the car. Leaning down, head peeking through the open passenger window, she managed to give Lisa a reassuring grin.

"If anything happens, leave your door unlocked, okay?" she said, Lisa's gloomy expression immediately perking up, her mouth twitching as she gave Chaeyoung a long, lingering look. Reaching out, Lisa took her hand, taking it and staring at it for a long moment,  as if she wanted to do something mischievous. She clearly decided against it when she simply kissed the palm of Chaeyoung's hand.

Standing on the side of the road long after Lisa's car disappeared around the corner of the street, Chaeyoung carefully tiptoed her way back home. The moment she stepped inside, she felt the brush of cold entwine itself around her ankles. Although it was mid-afternoon, the house was dark, with all the blinds drawn and shadows painted across all the walls. It was rare that the house was so dark, with someone always opening the blinds to let in the natural light in the morning. Swallowing nervously, she silently took off her shoes and walked around the living room, opening the blinds to try and cast away the shadows. After opening the first blind, she was stopped in her tracks when she saw stacks of large cardboard boxes stacked up against the far wall. Some were full and sealed, labelled in heavy permanent marker. Others were still open, with neatly folded men's clothing peeking out from the unsealed edges.

Dad's clothes.

Walking over to one of the open boxes, she gingerly peeled back the flimsy folded lid, pulling out some of the items inside. Polo shirts, dress trousers, old coats. As her hands rummaged through all of the items, memories began to resurface. A polo shirt with a dark brown stain at the front reminded her of when Jisoo was throwing a tantrum at Disneyland, her 10-year-old hands grabbing her sauce-laden hot dog and throwing it square onto her dad's shirt. A pair of dress trousers, with a slither of mis-matched white thread on the left leg where mum had patched it up with whatever thread she had on hand during a relative's wedding. And a dark grey coat, the newest item in the box. It had been bought only about a year ago as a Christmas present. He had worn it once, but then went on a business trip to somewhere across the globe where the seasons were different. When he returned, it had warmed up significantly, and the coat stashed away until it would re-emerge next winter.

And now, it was stashed away again, in a box without a label.

Her eyes stung with fresh tears, which she hastily rubbed away with the sleeve of her shirt. Her chest was swirling in a mixture of frustration, anger and helplessness, her hands fumbling as they slammed the box shut.

"Chaeyoung?" a soft, hesitant voice called from the staircase. Sniffling and casting her hand across her eyes once more to try and remove the damp evidence trekking down her cheeks, she turned. Her mother stood there, a basket full of a random assortment of items cradled in her arms. When she saw Chaeyoung, her eyes quickly became glossy, the basket soon on the ground and her arms around her daughter. Biting her lip, Chaeyoung wrapped her arms around the woman who had given her nothing but love for the past 17 years.