First chapter (short as always)! Also, when you have read to the code, you may try it out yourself before continue reading :D I may be putting more of those in the story, because I think it is quite fun :D Well, enjoy!



“Listen, I am not trying to sound cold-hearted, but Minho is going to be a father soon and our grandchild has to be able to live here too. How can we possibly let you stay here?”

My face was down since this conversation has started. I just did not have the courage to look up, as my father was literally begging his sister, my aunt to let us stay here for the time being. My hands slowly turned into tight fists as I remembered myself of the reason for us to plead for a place to sleep. I was trying to convince myself that I was the one who caused everything, maybe because I did not want to acknowledge this situation as something that my parents deserved. I was the one who caused this, and I dragged my parents with me. That is the only way I can forgive the harsh reality we were facing right now, because if I were to blame anyone or anything but myself, without a doubt I would get angry.

“But sister,”My father continued trying, “your daughter-in-law is only two months pregnant. We have to sell our house, if we want to pay for Chunhei’s operation fees.”

Those words struck me instantly, causing a wave of guilt exploding inside of me. Going as far as selling our own house, it was something I still did not want to realize, but we really did not have any money. All the money we ever had, they were all spent on me. I was the only hope for my parents, but I had to cruelly break their only hope in life.

“It is just,” My aunt sighed frustrated, “inconvenient, alright? Minho and Eunja are living here too, and Eunja needs rest for the sake of the baby. Why do you not ask Kibum to let you stay at his house?”

A slightly sarcastic smile appeared on my lips as I heard her suggestion. My uncle is a single father of a twin of seven years old; there is no way we can bother him. It seemed my aunt saw this small expression, as she gave me an unsatisfied look.

“Chunhei is a smart girl, she will be able to earn some money for you two. I mean, she does not have to play the piano to earn a living, right? After all, it is not like she did not go to school. She even goes to university.”

Her last sentence was mingled with an unpleasant tone I did not like to hear. She was never happy to know that I could go to university, whereas her son could merely pass his high school. He did go to college, but his occupation was not enough to buy himself a house in Seoul to live in, and that was the reason he had to live with his parents even though he was already married. His salary was just enough for their daily expenses, and his wife Eunja job as a saleswoman was by far not as much as his.  

“Chunhei is majoring in music, she... She needs to play the piano.”

My mother courageously said, earning a glare from the woman sitting in front of us.

“Listen, your daughter goes to university, so she should be able to earn a living for you two. My son Minho has to work really hard to earn some money for his upcoming first child, you should know. He is not as fortunate as your daughter, since he could only go to college. He is only an employee working ten hours a day in the office, and he is extremely tired every day he comes back. How could this house possibly let more people stay in it, when we are already having so many things to worry about?”

There she went again, telling us how hard it is for her son. Truth to be told, my cousin Minho may have not gone to university, he still went to college. He originally was doing well, but he just was not serious enough and had to change studies. It just was not fair to use it as an excuse to keep us away from living here for the time being. If I would be able to earn a living for my parents, we would not be pleading to her right now.

“There is no way I can let your family live here, there is not even place for you to stay.”

“We can sleep on the-”

“Couch? Ground? Wake up, Soohyun, that is not going to work.”

She said while crossing her arms against her chest, and her tired expression showed her strong urge to just end this useless conversation. We should not have asked her in the first place, but she was our only hope. We just had this little string of hope as we came here, after convincing ourselves that family would help us in times of need.

“Chunhei-ah, I am not trying to blame you for anything,”She suddenly turned the conversation to me, “but you should have been more careful with your precious hand. How could you injure yourself, after all the efforts your parents put into you?”

I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from yelling at her, screaming the words that have been filling me the first time I saw her. My parents never told me why she was always treating us like this, but over the years I have built up so much dislike towards her, that I just could not believe she was my aunt anymore. I just could not believe she was my father’s sister, someone he grew up with almost half of his life.

“It is not Chunhei’s fault, it was an accident.”

My mother said while gently putting my hand between hers. I tried my best to calm down, and fortunately, I could.

“Please reconsider it, sister, we really need to-”

“You should care about your sister a little more, Soohyun. How selfish of you to ask such a request, even though I already said I could not let you stay. I know your family is important to you, but so is mine.”

Listening to her words just make me realize how hard reality could be. Are not we her family too? Is not my father her brother? Her little brother she used to live with? Her little brother that has the same blood running through his body? Just how cruel could people be, to say things like that? The moment she married, the moment she changed her surname, did she also distanced herself from her ‘former family’? Nowadays I often ask myself the question whether life is just like this, but that I never got the chance to fully see it. Now that I am in the depth of my unfortunate, I finally got to see a glimpse of how life could actually be. Even though I wanted to say all this, my mouth would not open to let me so. Maybe it was because I was scared, or maybe it was because she still is my aunt, that I just could not bring myself to talk unmannered to her.

“Please, just leave. This conversation is not going to get us anywhere.”

“Then at least,”My father used his last bit of pride to say this, “let us borrow some money.”

If she was not already shocked because of my father’s request just now, she would definitely be now. Her face slowly changed dark as she stood up and walked to the front door, roughly unlocking it.

“Leave, Soohyun, now.”

“But-”

“NOW!”

I was so incredibly glad that my father finally stood up, because if I were to stay here any longer, I would not know what will happen to me. I just felt so extremely frightened whenever I am in her house that I always wished to walk away as soon as possible. When she slammed the door behind us closed, I took the time to examine my parents’ expressions, something I should not have done. Their sad faces told me enough.

“Father, mother, I am so sorry-”

“Let’s go home.”

My mother said while gently putting a hand on my shoulder. My father, on the other hand, looked like he still could not calm down.

“This is so frustrating…”

He muttered before walking away from us, a sign that he wanted to blow some anger off alone. I unconsciously wanted to follow him, but my mother quickly stopped me.

“Let your father be.”

I closed my eyes tight, slowly feeling my own anger boiling again. Maybe we all needed some time alone, to think things through.

“Mother, I want to be alone for a while.”

“No-”

“Please, mother,”I said with a pleading look, “I just need to be alone for a while. I know for sure that you, too, want to be alone for a while.”

She shook her head slightly, wearing a troubled expression.

“Your father just left, and if you too…We should stay together, Chunhei-ah.”

“Mother,”I said while putting a hand on her shoulder, “I am old enough now. Mother, too, go somewhere where you can calm down.”

Before she could say anything more, I already ran away. I just had to go somewhere where I could silently think, somewhere where I was alone. Maybe I should not have left mother, I did felt regret in me as I thought about it. However, maybe this was not that bad either. Or maybe, I am the one who just wanted to make myself believe that everyone wants to be alone, so I could excuse myself for wanting to be alone for awhile.

The past few days have been so turbulent, and everything felt almost unreal. I did not want to think about it anymore, I wished it was just a dream, but it painfully was not. For the past few days, I have to stand up every day with so much reluctance upon realizing it is yet another day with no hope. I sighed as I looked around, since the sudden cold wave made me want to go somewhere inside. Maybe it was a bad decision to come alone after all, since I was not that familiar here. After walking for some more time, I finally saw a small, cozy restaurant with almost no customers. A faint smile appeared on my lips as I walked inside, the overflowing warmth embracing me comfortably.

“Table for one?”

I looked to my right to find the owner of the voice; a petite waitress who was smiling politely. I nodded slightly, following her to the table next to the window. I thanked her again with a nod, before automatically picking up the menu card. I actually did not have the appetite to eat anything at the moment, but as I looked through the menu, I convinced myself that I should eat something. Even though I may not deserve to eat such delicious food, and even though something inside of me was screaming that I could afford to spend more money, I selfishly decided to eat here.

After I got my food, I did not wait to begin eating. I should be eating with manners when eating in a restaurant, but it seemed like my mind blocked that thought as I ate non-stop. I stuffed my mouth full with food, not wanting to think about anything but eating. However, my mind still forced itself to think about everything I was trying so hard to suppress. I put down my fork and look at my left hand that was still bandaged. I never felt like crying as much like now, and when I felt the warm liquid escaping my eyes, I could not help but feel relieved. As if crying could wash all my troubles away.

“Chunhei-ah, are you alright?!”

Tears were rolling down my cheek as I tried to suppress the pain. It was not only physical pain that I felt as I tried to pull my hand out, but also excruciating psychological pain as I realized what the consequences were.

I cried soundlessly as heartbreaking pain once again struck my heart.

“Doctor, how is my daughter’s hand?!”

My mother asked concerned as the doctor sat down on his chair. His eyes did not give anything away, not showing any signs of good or bad news at all. My eyes wandered to my bandaged hand, a sight I was beginning to hate to see.

“It seems your hand is severely injured, since there are several serious bone fractures. It may not affect your daily life after being probably healed,” A flash of sympathy showed in his eyes as he glanced at me, “but you may never be able to play the piano again. I am very sorry.”

I almost choked in my tears as they continued to flow down, and I already was not crying soundlessly anymore. Slowly I was filling the restaurant with painful sobs. The future never felt so pointless and frightening before.

“Father, mother, what do I do? What do I do…”

I could not see clearly anymore because of the overflowing tears. But even so, I could still see the hurt, the pain in their eyes. It had always been something I did not want to see in the eyes of the people I cared, because I never want to disappoint them.

“Everything is going to be alright, Chunhei-ah. The doctor said the operation may be able to make your hand recover completely. Chunhei-ah, sweetheart, everything is going to be alright.”

My father tried to comfort me, but his words felt empty to me. I worked so incredibly hard for it, I dedicated years of my life for it, and yet, it resulted into nothing but tears. I never asked to be the best, I never expected too much of my own future, but I did selfishly wish for at least a little happiness. I sacrificed so many things for it over the years, but they felt so futile now. The operation was out of the question. How were we ever going to get all the money for it? It was not only the operation we would have to pay, since I would have to go to the hospital frequently to have a check-up. Even though they may be a small number separately, we could not afford them when put together.

“I worked so hard for it, father… I did my utmost best…”

He threw himself onto me, hugging me tight, as if trying to hug the pain that was torturing me away. Loud, sad cries filled the room as I returned the hug.

I tried to continue with eating, but it was a futile attempt. I managed to see someone walking pass my table, but I did not give it too much importance. However, he deliberately left something on my table, which I first thought was a tissue. But as I gave it a closer look, I was surprised to realize it was a poker card. I turned around in the hope to see who the person was, but he was already gone. As I picked up the card though, I saw something was different about the other side; it was blank. I slowly turned it around, and saw something was written on it.  My eyebrows slowly moved to each other as I tried to solve what was written on it.

19.11.25.       
 (1 – 26)

I quickly wiped off the tears that were blurring my view, trying to have better look of what was written on the red poker card. Assumptions about it being a birth date or bank account were quickly put aside as I carefully thought about it. I tried to use my knowledge to solve this, and then I realized something. Twenty-six… Twenty-six, was the number of letters in the alphabet.  A faint victorious smile crept on my lips as I tried to solve it with the clue I discovered, and indeed, that was the clue I needed.

“S-K-Y…”

I whispered, not understanding why someone would write that to me, and in such a difficult way. I felt uneasy as I thought about what this may imply. Why would someone write this to me? I looked outside the window, and having that one word lingering in my mind, my head unconsciously moved up. My eyes widened as I saw something on top of the building. A person was standing dangerously on top of the building.