Phoenix : TPB || PJM 🔛

Chapter 20 : Khaos

Few blocks away

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While the storms dialed down at the BTS residence, thunderbolts cracked over in full rage at the Baek family-house.

Manipulated into joining for a dinner night was already testing her patience. At the table, under formal and quiet clatters of utensils, Dan Hwa felt utterly resentful and indignant by the words spoken her way.

Mr.Baek : I heard that you are visiting a hospital since a few months. Are you unwell?

Pressed under a silence, Dan Hwa had agreed to abide by the fake roleplay of a pretentious family. However, the unruly intrusion in her personal life broke her into a hysteria of unfathomable laughter.

Dan Hwa dropped the chopsticks on the holder, trying to compose herself. But the exasperation over exceeded. The embers of chaos inside her seemed to have been teased to flame up. A sense of disarrayed uproar sparked in her head.
The angry hounds of bitter against her father, that she'd barred so strongly in the murky harbors of her heart, were finally unleashed. Mr.Baek, on the flip side, anticipated that all too well.

Mr.Baek : Dan-ah, it was all out of my worry for you. You never call or update me about anything. I had no choice left than to-

Dan Hwa : -than to have me spied on?

Her expressions, from a dry chuckle almost suddenly dropped to a dark and resentful one. Her Uncle and Aunt, dined across from her on the same table, felt the atmosphere tighten for the worse. They kept a cautious silence as the presumably perfect dinner came to an uncomfortable halt.

Dan Hwa glared at Mr.Baek to her side with no compassion or respect in her eyes. The passive aggression carefully highlighted in her body language and accentuation.

Dan Hwa : Call... The phone works both ways, actually.

There was every bit of contempt sprinkled generously in her words.

Dan Hwa : And worry, you say? I am sorry, I was not familiar with your discreet ways of worrying. I. Genuinely. Apologize.

Mr.Baek held no stand or power against her wrath. He had no comeback at her accusations, for he had nothing to justify his means. And her speech, with every word infused more rancor.

Dan Hwa : Seriously though, was it really your worry for me? Or were you actually just worried about your image?

It was as if the halls, the corridors, the floors stood still and silent, listening to her umbrage apologetically.

Dan Hwa : Say, what if people found out that your secret daughter, whom you hardly ever want to acknowledge, is insane. Crazy! "How could such a talent let his daughter go waste. What a shame!" The Hallyu star image shatters.

Unable to bear further ridicule, her Uncle immediately corrected her, "That's not the case, Dan Hwa-ya. You are getting it all wrong-"

Dan Hwa, nevertheless, let out a quiet chuckle at her father's incompetent silence.

Dan Hwa : Once again, it's Uncle Hyuk, who denied when I asked you, Dad.

Mr.Hyuk had been the one to show up in all her academic activities that required the presence of parents. Every single time, the little Dan Hwa would keep her hopeful eyes for her father. And despite her fondness for her uncle, her sight would only meet with disappointment when Mr.Hyuk would appear with his brightest smiles instead.