Legions of unspoken affliction

Chapter 12 : Precious

Riki has been repeatedly sending text messages to Konon, only to get left on read. Although a little annoyed, Konon still hid it all to herself and kept deleting the messages. Riki has no idea why his sister wouldn’t respond to him. He kept on sending her messages day and night, begging her to tell their mother to take him back, his willingness to work as a slave and seldomly, he’ll mention about his day and ask about hers.

It was today when Riki urgently went to the bathroom, leaving the door wide open and his laptop’s screen right on his Instagram Direct Message channel. Well, he didn’t think anyone would come in, to snoop around in his short period of absence, but there was. Jay, who came in to ask if Riki has any dirty laundry that needs to be washed. Seeing that Riki was missing he guessed that the younger was in the bathroom, to which his assumption was accurate. He sat on the bed, patiently waiting for his brother when he saw Riki’s text message. He knew privacy was important and he respects that. However, this one time, his guts told him to read it. And so, he did.

Fortunately, he was able to read it all before Riki returned. He sat there pretending to have seen nothing and asked Riki about the laundry.
“Oh, I have a few.” He said and tossed several pieces of clothing to Jay
“This is not a few.” Jay said while piling up the clothes.
“It’s not that many.”
“This is 12 different sets of clothing we are talking about. Geez, what have you been doing that you have worn so many, and why haven’t you been doing your laundry huh.”
“I just forgot to take them out the last time Mama was washing the clothes.”
“Please, remember to do that next time.”
“Okay okay, I will.” Riki said, with a little irritation in his tone.

Jay took all the clothes and went out. Riki then rushed to his laptop, afraid Jay might have seen something but felt relieved as soon as he saw the blank screen.

Jay on the other hand quickly informed their mother about what he saw.

“I’ll think of something we can do for him. Don’t worry. And thank you for informing me, you’re always such a good boy.”
Although it was not much of a compliment, Jay was elated.

Mrs Park threw the clothes into the washing machine and went to Riki’s room.

Giving the door a few knocks and waiting for Riki’s response before entering. Although Riki is not used to this, Mrs Park wants to get him used to it and start learning to do so. It’s a simple yet respectful action.

“Riki, are you free now? Can we talk?” Mrs Park asked.

“Of course, I’m free mama, what do you want to talk about?”
She quietly went to sit down beside her son and carefully took his laptop away before gently placing it aside.

“I know about you texting your sister, which I’m completely fine with. It’s great to maintain the relationship with her since you did mention she was nice to you. But Riki, what we need to talk about is the content.”
Riki instantly knew, Jay saw something and told their mother. His mind was running at such high speed, filling with regrets, things he should have done to prevent it and excuses to get him out of the situation.

“Riki, you aren’t a disgrace to the family. In fact, we are all so proud of you, you have been through so much, yet you are still so strong. Don’t let a little setback take you away from the track. I believe you are doing this from the traumatic experience with Sunoo?”
Riki looked down at his hands and slightly nodded.

“I just… It, it’s all my fault for him dying.”

“It is indeed your fault, but there is nothing else you can do that. Keeping yourself in the pool of regrets will not make you feel better, and Sunoo, if he is able to know what you are doing, won’t be happy. Yes, it is your fault, what you can do is pull your act together and give back to his family. You have caused a lot of trouble for them, and you have to repay them for their kindness.” Mrs Park said. Although she wants to teach Riki in the gentlest of possible ways, this time she decided to be tough so that it can all get to his head and try to stop him from running away into the darkness of his biological family.

“Okay…” Riki sighed.

“Good, we’ll be seeing your psychiatrist next week, it’ll be great if you can share all these secrets with her. You don’t have to worry about us knowing, I won’t butt in, all I want is you to be the happy little boy you were when became part of the family.”

“I’ll try mama.”

“We’ll all be here for you my precious”