My phone beeped again for the nth time.

I groaned as I turned slightly over my bed to reach my phone on the bed side table.

42 new messages, it said.

I pressed on view.

I closed my eyes shut, not really in the mood to text.

After meeting Mrs. Cho, I really had no energy left in me to work.

I asked to take the rest of the day off, but Baek-seonsaeng insisted I took the rest of the week off, which meant I was to stay at home for three days.

"You're in need of rest, Seo-seonsaengnim," the kind man told me.

So now I'm at home, lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

My headache was nothing a panadol and a good sleep couldn't fix, but for some reason, I still felt drained.

Like all the energy in me just got out.

I guess that's the side effect of meeting with the lady who rejoiced at the news of our divorce.

But Eomeoni...I didn't hate her.

I couldn't hate her.

How could I hate the lady who brought Kyuhyun into this world?

There was no way I could hate her like that, even though she was part of the reason for our divorce.

Not living with Kyuhyun was better than living without Kyuhyun.

But I'm not perfect.

I'm human too.

I'm allowed to get annoyed and angry.

I'll admit, Eomeoni is not my most favourite person in the world.

She's happy to see me miserable.

She bnever once thought of giving me comfort, especially when I needed it he most from her.

No kind warm words I needed to hear from her.

No 'mother-daughter- time.

Actually, scratch that last one.

Even a kind exchange of words would suffice.

But apparently, that's not possible for Mrs. Cho to do.

I laughed at myself self-mockingly.

I was too greedy, expecting that much from someone who thought I wasn't fit for her son, let alone to want to be my mother.

My phone rang again.

Annoyed, I picked it up and viewed a new message.

I smiled to myself unknowingly.

[♥]———————[♥]

I stared at my phone blankly.

She's not texting back.

Why is she not texting back?

She's not that sick, is she?

Maybe I should really go see her now.

No, wait, she'll probably shoo me off like always.

She'll give me her 'we're nothing to each other anymore' speech again and then break my heart into a million pieces.

But that's actually not completely true.

We're workmates.

We're old friends.

The end of our marriage never meant the end of our relationship to me.

Maybe to her, but never to me.

My heart ached at the possibility that I might actually have just become nothing to her.

"Cho-seonsaengnim?" a cute voice called me.

I turned around.

"Ah, Hani-ssi," I made a weak reply.

She smiled sweetly.

"I don't mean to pry but...

Your shift ended ages ago.

Seonsaengnim should go home and rest," she said.

I gave her a half-hearted smile.

"Yeah, you're right," I muttered to myself.

But just before I go home, I'll go see my Hyun first, I thought.

"Thanks, Hani-ssi," I said.

She gave me a nod.

I got up from my chair and tucked my phone inside my pocket.

"Oh yeah, seonsaengnim?" Hani-ssi called out again.

"I'm sure this has nothign to do with why Seo-seonsaeng came home but..." she bit her lip absent-mindedly.

"Hani-ssi, what makes you think...?" I shot up.

She laughed.

I seem to have disturbed her thoughts.

"Seonsaengnim, you're not going to deny it, are you?" she raised a brow at me jokingly.

"Ahh, no," I flushed.

She laughed behind her palm.

I scratched my head, embarassed.

Was I really that obvious?

"Oh right," she suddenly said.

I looked up.

"A Mrs. Cho came to see Seo-seonsaeng before she came home.

After that, she seemed kind of...out of it."

I swallowed hard and all of a sudden a frown swept over my face.

Now I really gotta go see her.