At Long Last

A new addition

"...then it was basically sitting in for rehearsals, until the end of the work day. Where else did you go earlier?"

Se-ri did not reply, despite being right in front of him.

Spoon in hand but not quite scooping and eating, the usual sparkle in her eyes was muted.
Her usually lively gaze was soulless, fixed on nowhere in particular on the cotton crochet table runner between them.

Jeong Hyeok gently waved a hand in front of Se-ri's face, narrowing his eyes as she jumped ever so slightly, accidentally dropping her spoon back into her bowl of chicken stew with a soft clink.

"Oh! Sorry, you were saying?" Se-ri smiled brightly, though the warmth did not go beyond her lips.

Clearly, something out of the norm must have happened to her.

She had been oddly-distracted the entire evening.

Typically, she would be the one rattling on and on during meal times as he listened, but today was vastly different.

Even the quality of tonight's dinner was slightly off the mark. Se-ri could usually whip up a pretty mean chicken stew, but tonight's was strangely watery, with the carrot and potato cubes still rather hard.

She had also forgotten to add celery.

Not that he was complaining; Jeong Hyeok was far from being a discerning eater, but it was clear that Se-ri had started preparing dinner too late, or too hastily.

"Did something happen?" He went straight to the point.

An unreadable expression flashed across her face, before she defensively replied with a nonchalant smile, "What could possibly happen?"

Unbeknownst to Jeong Hyeok, Se-ri had done close to nothing since reading the letters from North Korea.

After the seemingly endless tears had dried, she had settled for sitting on the bench.

Just sitting, and watching the clouds go by.

Forming a stark contrast to the conflict within her heart was the perfect calm on the glassy surface of the lake.

At some points, her mind had raced with all sorts of thoughts and scenarios.

The remaining time had simply been spent in a mindless blur.

All she could remember was an expanse of turquoise, glistening in the sunlight.

Time passed the lone figure on the bench by, until it dawned upon her that she was left with less than an hour till Jeong Hyeok's return.

"I just thought...you seemed somewhat distracted."

Clearly, Jeong Hyeok was still on the topic.

"Oh, umm...I was just thinking about my sister-in-law and her baby. At 39 weeks pregnant, she is due to deliver anytime from now."

Busying herself with mouthfuls of stew, Se-ri fervently hoped that her lie was enough to distract Jeong Hyeok from asking further.

"Oh dear. Today's stew is a failure...it's way too bland. Should I add some salt..?" She grimaced.

Her bowl was half-full. She had actually eaten half of it without realizing that it was rather tasteless.

"Not at all. I think it's delicious." He replied with a small smile, before taking another generous mouthful.

To Jeong Hyeok, that was a dead giveaway. Something was indeed weighing heavily on Se-ri's mind, though it was also clear that she wasn't quite willing to address the topic.