Dahae wiped the few tears as she opened the door. Suddenly, she heard glass bottles crashed close to the door. “Prick that you are!” her mother was shouting at Hodong. “Honey, you are drunk. Calm down.” Dahae stood by the door. Her mother basically lost her mind.

“I don’t want to do this anymore.” She was crying, Dahae’s eyes rounded. It was the first time she heard that from her mother. “I am ashamed as a mother, as a woman.” Her mother kneeled. “Honey, you are just drunk, don’t think like that.”

That disgusted the daughter, he is still manipulating her mother, but what could she do. She is barely an adult, no money, or a stable job. She chewed her lower lip. She feels so powerless when she heard her mother’s sobs quietly disappeared. She was resting in the master bedroom. Dahae quietly entered the apartment. The whole place was turned upside down. Hodong came out of the room, the scent of the whole apartment stung in her nose.

“Welcome home,” he smiled nonchalantly as if nothing has happened here. Dahae simply nodded as she walked straight to her bedroom, yet she felt the piercing gaze of that man at her back. It gave her the shivers. She locked her bedroom. She placed her backpack on the ground. How badly she wanted to escape from this place. It feels she always returning to her own prison. She went through her hair, hearing that line from her mother. She has seen her mother crying many times and the horrible breakdown. But she has never said those lines. Dahae wiped the escaped tears, for the first time she saw her mother being that vulnerable and ashamed of what she has become. She went through her hair again, why does her life have to be a mess.

Hanbin arrived at the home, seeing his mother was drinking red wine on her own. She was being miserable and crying on her own once again. Hanbin saw the pictures that were spread across the coffee table. His father and his stupid habit. Should he even call it a habit? His mother looked up, her makeup was all smeared underneath her waterline.

His mother wiped her tears when she saw her son, she wiped her tears, “Welcome home.”

Hanbin looked at his mother, as her phone went off, Hanbin wanted to comfort her as he saw an unknown number, she smiled widely as she picked up the phone. Hanbin silently walked upstairs, or that is what she assumed. In fact, he stood behind the doorframe.

“Taewoon, yeah. I am okay, mhm…No, you just called on the right moment.” She sounded different, Hanbin peeked from the edge of the door, seeing his mother was being a giddy high school girl, is this adultery done by two people? He bitterly chuckled as he walked upstairs. Thinking, why would his mother cry over his father, when she is happier with someone else? Love is a certain weird thing.

He dropped his bag on the ground as he lied on the bed. His only castle, the only spot where he can be just being himself.

Dahae stared at her mother, who was sitting down. Eating breakfast that she has prepared. Today she has a free day from her university. She looked at her mother. Over the years, her mother changed, she looked ill, she looked skinny, her skin condition was in bad shape and her eye bags were getting darker. Her wrists bruised from the groping and her arms and legs covered with bruises that people would assume she would have been assaulted.

The longer Dahae stared at her mother, the more she realized, that money what her mother has earned through these services, it has been gone for alcohol, drugs and…her education. As a daughter, she wanted to give her mother a brighter future, especially far from here.

Dahae checked today’s date, her face fell a bit as her mother stood up, she felt a bit nauseous as she walked to the bathroom. The daughter knew that her mother drank in the middle of the night a lot of alcohol, despite the drinking, she heard the mother’s miserable cry. Dahae stood up, as she saw her mother’s boyfriend was just watching TV and drinking. Soon, it will be just her mother and her, or that is what she is hoping for. She walked to the bathroom. Her mother was vomiting, she put her mother’s hair away from her face.

Stumbling her mother stood up, while the daughter helped her to balance when she sat on the couch. Dahae quickly brought her some water as her mother looked at her daughter with an unreadable expression. “Mom, rest well. I will do the dishes.” Her mother nodded in silence as she watched the television.

After the dishes, Dahae wore a thick coat as she walked outside. But she noticed today was a quite sunny day. Bobby checked the date that was displaying on the wall calendar. Mrs. Ahn must have marked that date. He didn’t want to see Mrs. Ahn bad side, so he was leaning against the wall of the Ahn household. He saw his girl stepped outside. He smiled warmly as he walked behind her. following each step of her, he remembers all the tics he did for her.

Matching her pace, he missed he couldn’t say silly jokes to light up the mood. But he could sense she felt somehow more comfortable for a reason. He watched her back view, in honesty, he never thought he would be in this kind of situation.