Almost blind | Haobin

64| Out of the house |64

Yujin arrived home far later than he had intended, the clock nearing eight as he slipped his key into the heavy front door. The familiar creak announced his entrance into the vast, dimly lit house - a house that, despite the promise of early summer warmth outside, always seemed to carry a chill in its walls, a stillness that pressed down like an unspoken judgment. The air smelled faintly of polished wood and cold marble, sterile and impersonal, as though the place had been built for appearances rather than comfort.

He stepped into the hallway, the sharp echo of his shoes against the polished floor reverberating through the emptiness.
"Mom? Dad?" his voice called out climbing the high ceilings, bouncing off the walls until it dissolved into silence. Footsteps answered him. It was light, quick and clicking. He immediately knew it was her. His mother's heels always struck the ground with a kind of precision. Its a rhythm that felt both elegant and intimidating. The knot in his chest loosened slightly. His mother could be harsh, yes, but she was at least less explosive than his father. If one of them had to be home, she was the lesser danger.

She emerged from the dining hall. That cavernous room his father pretentiously called a "cafeteria". She was wearing a slim black dress that hugged her narrow frame, the fabric catching the faint glow of the chandelier. Her hair was pulled up in a sleek twist, though a few rebellious strands had fallen around her face, softening what would otherwise have been an unyielding figure.

"Yujin," she said, her voice sharper than the click of her heels. Something in her tone made his stomach drop. He could hear it immediately - the anger was directed squarely at him. She was clearly mad. "What's going on?" he asked, his eyes scanning her expression.

"This," she replied coldly, holding up several crumpled sheets of paper, their edges curling from having been handled too roughly. Yujin recognized the black leather binding still hanging from them like torn skin. His diary.

His breath hitched. "You went into my room?" His voice cracked in disbelief, almost defensive. He stepped forward to take it back but her grip tightened, her arm pulling it out of his reach. "Don't you dare tell me what I can or can't do in my own house!" she snapped, her sudden volume slamming into him like a physical blow.

She flipped the diary open, her manicured finger stabbing at the pages. Yujin's eyes darted down, and his blood ran cold. She had opened it to his notes on the Julson case - interviews, testimonies, fragments of overheard conversations, details about Taesan, contact names and numbers, even his private thoughts about what he'd uncovered.

"You're involved in this?" Her voice was like glass breaking, each word sharp enough to cut.

This was exactly what he had feared. Not the police. Not Julson's people. His parents. His parents discovering that he had dipped his hands into something so controversial, so volatile, something that could - and would - drag their carefully cultivated family name through the mud. Again. And once again, it would be because of him.

"Mom, it's not-"

"Not what?" she cut him off, her voice rising until it filled the cold expanse of the hall. "Not disgraceful? Not humiliating? You're dragging our name through the dirt over something that is none of your concern! Why are you shoving your ugly nose into other people's business?" She flung her free hand in the air, pacing in a short, tight line before glaring at him again. "You are such a disappointment, Yujin."

The words hit like a slap. His hands curled into fists. "A disappointment?" he fired back, his voice trembling but fierce. "You and my dad are friends with a predator! Someone who used vulnerable patients like they were disposable! You think I'm the disgrace? Look at yourselves!"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "How dare you speak to your own mother like this? The mother who gave you life, who raised you to-"

"-to look the other way?" Yujin's voice rose, years of swallowed frustration breaking through. "To stay silent while people get hurt, as long as our precious name stays clean? That's what you raised me for?"