“Is something troubling you, Hye Su?” Sehun looked over as I dazedly buckled my seat belt. Shortly after Yi Fan called me into his office, work had ended for the day and I couldn’t be any more thankful. Although Yi Fan had given me five days to consider the offer, five days wasn’t long enough, especially for someone as indecisive as I was.

            “Hm? Did you say something?”

            “Clearly something’s troubling you,” Sehun confirmed as he gunned the car engine. “So what is it? You can tell me, you know.” He backed out his car in a jiffy and soon enough, we were on the road to go back home. I carefully studied Sehun’s side profile as I had done many times in my drunken stupor.

            The morning after Eunji’s wedding, I had woken up in a hotel room, alarmed, not recalling any of the events from the previous night. I quickly checked under the bed sheets, immediately relieved upon realizing my dress was still intact. I reached out for my phone, which was on the bedside. Tapping the phone’s black screen, I checked to see if there were any new notifications or explanation of some sort of how I got to the hotel room safely. As expected, there was a text message, from Sehun.

            “Be sure to check out before 12PM today, or they’ll charge me extra.”

            I had smiled in relief. Sehun was my guardian angel, and I couldn’t thank him enough.

            “Did you hear me?” Sehun asked, making eye contact with me for a brief second before focusing his eyes on the road. “What’s troubling you?”

            I shifted my gaze away from his side profile and stared at the passing cars next to us. Although Sehun may be my guardian angel, he couldn’t be the first person to know of the offer. We weren’t at that stage of friendship yet…but I had no one else but Sehun to rely on.

            I sighed. “Just work stuff,” I settled for a simple answer. It wasn’t a lie, but it sure wasn’t entirely the truth. Perhaps another day I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him when I’ve decided.

            When I returned home, I was surprised to see both of my parents sitting on the dining table – next to each other – and my grandma sitting across from them. They were in a daze and didn’t even realize I was home until I announced my arrival.

            “Oh, Hye Su-ah, you’re home,” my grandma said in an empty voice. “Get ready for dinner. I’ll heat up the food—“

            “Eomeoni,” my mom echoed, “I’ll help you. Hye Su, you can go in and change.”

            I nodded slowly, taking in the odd atmosphere. Something was definitely off, but I didn’t know what. It was already odd enough that my parents were civilly sitting next to each other, but the fact that everyone was seemingly empty or in a daze threw me off guard. As I made my way to my room, I swore I heard my dad mutter, “I can’t believe he canceled it for her.”

            As soon as I changed into comfortable clothes and stepped out of my room, it was as though that previously empty and tense atmosphere never happened. My parents were going off like no other, and my grandma was just sighing in the corner as she quietly ate her food. Eventually, my father had had enough with my mother and left the house, but not before slamming the door.

            I closed my eyes, exhausted by the constant battle between my parents. How could they love each other when they acted like that? I was just so, so tired of everything. Love didn’t exist, especially not in my life.

            “I’m going to go see Hye Mi.” I announced.

            “Are you not eating dinner?” My grandma looked up from her bowl of rice.

            I shook my head with a small smile on my face. “I’ll be back soon.” As I picked up my purse to leave, I could hear my grandma shouting after me, “YAH, KANG HYE SU! You have to eat! You’re stick thin!” But I pretended not to hear and left the house.

            Everything was just so overwhelming. 

            “Oh, Hye Su,” my older sister opened her apartment door, surprised, “What are you doing here?”

            “I just wanted to see my nephew and niece, of course,” I lied, before strolling into her apartment casually. “Where’s my brother-in-law?” I asked, peering into each room that led up to the living room.

            “He’s out with the kids,” my sister said, leaning against the door frame, “So you don’t have to lie. What’s up?”

            I sat down on the white couch before glancing up at her. Kang – now Lee – Hye Mi stood at 5’5 and was always my role model growing up. Although we were six years apart, we were basically twins – we understood each other in and out because growing up, we only had each other. She was my second mother – a mother who I could always rely on, a mother who always listened to my troubles, a mother who wouldn’t abandon me. In many ways, I could easily be jealous of her. Compared to me, she was a stellar student in school and she was easily the more favorable daughter. I was always seen as the troublemaker and was always living in the shadows of my older sister. Things started to change, however, when my sister began dating my brother-in-law. Long story short, my parents hated my brother-in-law for illogical reasons. Yet in the face of love, my sister fought my parents until she was perceived as the troublemaker of the family. It was hard to believe that she would believe in love, w