"M-Me? I-"
Just when he was about to brag it further, suddenly something caught his eye.
Squinting his eyes, he wriggled his fingers, "Wait- Those clothes, those we-!"
"- I got soaked!"
Newmoon answers were short and cold. Then, he swiftly entered inside.
A few seconds later, he tilted his head outside the door. The road was heavily drenched with the rain and the sudden cold breeze hit his face. Newmoon wasn't lying.
Shutting down the door, Aiden immediately followed in his footsteps too!
"You should quickly take a hot shower! I'll prepare-
"- No Need!"
From the moment he entered, all of his attention and concentration were on the whereabouts of the grandma. His actions were so obvious that Aiden figured it out instantly.
Even knowing every bit of the reasons Aiden could just stand there helplessly and set out the progress of his thought patterns silently. He rubbed his fingers against each other, inhaled the fresh oxygen as if to build up the courage, and finally opened his mouth with a bit of hesitation.
"J-Jina noona called me earlier."
As soon as newmoon heard the word 'Jina' his whole movement and wondering gazes all came to halt.
This time for sure Aiden was taking his time speaking up with him. And why wouldn't he be? Agreed or not, the main root cause of this very situation started from his family members which he too was part of it. That's the fact which he was aware of it too! So, considering the environment, it was natural to be nervous and awkward for him.
"She was asking about you!"
"…"
Hearing this, Newmoon who was all frozen up in the middle place of the sitting room unexpectedly walked towards the bathroom.
"?"
It was the reaction Aiden had both expected as well as least expected too. Before coming to interact with him, Aiden had predicted a few assumptions about the consequences and the changes in him but he didn't know it will cross this far.
Once again, Aiden walked in the same footsteps as newmoon.
While newmoon pretended to be untouched and detached by his words of him, Aiden still could feel the indescribable pain in the atmosphere.
Before taking off his shirt, he stopped and slightly turned his head back.
"…Rest assured, they are already in the middle of their sleep!"
"…"
As expected newmoon didn't answer. Instead, he stripped his shirt and put it into the washing machine.
While Aiden lowered his eyes and confessed, " It's been a while since they were so wasted like today!"
Turning a deaf ear to him, Newmoon was busy going back and forth between his room and bathroom for no reason. It clearly showed how Aiden was being ignored. However, who knew Aiden would too become a man of steel when it came to this sort of thing? Neither he spoke nor he left for a long time. He waited for the newmoon to be inside the bathroom. In the carefree life of his whole life, it was the first time he felt so much suffocated and guilty. Naturally, it was a piece of cake for him to master the art of communication but this time it failed.
Finally, after a long break of silence, he eventually let out,
"She informed me your phone was out of reach and was unavailable! So, she left a message to call back her right away when you returned."
"…"
Once more, he was unaffected.
Now Aiden was running out of patience. All this time it was only him talking about her, without getting any response at all, trying to get too close to him and there was a newmoon who was acting mute and giving off cold shoulders.
As if it's been enough for him, Newmoon walked back to the door silently, and just when he was about to close the door quickly Aiden rushed his hands and stopped the door right into the middle way at right time.
"She told me it was urgent!"
He desperately clung to the door with his tone anxious and despair highlighted on his whole face.
Newmoon, "?"
He widened his eyes in surprise and once again pulled the door with extra force in it.
Aiden too used the same equal force to balance it off. Little veins popped out in his wrists.
"Maybe it's truly urgent if she says so?"
Newmoon, "…"
To be honest, Aiden knew he was crossing the line by being forceful against him and instead he should leave him alone for some time cause it was natural to do so but at the same time, he was being held by the request of his noon 'Jina'. He was being tied up in between. And on top of that, the bloodlines he carried of the grandma made him feel even more guilty.
He clenched the door more tightly. His eyes reflected ' I won't let go until you agreed!'.
Staring for a while, at last, he hummed in agreement, " I'll.. later-!"
Before he could finish his words, he felt something in his hands.
It was a phone.
Handling it to him Aiden exclaimed in an impatient yet relieved tune, "I guess, your phone must be dead the fact Jina Noona can't reach up to you! So here it is!"
He retracted his hands back.
"You can use mine. And once you're finished you can give me back."
Waving him off, he closed the half door in excitement saying, "Take your time! The more it is longer the more it is better!"
With a 'Thud' sound, the door closed.
And in the end, newmoon was all alone by himself.
With complicated brows, he dropped his eyelids as he gazed at Aiden's phone in a way as if he fell into the abyss.
…
With a 'splash' sound he lifted his hands from the bathtub and rest his hands to support his head. He silently stared at the bubbles in front of him.
"…"
The next second, he used the same hand to lift the bubbles from the surface of the water and looked through them. While the water kept on leaking from the middle gap of each finger, on the other side, his mind was on something else. He slanted his gaze onto Aiden's phone which was lying beside him.
Frowning his brows he picked up the phone.
A moment later, he finally picked up the phone. As though Aiden had already predicted this kind of scenario or he was carefree and naïve, surprisingly there was no any locked profile. One slide and it was unlocked. Without much thought, he straightly goes to the phone contacts where 'Jina noona' were listed on the top of the received call. There seemed to be much more detailed information about it but he dismissed it all.
He called Jina.
~Ring~Ring~
It hasn't even been 10 seconds since he cut off the call in the middle of the call as if something holds him back. He hurriedly put down the phone to the right side of him in a way as though he had never touched it let alone the calling part.
A 'Thump~ Thump' sound echoed in the entire bathroom. His heartbeat was escalating abnormally. Soon before it gets worst he quickly calms himself down by inhaling and exhaling his breath.
Now that he was in his right state of mind, he carefully observed the actions he took it a minute ago. He began to wonder from where did he get the courage and impulse to take such a decision.
"Sigh!"
The water level rises as he gradually slides down his shoulders and the rest of his body until his head laid flat on the edge of the bathtub. His eyes fall on the white ceiling. A memory swept him away.
A lot happened that day. Compared to it, A hot bath couldn't even reach a tip to warm down his cold heart. Internally there was a long debate going on with his thoughts and in the end, he couldn't settle down his mind which pushed him to be silent. It all gave him a headache. Slowly, He slid his head underwater in a procedure to calm his head.
A voice whispered inside his mind,
"I'm not angry with her. I'm just-
He was just unable to face her.
And it's not because of the reason why she hide it from him but of how he wasn't able to see through it, How he couldn't sense a missing piece of their behavior and let it all fall on his noona's shoulders to handle.
Wait- come to think of it. Had he ever tried to show any intention to see through it in the first place?
It was the question that was keep on swirling and resurfacing in his pool of thought. Perhaps it was due to his carelessness..that he couldn't find out sooner and save her? Or at its worst, he was the main sole reason that compelled Jina to marry into such a family and keep on shutting her mouth for the sake of their family? As weird and strange as it sounds, only newmoon knew how much of it holds the truth. He went on and on being bound by his thoughts.