In The Dark (SNOWDROP)

"you're late"

❄︎ — chapter 21 — ❄︎

Lee Kangmu was still awake thirty minutes past midnight, sitting in Jang Hanna's bed with her book in his lap. She'd promised she'd be back by midnight, but she still hadn't returned. He was beginning to get worried about her.

He got up, going to grab his radio and call her, but then the door to her apartment opened and Hanna stepped inside. She looked exhausted.

"Jagiya," Kangmu said worriedly, hurrying over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she mumbled, kneeling down to unlace her boots and throw them into the shoe closet. "What are you still doing up? Why aren't you asleep already?"

"I wasn't going to sleep until you were back," Kangmu said as she stood. "You said you'd be back by midnight. You're late."

Hanna gave him a tired smile. "Mianhae. Gyeokchan thought he heard someone running from us through an alleyway. We chased it. It turned out to be a raccoon."

Kangmu chuckled, taking her hand. "Come on. You must be exhausted."

"I'm fine," she said, but allowed him to pull her into her bedroom. She grabbed her pajamas and closed the door to her bathroom, quickly changing, washing her face, and brushing her teeth. When she came out, she noticed Kangmu fixing the pillows on the bed that he'd moved and putting the book she'd been reading back on her nightstand.

"Were you reading that while I was gone?" She asked in amusement.

He shrugged. "Amado. I like your bookmark, by the way."

Her cheeks reddened. "Oh... you saw that?"

"I did," Kangmu picked the book back up, opening it so he could take out the folded photograph. "I thought you got rid of all our pictures."

"Anniyo..." Hanna went over to her closet, opening the door and reaching up to the very top shelf, above the hanging rack. Even on her tiptoes, she couldn't quite reach it.

"Um... a little help, juseyo?"

Kangmu chuckled, going over to her. "What do you need?"

Hanna huffed, annoyed that she couldn't reach the little book on her own. When she'd put it up there, she'd just blindly thrown it into the shelf. "There's a photo album somewhere up there. It looks like yours, but navy instead of black."

He nodded, reaching into the shelf until his fingers felt the stiff spine of a thick book. He grabbed it and pulled it down.

"Is this it?"

Hanna nodded, taking the album and dusting off the front cover. "I brought these with me to America, but barely looked at them anyway."

She sat on the bed, flipping the book open and past the first few pages of family photos. She stopped on one of them.

"It's Sooho."

"That is?" Kangmu asked, sitting next to her and looking over her shoulder at the photograph of the young boy with dark tan skin, shaggy black hair, and crooked teeth. "Really?"

Hanna grinned. "Yeah. I think he was eight or nine in that picture. It was soon after Gomobu Lim Jirok adopted him and Soohui. That was the first time I met him."