It was past midnight, and the lights of the house where Ji eun was staying were long turned off. She was lying awake in the darkness of her room; relishing the few moments of peacefulness and tranquillity. Tonight, she surrendered to the sleeplessness.

The only sound that could be heard was of her humming a beautiful tune she memorized by heart. It was one of the song her mother used to sing to her every night before she’d go to bed when she was a little child. A lone tear trickled down her face as she remembered the rare times when she could call herself genuinely happy.

Happy; the word seemed so foreign to her now.

Her eyes slowly fluttered open before she gazed at the wall where a clock once hung up. The pieces of it were somewhere now between a pile of trash. She shut her eyes again upon hearing the screeching sound of car tires outside announcing his unwanted arrival.

Louder… her humming got louder as she felt her body begin to tremble a little.

She abruptly stopped when she heard the dreadful click sound of the front door. She gulped as her shaky hands fisted the sheets underneath her tightly.

One would’ve thought that she got used to this by now, but for her, every day only got harder; more terrifying.

She swallowed her tears and blew out a shaky breath. Crying only made it worse, she tried to remind herself. She could hear the faint sound of footsteps approaching and occasional curses outside her room as she continued waiting impatiently.

It didn’t take long before her bedroom door was suddenly opened and in entered a young man. She blinked a couple of times as she tried to adjust her eyes to the lights that were now . From here, she could smell the scent she grew to despise; alcohol. And surely enough, when her eyes landed on him, she noticed how messed up he looked. Bloodshot eyes, dishevelled hair, a huge stain on his shirt; he surely wa