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The bags on her eyes were particularly heavy that day. Staring at the mirror, she saw the prominent swollen flesh all around her eyes, and they were making it hard for her see. Like not enough had tried to block her from seeing.
School was okay.
Hari asked what happened. Jayoung was rarely absent from any class let along a whole day going missing. The short hair on her face made her look younger and no matter how many she saw her with that hair, Jayoung just couldn't get used to it.
When Hari offered to walk her to the bus, Jayoung had to refuse. She got Jimin now. The guy could pick her up more often than not. She felt bad for doing that, but at the same time, Hari was just a friend. Even if at one point she did refer to the girl as a best friend, she was only a substitute for Jimin.
Jimin went on about his grocery trip, excited that she'd make his favorite Bulgogi for him. She did promise, so now was the time show off to her best friend.
"Can you drop me off at Oppa's, first?"
"Sure." She could tell the older wanted to react to her question, but he bit his lips after the abrupt answer.
It wasn't much of a hustle. She remembered Minseok schedule for Thursday: a co-worker's 37th birthday. The man had to stay late whether he liked it or not.
"I'll be back in an hour, k?"
It was only a day from this greyish place, but why did it feel so long? It wasn't like she stayed at home that long anyway. Half of her day was spent at school. Therefore, she had at least five to six hours here not counting the sleep and class hour. Why did she feel so empty at Jimin's place? And not here?
Her eyes were drawn to the couch the moment she stepped inside. Did the man fall asleep there when she wasn't here? Her grip on the straps of her bags tightened when she opened the fridge. There wasn't anything. She had cleaned the inside days ago, seeing the emptiness only made it worse. Yesterday, she was so excited to go grocery shopping Minseok, but that had to happen.
Of course, she didn't want to blame Minseok. The guy really didn't do anything except taking care of her sister. Saying that he could've done more was more an attack on herself than anything. She just needed some time away from her sister. From her story. For a while. The girl rarely got to cry and break down, but being with Minseok, she was doing this a lot more than she had preferred.
Of course, she went to the study and before she could sit down on the windowsill, she noticed the pink squirrel that was supposed to be on top of the fridge in the middle of her space.
Minseok moved it here obviously. Why though?
Jayoung hesitated for a few seconds and sat beside the plushie not wanting to disturb its position.
