Lie Again! Chapter 95

<Chapter 95. Happily Ever After (4)>

 

Noisy chatter leaked through from behind her father’s voice. It seemed he was calling from the shop. It was probably around 10:00 AM in Korea.

 

“Mhm. The break started this week. Are you at the store, Dad? Where’s Mom? Is she with you?”

 

—Hold on a second, Jin-ah. Ah, we don’t sell those individually, only by the box. Yes.

 

He must have a lot of customers. Jin looked up at the castle quietly while waiting for her busy father. The voice broadcasting dreams and hope to the spectators was nearing its end in that short interval.

 

—Now go. Follow your dreams.

 

Whiz.

 

A white light sliced through the silent night sky, drawing a semi-circle over the castle. Jin let out a soft exclamation of awe at the scene, which looked exactly like the opening of an animation.

 

—Reach out and find it, your…

 

The song that had paused began to flow again. It was the melody leading into the final part of the performance. Just as she was listening to the song with a mix of joy and a hint of regret, a voice calling her name echoed from the receiver.

 

—I’m sorry, daughter. I’m out of my mind trying to look after the shop by myself.

 

“Alone? Where did Mom go?” 

 

—Your mom is at the hospital right now…

 

Dad, answering while dealing with a customer, came to a sudden halt. His flustered state was transmitted directly through the phone.

 

“…The hospital? What hospital?”

 

—Reach out and find it, your…

 

The singing interfered with the conversation. Unable to hear her father’s voice clearly, Jin turned her phone volume to the maximum. 

 

“Dad?”

 

As there was no answer from the receiver, Jin tapped her lips anxiously. Dad. When she urged him again, a frustrated sigh returned.

 

—I suppose you should know, too.

 

Her father’s voice was worn thin. The exhaustion that the man had never once let slip to his daughter while working the grueling retail business was now impossible to hide.

 

Jin could only watch as an inexplicable sense of dread began to crawl up her legs.

 

—Reach out and find it, your…

 

Be quiet. Jin stared blankly at a character on the castle wall who was singing and spinning around as if nothing were more joyful, acting distractingly energetic.

 

Whiz. A red firework slowly cut through the sky.

 

—Jin-ah, your mom collapsed. 

 

Boom. A series of fireworks, sounding as if they were pouring everything out, shook the sky. Fireworks of every color were reflected in her dark eyes. Amidst the thunderous cheers, Jin stood perfectly still, clutching her phone. It didn’t feel real.

 

Did I buy a souvenir for Ivy?

 

A trivial thought suddenly forced its way in. The sense of dissonance between the dreamlike scene before her and the news from the phone kept pushing Jin several steps back from reality, causing her to blink.

 

Then, she suddenly felt a warm heat threading through her fingers and turned her head.

 

“Let’s come back again. Next time, we’ll ditch the interlopers and make it just the two of us.” 

 

The boy whispered softly in her ear. His green eyes curved gently. Jin stared blankly at the boy, who was smiling even more brightly than the fireworks raining down like powdered stars.

 

But you don’t even like magic or adventures.

 

She wanted to say that, but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out.

 

—Happily Ever After!

 

The final firework, the largest and most brilliant one yet, exploded across the night sky.

 

* * *

 

March.

 

Joey asked.

 

“Is something bothering you lately?”

 

Jin, who had been absently stirring her soup, set down her untouched spoon.

 

“…Nothing. Just studying for exams.”

 

“Ugh. You’re already preparing for exams? It’s barely been any time since break ended!”

 

“It won’t feel like ‘already’ once March is over.”

 

Amanda, who was quietly turning the pages of a book, answered in place of Jin to Joey’s exasperation.

 

“…I’m losing my appetite.”

 

Jin managed a small smile at Dustin’s mutter. However, the lip muscles she forced upward couldn’t hold for long and soon dropped back down.

 

* * *

 

A Saturday in April, as the weather began to grow increasingly hot. Evan Ruth headed toward the shaded backyard to retrieve a croquet ball that had rolled far away.

 

“Hey, Jin—”

 

He was about to raise his hand and greet Jin, whom he spotted standing in the shadow of the nursing home building, but he hesitated and quieted his voice. The atmosphere was unusual.

 

Jin was talking to someone on the phone, repeatedly brushing her hair back. The way she paced around throughout the call, unable to stand still, looked unstable even at a glance.

 

“I, I… Korea… definitely… less…”

 

Jin spoke to the unknown caller. He tried to listen carefully, but he couldn’t understand her. With his disjointed Korean skills, the best he could do was pick up a few words here and there.

 

I should have studied more if I knew it would come to this.

 

Hesitating whether to interrupt or not, he gave up on bothering Jin and backed away. Intending to ask her quietly when he found an opening, he turned the corner of the building and jerked back in surprise when he saw a figure leaning against the wall.

 

“Ah, you scared me.”

 

The man who had been volunteering here with them for some time was there. His face, which usually wore a smile, was completely expressionless.

 

He glanced at Evan Ruth with sunken eyes and turned his head away. Just as Ruth was about to pass Evan Butterfield, feeling awkward at the blatant dismissal, a voice suddenly flew his way.

 

“Don’t pretend to notice, and stay out of it.”

 

Ruth realized that was a warning regarding Jin’s business. He looked back at Butterfield and shrugged his shoulders. He could have provoked him by saying it was his friend’s business too, but instead, he walked away in silence.

 

Ruth decided to accept the maxim that one should never get between a couple.

 

* * *

 

The night was deep.

 

Ivy, staggering out of the bathroom in a half-sleep, turned her head when she heard whispering from a corner of the kitchen.

 

Through her half-closed vision, she saw her mother and Jin. The voices of the two conversing drifted over faintly.

 

“…Is there any way…”

 

“This seems to be for the best…”

 

“Is your mother alright for now…”

 

“Fortunately, it was just simple exhaustion… at the hospital…”

 

Her mother, looking intently at Jin, pulled her into a tight hug. Playing without me. Ivy, who pouted her lips in a daze, couldn’t win against the overwhelming drowsiness and let out a long yawn.

 

I’ll ask her to play tomorrow. With that resolution, Ivy turned and went back to her room. The sandman, making her eyelids heavy, dripped down onto the child’s footsteps.

 

* * *

 

At the end of April, the term exams that had made Dustin lose his appetite suddenly descended upon Crawford.

 

“You wrote it well.”

 

Meeting Jin in front of the lockers, Amanda handed over an algebra notebook from her bag.

 

“Ah, yeah.”

 

Jin, who had been busily scanning a handout even while packing books for her next class, took the notebook distractedly and buried her head back down.

 

Amanda watched Jin quietly. She remembered how Jin had been during the last exam period.

 

This friend, who had a habit of doing everything well in advance, had never acted this hurried. She looked like someone who simply didn’t have enough time to study.

 

“And this. It was stuck inside.”

 

Amanda held out a piece of paper that had been tucked in the notebook. On the single-page printout, beneath a large emblem at the top, was text full of Korean. Judging by the stiff tables and numbers filling the page, it looked like an official document from somewhere.

 

“…Oh, thanks.”

 

Lifting her head again, Jin checked the paper and took it, folding it in half. She looked calm on the surface, but Amanda keenly noticed not only the hand that had momentarily faltered but also the flash of fluster across her face.

 

However, she pretended not to notice and silently looked away.

 

* * *

 

And then, in May, the final 10th-grade exams and the transfer exams all came to an end.