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"Dad''
Nari's hand circled around the brass knob that led into a small open plan apartment situated in the lesser-known parts of Seoul. The less bright and more run-down areas that tended to be overlooked. It was quaint, with loose pieces of wallpaper beginning to chip at the seams, the roof sagging from rain, and windows tinted a sickly yellow. A small kitchen was nestled in the crook of the home. Two bedrooms and one bathroom that could only occupy one person at a time and if Nari so much as held her arms out they'd reach either end of the walls.
There was no TV, just a small radio that played low melodies that was occasionally interrupted by a breaking news alert before retreating back to instrumental hymns. Despite constantly having noise, the Byun house was always and irrevocably silent. There was no life within its walls, and she was believed to be the root of it.
"Dad" Nari called again. Dropping the green plastic bag with groceries onto the wooden countertop that had begun showing its first signs of mould before divulging further into the residence.
Nari's father, Byun In-su, used to be a handsome man, was now the shell of a man she knew him to be. His once wispy brunette curls were ashened to a lifeless grey, strands missing revealing the aged ridden skin beneath.
He looked sickly.
Deep and heavy purple eyebags dropped down to his cheek. Pretty brown eyes now almost black that would stare emptily at the unlit hearth collecting dust. A knitted blanket draped over his hunched shoulders. Skin and bone he was, a skeleton of someone she had looked up to all her life.
Byun In-su used to be a vibrant man, who dotted on his children and adored his wife so much that Nari would grow up believing was the purest form of love one could share. Her father, who's eyes now held a glaze obscured with sadness and grief, would not even look at her. Her father had not even glanced at her since the night they lost the fourth member of their family. He had fallen so deep into his grief, he couldn't do anything. It then became Nari's job to provide and try to salvage what was left of her broken family.
