“Think it over,” Calvin told and walked away.

Selina stared after him then slowly turned around to find Jiro standing by the entrance. A heat of guilt rushed over her and immediately she wanted to say something but Jiro had already turned away. Selina returned to the house quietly and started breakfast while her grandparents and mother woke up. Jiro ate breakfast next to her silently starting a normal conversation with her grandparents, but whenever Selina joined in Jiro would stop making comments. Throughout the day Selina would take glances at Jiro who was working hard never speaking a word to her.

Selina lived her next few days having lost interaction with Jiro. Figuring Jiro did not want to talk to her Selina went out to buy some soy sauce alone. Stopping by a small store she entered and started looking around not knowing that she was being followed. After having bought the bottle of soy sauce she exited the store.

“Excuse me,” a voice stopped her.

Selina turned around feeling the soft wind of the warm afternoon brush against her. A woman of her early twenties stood in front of her. Her eyes bright and big, she had thick red lips, a sharp neatly edged chin, her cheeks were a pale pink, and her brown curly hair covered her shoulders down to her chest. Pretty was Selina’s definition for her.

“Can I help you?” Selina questioned.

“Yes I believe so,” the woman said. “Lets go get something to drink while we talk.”

Minutes later Selina found herself sitting with the woman a white circular shaped table across from each other. Milkshakes in front of them.

“Do you have anywhere you need to go?” the woman asked.

“No it’s alright,” Selina told.

The woman smiled leaning forward, “I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Mrs. Chen.”

Selina stared back at her thoughtfully, “I’m…”

“Selina, I know,” Mrs. Chen told with a small smile. “May I ask who Calvin is to you?”

Feeling that something was wrong Selina sat up straighter, “Is something wrong?”

“Calvin hasn’t been home for a couple of weeks now,” Mrs. Chen began, “I know he’s been having an affair and he’s been stressed out about his father’s business so I haven’t wanted to confront him. On the other hand I’ve got a baby at home and I can’t take care of him by myself…” Selina listened carefully her stomach turning over and over. “I think Calvin would rather listen to you…so would you please help convince him to come home?” her voice had gone quiet. Filled with shame Selina could not lift her head up to glanced at Calvin’s wife. “I don’t blame you for any of this…I know you’re married.” Selina slowly rose her head up.

“I’m so sorry! I never knew! I’m sorry!” Selina quickly said as tears rushing down her cheeks. “I never knew…”

Calvin’s wife had left hours ago, but Selina still sat seated feeling glued to the chair. Memories rushed through her. ‘How come I never noticed anything? Why?’ Selina questioned herself.

“Ma’am the shop’s going to close down,” one of the waiters said.

Without looking at him Selina grabbed the bag of soy sauce and walked away.

_*_*_*_*_*_

Jiro placed a bowl of the soup on the eating table and looked around.

“Is Selina still not back yet?” Mrs. Ren questioned.

“I haven’t seen her,” Jiro replied. “She’s probably with some friends or something.”

“Jiro I think you should go look for her,” Grandma Ren suggested.

“That girl will find her way home,” Grandpa Ren told, “lets eat!”

Throughout dinner Jiro ate silently while listening to the adults talk and complain about the village gossips. Afterhe had tried helping them clean up he was kicked out of the kitchen because he was a man, who shouldn’t be there. Jiro paced in front of the house out front. The sky had gotten dark and it had began to drizzle. Recalling how Selina got sick easily from the rain made him worry. It wasn’t that he’d been wanting to avoid her it was just that he was lost. Feeling lost. He glanced back to see that Mrs. Ren and Grandma Ren were busy and occupied in the kitchen. Finally Jiro took a step forward and started to walk around and found himself heaading into the village. Selina was no where to be found. Jiro panted heavily as he came to a stop.

“Selina!” he shouted. “Sel! Where are you?!”

Jiro took a thin narrow path and quickly searched everywhere. Losing hope he turned around to head back when he heard soft sobbing. By a large oak tree that could barely be seen in the dark Selina was curled up, knees to her chest and arms around her knees.

“Selina!” Jiro quickly called as he hurried over to her. “Are you ok? Are you hurt?”

Selina sobbed quietly and Jiro could hear her say, “I’m so ashamed…”

“Come on lets get home before you catch a cold,” Jiro said gently pulling her up.

When they got back to the house Jiro quickly grabbed some thick towels and dried her off with them. Jiro left the room giving her time to change into dry clothes and reentered again when she’d finished changing. Jiro turned the lights off and climbed onto his side of the bed.

“Jiro?” Selina said that night. “Can you turn over?”

“Yea? What is it?” Jiro asked as he did as asked. Selina moved closer to Jiro and she leaned her head against his chest and wrapping her arms around him.

“Can I do this for tonight?” she asked.

Jiro would have said she could whenever she wanted but instead these words formed out of his mouth, “Sure.” And in a moment he could hear her quietly crying.  

Awaking with a headache Selina pulled on a sweater and walked over to the closet. She found the gift bag from Calvin that she'd recieved on her birthday and searched for a match and set the bag on fire. Watching as the flames slowly engulfed the bag. She stared as the ashes flew away in the wind. How much money had he wasted on that gift?

“I wanted to continue loving him…” Selina told herself. “I’ll see you again some other day.”

Selina returned to her bedroom to find Jiro up. As he looked over she quickly turned away fearing that tears would start flowing.

“Are you feeling better?” Jiro questioned.

Selina stood there trying to say something but nothing happened.

“I’ll see you at breakfast,” Jiro told as he slowly walked passed her.

Feeling something heavy in her heart Selina quickly turned around and hugged Jiro from behind. Tears bursted out.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Selina apologized. “I promise I’ll be good to you. I won’t go out anymore…I won’t see him anymore. I’ll try to like you…I promise. I’m sorry…”

Selina could feel Jiro take her arms off from around him and turned around to look at her. She felt a little comfort as he wiped away her tears with his thumbs.

“What’s gotten into you? I haven’t seen you cry like this,” Jiro told. “Did you do something yesterday that I should know?”

Selina leaned against him, “Just swear to me that you’ll never have an affair. Come back home everyday. You have to stay with me, mom, grandma, and grandpa. You better not go away anywhere.”

Jiro couldn’t help but smile at her awkward words, “You’re talking about husband leaving his wife?”

Selina didn’t reply but wrapped her arms around him again, “I’ll have to get used to this.”

“Again I have an idiot wife,” Jiro said quietly smiling and tightly hugging her, “this feels good.”

Selina shut her eyes against Jiro, her pillow, and hoped that no more tears would come.

Selina enjoyed the rest of the day with the company of her family. She tried to turn her smiles into real ones, but inside she was overwhelmed with pain and had to stay silent for the whole day in order not to let one tear drop in front of anyone.

Selina awoke early the next morning and headed to the kitchen to find her mother chopping away at some meat. Since little Selina always saw her mom chopping food and the sound that the knife made against the cutting board soothed her in a strange way. Selina stood by the door listening when suddenly everything seemed to go blank. She could hear nothing even as she watched her mom chop.

“Selina! Selina!” a voice called from behind.

Selina turned around to see her grandpa standing there.

“Can’t you hear me? I’ve been telling you to move,” Grandpa Ren told.

“Oh I’m sorry grandpa,” Selina apologized as she made way for him to come in.

She stood there with a confused look on her face trying to come up with an answer for what just happened as her grandpa and mother chatted away.

“Hey Selina,” it was her grandmother. Selina turned around to face her, but found that as her grandma’s lips moved no voice came out. Selina frowned.

“What was that grandma?” questioned Selina.

Her grandma sighed and took a breath repeating what she’d just said.

“After breakfast when you’re free…” everything went silent again.

Selina frowned and asked her grandma to repeat again. With a very annoyed expression her grandma repeated her question.

“I said after breakfast when you’re free to go out and buy some grains for the chickens,” Grandma Ren told.

“Ok,” Selina replied taking a breath of relief that she could finally hear what her grandma was trying to say.

“What’s with that look on your face?” Jiro asked as he walked pass her.

Selina made a face and turned around walking out. ‘At least everything is ok now’ she told herself.

“Selina! Breakfast!” Mrs. Ren shouted.

“Selina what took you so long to come back yesterday?” questioned Grandma Ren as Selina took her seat at the table.

Selina looked up at them and quickly glanced at Jiro.

“Selina…” Jiro began but received a hit on the head from Grandpa Ren.

“Shut up and let the girl talk. No one asked you,” Grandpa Ren snapped.

Jiro shrugged as he turned back to look at Selina.

“So why did it take so long to just go buy a bottle of soy sauce?” questioned Grandma Ren.

“I…uh…I…” Selina began trying to come up with something to say.

“Mom,” Mrs. Ren interrupted, “if you keep talking Selina won’t be able to eat her food. She’s caught a cold.”

“Then she should have come home sooner,” Grandma Ren told.

Selina smiled, “Yea grandma I know. Sorry, but at least I did come home with it.”

“Tsshh…this girl,” Grandma Ren said as she grabbed her spoon and put some pieces of boiled chicken onto Sel’s plate. “You really have to get better soon. I feel so sorry if Jiro has to take care of you all the time.”

When everyone was done with breakfast Selina washed dishes and afterwards sat around a bit. She was beginning to feel a little more relaxed as the next few days passed by peacefully. Still on the other hand Selina was becoming more and more confused about her hearing. Sometimes she would be able to hear one of her family members speaking to her and at other times her hearing just seemed to stop. She panicked a few times and even ended up being lectured by her grandparents about not listening. What worried her was that Jiro was beginning to notice. How would she explain it to him? Would he leave her if he found out she was really sick?