Chapter two; tell me goodbye

"YOU CAN'T JUST BLAME ME ON THIS!" screams bounced off of the walls of the house they lived in.

"YOU HAD RESPONSIBILITIES AND YOU DIDN'T KEEP THEM. WHAT TYPE OF ADULT ARE YOU?" Jaemin's voice was laced with frustration, his face vexed with rage.

There it was again -- the arguments that Jieun had to constantly hide from.

It wasn't the first, nor the second, or the third. It has gone to the point where their piercing shrieks rang in her ears. She wondered, every single day without a spark of hope...

When is this going to end?

16 years old Jieun sat on the stairs by the hallway, resisting the tears that threatened to overflow from her glazed eyes.

She was confused, hurt, upset...the two people who argued in the living room didn't seem like her parents. She couldn't remember when was the last time they sat down for a nice dinner or to even simply chat about the day they had.

Dad..Mom...please...stop this..

"YOU'RE A ING DISGRACE!" Her dad shot at her mom.

Her eyes rounded -- "No please.." Jieun rose up, head turning to the direction of the cries.

The entire house went deathly silent.

"E-Excuse me..?!" Her mother took a step back, dumbfounded at his vicious words.

"I-I..H-Hanuel, babe-- I'm so--" Regret soared through him like a wave of pain. Too late...it was all too late.

"Let's get a divorce." Her eyes hardened, Jieun stumbling on her steps until she succumbed to the trembles her knees made. 

It's all over, it's done.

To the side of her eyes, she could see her phone light up with message. She didn't pick it up and with that, he called her.

                                                                                     Incoming Call
                                                                                     Bang Yongguk

"Is this how much our love was worth?" Jaemin whispered under his breath, croaking.

"I've bared with you...I thought we could fix this and it seems that I have thought wrong." Hanuel pursed her lips, biting on the side of her cheeks as she turned her body around. "You can have the house. I'm done."

With a gasp of realization, she dashed out to the foyer. Her daughter's phone laid on the floor, vibrating with consistent calls and messages -- the door...wide open.

"J-Jieun..s-sweetie.."

Jaemin came dashing out, half a mind to stop his wife from leaving until the blast of frosty air enveloped his being. "No...y-you've got to be kidding me."

"J-Jaemin..what are you doing?! GO SEARCH FOR HER." She was hysterical.

Her daughter, Jieun was born weak to begin with.

Doctors highly doubt she could live without the support of medical attention occasionally throughout the years of her life. Whenever she contracted a fever, it'll be a fever that racked her body bare until there would be nothing left in her. Colds were merciless, clinging onto her like a bug for months, torturing her until she wished no more to live on.

Which means, bolting out the door and into the blizzard like night was suicide.

"Auntie! Uncle!" a deep voice called out from the door.

Jaemin was immobile in pure shock. He knew, he just knew that because of the recklessness he committed as a parent, his daughter would have to pay the price.

".....Where's Jieun?" Yongguk steadily began, observing and letting the sights of their agonized features sink in. He called in the beginning, worried over how she'd handle her parent's arguments. The entire neighborhood resonated with the resonance of her mother and father's screams.

He put two and two together.

Her phone is on the floor...the door is wide open..Jieun no, please tell me you didn't..