Chapter 25, Part 1 of Portrait
INDEX
Chapter 25 Part 1
Hyekyung sat sullenly on the couch, her arms tucked in tightly and the line of her mouth getting longer as her lips pressed together. She had been like this all day; everyone at school was abuzz about how Hyekyung and Dongjoo had FINALLY gotten together, but Hyekyung hadn't noticed. She was too busy being angry.
Hyemin attempted to blow her bangs off of her forehead but they stuck with the sweat and didn't budge. Once she brushed them off with her hand, Hyemin directed a pointed glare at Hyekyung.
"Why don't you get off your lazy bum and help?" Hyemin rolled up her T-shirt sleeves to her shoulders and crossed her arms, too.
"Why do we have to make things special for them? It's not like they did anything for us."
"Hyekyung..."
"No. I refuse. And don't give me all that crap about having to be respectful to special guests or whatever. I don't care."
"But Hyekyung..."
"No. I said no. I don't see why we have to have them come anyway. Why can't Halmoni just tell them that we don't want them here? I don't want to live in the same universe as them, much less the same home."
"Hyekyung, they're family..."
"No, they're not. Family cares for each other. There's love in a family. They don't love me, and I certainly don't love them."
Hyekyung smacked the sofa with both hands as she got up and stomped to her room.
Junho ran his fingers through his hair. Once again, he had stepped into an awkward situation at Hyekyung's house. The gate had been open as some rugs had been draped over it to air out the dust. Hyekyung's Halmoni had told him at Hyekyung's party to come over today to help clean and so, Junho had taken the open gate to be somewhat of a welcome gesture.
Apparently, Hyekyung and Hyemin weren't part of the welcoming committee, though. Hyemin heaved a sigh and turned to put the rags in her hand to the floor again when she noticed him
"What are you doing here?" A little bit of Hyemin's anger resonated in her voice, but she quickly switched to a smile.
Junho's hand went to his hair again as he chuckled nervously. "Your Halmoni told me to come to help since you were going to have guests over."
"Ah, so you decided to get on Halmoni's good side, eh? Smart cookie, considering your Hyekyung's boyfriend."
"I'm not - "
"You're not being friendly just for that reason? Whatever you say. But hey, one of the best ways for you to help and get on MY good side is to get Hyekyung out of her angry mood so she can help out."
"I - "
"Hurry up, what are you waiting for? Go to her room! Over this way, down the hallway, and last room to the right. Shoo!"
Hyemin got up from her crouching position and whacked Junho around the ankle with her rag.
Junho jumped and with a small bow and a meek "Yes", hurried down to Hyekyung's room.
Even though it was only a short distance to the room since the house was so small, a bazillion worries assaulted his brain. What the heck was he supposed to do? What was he going to say? How was he going to convince her to help?
All too quickly, he had arrived at her door. Junho gave a shifty look down the hallway to see if Hyemin was looking. She was. Hyemin stage-whispered, "Go in!" After a moment of thought, Hyemin added, "Leave the door open!"
Junho gulped and messed with his hair one last time before clenching his fist and knocking with "confidence" on Hyekyung's door.
"What?!" It sounded more like a bear was inside, not Hyekyung.
"...It's Junho...Can I come in?" Junho didn't want to admit it to himself, but he felt a tremor run down his spine. He could sense the hatred that edged Hyekyung's voice.
"Why?" Still that hatred.
Junho leaned into the door. "Please? Your sister is going to eat me..."
Hyekyung didn't answer. She sat at her desk, frozen just as she had been - with a family portrait in her hand, her eyes unable to take in anything because of the tears obscuring her vision, but not needing to, because she had stared at that portrait so deeply for so long that she could recall every tiny detail of it.
"Hyekyung?"
There's more love in the voice of this random stranger boy than from my so-called "family"... Hyekyung thought bitterly.
Hyekyung brushed her hand across her face and sniffed. She opened the drawer of her desk and gently placed the portrait inside. She gave it one last longing look and then closed the drawer. Even after clearing her throat, Hyekyung's voice was scratchy. "Come in."
Junho hesitated a second, thought wildly, What am I going to say to her?!, and then opened the door to enter.
"Close the door!" Hyekyung barked.
"But..." Junho remembered Hyemin's warning.
"CLOSE IT!" Hyekyung's eyes flashed with a menace that Junho didn't want to ever see again. He scrambled back and pulled the door shut. He hurried back into the center of the room where he stared at Hyekyung questioningly.
"Sit somewhere. On the bed. On the floor. Somewhere." Each sentence was chopped up.
Junho obeyed and sat on the bed.
Hyekyung's gaze rested on an empty space on a shelf. It didn't flicker over to him even when he spoke.
"So...do you want to talk about why you don't want to help clean?"
"No." Still, an unbroken stare at the empty spot on the shelf.
"Okay...do you just want to talk?"
"No."
Hyekyung suddenly stood up and walked out of the room.
Junho was utterly confused and in that state, he got up and followed her.
She went down the hallway and then instead of turning left into the kitchen where Hyemin was cleaning, she went out a back door on the right. Junho gave Hyemin an apologetic look and shrugged his shoulders in an "I-have-no-idea-what's-going-on" motion as he turned right, too.
But then again, did Junho ever have any idea what was going on when it came to Hyekyung?