After weeks in the warmth of the house, the air was shockingly cold when she set her first strides outside. She struggled to keep up with the cold, not wanting it to catch her. Only her winter platform pumps did not help the process. As a result, her breath came in short bursts, and then without she even realized, she was already in the back of a large city bus, engulfed by the huge leather seats. She tried getting a hold on herself by projecting her breathing verse, and then she looked at a small ticket in her hand. Eyes widened, she got no idea how she passed the intimidating display on the ticketing machine without language difficulty since Japanese ticketing machine was no foreigner-friendly. She blinked twice.

What was happening earlier? Did she just ditch her fiancé and feel very much superior and confident all of a sudden? She got no clue.

As she told herself to think properly, the bus had begun to move off into the Tokyo traffic with a low purr. She glanced at the thin sheet on her grip and studied her stop. It was written in two digits of number and she swore she could have turned insane because of that. What damn place did she actually press for her stop?

She shut her eyes in regret. Her fiancé should have not had this impact on her.

            “This will end soon.” She said repetitively.

Well, at least she was finally out of her so-called cage; and the house, too. Staying in Japan for more than a week with no access to the world but to stay untouched inside the ‘nest’ was plainly no fun. Jongin was busy with his life and her only acquintance was his family who had come twice to see them, so the previous thought of making the trip a runaway from her hectic days in hospital slowly faded away. Oh, she should laugh at herself for that.

Since Jongin had his own world here, so why didn’t make her own, too? Nah, she was leaving in two days anyway.

The ride felt ridiculously faster than she actually had expected. Her stop was approaching as she finally saw the matching number on the display above the driver with the one she had on her ticket. She pressed one of the buttons on the wall to signal the driver that she wished to get off at the stop  without having the slightest idea of what place it was.

Just as soon as she got off from the bus, the sound of her phone startled her. She quickly took it out of her bag and saw Inhwa’s name on the caller ID. She picked it up and was welcomed by the voice of the infamous Walking Disaster asking her why she took forever to come—to which she lied for the answer.

According to the tourist information she had managed to found after a random walk, she was exactly at East Shibuya and she had told the desk woman regarding her destination. Thank’s to her English, she was told to take another bus or a subway if necessary.

She exhaled. Today, she was all positive. She would come to see his family whatever it takes. Surely, it would not be easy to reach her destination due to her lack of information and her confusion toward Japanese transportation lane. But, nothing was easy anyway, when it came to her relationship and Kim Jongin. So, no worry.

She managed to survive by the time she arrived at the house although it was too cold in a very devilish way she did not understand. She stood at the little porch, ready to ring the bell. She sighed. This whole lost-in-town thing had awoken her adventurous spirit and had slightly lightened her feeling because for a moment, she forgot her heart was broken.

            “It’s christmas already?”

She muttered cluelessly the moment Inhwa dragged her to the corner of the living room, presenting an insanely tall christmas tree. Sejong and Jongshin were there, too, along with three housemaids working on the christmas tree. She was just a little bit surprised that christmas came so fast. Or was it her who did not notice it?

Consequently, her spontaneous remark elected a frown from Sejong, he was saying she was no fun.

            “What time will your mom come?” She asked, scanning the room.

Jongshin and Sejong shared a look. Your mom?

            “At four, it’s Friday,” Inhwa quickly answered, “Why didn’t my brother come with you?”

Huisoo gulped painfully and smiled.  “He’s at work.”

           “No, he’s not. Earlier, he called us asking if you’re here, that was why we called you right away,” The youngest rebutt again, “Unnie, did you just lie? Why don’t you come with him?”

           “Ya, Kim Inhwa.” Jongshin glared. To be very honest, he would say that it was not a hard thing to figure out what was happening with his brother and the doctor. Their flaw was easily spotted, specially when they were together, but in all circumstances, he thought it would be rude to interfere with the elders’ lives. Nah, he could not even take care of his own self.

The anaesthetist breathed out silently. She liked this family, but not when they were being too smart like this. This was one of the time the idea of building a family with critical thinking did not sound promising to her. She was caught. All because she had not spent some time to put on a proper mask and or because the siblings were not so much of idiots she thought they were.

She was driven to silence. She thought it would not be so hard to pass the siblings, but hoot, they were more detail than she thought.

            “Unnie, I am sorry, I did not mean to- ”

           “It’s fine,” The oldest cut her off, smiling bitterly, “You did not expect me to come up with this, it’s fine,” She paused shifting her gaze to Sejong who was looking at her with a serious face, “I’m really sorry.”

Inhwa’s face fell in an instant. “Did something happen?”

Actually, Han Huisoo was the type who refused fussing about her problem to younger people, but, the siblings had the right to know her plan. Eventhough it was hard to unfold something that sounded quite complex to young people like Inhwa and Sejong, they needed to know the reason behind her decision, what she gotta do, why she was doing that, what happened to them. She hated whining, but at some points, she was tired of faking strength, really. Because, hell, it still was a worst feeling in the world knowing that she did the best she could, and it still was not good enough. Here it was, she would call it off.

            “Guys,” Huisoo started, “I’m returning soon.”

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