Tzuyu doesn’t really pay attention to much except for the simplicity of their car ride - Jihyo steering the wheel to swerve a corner, light radio playing in the background, a song called december by fly to the sky, one of Jihyo’s all time favourites - and Tzuyu just sits, watching as the world zooms down lively streets, orbiting in a one-way drive.

 

It’s awfully domestic, and Tzuyu can’t shake the feeling of being a pester. Jihyo doesn’t seem bothered, doesn’t show any physical signs of annoyance, but Tzuyu can’t be sure. Can’t make assumptions, because she doesn’t actually know what’s going on in her brain, even if it was bound to be harmless if she decided to put up with Tzuyu for so long.

 

Unconsciously - Tzuyu let out a sigh, provoking Jihyo to spare a glance in her direction, brows dipping in concern. Automatically reaching a hand out to place them on top of Tzuyu’s, Jihyo interlocked their fingers and alternated between staring at the road and checking on the younger's well-being. She observed to see if Tzuyu's posture hunched into that glum she often displayed as a beginning sign to her drifting through the gates of a somber headspace.

 

“Hey… you okay, Tzu? How are you feeling?” Jihyo probed, asking in a soft voice, enough to make Tzuyu’s nerves settle and gain some reprieve from the nonsensical murmuring plaguing her mind.

 

Tzuyu answered by reciprocating the elders touch, slipping her hand in further to tighten their embrace and savour the warmth radiated from her palm. Jihyo smiled in the rear-view mirror while Tzuyu just shrugged, continuing her ritual of gazing out the window in a solemn trance.

 

Jihyo hummed. There was a sedateness to their atmosphere, much like a family dynamic. Mother and daughter, Jihyo endearingly thought. 

 

 “Mind if I sing a little bit?” She queried, turning her head towards Tzuyu for a second with a glimmer of hope that didn’t go unnoticed by the younger.

 

Tzuyu nodded and anticipated the sweetness of her melody, leaning against the cold glass to relax and feel the earthly vibrations lumping underneath their tires. Jihyo began to do her run, a harmony that suited the pace they were going at - then proceeded to quietly belt, something Tzuyu could only describe as… lovely. Lovely in the moment, lovely especially right now… anywhere, Tzuyu thinks it'd be lovely.

 

Tzuyu squinted her eyes and looked up to see a blurry image of the sky. She had nothing but light caving her view - yellow sun glazing over the rest of it's seasonal colors to blend in with a blue and white snapshot frame, creating the most... picturesque illustration Tzuyu could even attempt to remember.

 

It glimmered, passing through heat waves… calming when everything else wasn't, despite being lawfully known as a daily occurrence.

 

It made Tzuyu feel like her wonders still existed. When she took a second to break it down, to fully elaborate and construct the idea that the vast was completely open. That the universe was impenetrable, and theoretically, all possibilities were up for extensive interpretation. Because the moon could turn red… and the planet always spun, always changed… So what was hindering Tzuyu? what was stopping her from latching onto those wonders, curiosities, and plundering free with them? 

 

No… no, that's right - they were stupid... she shouldn't even be considering it… they were just… just silly. Tzuyu isn't a child anymore, she's grown up… she'd grown up from that phase a long time ago.

 

"Unnie…" Tzuyu finally rippled through the silence, halting Jihyo's tune until getting the confirmation she needed to talk when the elder only gave her hand a gentle squeeze in response.

 

"Yes?" Jihyo acknowledged, an affectionate smile strewn across her face.

 

"Where are we going?" Tzuyu questioned, almost a ghosts whisper as Jihyo untangled her hand from the younger's grip to wrap it around the gear shift - pulling it back till the wheels railed her grey Volkswagen into the empty parking space.

 

"Just Gwangjin-gu." Jihyo said as she safely stationed them into their slot. She immediately went to unfasten Tzuyu's seatbelt first, resulting in the younger to flush pink, hot and bothered from being so blatantly babied. "We'll have a nice stroll around then go out during the evening to have dinner… how's that sound?" Jihyo intended to appease, unawaredly stirring a sort of exhaustion and discomfort in Tzuyu she didn't know would settle in so fast.

 

Tzuyu couldn't deny her unnie and stretched a forced grin anyway - letting the woman carry out her objective before tending to her own. Tzuyu waited on Jihyo to step out of the car door then soon followed along afterwards, moving to trail her figure like a lost puppy.

 

"Thank you… unnie." Tzuyu eventually caught up to the elders stride, finding it in herself to at least… walk side-by-side with her unnie.

 

Jihyo remained mute, wordless as she s her way to Tzuyu's arm and encircled it in a tentative hold - wearing a smile that never left.

 

Jihyo was happy Tzuyu tried to make more conversation as of late. Maybe good will finally happen, come out of it… Maybe her prayers had been listened to, and Tzuyu was going to get better… things were going to get better, everything was going to get better… while Jihyo, she'd already chosen - made the faithful decision to wholeheartedly believe that.

 

----

 

Sana nearly dropped her keys as she unlocked the door to the front of her house, sighing in relief when she manages to catch them on time - just before they land and hit the ground. 

 

Sana burned the goal of fixing her clumsy habits into every crevice of her brain - making a worthy effort to ink and tattoo the words never half-assed on her frontal lobe. Life was just.. too fragile, too brittle and prone to mistakes that eventually lead to something regretful in later years to allow slip ups when all it took is a consciousness to what she was doing and how she was executing it to prevent those… red flags from happening.

 

 After all, Sana herself isn't the only one she made a promise too.

 

It was a good thing to build on anyway… even if the ladder was no doubt a slow climb, a brick-by-brick kind of method to gruel out all the unwanted, it stayed as a positive reinforcement Sana often used as motivation to improve herself. No means to be wasted, matter big or small, even microscopic… she would have chuckled if it wasn't starting to dawn on her in a ransome.

 

Sana dismissed her array of thoughts all tumbling down in a stockpile and shook her head - lecturing herself for the amount of time she'd stupidly spent ogling at the door in an abyss. 

 

Sighing, she twisted the door handle while simultaneously hearing a jingle and click rattling from her keys - motoring on auto-pilot as she tramped into her house. Sana threw her keys onto the dresser nearby and slid out of her coat to chuck it onto their wooden hanger, beginning to take off her heels. She relished in the pang of ease just the environment alone brought to her without a single ounce of labour or trial.

 

Sana inhaled when a familiar clunk of fingers dancing against rich ivory rung throughout the vicinity - ghosting past walls like it was a transparent sound and gyrating down the hallway like it was an army of specs, molecules lifting Sana off her feet only to her to the woman she married and her sleek, magical instrument shining in a black night.

 

But as Sana was about to tread on ice, sway to the music, all of a sudden it just… stopped. It stopped, and Sana choked, then swallowed a hard gulp of spit - clenching her fists till they turned white at the knuckles and dug nails deep enough to pierce skin. there was no actual reasoning to her 180 considering mood, or chain of reaction, either - just PTSD and the remnants of anxiety left over from a day working at a 12 hour job she didn't really feel for in the slightest.

 

"Did you go and visit her?" 

 

It was only one question. Simple, and yet Sana couldn't speak, couldn't blurt a word, because it all felt so wrong too.

 

She didn't understand why, how it even got to that point - but one thing was for sure, made vividly clear that… confusion was struck by a different emotion this time.

 

Dread.