Cursed Blood | Chaelisa

Chapter 4.

My school day rolled to an end. I got a fancy ride in a private limo of our school (because we have no school buses) and then headed homeward. On workdays, Mom usually works late, and because I was raised in a single-parent family, the one who arrives first will make dinner. But now I felt completely washed-out and hungry. My shoulders slumped as I dragged myself through the hall. My hands and legs almost dropped off onto the floor limb by limb.

As I reached the kitchen, my whole body started trembling. I walked straight to the fridge and opened it. My eyes quickly scanned for a blank carton on the shelf. The delicious smell rushed to my nose. Grabbing the container out of the fridge, I couldn't even wait to find a glass and just gulped it down impulsively.

Then the trembling subsided. Mom has always reminded me about drinking milk whenever I feel exhausted. I guess she's got a point. But my craving grows more intense recently; maybe it's because of my teenage hormones. I got myself a second helping and then went upstairs to my room.

My mom returned home around dinner time, and like every day I heard her coming before she even opened the door.

"Good evening, mom!" I called out, "You're so early today."

"Honey, how many times do I have to tell you to lock the door?" she said disapprovingly.

"Our residence is pretty safe, besides it hasn't gone dark yet," I said as I brought a plate of stirred vegetable and put it into the microwave.

We live in the most peaceful district of our town where it has the lowest rate of crime in the record, but Mom is always cautious about everything.

"Never underestimate anything, dear," she told me, "Bad things do happen to good people."

"I'll remember that," I promised with a smile.

Mom had brought some more milk cartons from the nutrition department of the hospital and was loading them into the fridge. I couldn't remember not having milk. Mom just wouldn't let it run out of stock.

"Mom?" I hesitated.

"Yes?"

"You don't have to keep bringing milk home, and I think I don't need to drink it at school either..."

"God, no!" she cried in surprise, looking as if I'd just told her I was going to shave my head and pierce a ring on my nose.

"But..."

"Honey, it's for your health benefit."

"But I'm perfectly healthy!" I protested again, and my mom seemed to roam inside her head searching for another reason.

"Trust me, Chaeyoung, you need it," she finally said.

Of course, I always trust her, not only because she's a doctor, but also because she's my mom.

"But..." I opened my mouth to speak again when Mom raised her hand up to stop me. I wasn't being rebellious, though something that lingered in her voice sounded quite mysterious to me. She looked at me for a moment and sighed.

"Listen, Chaeyoung, your body needs much more calcium than normal people. You can eat or drink anything, but you would still have to drink milk, and that's that."

It was already a proven fact this evening after I got some milk in my system, the trembling died down. Now, I just started to get a hang of that idea.

"So what you're saying is- I'm a milkaholic?"

"Theoretically speaking," Mom laughed.

"What kind of an 'aholic' is that?" I asked in disbelief. Mom just gave me a satisfied beam.