It was seven in the night as Jin-Ah arrived from school and had almost finished her homework. She sat in the dark on her light brown chair as she used her calculator to confirm as she leaned back onto the light brown desk with a lamp on the corner and her book next to it.
'I hate mathematics.' Jin-Ah thought as she finally finished the last of her sums and closed the book with a sigh of relief, leaning back on her chair and stretching too far back that she fell down head first onto the carpet that softened the impact of the fall.
The loud thud that came from her room made her grandmother flinch as she was setting up the table for dinner.
"What was that?" She asked as she slowly rushed to the open door to Jin-Ah's room. She found Jin-Ah wearing grey sweatpants and a baggy, long sleeved black T-shirt as she clutched her head while rolling on the floor.
"Grandmother, call an ambulance. It hurts." Jin-Ah cried. Her grandmother clicked her tongue and shook her head as she stared at her rolling on the floor like a silly fool.
"If you're finished fooling around, come and eat." Her grandmother said, turning around and walking back to the kitchen. Yeon-Hee scoffed while rubbing her head and followed her grandmother into the kitchen to eat.
The place they resided in was a four room house. Two bedrooms, a single room for a bathroom and toilet, and a kitchen with the thin walls decorated with a white and pink floral wallpaper. Jin-Ah sat down as her grandmother placed a bowl of rice and various side-dishes in front of her.
"Thank you for the food." Jin-Ah quickly mumbled as she began eating. Her grandmother looked at her and smiled as she walked back to fetch some water.
"Don't eat too fast or you'll choke." Her grandmother said, walking back with two cups of water.
About halfway into their dinner. Her grandmother stopped eating and looked at Yeon-Hee before asking something:
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No. Why are you asking?" Jin-Ah replied in between drinking some water and reverting back to finishing her food.
"No reason, I just thought because you've reached that age you'd have someone." Her grandmother replied, stabbing her bowl of rice with some chopsticks.
"There's nobody so don't worry," Jin-Ah replied, remembering something as she asked, "Did you manage to give the side-dishes to Sun-Jae?"
"Yeah, I found him and gave him the dishes before we discussed some things." Her grandmother replied.
"What did you talk about?" Jin-Ah asked, eating some rice.
"I just asked if he has a girlfriend or something." Her grandmother replied. Jin-Ah immediately stopped eating and stared at her grandmother sceptically.
'She wouldn't, right?' Jin-Ah wondered, but would not put it past her grandmother.
"Don't tell me you asked him just so you could set us up or something?" Jin-Ah asked in a stern but curious tone. Her grandmother simply sat up and walked to the kitchen to grab something, ignoring Jin-Ah's questions as well as answering it.
"Grandmother!" Jin-Ah yelled in shock.
"What?! What's the issue?!" Her grandmother yelled back.
"I'm still in high school and he's old." Jin-Ah replied, dropping her chopsticks.
"Stop being fussy. I'm not always going to be around to take care of you."
"Don't speak like that. You a-" Jin-Ah suddenly stopped mid-sentence as she heard something coming from the front door. It was like a stiff shifting sound resounding from the door knob as if someone was trying to unlock it. Jin-Ah immediately stood up and looked at her grandmother.
"Grandmother, call the police." Jin-Ah said, walking to one of the drawers, pulling it open and grabbing a kitchen knife as she began to shake. Her grandmother was confused as she was about to ask when she was cut off.
"Hurry!" Jin-Ah yelled. Her grandmother wasted no time and rushed to her bedroom and quickly fetched her phone when she suddenly heard the sound of the door being opened as Jin-Ah screamed.
"Don't come any closer!"
***
At the police station, sitting at his desk. Sun-Jae suddenly got a call from Jin-Ah's grandmother and picked it up.
"Hello?" Sun-jae asked.
"Sun-jae! He's here. Come quic-" Jin-Ah's grandmother suddenly stopped talking as a man's voice could be heard before the call got cut. Sun-Jae felt a sense of dread wash over him as he quickly stood up and took off from the office and ran to get a taxi.