Best For Me

Chapter 15

Lia let the dial tone ring in her ear for at least the hundredth time that hour. There was no answer. After so many rings, it just shipped her through to the voice mail. Lia hung up.

There was no point in leaving another message; she was fairly sure that the five she'd already left had put her somewhere in the 'stalker' box. Sighing, she went back to cleaning the hallway cupboard, a sure sign that she was very upset.

Even Elly was tiptoeing around her. That was probably because Lia had yelled at her over the little girl's messy room, which was so unlike Lia that both of them had known something was wrong.

Elly was now very pointedly being a good girl. She'd cleaned up her room, even though Lia had apologised with hugs and ice-cream, and she was quietly watching cartoons in the living room.

It was easy for Elly to be quiet – she didn't exactly speak – but she made plenty of noise anyway: running through the house with Mr Ruffles in tow, sending her towers of blocks crashing to the floor, was one of her favorite games.

She was a bouncy kid and Lia loved that. She cringed inside at the thought of her own mood affecting her daughter so. Maybe it wasn't just her own mood. Maybe Elly missed Yeji, too. In fact, Lia was sure that Elly missed Yeji, too. The child had asked after the musician many times, several times a day, in fact.

There was more than one thing bugging Lia at the moment. The obvious top of the list was the fact that she hadn't heard from Yeji for a week.

They'd seen her the night after the -. Well, the night after. It had been moderately awkward, mostly because they kept going in for a kiss and realising they couldn't, shouldn't. And, to their credit, they hadn't.

Lia had hugged her goodbye at the door, feeling more frustrated and confused than ever. And now, nothing.

At least she couldn't argue that she'd been used in bed and dumped, because, well, firstly, Yeji wouldn't do that and, secondly, she'd come over the night after.

But why hadn't she heard from her? Where the hell was she? And why wasn't she answering her phone? Lia was worried, but she knew Yeji was alive because she'd seen her on Wednesday night at Elly's art class. One wave and then the brunette had disappeared. Lia was hating this.

The fact that she and Elly both missed Yeji was even more worrying. The whole point of their agreement had been to make things less complicated.

Instead, it seemed that both mother and daughter were miserable without Yeji's company. Three wasn't a crowd, it turned out. Elly never asked after Soobin, but she'd asked after Yeji with a determination that had drawn admiration from Lia.

And, to top it all off, Lia had to admit to being just a little sexually frustrated. Who wouldn't be, going to sleep in that bed? Thinking about it. Dreaming about it. Waking up, drenched in sweat from reliving it night after night.

Okay, that was on the bottom of her list of concerns at the moment but, still, it was always there in the back of her mind.

So, with all of her frustration, not to mention her angst at not getting through to Yeji, Lia cleaned the hall cupboards.

Then, she cleaned the kitchen cupboards and the bathroom. She stopped to put Elly and Mr Ruffles to bed, making sure she took an extra long time reading their story and giving them both lots of affection to make up for her grumpiness earlier.

As she moved to turn off the light, she heard a tap on the wall, Elly's way of getting her attention.

"Is Yeji coming over soon?" the little girl signed. "Mr Ruffles misses her."