𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗽𝗶𝘁𝘆 || 𝒌𝒑𝒐𝒑 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒕 ᴮᵒᵒᵏ ¹ [MAJOR REVISIONS👷]

❝𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗲...❞(✔︎)

⚠️ TW: This chapter contains themes of emotional trauma, identity struggle, and reflection on depression and repression. Reader discretion is advised. Take care of your heart. ♡

[ YEAR < Early 2014 > ] = THE NEXT DAY

*Outfit above*

⎯⎯ ୨ THIRD PERSON'S ୧ ⎯⎯

The morning light crept gently through the curtains, but Kala had already been awake for hours.

Sleep had escaped her, again.

She'd risen around 5 a.m.—not because she needed to, but because lying still in bed with her mind racing felt more painful than exhaustion ever could. So, as always, she turned to routine. That was something she could control.

She tiptoed into the kitchen, barefoot and quiet, and began preparing breakfast. Her hands moved automatically: cracking eggs, slicing vegetables, flipping patties. She even packed her family's lunch boxes, wrapping them with neat bows, slipping handwritten notes inside.



Her signature hamburger recipe was tucked into each box. She made sure to toast the buns just the way her mom liked them, and sliced the radish paper-thin the way Jihyun preferred. She did it not for praise, but for peace—the fleeting kind that comes from doing something kind, something thoughtful. Something that made her useful.




By 8 a.m., the house was quiet again. Everyone had left.

Jihyun-oppa had kissed her forehead before he left and reminded her, "I'll be back by 1. Get ready, princess. It's your day off."

So now she had five hours to herself.

She cleaned up. Swept the kitchen. Did laundry. Organized her art supplies.

And when she finally ran out of things to clean, she pulled out her guitar.

Fingers strumming gently against strings, Kala sat by the window, letting the lyrics of her favorite songs fill the silence she had been trying to escape.

Music, she always believed, was the language of the heart. When words failed, the chords understood her. The lyrics spoke truths she couldn't voice aloud.

Some days, music was her shield. Other days, it was the very thing that broke her open.