Palace to Plunder (AMBW)

5 RH

The sound of the keypad unlocking caught my attention. However, I didn't even bother looking up from my task. I was beyond angry. I was very irritated. I heard as Qi Tai took off his shoes, and his jacket, before sauntering into the kitchen.

His food was cold, still left out on the table. I left it that way on purpose.

While I was drying some dishes, I felt arms around my waist, pulling me from behind into his torso. "Yeobo," He leaned forward and placed a kiss on my neck.

"Don't." I turned around and nudged him back. "Just, don't."

"Christ," He heaved. "You're still too tired?"

"Do you know what time it is?" I hissed at him, pointing at the clock that rested in the living room. He glanced at it with a slight tilt of his head, before flickering his eyes back to me.

"It's late." He hummed. "Joon is asleep?"

"Don't change the subject, prick!" I snapped at him and crossed my arms. He knew I was pissed off, and liked to change the subject whenever I confronted him about it. "Do you know how many times I called you?"

"Yes." He admitted. "But I didn't have any time to answer them. Today was a very long day."

"That doesn't give you any excuse to not call me back!" I choked on a sob. "At least a simple text letting me know that you're okay would've helped." I turned my head and blinked back my tears.

"I'm sorry." He shrugged, and reached for my face, but I slapped his hands away and moved away from him.

"Joon got into a fight today." I swallowed hard. Qi Tai's eyes widened and he made his way back over to me.

"A fight?" He asked. "What happened? Is he okay?"

"Look who's worried now." I scoffed. "Seriously, did the fact that I called you 50 times not bother you whatsoever?"

"Okay, Char." He ran a hand through his hair. "I already apologized. What more do you want?"

"I want you to understand why I am frustrated. I called you that many times, and you refused every call." A tear fell down. Oh no, I was crying. I wiped one away, but another fell down. "It could've been an emergency, and you would've just ignored the call." I croaked out.

"Charlie..Sweetie." He placed his hands on my shoulders, but I shrugged them off.

"Just stop, Qi Tai!" I sniffled, struggling to get rid of all the tears. "The way I see it, you feel that work is more important than your own family."

"That's not true, and you know it Char." He narrowed his eyes at me. "I work my arse off so you and Joon are taken care of!" He spat.

"50 times, Qi Tai." I pressed my lips together. "50 times, you ignored every single one of them! Men don't do that to their wives."

"How do you know what other men do or don't do?"

"That's not the point," I slapped my hands together. "I could've been in the hospital, dying, and you would've just swiped the button to reject my call."

"But you WEREN'T."

"You're treating me the same way you did when we were in America!" I screeched. "Why did I even come here? I should've just stayed back home." I shook my head and stormed away. He grabbed my arm and yanked me back towards him.

"Let go!"

"No!" He snapped. "You always say what you have to, and then walk away. Instead of getting so overly emotional, let's just talk it out."

"Did you just call me overly emotional?" I huffed. "Screw off! I'm going to bed." I cried and stomped towards our bedroom, slamming the door behind me.

~

I woke up to an empty bed again. After our argument, I'd been waking up to the same empty pillow beside me over the past few days. Every time, I cried myself to sleep over it.

Qi Tai continued about his day like normal. He woke Joon up for daycare and took him, then he'd always come back late from work. I couldn't tell you the last time I even had a normal conversation with him. But it seemed like he didn't even care.

Today, I decided to stroll around our area, visiting different restaurants and trying out different food. I was extremely bored. But I didn't want to go and ask Qi Tai for a job, because my pride would be hurt. Only one of us would win this battle of silence.

All this just made me realize, how much I miss home. I wanted my Mom. I wanted to hug her and just tell her how I was feeling. I couldn't with Julie because, would she even understand? She was very fond of Qi Tai and his work ethnic, and admired him a lot.

I shook the thoughts of out my mind, continuing down the sidewalk I was strolling on.