After a long day of work, Gyuri arrived at her apartment finally and closed the door quietly behind her.  With the door closing, she let out a long sigh.  She thought someone would at least say something by now.  A hello or who’s there would have been fine.  Especially with a long day at the office, where she had to deal with her boss giving her three more deadlines due next week Monday. There was only four days left for that.  Then again, nothing should have been unusual about that.  At the advertising agency she was at, there was always something sudden happening due to them always trying to create and catch onto new trends.  Trends though were never predictable.  One day they could be the hottest things on the planet.  The next they were like a glass of expired milk, rotten and unwanted.

From the distance Gyuri could hear the television in the living room, but was not sure what was playing with the muffled cacophony of sounds. At the entrance of the apartment she could see toys scattered around.  Lego blocks taken apart while Hot Wheels were parked upside down in their own collisions.  It was not like the mess was contained in one area.  It was everywhere, each piece somewhere by itself.  Seeing the mess, she could only tap her fingers along her cheek with a low breath escaping from her nose. 

Meanwhile on the side table was their bills that were still not mailed out.  Yesterday the electric company called her up at work to let her know if the bills were not sent out, it would shut off the power in two days.  During the call, she did not know what was worse.  Knowing that she was two months behind on her electric bills or her co-worker having to let her know the collection agency wanted her on the phone.  Apparently no one at home was answering the phone.  From that call alone, Gyuri cowered in the corner of her cubicle for a few minutes.  However, she had to brush herself off and act like nothing happened.  It was not because she wanted to prove she was the same confident woman.  More like she wanted to act like the call regarding her bills never happened.

Later Gyuri passed by the kitchen, she peeked her head inside.  The dishes were still in the sink, just like this morning. There were even more dishes piled high than from earlier.  Some were from the fried rice this morning.  She also spotted some new ones.  They were probably from tonight’s dinner.  Blood red marinara sauce stuck onto sides of the plates while there was a shimmer from the grease stuck onto what could have been the stainless white dinnerware.  That oil would be difficult to remove she could tell.  Taking a deep breath, Gyuri walked to the living room again while tying her hair into a ponytail. 

In the room were her husband, Wu Yifan, and their four year old son, Hyunwoo.  Hyunwoo was still in his clothes from today, wearing his dirty socks and grey sweater with his jeans coated with patches of dried mud.  However that did not matter to the cute young boy.  That was Hyunwoo for Gyuri.  He was the little explorer who did not care about anything in the world.  The tike only wanted an epic adventure just like children his age.  For now though, he was completely captivated by the television while glued to the ground.  It was some superhero; she was not sure which one at the moment.  All she knew was that this particular hero wore a red and yellow metal suit.  What she could remember was that this certain hero was one of her son’s favorites.    

Meanwhile Yifan was lying on the couch and staring blankly into the distance.  He was still wearing his pajamas and red socks from two nights ago.  His hair was still messy.  This was not a new sight for Gyuri since he lost his job a few months ago at the bank.  It had been tough finding a job since his Korean was not always the sharpest.  Still, they did not think it would take this long. With each passing day, she could only witness Yifan wasting away despite his potential.  As much as she hated to think about this, sometimes she wondered about her feelings for Yifan.  When they first met, they were both madly in love with one another.  Everything seemed to fall into place and they rushed into things.  It was not that their relationship was at fault because of the speed it went at, more like of the recent events.  Him losing his job was like him losing a part of him.  With each loss, he started to disappear day by day.  He was not the same man anymore.  As much as Gyuri wanted to be there for Yifan, it was difficult when she was not sure what to do with him.  How could she know how to react around him if he was like a shell? Just a body, no soul.

“Yifan,” Gyuri called out to him with her hand on her hip.  Her husband did not respond.  Tapping her foot against the ground, she sighed before repeating herself, “Yifan.”

Her husband slowly lifted his head up at her, “Hey. My chest hurts again, do you have anything you can recommend?”

“I’m not sure hon, maybe you need some sleep,” Gyuri tilted her head to the side while watching Yifan, who was still on the couch and not bothering to move.  Yifan could only stay there with an arm behind his head and the other one on the remote.  Then he moved his hand from the remote and reached over to grab a can of beer nearby, taking a quick chug before setting the lukewarm can on the carpet.   

“Yifan, can you just,” Gyuri deeply inhaled while massaging her temples, but she stopped herself, “Never mind.”

Gradually pushing himself up from the couch, the scruffy haired man leaned against the armrest. Yifan turned his head to Hyunwoo, then called out the little one’s name, “Hey Kiddo.  Mom’s here. Go say hi to her.”

Hyunwoo immediately turned his head to his father when hearing the latter’s voice.  Then he had a huge smile on his face and leaped up from his seat.  He ran into his mother’s arms to hug her tightly, looking up at her as Gyuri ran her hand through her son’s hair.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed already?”  Gyuri let out a light laugh.

Hyunwoo lips immediately turned from a smile to a stubborn pout, burying his head into his mother’s body, “Just let me watch Iron Man.  Please.”

Hearing her son’s whine, Gyuri looked at the television then at Yifan who shrugged his shoulders.  That was not unusual these days.  Yifan rarely had an input in anything.  He would let everyone do whatever they wanted, as long as it did not bother him.  It did not matter how it affected those around him though, just only him.  Trying to push those thoughts away, she looked at her son whose eyes wandered off to the television.  She motioned her head to the movie as smile plastered on her face, despite knowing how late it was for her son.  “Alright, but you need to go to bed after this.”

Without any hesitation, Hyunwoo pulled away from his mother’s arms and sprinted to the television.  Sitting cross-legged just a few feet in front of the screen, he was rocking back and forth in awe seeing Tony Stark soaring through the sky.  It almost seemed impossible, but for a moment Hyunwoo turned his attention to his father and flashed that innocent grin of his, “Daddy, I really want to be like Iron Man.  I wish I could fly like him.”

Even though Yifan seemed to be in his world at the time, he broke out of it and looked at his son.  With a nod, he returned a small smile back, “You’ll get to be just like Iron Man someday.  You’ll be able to do whatever you want, even flying.”  Once he said those words, Yifan returned back to the blank stare of his.  Unconsciously, his body went back to lying down on the couch and keeping silent after.

Watching this, Gyuri sighed and went to the kitchen to start washing the dishes.  It was just one of the many chores on her list after her long day at work.

Two Weeks Later

Leaving the apartment this morning, Gyuri was quite surprised since the night before.  Coming home, everything was different for once.  The dishes were all cleaned and put in their proper places.  Hyunwoo toys were neatly placed in his room in perfect piles and rows.  Hyunwoo was in bed on time for once.  The best part was that she did not have to do it herself.  Yifan and Hyunwoo actually took the time to do it all that day. When she went to her car for work, she had a wide smile for once.  Things started to look different.

Later that afternoon, Gyuri pushed the crowd all she could with her strength.  Everyone was pressed against each other like sardines.  They were trying to move forward as much as possible to catch a glimpse.  Still barely able to get through the sea of people, she finally arrived at the entrance of her apartment building.  Everything was a mess.  Fourteen stories above her the apartment building’s window had a large hole.  Large and jagged edges of glass created the uneven empty shape on the window.  On the ground was a sheet of shattered glass.  Blood spilt in every direction. 

Nearby, Gyuri could see the ambulance teams carry out two stretchers.  Not wanting to miss it, she rushed over to them before they could enter the vans.  At first the cops blocked her way, trying to use their arms to stop her from taking another step.  However, that did not stop her.  Despite her little strength, she was powered by adrenaline and fear.  She regained the little energy left and utilized it once more to shove past them. 

Running over to the stretchers felt like an eternity.  Every step forward was like two steps backwards.  She worried that she would never reach it on time.  Finally though, she was able to reach her destination. 

On the left side, a thin white covered the tall muscular toned body.  The flimsy white fabric could outline the recognizable muscles despite the clothing that covered it. The foot hanging out had a red sock on it.  Nearby the stretcher was one side of a pair of black loafers.  Meanwhile there was a large bloodstain on the blue pinstriped collared shirt she used to iron every week.  The jacket’s buttons also glistened with the light red liquids, not as dark or heavy as the puddles on the ground.

Next to that stretcher was another one.  This body was much tinier than the other one.  Some strands of spikey hair appeared beneath the thin sheet, but there were tips of blood at the ends.  Seeing this, Gyuri feet were glued to the ground.  She had stopped breathing for that second.  Her body started to shake.  However, it was like something pushed her forward finally as she ran to the second stretcher. 

There, she could only hug the tiny body tightly.  She felt something underneath the sheet though.  Afraid at first, she hesitated to pull the white fabric.  Then she remembered, there was nothing else that could have been worse for her though at this point.  Keeping that thought in mind, she pulled up the sheet and saw a plastic red and yellow armor around the tiny arm.  She recognized it immediately.  It was part of the costume from that one superhero.  She finally recognized the name now.  Iron Man.

Now the tears flowed from her eyes as she loudly sobbed, clinging onto the tiny body in her arms.

Around her, she could hear the EMTs and police officers talk about how difficult it was to part the bodies. From the beginning the little one hugged the father it seemed like.

Later that evening on the ten o’clock news, there were headlines. 

Man commits suicide with his young son. 

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this piece, especially after my year long hiatus. Please comment below if anything, it will really help with the feedback. Thank you again for reading.