Silence ○ Lee Haechan

○ 10

"Hyung go left!" The sound of her brothers voice crescendoed into her room, the sound of happiness and laughter coating his voice as she tried not to pay attention to them.

She dropped her head onto her desk, head facing her door and away from the window that allowed for the jovial cheers to fill her room and pierce her ears.

Her eyes squeezing shut tight as she heard her step mum walk outside and ask her brother who the, quote on quote, "dashing young man" was.

This felt like torture to her, why couldn't her family have stayed out longer, gone out for dinner, watch a movie, literally anything but come home.

Her step mums voice annoyed her, the high pitched tone that carried along her fake sweet words tormented her. Hearing her converse with the boy below. It wasn't the same.

She knew she was trying, marrying someone who already had kids is hard enough, she tried hard to appease her father who works hard as a University professor for history. But she knew she could never be Mari and Minsu's mother.

She felt like a foreigner in her household, but yet again even after two years, everything felt foreign to Mari.

A subtle knock on the door forced Mari to open her eyes with a slither and let out a low hum. Watching as the door opened up to reveal her father.

"Hey," Mari mumbled out lowly as her father pushed up his glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose.

"Hey," he said, adjusting his stance so he's leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

A silence fell over the two briefly before Mari sighed and looked away from her father.
"To answer the question I know you're wanting to ask, yes that's him."

"I gathered. How do you feel about him being here?" Her father asked and Mari squeezed her eyes shut, twisting her head to now face the opposite wall.

"Oh you know, just fine," she said holding back her tears.
"My partner for my tourism class broke his leg and hasn't been at school, so the teacher put him with me- which I mean is fine, we're civil you know." She sits up in her seat and faced her father once more, putting up her wall furthermore to hide her true emotions from him.

"And this doesn't bother you?" He asked, and even though he was not pushing for answers and was just trying to be there, an overwhelming flood of omitting her emotions coursed through her veins making her walls shoot up and her tone becoming defensive.

"Nope. It's honestly fine. I'm over it you know, it's been two years. Why would I be worked up over seeing him," she asked rhetorically, tone rather sardonic and distasteful.

A wave of guilt washed over her as she watched as her fathers eyes widened a bit, "I'm sorry" she said lowly with a sigh, "I didn't mean to say that like that."

The silence returned once more between them but the distance sounds of chatter from below her window filled in the blankness of the room.

A churn in her gut twisted once more as her heart continued to race in an attempt to keep her emotions at bay.

Rubbing her palms against her jeans to remove the sweat that clammed on her skin, her eyes moved up to meet her fathers anew.

"I am fine though," she said more sincerely and her fathers eyebrows furrowed down, the corner of his lip twisting up slightly and eyes narrowing in scepticism.

An awkward, nervous laugh left Mari's lips "dad I'm serious! I really am fine. We both promised to be civil."

"Ah huh," was all he said, as he pushed himself off of her door frame, hands finding their way into his jean pockets.
"I'll start cooking dinner then- oh also, your brother is grounded for a week so if you see him trying to go on his PlayStation, take it off of him."

A chuckle left her lips as she nodded in approval, watching as her dad left her room- the sound of his footsteps going down the stairs and out of ear range.

Exhaling a breath of air she had been holding, Mari slumped back in her seat. Unclamping her closed fists and standing up, her heart continued to palpitate expeditiously as she forced her way to her window.

The sight below felt like a giant hand gripped hold of her heart and squeezed it until it was nothing but dust. Her brother and him playing basketball, smiles on their faces as Donghyuck dribbled around the boy playfully before bouncing on his feet and shooting a hoop.

Her brother running up to the elder boy and high-fiving him in victory- two years ago this sight would warm her heart, but instead it brought her a different type of pain.

"Are they still playing out there?" A voice asked and Mari's head tilted up, her eyes falling on the body that stood next to the window.

Putting her magazine down on her bed, she pushed herself up and made her way next to the body, eyes gazing down at the view below them.

"Hyung over here!" The 10 year old boy called out, hands held up as he caught the ball that was thrown to him.

A smile pulled at Donghyucks lips as his head tilted up until his eyes met with theirs, his hand extending into a wave before he turned back to the game.

A blush flushed on Mari's face at the sight of the boy and her brother, an embarrassed smile falling upon her lips as the body next to her elbowed her in the side- eye brows wriggling suggestively.

"When are you ever going to tell him Rinnie? You two would be so cute together," the voice spoke excitedly, falling backwards onto her bed as their legs kicked in elation.

"Tell him what? We're just friends, you know. Nothing will ever change," Mari spoke, sitting at the edge of her bed.

"Ah huh, sure sure," was all the voice said before pulling her into a hug.

"My ship will sail one day, but before then, let's just all stay the same. Like you said-"

"Nothing will ever change."