karaoke machine | p.js

2.17

━━ December 2020

"We could arrest them," Inhyuk said as he sat down at his desk in the police station. It was a quiet day at the station, it had been a while since Naerin came to see her brother, but recently she had been visiting more and more.

Naerin looked up at her brother from the chair she had pulled over. A skeptical expression made its way onto her face, replacing the dejected one she wore earlier. She knew he was talking about the people that were sending her threats and hate mail but she still found his suggestion out of the ordinary for him.

"You're literally a police officer, you know you can't do that," Naerin said as she gave one last glance at the hateful comments that spammed her phone. She put it face down on Inhyuk's desk and rested her head face down into her arms. "I'm so tired," she mumbled.

Inhyuk gave a long look at his little sister. It wasn't often that he saw her this way. She was usually always upbeat even when she wasn't feeling her best. Seeing Naerin hurt and dejected by the constant hate she received was something that pulled at Inhyuk's heart.

It had been much worse earlier in the month when the news first broke that Jisung had a soulmate. Now as December started to roll around, the comments became sparse but not completely nonexistent.

Naerin had seen less and less of Jisung as the month stretched on. At first, it made her anxious but eventually, it started to become her normal. The long break in between text messages, the occasional phone call, and the very rare meetings that were now almost always accompanied by one of Jisung's managers.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Inhyuk asked.

"About two weeks ago," Naerin replied, "I've been taking my medicine though,"

"Has he called?"

"He's been busy," Naerin replied.

"Have you called?"

"Again, he's been busy," Naerin sat up this time and let out a gentle sigh, "I don't want to bother him."

"You should call him," Inhyuk said as he started to go through some files on his desk. Ultimately he threw them into the drawer after deeming them unimportant.

"He probably won't pick up," Naerin said, a disappointed look making its way onto her face.

"Or he might pick up," Inhyuk replied, "You never know,"

"Yeah?" Naerin asked as she looked at her phone. After a short internal battle with herself, she took a deep breath and picked up her phone to dial Jisung's number.

One ring went by, then another, and then another until the call ultimately went to voicemail. Naerin wasn't surprised but it didn't make the disappointment lessen. She couldn't even try and hide the dejected expression on her face from her brother.

"It's alright," Naerin said as she tried to muster a smile to give Inhyuk even tho she knew he could see right through her, "He's probably busy and besides, I'm the older of the two of us, I can handle myself," she said the last sentence like she was trying to convince herself.

Inhyuk pressed his lips into a thin line. He had seen Naerin do this type of act many times. Even though she was the youngest sibling she had always been one to take care of herself.

She rarely let Inhyuk help her with anything, and it was even rarer for her to receive help from their parents. Their father never really supported her dreams of becoming a singer and their mom was too caught up playing the role of a happy wife to really notice.

Despite their age gap, Inhyuk knew his sister well. The last time he had seen her like this was when she was a trainee. The false hope that laced through her voice despite how absolutely tired she looked wasn't something that was foreign to Inhyuk.