For Love's Sake || Jeno

07: Hope

It was the sunlight that roused her this time. The other times that Naeun had been rudely woken from sleep in one night was from anxiety that had taken deep roots in her heart.

Just how many times had she gotten up to check whether her door was locked? Whether she had put the army knife under her pillow? That was the only one of Jeno's weapons she had been left with. It was not taken only because she had left it in her bag, unlike the other two.

Just as she had expected, nothing from her bag was stolen last night. Those guys were not thieves. They had a bigger goal than getting their hands on a high school student's pocket change or notes.

Naeun sat up groggily and picked up her phone from the nightstand. She had missed yet another call from Jiyoung. Last night, when she had sneaked into her own home she had briefly gone through her phone. There was a missed call and a couple of messages from Jiyoung and even one from Soomi.

She checked them now.

What the hell, bitch?!
When were you going to tell me that Jeno and you were together?
Don't think for a second that I'll let you off the hook!
Call me tomorrow!

She winced at the texts. She still had not come up with a story to tell Jiyoung. It was a good thing that Jiyoung usually visited her grandmother on the weekends. That would give Naeun some more time. She moved on to check Soomi's message which she had received mere minutes after Jiyoung's.

Are you up for shopping tomorrow?

That was weird. Soomi rarely messaged her and whenever she did, it was never to hangout. Besides, she shopped with Jiyoung who had a much better fashion sense than Naeun.

I'm busy today. Sorry.

Naeun replied with the truth. She washed up for breakfast and made sure to wear a turtle neck with full sleeves and trousers to hide her injuries.

Last night she had only checked the text sent by Seulgi. Be home for breakfast, it had read. Naeun knew what was coming when she said that. Hope and disappointment. And just like she had expected, she could smell stewed fish as soon as she opened the door.

She walked out and saw Seulgi placing plates on the dining table and their mother stirring the fish stew. Every once in a while, Seulgi managed to convince their mother to step out of the room and have breakfast together. Their mother would always be alright for a couple of days after that then relapse.

Once, she had given up alcohol for a whole week. That had made the sisters very hopeful, only for their hopes to be crushed.

Seulgi paused in her actions, a look of surprise on her face. "When did you come home, Naeun?" Upon hearing that, their mother also looked up.

It had been so long since Naeun had seen her sober that it almost looked like a dream. Her hair was tied in a bun and had more grey than black. Crow's feet and smile lines on her face made her look older than her forty-eight years.

And just according to routine, she frowned. "Look at the time, Naeun. Your sister and I even went for a walk in the park and you're waking up now?"

There were a hundred things she could have said at that moment. Like how an alcoholic is in no position of giving health advice. Or how her mother woke up late in the afternoon and sometimes even at night. But instead, she walked around the table and said, "let me help you with that." What was the point of doing otherwise?

"Take out the rice from the cooker," her mother answered and Naeun did just that.

The three women sat around the table once everything was set up. "How's school going, Naeun?" Seulgi asked as the former was scooping out the rice.