To Find Something True

※ thirty-nine (pt. 1)

Jiah woke up the next day, rushing out of her bedroom.

"Why didn't you wake me up, appa?" she scolded, her face contorted with a grimace, struggling to put her feet into her shoes.

Her father held a coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other. "Hey, hey, hey, hey," he called.

"I don't have time!"

"Yer boss told me he's giving you a holiday. You wer' badly drunk," he said, looking at her over the spectacles frame. "Look at ya. Puffed up like a steamed bun. How many bottles did you drink, my daughter?"

Jiah shot a glance at her father and said, "You don't say that to make me stay, do you?"

Her father relaxed. He sat on the sofa with an open newspaper and said, "Check ya phone."

Skeptical about her father's behavior, Jiah fumbled into her small backpack and retrieved her phone. She swiped down the notification bar to see her boss's message that said, "I'm giving you a day off. Don't worry about work. I'll ask the others for help. Rest well :)."

Taking a deep breath, she dropped her butt on the ground, only to feel her head pounding. She held her head and whined, "damn. It hurts."

"Jiah-yah, there's hangover soup on the table."

Her shaky voice chimed from the entrance, "Okay."

"Eat it before it gets cold."

"Yeah..." She was still in pain when something struck her. She raised her head again and asked, "You didn't ask my boss to give me a day off, did you?"

Her father raised one salt and pepper eyebrow. "Why would I? I didn't know you were coming back so quickly. Your boss left you outside the house with a note for me on your forehead. You were so badly drunk that I almost thought you were homeless."

"My boss isn't that rude! You're kidding me, aren't you?" She asked, getting up and sluggishly walking to the dining table. She thumped her butt on the chair and took off the lid that covered the bowl.

Mr. Lee laughed as he flipped through the newspaper. "Of course, I am." His daughter rolled her eyes at him and palmed her forehead. "Your boss is a good guy, Jiah-yah. He even gave me some fresh fish carp bread last night. He didn't have to."

"You only say that because he bought you food," Jiah drawled.

"Did you tell him I'm fierce? He did a good job bribing my fierceness with bread."

"Appa," she called, laughing and mimicking a crying face. "I don't know what you did to my boss. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at my boss's luck in meeting you."

Mr. Lee snickered and said, "You should laugh. Laughter is the cure to all. Perhaps, you'll feel better once you laugh like crazy."

Indeed, she laughed, but it was almost a crying laughter. She palmed her forehead, still laughing but thinking that she was going to call her boss after she finished her breakfast.

**********

Everyone was surprised to see Hoseok arrive late to work. Nonetheless, their stares did not bother him. He smiled at them and passed through the area with his hands in his jacket pockets before entering the corridor to his office.

He heard Seokjin say, "Did he just smile at me?" A slapping sound followed.

Jisoo laughed, "What are you doing?"

"Jung Hoseok smiled at me? I hope I'm not seeing things." Judging by how they talked nicely again, Hoseok was glad to know the siblings got together.

"You're not," the younger sister said. "But hey, did he put down the hoodie? I think I saw his red hair."