The building was bustling with activity the moment Hye-jin burst through the rotating doors. Men in suits with their soles clacking away against the gleaming white tiles passed her by, each engaged in their paths. Women in tight skirts and stark blazers breezed through the floor, seemingly on their way to lunch. No one bothered to give Hye-jin as much as a sideways glance, but the feeling of not belonging in this place wormed its way into her gut.
She shook her head, steeling her nerves. Just find Rin's floor. He still had to eat, right? Knowing him, he wouldn't even step out of the building if he's buried in work as he made it to be.
"Excuse me," she approached the first group of men in suits that looked the least hostile. They looked young and were most probably interns or just starting out. "Do you know which floor this company was on?"
She showed them a logo of Rin's company from her phone. The employees' eyes lit up in recognition. "It's on the thirteenth floor," one of them, a kid with gelled-back hair said, matching his directions with gestures of his hands. "Take that elevator there. There are signs that'll tell you where to go on that floor."
"Ah, I see," Hye-jin ducked her head at them in thanks. They looked at each other in confusion about what she did. No time to clear the air. She tore through the floor, heading towards the line of elevators glinting silver against the harsh burst of the afternoon sun.
When the elevator doors parted after the ding, she stepped out and walked with wide steps. She glanced around to confirm what the guy from the ground floor said. Muttering under her breath, she followed the bright yellow signs with arrows pointing to what part of the building Rin's company rented.
She got to some kind of a wide opening with workers streaming in and out. Nailed on the lintel was the glass plaque bearing the name and the logo of what she's looking for. She stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to see which one of them would be Rin. When the stream thinned but still no Rin, she intercepted a guy with pale skin and hair showing premature balding. He looked young, though. "If you don't mind," she said. "Is Rin inside?"
The man blinked before blowing an uncharacteristic heavy breath, trudging back from where he came from. Then, after a few seconds, Rin was running towards her. "Hye-jin?" he said as the man who fetched him passed by them like they're invisible. "What are you doing here?"
If Hye-jin was supposed to be hurt by how pointed Rin's question was, she didn't have the heart to show it. Instead, she shoved a bag into his arms. "You forgot your lunch," she said, meeting her husband's eyes. She had never seen them so heavy-lidded. Were those dark circles under them? "You should at least eat something."
Rin opened his mouth to speak but someone hollered from the inside, "Nagara! The client's asking for another meeting! Could you set it up?"
He turned to her and flashed her an apologetic smile. "I'll get back to you later, okay?" he gave her a light squeeze on the arm before rushing back to the office. Within seconds, he was pacing around with his phone in his ear. His words were being drowned out by the droll of clacking keys and employees similarly engaged with calls.
A gaggle of women emerged from a corridor leading somewhere Hye-jin assumed to be the comfort rooms and made towards the same office. "Hey, um," she approached the middle-aged lady to her left. "Can you pass this along to Nagara Rin? He's right over there. Please."
The woman reluctantly took the bag from Hye-jin's hands. She ducked her head as the woman made it inside with her entourage. They cackled and talked about the most mundane of things. Hye-jin could only watch as the woman reached what looked to be Rin's cubicle. Well, that's it, then.
It's alright. Officers were busy places—Hye-jin was no stranger to that—so why was she feeling like she had just been brushed off? She heaved a sigh of her own. It wasn't Rin's fault. But she had to ask—when was Rin eating when even during lunch time he was being called for work?
She headed to the corridor the women had emerged from. As expected, a row of restrooms greeted her. She ducked inside and moved to relieve herself. It's a long journey back home and she might need to drop by the grocery for some missing supplies. When she was done, she moved to the sink and began washing her hands.
A woman in heels and hot pink blazer paired with a pastel pink skirt clacked her way inside. Their eyes met and the woman perked up. "Haven't seen you around before," she said, striding towards one empty cubicle and pushing it open with a finger. Looking at her get up, she didn't look like someone who would be using public restrooms in her lifetime. "Which floor are you on?"
Hye-jin wiped her hands using the paper towels she yanked from their dispenser. "Just visiting," she said. "My husband works here."
The woman raised a stenciled eyebrow. Hye-jin had never seen so much make-up caked on someone's face. She's practically gleaming. "On this floor?" she said. "Do I happen to know him?"
Well, why not? "His name's Nagara Rin," Hye-jin answered. "And you?"
The woman's eyes brightened. "Oh, Rin. Yeah, I know him. He works under my department," she extended a hand, closing the distance between them in two short strides. "Karla Ashley," she said.
Hye-jin shook her hand. With Karla wearing heels and her being taller than average, her neck was easily in Hye-jin's eye level. A pendant dotted with diamonds glinted against her pure white blouse. Wait. Wasn't that...?
"And you are?" Karla's voice snapped her back to reality.
"Joon Hye-jin," she couldn't have drawn her hand away faster than she did as soon as Karla let her go. That necklace...
"Well, it's nice meeting you," Karla said. "But I really got to go."
Hye-jin fled the bathroom just as she heard the cubicle's door clicked. The way down and the building's lobby faded in her periphery as all she could think about was going home. Go back to that spot in the closet where she had last seen it. They said that a woman's intuition was never wrong, but dear God, let her be completely wrong this time. There were a thousand necklaces like that one. It was just a coincidence Rin and his boss had gotten the same thing at roughly the same time.
The apartment's door flew open as soon as she punched the lock code. Inside, Okaa-san flinched from the couch as Hye-jin rushed like a deranged beast towards the bedroom. A piercing cry of a baby resounded in the living room. That's the least of her concerns now. The closet.
She yanked the doors open, eyes already dropping to the spot she last put it. Empty. The velvet box was gone. Rin...
He couldn't have...
Her phone rang from her pocket. "Eommaya!" She clicked her tongue and dug the vibrating block out. The name displayed on the screen made her raise her eyebrows. It's rare for her father to call her, if he could even figure out how. She swiped right, accepting the call. "Wae?"
"Hye-jin-ah," gurgled her father's voice through the speakers. A heavy stone dropped inside her gut. Something was wrong. She had never heard her father sound like this.
"Why?" she strode out of the bedroom and strode into the living room. "Wae gurae, appa?"
Sniffs scrambled the other line. "Dangsin-ui eomma-ga..." her father cleared his throat, grating Hye-jin's ears. "Your mother...she's very sick."
"What happened, appa?" She started towards the door but stopped when her mother-in-law invaded her periphery. She listened as her father broke everything down, almost mumbling to himself. She had to listen, to digest the meaning behind his words. She didn't like what she's getting.
"They said she can recover," her father said. "We just need to trust the doctors. We just..."
"Listen, appa," Hye-jin sat on the couch when her legs had grown tired of pacing. "I won't be able to visit as much but I'll try and be there for you both whenever I can. I just..."
She rubbed her face, pushing the stray strands of hair that escaped her hair clamp off it. "I just need to fix things back here," she said. "I'll call you back, okay? I'm glad you're well, appa."
She disconnected the call. Her phone took her straight into the call keypad. Only one number sat at the first spot as a priority.
Rin's.
Her finger hovered above the call button beside his name. She should call him and tell him about her mother, right? Maybe he'd take a few days off work and watch the house while she's out in the province?
But...why was she even thinking about asking him? Did he ask her permission to do that with that woman? Fuck it. She's not going to tell him anything starting today. He'd just wake up one day to find her gone. And when he did, what would he feel then?
Hye-jin could only wonder, because right now, someone much more important needed her. There's no way she would abandon the one who gave birth to her. That's why she had to go back home.
Even if she had to vanish without a word.