𝐂 𝐀 𝐌 𝐁 𝐈 𝐎 𝐍 | ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ [𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘶𝘣𝘶𝘴]

𝐕𝐈𝐈

Weeks passed after that call between the teacher and Areum. They had met countless times, talked about the nightmares they had and the possible ways to banish their demons for the second time. What made that feat harder and more intricate than the first one they both already lived, was that they didn't have an Ouija board, which meant that they weren't the ones that evoked those demons. Basically, they didn't have the starting point, they just found themselves hurled in the middle of what they could easily call a living hell.

However, Yeosang and Areum weren't the only ones living a hell, at that moment. San became weirdly and painfully quiet after that afternoon, when who he thought was his daughter turned out to be someone else's. He wasn't angry with Areum, he wasn't able to be mad at her and he knew (and somehow, hoped) that she had told the truth, that Hee-Young was his daughter and that she had never hooked up with another man during their relationship.

Jieun, instead, attempted to show her support and her love by being his shadow, following him everywhere he went without being too nosey. Just like San, her behaviour wasn't dictated by lacking trust towards her husband. Rather, she only wanted to check he was safe and his well being immaculate.

As for Hee-Young, she grew up in a blink of an eye and, the last time Areum had seen her, she looked like a twelve years old girl. How the woman's heart crashed on the floor every time she saw the girl strolling around the house looking every day more like a woman, missing every milestone that built every child's growth.

And how Mr. Kang froze on his feet as soon as he spotted Areum and an unknown girl holding her hand at the entrance of the campus. The man had squeezed his eyes into thin lines, focusing on the girl but without managing to give her face a name. That was the first day Areum had found a grown up, twelve years old Hee-Young nibbling at her breakfast in the kitchen.

Yeosang had reached the couple with cautious steps, his nails dug in the skin of his hand as he held on his leather brown bag. He stopped in front of Areum and let his eyes swing from her to the girl. The latter had long, wavy, and corvine hair with a hairpin decorated with plastic, white pearls. She had Areum's eyes, big and dark like the night, and San's cheekbones, high and well-defined. She was looking at her surroundings, lingering her attention a little longer on every male student that walked in front of her.

Mr. Kang's eyes met hers and a shiver filled his skin with small goosebumps. The girl, on the other hand, remained bewitched by his stunning beauty, her chin almost fell on the ground. And Yeosang noticed it as if the feelings were clearly written on her forehead for him to read. The man, moved his glance away from her, to place it back on Areum.

"Who's this girl, Miss. Yoon?"

He asked without moving his eyes from the woman, feeling, instead, the burning gaze of the girl on his face. He hated catching all those attentions from women, it made him feel uncomfortable and studied. 

The woman's pupils shook and her eyes turned off, becoming glassy and filled with tears of pain and desperation.

"It's Hee-Young."