“This is borning,” Emily complains. It’s Thursday afternoon and she’s sitting slouched in a rolling office chair, situated in front of the computer screen. “An it’s not fair that I have to answer all these messages.”

Chanyong sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “That’s what a translator does, Emily. She translates. It’s in your job description. It’s not even that difficult.”

“But answering fan mail?” Emily demands. “Most of these messages are disgusting. They just say ‘I love you’ and ‘marry me’ over and over again. Answering these types of mails is beneath me.”

“You’re not answering them,” Jiho points out from where he’s sitting beside her, elbows propped on the desk. He’s just as weary of this task as she is, but at least he’s not complaining about it. “We’re answering them. You’re just translating. It’s mindless work.”

“Then why don’t you do it?” Emily challenges.

Jiho resists the – childish – urge to stick his tongue out at her. “Because I’m not fluent in English. So shut up and do your job already.”

Chanyong looks like he’s going to reprimand Jiho for speaking so bluntly to his  niece but, when Emily does as she’s told, he shuts his mouth again.

They’re making some progress – with Emily making snide comments about nearly every message they answer – when Chanyong’s cell phone goes off. He glances at the caller ID, hesitates, and then answers.

“Hey,” he says, and so they know that he’s talking to someone he knows well since he’s being so casual. There’s a pause. “Yes, she’s right here. Hold on.” And he holds the phone out to Emily. “It’s your mother.”

Emily stares at him, face going quite white. “I don’t want to talk to her,” she says finally, almost defensively.

Chanyong sighs. “This is the first time she’s called since you’ve come to Korea, so you should talk to her. She’s probably worried about you.”

Emily snorts. “Yeah, really worried.” The sarcasm in her voice is hard to miss.

“Emily, please,” Chanyong tries.

In the end she sighs and takes the phone. Her hand is trembling when she lifts it up to her multi-pierced ear. “Hello?” she says, and it’s obvious that she’s forcing her voice to stay calm.

There’s a pause. Jiho and the boys, despite wanting to give her privacy, are extremely interested in the conversation.

“I’m fine,” Emily says stiffly in response to whatever question her mother had asked her. “I like living with Uncle Chanyong.” Another pause. “How is Sarah?” Another pause, and when Emily speaks again her voice is very tense. “Why would I ask about him? Why would I give a flying about him?”

Jiho can’t make out what it is Emily’s mother is yelling, but it’s obvious that she is yelling.

“You’re ing insane!” Emily yells back. “I hope he rots in hell for everything that he did! And I hope you do too! You’re a terrible excuse for a mother and a failure as a human being and-!”

Chanyong promptly plucks the phone out of her hand. “Chanmi?” he says into the phone. “Yes, yes. I know. Calm down, please.”

Emily is breathing heavily, panting. She quickly grabs her bag, slips her feet back into her shoes, and heads for the door.

“Emily!” Chanyong shouts, but she ignores him.

Jiho sighs and goes after her as she disappears down the hall. He finds her in the stairwell, sitting on the top step. She’s crying, which is pretty amazing in and of itself. He hadn’t thought she was capable of it.

He sits down beside her, hesitating before slipping his arm around her shoulder. At first he expects her to pull away, but in the end she settles against him, letting her head rest on her shoulder.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says eventually through her sniffles, wiping at her nose. She seems especially tiny pressed up against him, thin little shoulders shaking as she hunches over on the steps.

“I wasn’t going to ask,” he answers honestly, letting his hand come up to her hair gently.

They sit that way for a long time, but eventually Emily wipes at her eyes one last time and gets to her feet. “Tell my uncle I’m going home,” she says.

Jiho nods. “You got it.”

Chanyong is just hanging up the phone when he returns to the office where they’d been working diligently on answering fanmail. “Is Emily okay?” he asks, slipping his mobile back into the little holster on his belt.

Jiho nods. “Yeah, I think so. She said she was going back to your place.”

Chanyong nods determinedly and then starts to leave, but Jaehyo stops him. “What’s going on? Why did Emily fight with her mother?”

Chanyong sighs. “It’s a long story, but it’s not really my place to tell.”

“Don’t you think that we have a right to now what’s going on since we’re the ones babysitting her all the time?” Minhyuk demands.

But Chanyong shakes his head again. “If she wants you to know, she’ll tell you herself.” And he leaves the room. 

Sorry for this ungodly short chapter OTL