Chapitre Dix-neuf

>You’re the one that I love.<

MyungSoo

“Mom, please pick up the phone.” MyungSoo sighed as he waited for the other line to pick up the call. It was already his fourth time calling his mother, but she refused to pick up the call. She hadn’t switched her phone off, that was for sure, but MyungSoo had a feeling that she’d put it on silent mode instead.

It was almost two weeks now that his mother left home, and MyungSoo had begun to get worried sick. The three of them had no way of knowing where HyunJoo was right now, and they were concerned that she might be in trouble. WooJin kept telling them that she was fine though, and MyungSoo doubted that, despite very much wanted to believe that HyunJoo was fine.

He somehow had an inkling that their father knew where HyunJoo was, only that he chose not to tell them, or made any effort to go after her. MyungSoo presumed that it was either WooJin felt extremely remorseful, or he was merely giving his mother some space. Regardless, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of concern for not knowing where his mother was.

He wanted to force the answer out of his father, but the man himself was rarely home. Once he’d returned from work, he wasted no time to go out again. At first, MyungSoo thought that he was going out to search for their mother, but it seemed that he’d been spending the nights away drinking.

MyungSoo shuddered just by thinking about it, especially those nights when his father would come home at the wee hours in the morning in a drunken state. He was grateful that MyungHee was away during those nights, but he couldn’t keep his sister away from home for much longer.

“Hi, oppa.” Speak of the devil. Putting his phone away, MyungSoo turned to face his sister, who was walking towards him with a knapsack. She’d been spending some nights at KyonDae’s place, and she did tell him that she was coming home that day, not wanting to disturb KyonDae and L.Joe for much longer.

Putting her bag on one of the chairs at the dining table, she asked, “Still no luck in getting in touch with omma?” She tried to sound nonchalant about it, as if it didn’t affect her as much but MyungSoo could see it all too well in her eyes.

He shook his head. “No, unfortunately. She refused to pick up her phone, or she might’ve thrown it away, for all we know. It seems that she is still very much angry.” He answered, sighing again. Life had definitely not been the same without their mother, and they all wanted her to come back as soon as possible. It felt like they were on a ship with no captain to guide them where to go, or tell them what to do, and their ship was simply sailing without a course of direction.

“How are you holding up?” He asked his sister, studying her face for any signs that might tell him she was not doing okay. But KyonDae had promised him that she and L.Joe would look after MyungHee while she was under their care, and seeing that how MyungHee didn’t seem to be losing weight, or have any dark circles under her eyes, he assumed that she was doing reasonably well. Though the same cannot be said about her emotions, he could tell himself that much.

“I’m fine.” MyungHee replied with a shrug. “L.Joe and KyonDae fed me well and never kept their eyes off of me. They tucked me in at night and I almost laughed each time they did it for every single night. They just didn’t read me a bedtime story and for the life of me, if they really did, I would definitely cry. It almost felt like I’m their child or something.” She said with a small laugh, making MyungSoo smile.

“Well, it looks like they’re ready for parenting.” MyungSoo added, and his sister nodded his head with a huge grin. “I’m just thinking the same thing!”

They both laughed, remembering their two best friends who were now happily wedded, but their laughter was short-lived when their father burst into the front door, sending the door swinging and hitting the wall. MyungSoo and MyungHee both stared at their father, swaying side to side as he made his way upstairs. MyungSoo sighed, just another night where his father returned home drunk. Only that this time he was home a bit early.

Turning his attention to his sister, who seemed mortified in seeing WooJin like that, MyungSoo asked, “Do you want dinner? I can make you something. You’d be surprised with the amount of dishes that I can cook now.”

MyungHee slowly brought her eyes back to her brother, who watched her with a soft smile on his face. She tried to smile back, but it was very clear that her smile was forced. She shook her head. “No, thank you, oppa. I’ve already eaten before I came.”

Standing up, MyungHee grabbed her knapsack from the chair next to her. “I guess I’ll get to bed first, then. I have a long day at work tomorrow.”

“I can pack you some lunch if you want.”

MyungHee nodded her head at the offer and smiled, highlighting her perfect white pearls. “That would be awesome, oppa. Thank you.” Giving MyungSoo a quick hug, MyungHee made her way upstairs to her room, but the downcast look in her eyes didn’t go unnoticed by MyungSoo, who caught it quickly.

He was glad that spending some time away with KyonDae did help his sister in some ways, but now that she was here, MyungSoo didn’t want MyungHee to be hiding her feelings away, or pretending to be okay when she was not.

He snorted, thinking of how ironic it was. This whole situation had taken its toll on each of them, and apart from MyungHee, MyungSoo was affected the most but he tried his best to appear as nonchalant about it as he could, for MyungHee’s sake.

He never mentioned to her how every single night, he could never fall asleep without feeling guilty or confused with the whole thing. He missed his mother desperately and needed her comfort badly, and his father coming home drunk every night certainly didn’t help. He worried about her while she was away, wondering whether she was doing well.

And there was the thought of MinNeul, the one thing that kept him up almost all night.

He hadn’t seen her in a while, or talked to her, and it was driving him crazy. They’d never been apart from each other this long, and he missed her more than words can say. He missed having her come to his guitar class, sometimes with food and sometimes simply to walk home together, even though it would be f