Taeyeon sat stiffly at the dinner table and poked at the food in her plate. Her palms were starting to sweat with nervousness at the silence within her home. Her parents were eating their dinners beside her but the quiet atmosphere just made Taeyeon lose all her sense of appetite. She was nervous about exactly what Mr Ham had told her parents and even more scared about their reaction to the news of her disobedience.

“Taeyeon?” Mrs Kim voiced when she saw Taeyeon fiddling with her food. Taeyeon jumped at the sudden sound of her name, causing both her parents to look on with worried looks. Taeyeon kept her gaze onto her plate and waited for the scolding which she knew was going to happen. Little did she know that Mr and Mrs Kim had no idea about the happenings that day and were worried that perhaps Taeyeon may have had encountered some problems within her class.

“Are you alright dear?” she continued to question. Taeyeon shyly looked up at her mum and quickly averted her eyes. Just as she did, Mrs Kim caught sight of disturbing red lines on her daughter’s neck and gasped. Mr Kim looked up from his dinner at the sudden sound and gave his wife a questionable glance. He saw her staring with a horrified expression at their daughter and followed her gaze to the predominant red marks on his daughter’s neck.

“Taeyeon, what happened?!” Mr Kim voiced out suddenly. Taeyeon bit her lower lip nervously and lowered her head, thinking that her father was upset about her behaviour. To her surprise, he came to her side and lifted her neck up to get a better view of the marks. Taeyeon then suddenly remembered her little incident and quickly pulled away to conceal her neck with her hands again. Mrs Kim then stood up from her seat and carefully pulled Taeyeon’s hands away from her neck. She frowned when her concern became real and started panicking about how she could have possibly received such marks.

Taeyeon quickly shook her hands and head furiously, trying to get some distance away from her parents. She then got off her seat and stood by the doorway with a slightly guilty smile.

“Taeyeon. Tell us what happened,” Mr Kim’s stern voice boomed through the small house. Taeyeon bit onto her lower lip on slumped her shoulders down. With heavy steps, she took her seat back onto the chair as her mother brought her the whiteboard and marker, urging her to tell them. Taeyeon took up the marker slowly and hesitated over the board.

“I didn’t buy the calculator this morning and I ended up being late to class. My teacher made me pull out the weeds as punishment,” Taeyeon wrote carefully, thinking about what she should tell her parents or not. “The marks were because the dirt made it itchy and I scratched it.”

Mr and Mrs Kim gave each other a confused glance. To their knowledge, Taeyeon was supposed to buy the calculator that morning at the school supply store and arrive at school on time.

“Why didn’t you buy the calculator?” Mrs Kim questioned softly. Taeyeon continued to chew on her lower lip, contemplating whether she should explain or not.

“I slept in.”

Mr Kim let out a low hum from his throat at his daughter’s obvious lie. Taeyeon was a morning person and he was sure that his daughter was asleep early the night before. Mrs Kim also sensed that her daughter was lying, but when she saw Taeyeon nervously biting on her lower lip she felt slightly disheartened.

“Something happened at the supply store, didn’t it?” Mr Kim said as calmly as he could. Taeyeon hesitated for a moment and glanced back at her excuse on the board. Slowly, she gave a weak shake of the head. She didn’t want to worry her parents about her problems any more than she had already and decided to stick with her story.

“Taeyeon… it’s not very good to lie to your parents,” he voiced again. He had seen this scene far too often and each time would make him even more upset with those who had hurt his daughter. Although he was proud for Taeyeon being kind hearted, he wished that Taeyeon would ease up and not let others off so easily when they hurt her.

“I’m working late tomorrow. I’ll take you to buy your calculator,” Mr Kim finished off before returning to his seat. Mrs Kim patted her daughter’s back comfortingly as she watched her husband stabbing at the food on his plate. She then felt the small body in her arms tremble slightly and pulled back to check over her daughter. Her heart sunk when she saw Taeyeon failing to hold her tears in as her hands clenched into tight fists. She brought Taeyeon into her arms again and hushed her as comfortingly as she could.

Taeyeon fidgeted beneath her mother’s arms and took up the marker again.

“I’m sorry. I don’t feel like eating, can I please be excused to my room?”

Mrs Kim pulled her arms back and gave Taeyeon a quiet nod. Disappointed with herself for worrying her parents again, Taeyeon used the sleeves of her shirt to wipe away the stray tears and made her way to her room, leaving behind her plate that had not been touched all evening.

“What are we going to do?” Mrs Kim sighed heavily as she stared at her daughter’s full plate. She was startled slightly when she heard her husband viciously stabbing into his plate again.

“The only thing we can do. Support her as best as we can,” Mr Kim replied sternly. Mrs Kim could see that her husband was beyond frustrated and she could understand why. They had told Taeyeon many times to tell them if anything troubled her, but the girl was stubborn and continued to keep everything in. Mrs Kim glanced down at the board and sighed heavily.

“Do you think any of the stores are open at this time? We’ve run out of ice cream,” Mrs Kim questioned as she wiped the board clean. Mr Kim remained quiet and continued to eat his food silently. His mind was muddled with worry for his daughter and anger at the possible happenings that morning. He was determined to march up to the supply store and ask about whether the people saw anything happening to his daughter.

“She rarely eats ice cream anymore. I offered to buy some the other day but she insisted that we shouldn’t because she doesn’t feel like it anymore,” Mr Kim voiced. His wife gave a worried frown and picked up Taeyeon’s plate to cover it and save it for later.

“She’s become more distant lately,” she sighed. “Do you think something is happening in her school again?”

“It’s possible, but her friend Sooyeon is with her.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that she might be b-” she stopped quickly, finding difficult to utter the word. No parent wants their children to be bullied but they were unfortunate enough to be parents of a likely victim.

“I’m sure the teachers would have told us if any of that happened. It’s their job to make the children feel safe,” Mr Kim reassured. Mrs Kim nodded unsurely and returned to her dinner. Her appetite had depleted after the events and she suddenly felt disgusted with the food in front of her. Mr Kim saw the displeasure in his wife’s expression and gave a sigh. He gave up on forcing himself to eat and pushed the plate away. The couple sat and stared at each other quietly.

“I think I feel like ice cream. I’m not really in the mood for a proper dinner tonight,” Mrs Kim chuckled and poked at the plate. Mr Kim laughed along and nodded. The couple stood up from their seat and were about to call their daughter when she suddenly came into the kitchen in a frantic scramble. They watched, wide-eyed as Taeyeon ran past the kitchen table whilst checking the cupboards and her bag on the side. She then frowned and disappeared just as she had suddenly appeared.

“Taeyeon? Have you lost something?” Mrs Kim questioned after her daughter. Taeyeon hurried back and gave her mother a quick nod before running off to the living room to flip the pillows upside down. Mr Kim walked into the living room and saw Taeyeon sitting on the couch with the pillows severely misplaced around the area. He chuckled slightly when Taeyeon stood up and checked underneath her for the missing object.

“Do you need any help?” he offered kindly. Taeyeon gave her father a pleaded stare and nodded furiously. Mrs Kim came in after clearing the plates and gasped at the state of the living room. She then saw her husband buried beneath the cushions of the couch and Taeyeon flinging the magazines from the table everywhere.

“Ahem!” Mrs Kim cleared loudly. Taeyeon dropped the magazine and froze just as her father pulled himself from the cushions and gulped at the cold stare that his wife was giving. He then turned to his daughter for support, only to see Taeyeon in the same fear stricken state as he was.

“Will you two kindly explain why the living room is literally flipped upside down and inside out?” the head female’s tone darkened. Taeyeon quickly picked up the closest magazine and placed it back onto the table, beaming an innocent smile when her mother glared at her.

“Say!” Mr Kim suddenly yelled as he stood up. “Weren’t you craving some ice cream? I think you were. Why don’t we go and get some now before the store closes? We’ll clean this all up later and it will be just as it was before whilst you can enjoy your ice cream. Agree? Okay agree,” he finished off before anyone could say anything. He then picked up his daughter into his arms and guided his wife out the door.

Normal. That’s what they were. Sooyeon’s family was perfectly normal, just like everyone else’s. The parents loved each other and had beautiful children which they loved both equally. At least, that was what Sooyeon thought it was.

As she sat on the dining table with her four year old sister, she glanced down at the take away food that was bought for them. Her parents would rarely eat together with them but she was always told that they eat rather early or really late and they didn’t want to ruin her or her sister’s eating habit. Sooyeon smiled at her favourite take away noodles and glanced over to her younger sister who also had the same.

Being the caring older sister she was, Sooyeon opened the lid for her sister and used a pair of scissors to cut the noodles into smaller pieces. Jung Sooyeon and Jung Soojung were the best of sisters… or the best that they could be. With Soojung’s young age, she still was not able to quite understand why her sister could never hear and would never talk to her. Sooyeon felt slightly awkward whenever she was left alone with her younger sister but she was glad that Soojung understood her condition enough to be using gestures, rather than yelling at the top of her lungs to communicate.

“You never even spend your spare time with your daughters anymore! Soojung asked me why her dad didn’t come to her birthday a month ago and I didn’t even know how to lie to her anymore. I’ve run out of excuses for you!” Mrs Jung yelled from her bedroom. Soojung turned her attention away from the dinner and stared down towards the direction where her mother was. She knew it was going to be one of those nights again and felt disappointed that she would not be able to see her father again that night.

“I had work! I got her a present didn’t I?” Mr Jung yelled back as he came out of the room in his ‘business’ attire. Sooyeon placed the cut up noodles back in front of Soojung and noticed her staring down the hall. Sooyeon followed her gaze and saw her father making his way to the kitchen. She smiled and greeted her father as he went for his drink.

“Hello dad!” Soojung beamed brightly in hopes of catching her father’s attention. Mr Jung patted Sooyeon’s head with a small smile but completely walked past Soojung, not acknowledging her greeting. Soojung gave a disappointed frown but decided to keep to herself and picked up her fork. Sooyeon saw the change in her sister’s expression and pinched her cheeks in an attempt to make her smile. Soojung pulled away from the hold and rubbed her cheek sorely whilst frowning at her sister.

Sooyeon stuck her tongue out playfully, successfully earning one in return. She then gestured towards the bowl of noodles and went to get a cup of water for her sister. As she was filling the cup up, her father patted her head again before walking out. Sooyeon watched with confused expression and felt the bench shake with the force of the closing door.

“Another business meeting,” Sooyeon thought to herself before placing the cup next to her sister. Not a moment later their mother entered the kitchen with a frustrated frown. Soojung looked at her mother with the fork still in and gave an impish grin.

“Hmm mph (hi mum),” she greeted with a mouthful of noodles. Mrs Jung glanced down at her youngest daughter and quickly ran to pull the fork out. Soojung was mildly surprised with the sudden force and watched her mother with a confused stare whilst she glared at her older sister.

“Didn’t I tell you to make the noodles smaller?! You know how Soojung doesn’t chew her noodles properly!” Mrs Jung yelled at the oldest daughter. Sooyeon, having no clue of what her mother was saying, continued to eat silently. Soojung bit her lower lip nervously and tugged at Sooyeon’s arm to notify her of their furious mother above them. Sooyeon jumped in her seat when she saw her mother glaring at her intensely.

“Why didn’t you cut the noodles?!” Mrs Jung yelled at the top of her lungs as if it could somehow reach her daughter. Sooyeon bit her lower lip guiltily and went through a list of all the things she did wrong that could have possibly angered her mother. She then remembered her little adventure at school with her friend and figured that Mr Ham had informed her parents. Sooyeon bowed her head in shame and hoped that her mother wasn’t going to do anything harsh to her.

“Dear God almighty. Why do you punish me with a daughter like her?” Mrs Jung sighed in utter frustration. Soojung looked back at her sister and patted her shoulder comfortingly. She knew their mother always complained about her older sister but she could never understand why. Sooyeon did cut up the noodles for her and she was old enough to know that she wouldn’t choke on it.

“That father of yours is the one to blame. Out of all the children he could have given me, he gave me a deaf one,” Mrs Jung groaned in frustration before walking out again. Sooyeon bit onto her lower lip sadly and glanced down at the take away noodles on the table. Her appetite had depleted and she no longer felt like eating her favourite food anymore. She then turned to her younger sister and saw that she was also distressed with the obvious frown on her lips.

Sooyeon then remembered that she had some change in her room and quickly ran out of the kitchen to get a pen and paper whilst Soojung sat obediently on the chair. Sooyeon ran back and quickly drew a rough sketch of an ice cream, followed by a question mark. Soojung gave a joyous laugh and nodded eagerly. Sooyeon smiled at the smile that was on her younger sister’s lips and rushed out again to get her spare change whilst Soojung went to get her shoes.

Once Sooyeon returned, she held onto her sister’s hand and guided her out of the house. Before she closed the door, she glanced back at the empty halls of her house. There was something odd about her family but she could not pinpoint what it was. Brushing off the eerie uncomfortable feeling in her stomach, Sooyeon closed the door and took her sister to their favourite ice cream parlour nearby.

“Taeyeon, your triple chocolate deluxe,” Mr Kim chuckled as he handed Taeyeon her ice cream cone. Taeyeon thanked her father with a slight bow of the head and took the