ACCIDENTAL

- thirty eight -

time - 10:45AM
day - february 5th

she sat us both down on this big, brown leather couch. the woman sits across from us, on an armchair of the same color. she appears to be staring at us, with a lot on her mind.

"that's insane." the woman says, her face appeared to look focused. "both of you look just like them." changkyun and i gazed at each other and back at the woman.

"them?"

the woman takes a deep sigh. "kim hana and park woohyun.... joonwoo's biological parents." she looks away, with a distress look."

"are you related to them somehow? do you know where they are?" changkyun further interrogates the woman in front of us.

"i'm... hanuel's older sister. i found it odd when you two came to the door, since they left weeks ago and never came back. the appearance is very uncanny." she peers over to me. "but, you, look like an exact copy of her." to which she smiles. and of course, i smiled back.

"did they leave you anything at all?" i asked, and she nods her head. she gets up and walks away to another room. a minute later, she comes back with a piece of paper. she hands it over to us.

"the letter... left me in shock. i lived with the both of them for years. they disappeared and left me the deed to the house, their will.... everything." she says. "i tried to contact them, but their phones haven't been picking them up. this later came by today, but i haven't opened it."

changkyun was motioning as if he was asking to open the envelope, and she nods. he carefully opens the envelope to reveal a piece of paper inside. he takes it out, unfolds it and reads it aloud:

to choi hani,

please do not call us, and don't tell mom or dad either. we have given you the deed to the house and our wills. by now, we have decided to run away. the reason why we did so was to find joonwoo. we both lost him as he wandered around the area we were all unfamiliar in. we looked over for him but we couldn't find him. if you do find him, just text us and we will come right back. take care.

from,
choi hwan and choi haneul

changkyun looks up at the woman, who is supposedly hani, joonwoo's mom's sister. he looks worried and concerned.

"you guys asked about joonwoo... is he with you guys?"

changkyun doesn't respond for at least a minute. "yes, he is with us." he releases a sigh, looking at me.

"we've been taking care of him. changkyun found him at least a month or two ago. he even filed for custody since he couldn't find joonwoo's parents." i said, while she says nothing and continues to listen to my words. "he is currently at a school trip and will be back on the 7th."

"do we text them?" hani asks.

i was about to say something but changkyun interrupts and voices over me. "we'll think about it."

"changkyun..."

"i'm sorry, but i have grown attached to joonwoo and i don't intend on giving him away."

"changkyun, he has parents looking for him. they have searched-"

"i know that... i know we've been trying to come here and talk to his parents. but this isn't what i expected. if you want to give him away jiyeon, then fine. text them, and they'll come back for him. then we won't ever see him again. then i won't see you again, because then you wouldn't have a purpose to be around me. we're only together just because of joonwoo."

frustration and anger rushed through me. i didn't want to slap him, so i got up and ran towards the door. i opened the knob and continued to run. i couldn't take it all. these mixed feelings i had... was too much. i wanted to escape...

i wanted to escape everything.

i wanted to escape him.