A brown envelope is thrown upon her face as Haerin makes her way through the front door.  She takes it and quickly stuffs it into her back pocket, preserving its hard-earned contents.

“What is that?!” Her uncle shouts in rage, pointing at her.  “Are you two working behind my back?!”

Haerin meets Yunjae’s eyes and glances at the stairs, commanding him to leave.  She catches the cut on his lips, his cheekbone and the corner of his eye.   When he doesn’t move an inch, her emotions start to boil.  He had hit Yunjae.  “Uncle, you’re drunk, please, have some rest and we’ll talk about this-“

“You think we can talk about this later?” He steps towards Haerin and squeezes with his hand, choking her.  “You think I can’t give you enough?! This house, that school, and everything else I gave you; they’re not enough that you had to work?!”

She knows he’s drunk and that he’s not thinking straight, but heck, he’s never sober when she’s around.  And she was getting ultimately sick of him.  “No, uncle, we’re sorry, but-“

“You cannot reason with me, girl! Do you know how hard I work to give you what you have?! To pay for your school, for your meals, for your whole life?! And every time I look at your faces, I see Gayoon and my brother; do you know how hard that is for me?! Stop disrespecting me!“ Her uncle raises his hand and takes a blow at her face, again and again.

That made something in Haerin snap.

“STOP IT!” She yells out at the top of her lungs.  She could tell that even her uncle was surprised at her sudden outburst, because even she didn’t know she had it in her.  But while she was at it, she knew to let loose.  “Disrespect you?! What part of this,” Haerin points at his hand on her neck and at her face, before shouting again, “Is disrespecting?! HUH?! What part of getting hit and obeying every, single, word you say is disrespecting you?!” She slaps his hand away from her neck and steps back.  “You get drunk every minute of the day, you bring women into the house, in no way are you a respectable character but what? I respect you.  I never raise the subject, I never take you against it and I kept my mouth shut.  I keep the house clean, I buy you beer, and I do everything for you.  And what do I get? I get slapped.  I get kicked.  I get your harsh words.  Don’t you see that it’s hurting me? No, you don’t! And, well, fine, I cope up with it; I let you do whatever you want and I ask you to do me one thing, one single thing; to not ever, lay your hands on Yunjae, but what did you do? You hit him.  You hurt him.  One single thing, uncle, and after all I’ve done for you, YOU CAN’T EVEN DO THAT, CAN’T YOU?”

Her uncle glances at Yunjae and then returns his gaze towards Haerin.  “Go to your room,” He says quietly.  He’s losing this argument and Haerin can see that very clearly.

“No,” Haerin defiantly answers.

“Go, to your room,”

“I said, no,”

Taking Yunjae’s hand in hers, she pulls him behind her.  “We’re leaving,”

She knows that her voice shook, because as she lets out the words, her uncle narrows his eyes at the two of them.  “Where to?”

Yunjae tugs at her sleeve, pleading with his eyes to tell her to just get inside their room.  But Haerin is not backing down this time.  It’s not everyday that she alone can make their uncle snap back into his senses.  To her, seeing him hit Yunjae was the very last straw.  “Somewhere you can’t find us,”

Their uncle lets out a laugh.  “Then prove it.  Pack your stuff and-“

“I will,” Haerin stonily meets his gaze.  “Oh, I will,”

Running up the stairs, Haerin stuffs every single piece of clothing and every single bit of their belongings into their old suitcases, and within 5 minutes, she’s at the door again, with two suitcases full of everything they have.  She pushes Yunjae down into a bow and bows along with him before straightening up.  “Have a happy and healthy life, uncle, I hope you don’t rot in hell soon with those bottles of beer and those women you have with,”

With those words, Haerin and Yunjae steps out the house, closing the door behind them and leaving behind all the fear and silence, exchanging it for the trauma they’re carrying and their loss of what to do.

Yunjae tugs at her sleeve repeatedly, failing to grab his sister’s attention as she squeezes his hand, dragging him and his suitcase with her towards God knows where.  He wrenches his hand away and drops his suitcase before coming to stand in front of her to force her to stop and look at his eyes. 

“Yunjae, not now,” She chokes out a sob, the cut on her lip caked with dried blood and her eye swollen, the marks of their uncle’. 

‘You didn’t have to do that,’ He signs, glaring at her while setting her in place. ‘Look at how hard he hit yo-‘

“He laid his hands on you, Yunjae!” Haerin pushes him back by the shoulders, pointing repeatedly at the bruises that had started to form on his face.  “He hit you when that’s the only thing I ask him not to do!” She sobs, her pretty features contorting with anger and sorrow. 

‘We left the house and now what?’ Yunjae pushes his sister towards the corner of her rash decision.  ‘Where do we go? Do you have any idea at all?’

Haerin growls.  “What was I supposed to do, huh?! Keep my mouth shut and let all this go on?!”

‘You always do, don’t you? Why couldn’t you just do it again?’

“WELL, NOT THIS TIME!” Haerin shouts at his face.  “You’re the only person I’m supposed to protect and I failed at that, okay?! The single thing I’m supposed to do and I couldn’t- I couldn’t just- just-“

Yunjae quickly pulls Haerin into a hug, making short, whimpering sounds in a desperate effort to apologize.  He was sorry for saying those things.  He regretted them and he wished he could have taken them back.  He messed up.  His sister has a lot on her shoulders and he doesn’t think he would be able to take it if he were in her shoes.  He wouldn’t even know what to do.  He shouldn’t have said what he had.  She was doing it all for him.

Haerin keeps hitting Yunjae’s chest as he hugs her, angry with him for trapping her with his words.  When he starts to strain his throat to whimper, though, her punches weaken and she lets her arms hang limply by her sides, understanding how much he was sorry.  “I’m sorry, too,” She whispers, burying her face into his shirt.  She really was.  She was being hasty and now she didn’t know what to do.  All she was focusing on was how they could get away from their uncle and now, at this time of the night, they’re out on the streets with nowhere to go.  They may have their box of cash inside their suitcase, but what are they going to do with that?

“Kyungsoo,” Her eyes snap open and she is reminded of the relationship she now has with him.  “Yunjae, Kyungsoo, he- w-we can ask for his help, r-right?” She pulls away and looks up at her brother.

He nods vigorously and urges Haerin to call him.

Kyungsoo was their last chance.

The dial tone beeps at the touch of his name on her phone. “Pick up, pick up, pick up, please pick up,” Haerin mutters, pacing restlessly.  He wasn’t picking up.  Why isn’t he picking up?

After three tries, the phone clicks, and Kyungsoo’s drowsy voice finally comes through the line.  ‘Hello?’

Haerin sobs in relief and she strains to voice out her words, which comes out garbled in between her sharp breaths. 

‘Haerin? Hey, hey, hey, don’t cry, don’t cry, what is it, what’s wrong?’

“K-Kyungsoo, I need your help,”