Til Death Do Us Part

10

"What's going on with you two lately? It feels like the frosty atmosphere between you is more glacier than normal, and neither of you is speaking up about it." Yoonha prods me in the back of the head as he passes behind me at the breakfast table. Being his usual annoying self. I tense up, but act flippant, not ready to share anything with him yet. If Yoonha knows, he will make everything worse, and I need to get a handle on what I'm going to do when I know for sure. I don't even know what to do.

"Nothing. You know how it is when we get into the new financial year. So much more stress for a few weeks. It'll pass." I brush it off and focus on pushing oatmeal into my mouth despite my zero appetite and can barely swallow it. I'm in jogging clothes as it's my day off, and my routine is an early morning workout, followed by breakfast, and then a run. I'm trying to stay as normal as possible to keep up appearances.

"Hmmm. Plans today?" Yoonha slumps down beside me and pulls over the orange juice jug. He's still in pj's and probably going to do what he always does on a rare day off. Vegetate and stay indoors. Catch up on anime and play video games. Sometimes I forget he's only a year younger than me as he seems about ten, and I wonder if he's immature for his age or if I was forced to mature way more than twenty-six.

"A run; I might be a while as I haven't done it for a few days." I don't want to admit that I have a meeting with the PI I hired two weeks ago, and I'm sick to my stomach to look over his findings. He told me he would take a couple of weeks to stake out Jyeon and Miss White, and today's the day we arranged to meet at the park. I couldn't face updates daily, so I've been biding my time and praying I'm wrong.

I buried my head in the sand and tried not to dig so that I could get through day to day. Tried to avoid Jyeon while all this was up in the air, and I think Jyeon has been avoiding me too. At work, he's polite and amicable and distant, and we dodge one another unless we have to interact. He's not made significant changes to his schedule, and these past two weeks, I've started to feel guilty and backtrack that maybe I did blow it all out of proportion, and it was all in my head. I've not seen anything else to prove it either way. I keep yoyoing between suspicion and feeling stupid, and that woman has never shown face again.

"And Jyeon? He left already?" Yoonha picks up some oatmeal by scooping his finger in my bowl, taking a giant spoonful, and I slap his hand for being disgusting.

"He said he was going to the office today. I hope you washed your hands?" I chastise him and then push my entire bowl his way as I can never eat food someone else has touched. He knows it too and grins at stealing my ready-made breakfast, which saves him from making his own.

"You're such a child!" I lightly slap him on top of his head and get up to make myself another bowl. Tutting at his antics and get a cheeky grin and wink in response that makes me mock scowl at him.

"Morning. Why are you eating in here and not in the dining room? Where's Rain? Why is she not preparing breakfast?" Mother glides in, already dressed and polished with complete make-up and outfit for the day. Looking ready to take on the world. She smells like cognac, and I try to ignore it.

"It's her birthday weekend; we always give her that time off." I remind her and say nothing when Mother's face pinches, and she frowns in irritation. To her, house staff are not humans, just mere tools to make our existence easier.

"Didn't you hire me a stand-in then?" She pouts, hating that she should fend for herself for an entire two days despite the fact we also have a housekeeper who can cook. I say nothing, knowing she just wants to complain. This is what she does to fill up her day.

"I'm heading out. I'll be back after my run." I abandon my bowl of dry oatmeal, leaving it on the counter, knowing I should escape before it's too late. Mother can be a needy child sometimes and expects me to give her constant attention when I'm not at work. I have no energy for her today. My brain is full of this meeting and Jyeon.