Seven

Tuesday

Tuesday

Valery woke in the earliest hours of the morning to his phone ringing. He picked it up quickly. “Hello?” He asked in a hoarse voice, rubbing his eyes and sitting up on the side of the bed. His throat was dry and the room was cold.

“Valery, it's Cho.” Valery glanced over at his clock.

“What is it, you do know it's four in the morning.”

“I know, you need to meet me at the station, now.” Cho replied in a low grumble, the muffled background on the other side of the line rushed through the phone. Valery glanced over at Sydney, she was unawakened from the ring and his voice.

“Where are you?” Valery whispered, standing up to grab a shirt and clean pants.

“I'm at home still, did you want me to come by and pick you up?” Cho offered.

“Uhm,” Valery mumbled, the phone squished between his shoulder and his ear as he buttoned up his shirt. “No, I think I'll drive myself. See you in a bit.” He hung up and continued to dress, doing the best he could not to wake his wife.

* * * * *

Cho slipped his phone into his pants pocket, pulling two gray socks over his feet. He turned to his wife, Emiko, standing in the doorway. She was a year younger than him, shorter, too. They had the same black hair, but her's was thinner and longer. Her dark brown eyes meet his with sadness.

“You're leaving?” She asked in a quiet tone, already knowing the answer. Cho walked over and wrapped his arm genteelly around her, hold her close against himself.

“I promise I'll be home for dinner tonight.” He kissed her on the forehead, but she pushed him away, looking into his eyes with concern.

“You know I always worry about you working these dangerous jobs. One of these days, I worry it's going to catch you off guard and-” She stopped, breaking the eye contact.

“Don't worry, I haven't been hurt once. And Valery would be to stubborn to let me get hurt. Just trust me.” he walked forward again and kissed her on the lips. The two of them stayed there for a moment before Cho had to leave. He would stay with Emiko for eternity if he could. He pulled away from her and smiled.

“Knock on wood.” she told him, revealing a small smile from her pressed lips. He smiled down at her. “And say bye to the kids before you go.”

“Of course.” he walked passed her to the first door in the hallway, which was where his daughter, Amanda, slept. She was only five, but looked identical to Emiko and was just as worrisome.

“Are you going to work, Daddy?” she asked quietly as he knelt down beside her bed.

“Yeah, Honey. I'll see you when you get home from school, okay?” he bent down and kissed her on the nose

“Dad?”

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“Be careful, Mommy worries about you.” She said, closing her eyes. Cho looked over at Emiko who was leaning against the door frame of her bedroom.

“I will, Good night.” he pulled the comforter up to her shoulders and left the room, quietly closing the door behind him. He walked down the hall into his son's room, Trevor. Trevor didn't wake up like Amanda had, he was only three. Cho hand brushed his hair away from his eyes, Trevor's hair was a bit longer than Cho's, he was possibly getting it cut soon. He bent down and kissed Trevor on the check. The young boy moved his head, but remained asleep. “Night, buddy.” Cho whispered.

He walked out of Trevor's room and headed to the front door. Emiko had gone back to bed already. He grabbed his jacket from the closet and car keys from the hook, silently shutting the door behind him as he left a quiet house.