TWENTY-FOUR
Twins“Hyemi-ah, do you remember how the assaulter looked like?”
Hyemi shooked her head, swallowing the bitter medicine in one gulp.
She got released from the hospital a week after gaining conscious and now she’s back at home. She insisted to attend school the very next day and Jungkook promised to assist her 24/7. It’s not like anyone would complain about that. Jungkook would gladly take the job.
She can’t remember much about the incident. It happened too fast. A man walked into the shop and asked for a bouquet of white lilies. He said it was for her dead wife. Hyemi gathers the flowers and before she could react, someone hit her head with a wooden stick. It was not hard but enough to knock her down. Everything became blurry as she fell, head first. But there was something that she remembered hearing. She wasn’t sure if it was her hallucination.
“Before he left, he said sorry to someone… what was the name again?” She tried to recall back the name and then it clicked.
“Junghwa. He said, sorry, Junghwa. Funny how his wife has the same name as mom.”
Joohyuk’s facial changed when he heard the name. He got up from his seat and went to the store room located under the stairs. Hyejoo and Hyemi exchanged glances, completely oblivious to what their brother was looking for.
He found a box, covered with cobwebs and dust. He opens the box and took out a photo album, written the year 1988. He took out the first picture in the book and showed it to Hyemi.
“Was it this man you saw?”
Hyemi squints her eyes at the picture in her brother’s hand. It was a couple wearing the eighties outfit, smiling at each other under a pine tree. She focused on the man and realized he did look familiar. It was him after all; the man who hit her with a wooden stick.
“Oppa, how-” Then her eyes looked over at the woman standing next to her. Her eyes widen and her hands starts to shake.
“Mom? What is going on?”
She looked at Hyejoo, hoping for an answer but the latter was sharing the exact same look as her. Joohyuk retreat back a few steps and sank back down onto the couch.
“Oppa, tell me he’s not him…”
No, it can’t be him. If not, I would have recognized him. I would, right?
“He’s back. I’m sure he’s back for something.”
“Who’s back? What? That man? Why would he after leaving us 10 years ago?” Hyejoo stood up, her fist firmly held by her sides. “And he did this to unnie?” Her voice turns shakily.
Hyemi pulls her back down and turned to Joohyuk who has his head buried in his hands. She didn’t know what she should be feeling. The man who abandoned his family is now back and the first thing he gave her was a two months vacation at the hospital. The twins have no memories of him since he left them when they’ve still very young, not like they want to. They were curious about him when they were young but whenever they mentioned him, Joohyuk will turn mad so they never ask more. But now that he’s back, they weren’t really p
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