Chapter 14 - 13. A Quiet Room
"Ugh..."
Seul-ah felt a wave of nausea before she even opened her eyes. When she did, a dull pain drummed at the back of her eyes and prompted her to close them again. She groaned and curled inside her blanket, feeling grateful that the light was dim enough to not hurt her eyes...
She froze and opened her eyes wide, brain whirring through the throbbing headache. Seul-ah, ever since returning to the past, had never slept without her lights fully on.
She gasped and immediately got up--only to keel over as she felt like her head was pricked with needles struck by a hammer. But she gritted her teeth and collected herself to look around and figure out where she was.
"Where am I?"
Just by looking at the bed she was sleeping on, it clearly wasn't her bedroom. The neat bed and pristine sheet...this standard arrangement...she was clearly in a hotel room. Seeing the slightly open door that showed another room outside told her it was a suite, too. She could see a little light coming beneath the curtain, which told her the day had changed already. But...
"How did I end up here?" Seul-ah narrowed her eyes--in confusion, but also because her head was throbbing so much.
And then, gradually, her memory returned. After pushing herself to get out and face the chief secretary, making sure she would indeed be sent abroad, she found herself extremely, extremely exhausted. She had to do a whole drama and acted like she couldn't believe she hadn't been re-admitted to S-university, making all kinds of trouble just to make sure those people would be so eager to send her away. She made a whole speech about what kind of shit she would do if she wasn't sent to somewhere decent--the whole shtick.
And it was tiring. She'd made sure to get some acting lessons once she was abroad.
On the last day before she was scheduled to leave, she took a taxi and stayed outside the columbarium for a long time. Oh, how she wanted to come inside and talk to her mother. But she held back.
Her mother had always been her weakness and her strength. It was for her she worked hard to be a good, praiseworthy child, but it was also for her that she endured all the mistreatment and harassment that her 'family' gave her. Your mother won't receive her allowance if you rebel; we'll send someone to hurt your mother; you don't want to make your mother sad, won't you?