"I'm back," Momo says as she tosses the keys on the cabinet.
She's back from her daily early visit to the gym. She pauses by the front door, expecting Dahyun's usual greeting echoing from their bedroom. Or, if Dahyun isn't feeling lazy, an immediate few bounds out of whatever room she is in to reach Momo's side and give her a tight hug.
Momo waits a second, the next one is spent listening to the silence of Dahyun's absence, and it takes her a third to notice the sound of running water from the kitchen. The faucet sounds strange without silverware and plates clinking gently together underneath it, courtesy of Dahyun's careful, delicate hands.
Momo slips off her shoes, curiously looking in the direction of the kitchen. She places them by the door, right next to Dahyun's, and then calls for her lover again. "Dahyuni?"
Still no answer. The absence of Dahyun's presence bothers Momo greatly. Did something happen while she was gone? Without another thought, Momo strides across the hall to make her way over to Dahyun. She nearly bursts through the kitchen to find her.
Standing by the sink, unresponsive and desolate. Dahyun is staring into the sink blankly, one hand empty while the other weakly clutches a sponge. Her hair is in her face and her head tucked away from Momo's view. There is a noticeable drop of water smoothly trickling down Dahyun's chin. Then she sniffs, barely masked by the running faucet, and Momo immediately pieces everything together.
"Baby?" she tries, quieter and softer this time, as she approaches Dahyun's dejected figure.
No answer, but something about Dahyun's posture straightens ever so slightly in an attempt to right herself before Momo becomes overly concerned for her well-being. Momo has seen it before, knows Dahyun's behavior to the bone. How her hands jump to life to seem busy, how her chest puffs up in an attempt to steady her breathing, how she swallows down the rest of the sobs to focus on holding her attention.
Yet Dahyun doesn't open her mouth. Her lips that are slightly moistened by the tears catching onto the corners remain tightly shut. She's dressed in her favorite hoodie and shorts. She hasn't said anything, texted or called, although Momo always urges Dahyun to let her know if anything bothers her while she is at the gym.
Momo keeps getting closer until they're standing side by side, both gazing into the sink filled with plates and glasses from the night before.
"Bad morning?" Momo asks.
Dahyun replies with a sigh through her nose. She can't bring herself to look at Momo and Momo knows that. So, Momo turns around and leans her back against the counter. Then, she quietly offers the girl her shoulder. To her relief and slight surprise, Dahyun follows along.
Dahyun leans back against Momo, nuzzling her face into the girl's collar without a word. Momo props her chin atop Dahyun's head, closing her eyes as she wraps an arm around Dahyun and holds her close. Dahyun gladly loses herself to Momo's kind embrace.
Dahyun hates being alone when she is in this state, Momo has observed. When her mind gets the best of her. When she begins to fall through the air and her self support collapses under her own weight. When she, the independent and reliant director of her own life, needs someone else to depend on.
But she becomes a living puzzle when she is like this, and Momo knows that too. Dahyun has the tendency to isolate herself and even physically push people away when she is caught up in her own mind. Her words become scathing, her actions avoidant, and no one is an exception. Not even herself. She believes that she is too much for other people to handle, for her family, for her group members, for her own girlfriend. She has always hurted alone and in silence.
