Chasing Butterflies

Sneaking Out... Sneaking In

Izzy shut the front door as quietly as she could, wincing when the hinges let out a groan. Sneaking out of the house was easy. Sneaking back in was the tricky part.

"Kim Iseul what the hell do you think you're doing?" Apparently her luck had run out. "Turn around and look at me." Her father's stern voice was boiling with quiet fury.

Izzy spun slowly on her feet. She briefly contemplated making a break for it. But that plan went out the window when she saw the furious look on her father's face. He was wearing a robe, which would have been odd if it wasn't his favorite imported silk robe, which it was. Izzy almost scoffed at the frivolity of the purchase but held herself back. Now wasn't the time to make him mad. Although, judging by how his arms were crossed on his chest and the vein in his forehead looked ready to explode, he was already as angry as it gets.

"Where the hell have you been, Iseul?" She flinched at that name. It was exactly what a perfect daughter would be named. And it wasn't her at all.

"I was out," she had no idea how to explain this but she figured vague would be her best bet for not getting grounded for the rest of her natural life. At least she hoped.

"Out where?"

"Just in the city." His eyes narrowed and that's when she knew things were going downhill.

"And who were you with?" His question was met with silence. Izzy's breath hitched, her teeth bit down on her lip. "I won't ask again, Iseul. Who were you with?"

She sighed, "I was with a friend." It wasn't a complete lie.

"And what is this friend's name?" Izzy was definitely not coming out of this argument alive.

"It doesn't matter what his name is—" oh no.

"His? You were with a boy?" Her father wasn't doing anything to hide the malice in his voice now.

"Sanghyuk? Iseul? What are you two doing up?" Oh great. Izzy refrained from rolling her eyes as her mother descended the stairs to stand next to her husband in the foyer.

"It seems our daughter was a bit late getting in," he hissed to his wife, but his piercing eyes never left Izzy.

"Would you like to tell your mother what you've been doing, Iseul? Or should I?" Izzy pressed her lips shut. What's the worst he could do? Ground her for sneaking out? It's not the worst thing in the world. She would still find a way to get out of the house, just like she had been doing for nearly every night for four months now.

"Alright. I'll tell her." Sanghyuk turned to his wife, who was looking with confusion between her daughter and husband.

"Tell me what?"

"Our daughter snuck out." He never tore his beady eyes away from Izzy, who had her eyes cast onto the floor.

"Iseul!" Her mother's shrill voice pierced her eardrums.

"That isn't all, Jisoo. She snuck out to see a boy. She's been doing it for months." And there it was.

Izzy's fearful eyes snapped up to her father's furious face. How did he know that?

Sanghyuk's black eyes glared down at his daughter. "You thought you were so clever didn't you? Sneaking out at night and thinking we wouldn't notice. Well I noticed," he hissed in her face. "I had hoped that you would come to your senses and stop this ridiculous behavior, but it's been four months and I'm tired of this."

Izzy's mind was reeling. He had known all along, that small fact killed her. For four months, going out to see Youngkyun had been the only thing in her life that she could control, it was hers, but she couldn't even have this one small thing. And then, standing frozen in that foyer, Izzy realized the truth. Her life wasn't hers at all. She has always been and will always be controlled by these people who have the audacity to call themselves her parents.

"This is what's going to happen." The stern tone of her father's voice only served to fuel Izzy's anger. "You are going to stop seeing whoever this boy is. You are going to remain in this house until we tell you otherwise. You will dress nice and go to every party and gathering and you will behave like the perfect daughter that we raised you to be." Every word he spoke was like a knife in Izzy's side.

"And when the time comes, you will put on a white dress and marry a man that we choose for you, and you will live a life that will not disgrace our family name." Izzy stared up at his face in shock of the words he was saying. This man was not her father. No father would ever force their child into a life of misery. And no mother would stand by and watch as it happened. 

"Are we clear, Kim Iseul?" She loathed these people. They were not her family.

***

That night, with their daughter locked away in her room, Sanghyuk and Jisoo sat in their family room— a room that didn't see much foot traffic. They had more to worry about than just their daughter's disobedience.

"Well what can we do?" The woman questioned as her husband paced in front of the cold fireplace.

"There's nothing we can do!" He exclaimed. "We're going under, Jisoo. I tried so hard to make this company work and it's failing. How could I let this happen?"  He ran a hand through his hair; streaks of gray were beginning to appear amongst the black roots.

"There has to be some way to get out of this," Jisoo stood from the maroon armchair and placed a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder. "Sanghyuk, talk to me. We can figure this out."

He heaved a sigh and cast a heavy gaze to his wife. "I'll get us out of this, I promise you." He knew what he had to do to get money. And he knew exactly who to ask. But poker had never been his best game and he knew that the debt would not be easy to pay.

The couple stood quiet, staring into the empty fireplace. As wrapped up as they were in their own thoughts, they didn't notice the girl tiptoeing through the foyer and easing open the front door. They thought that locking her in her room would stop her from trying to live her own life. They thought wrong. She let the door click gently back into place and she was off, running down the sidewalk at breakneck speed, slowing to a walk as she rounded the corner.

This is how it had been nearly every night for four months. She waited for her parents to stop paying attention to her. She snuck out of the house. And snuck back in before the sun rose. But tonight was different. Because tonight she wasn't coming back.