Vengeful Desires

32-

The following day, Yun woke up to find Amirah sitting transfixed in front of the television, staring at the flickering screen with an unsettling intensity.

As Yun padded into the living area, she gathered her tousled hair into a messy ponytail. "Ah, you're up early," she remarked with a casual lightness that Amirah did not reciprocate.

An uneasy silence stretched between them for a suspended moment before Yun tried again. "Everything okay?"

Finally, Amirah seemed to rouse from her trance-like reverie. She turned haunted eyes towards Yun, mouth opening and closing once before the words finally manifested as a rasping murmur.

"Yun unnie...you'd tell me anything, right?"

Yun nodded slowly, holding Amirah's turbulent gaze as she crossed the room towards the kitchen area. "Of course," she reassured. "Why do you ask?"

Rather than respond directly, Amirah swiveled back towards the television and jabbed a button on the remote. The screen flickered, audio suddenly blaring to life - a tinny, muffled voice screaming out in anguished tones.

"Appa...is he really dead?"

The words lanced through the stillness like shards of ice. Yun choked on the mouthful of water she'd just taken, sputtering and coughing violently as she struggled to regain her composure.

When she finally lifted her reddened gaze back towards Amirah.

Amirah jabbed the play button again, lips peeling back in a snarl of revulsion as the familiar voice crackled through the tinny speakers once more, as she fast forward.

"Just what I said - the boy was already gone by the time they got him here?"

"Surely that's not the same Dr. Yi... talking about my Dami..." she rasped, head shaking minutely as if warding off the sickening realization blooming in her mind.

Yun moved closer, brow furrowed with concern as she took in Amirah's increasingly agitated state. "Amirah-ah, let's think this through carefully," she urged in a mollifying tone.

But Amirah was already shaking her head vehemently.

"Funny thing is, I don't want to think it through, unnie," she bit out, gently. Utterly gentle utterly soft. "He was going to meet his match anyways, so why don't we just start settling things early, hmm?"

Rising jerkily from the couch, Amirah fixed Yun with a look of wild-eyed desperation. Yun instantly moved to block her path, hands outstretched in a placating gesture.

"Amirah...Amirah, look at me. Hmm? Listen." She fought to keep her voice level and soothing despite the maelstrom rapidly unspooling before her eyes. "You can't just go off half-cocked like this. We need to take a breath and approach this rationally..."

But Amirah paid her no heed. Whirling away, she moved towards the entrance.

Yun could only watch, stunned into momentary inaction, as Amirah stormed towards the foyer without a backward glance.

Snapping out of her daze, the older woman scrambled to follow - barely pausing to slip her feet into a pair of shoes before tearing out the front door after her friend.

"Fuck, unnie! Where are you when I need you?" Yun growled in frustration, desperately trying to reach Seul-hee on her phone as she hurried across the courtyard towards the waiting car.

But Amirah had already climbed inside, jabbing the tinted window control to seal herself off from Yun's entreaties. Cradling the phone against her ear with one hand, Yun used the other to pound fruitlessly against the reinforced glass.