[CONTENTID1]Perpetrator[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] “Hundreds of butterflies flitted in and out of sight, like short-lived punctuation marks in a stream of consciousness without beginning or end.”― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 [/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]Suji unlocked the front door to her shabby apartment. A crowd of drunkards lumbered in the bar beside them. They hiccupped and laughed to no one in particular, drinking away their sorrows to drown themselves in dreams that fared better than reality. Suji removed her shoes and sighed tiredly. She rubbed her eyes with her knuckles and placed the keys on the hook. Sehun invaded her thoughts, and as much as his actions vexed her, she was unable to shake him out of her mind.

            “Mom, I’m home,” she said. No answer. Her mother possibly worked overtime in the bar as she normally did on weekdays. Suji walked to the kitchen to find the dishes hoarded in the skin. She the light, but to her dismay the lightbulb had fused.

            Cursing under her breath, she swung the fridge door open. Empty racks roused the growling in her stomach. Her mother promised to go shopping when she offered in the morning. But the fridge was as empty as her bowels. With another grunt, she used the flashlight of her phone to ransack the cupboards.     

            Nothing. But there was a packet of old rice, so Suji took a cup of it, and left it to boil. In the darkness, she hurriedly cleaned the kitchen. Once the rice was cooked, she left a steaming portion for her mother, and separated some for breakfast. Without another second to waste, she slid the door to her room and prepared for the next day.

            Her sat by her low desk, her lamp on, her pen scribbling on fresh paper. She proceeded to answer the questions to Shakespeare’s A Midnight Summer’s Dream. Before, she knew it, she wrote a page long essay about why she hated the father character in the story.

            Suji gritted her teeth, enveloped by a fuming rage. She swiped her page in the air, and slunk into her bed. Once she pulled the blanket over her head, the door slid open.

            “Suji!” her mother screamed. Then she gasped. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were sleeping.”

Despite her apology, Taeyeon pulled back Suji’s covers and roused her. “How was your first day in university?”

            “Pretty boring,” Suji muttered. She leaned on her elbow to gaze at her mother. Taeyeon’s make was thick and heavy and she wore a shimmering black dress over her thin form. Her bleached hair was pulled back into braids that would be considered too young for her age. But that was Taeyeon, trapped in a moment of the past, and unable to accept the passing years.

            “Did you meet any boys?” she asked, her smile wide and full of dreamy wonder.

Suji recalled Sehun, and blushed. “Nope. No one interesting.”

            Taeyeon tapped her chin. “I suppose it’s just your first day. Oh, and Suji, please try and be nicer to your peers in university.”

            Suji scoffed at the idea. “Mom, you can’t expect me to be dazzled by everyone on the first day.”

“But who knows! You might just stumble upon your fated one. Don’t make me turn to my friends for their potential sons,” Taeyeon replied, with childish excitement that matched Suji’s vulgar contempt.

            “Fate?” Suji chortled. “That’s just a series of combinations and permutations. I wouldn’t want to pine after the opposite gender when they’re lacking emotional intelligence, and can’t even change their socks by themselves.”

            Taeyeon frowned. “Oh sweet, sweet daughter. There will come a day when you will find a man who will sweep you off your feet. Oh! I forgot to go shopping. !”

            “I’ll go before the lecture tomorrow,” Suji offered.

“Oh no, no! I can’t do that. You need to study—”

            Suji grabbed her mother’s wrist, and smiled gently. “Mom. It’s fine. I’ve got this.”

                                                            *

The morning arrived, and the sleeping earth awoke with a fervour that only existed during day. The streets bustled with wonderful, glorious life. It did not matter that drivers argued to take up space in the queue, or when sleepy-eyed pedestrians spilled their first coffee, or the agitated parents waved their children goodbye at the school gates. That was life. Without life, a misty silence shrouded the world.       

            Suji preferred to observe everything around her, to escape whatever thoughts that roamed her head. A few drunkards were asleep on the tables outside the bar, stinky and pitiful. She woke early to grab some groceries in the street opposite her home. She received a discount as she had a part time job there. Once, the groceries were restored, she took a detour to a newsgent and grabbed a sandwich for lunch. The noisy traffic slowed down until it was impossible to find an empty street without any cars. Suji scurried to the metro and endured a jam-packed train to her university.

            The walk to university was devastating. It consisted of a long-winding road that rolled uphill. There were many entrances, but she wanted to avoid the main one by the bridge, lest anyone recognised her from th