When The Phone Rings

Chapter 6

-"As a pathetic man hiding in a corner..."

The distant voice weighed heavily on the phone line. The biting criticism was eerily reminiscent of her husband's contemptuous remarks.

-"You want to play a game of 'who's uglier'?"

"The words I said..."

-When I see you in court, I'll make sure I treat you well.

The call ended as harshly as Baek Sa-eon's cold tone. The feeling of humiliation made my hand and one side of my cheek burn like fire.

"Call him back!"

"Huh?"

"Keep calling...! Until he picks up!"

"Sis... that..."@@@@

Heeju felt like her bones were being shattered.

[The number you have dialled is currently inactive. After the tone, your call will be forwarded to voicemail. Please note that there may be a charge for this call. ]

Beep!

B*stard! He's an assh*ole. He doesn't have a shred of decency.

"A_ Ahh.. Sis.. Look forward!"

I was too busy to hear anything.

'-!'

Heeju could only think of her ugly contempt and lost control of the steering wheel.

***

"Why are you the only one who's OK?"

A tearful scream hit young Heeju's body.

She was only nine at the time. Her eyes had barely fluttered open after the accident. The first thing she saw was a white ceiling and the stench of the hospital reached her nostrils.

She had barely raised her head when the door slammed open and Kim Yeon-hee staggered in.

"Mum..."

Heeju was relieved to see her mother. But the moment she reached for her hand, her mother avoided her like the plague.

"How come you're the one who's fine?!"

A look of horror spread across Kim Yeon-hee's face, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

Young Heeju didn't quite understand.

"You should've been hurt too..."

A cold shiver ran down her spine as she watched her mother burst into tears. It was sadness, it was anger and most of all it was fear.

Her mother was terrified.

She was afraid for her daughter, who woke up unharmed except for a few scars.

"Mum... Mum..."

Even at a young age, I noticed that her reaction was strange. Heeju approached her mother and tried to persuade her.

Yeon-hee looked at her like a bug.

"Oh... dear God! Why!" She cried, covering her face.

Hong's biological daughter, Hong In-ah, had her ears injured by an iron pipe through a glass window, and the babysitter who was with her youngest son died.

He was the only child of her miraculous remarriage from a life as a mistress.

The car they were travelling in collided with a lorry on a bridge, and her child, Heeju, was the only one unharmed.

"If the chairman finds out..."

Kim Yeon-hee cried, her face contorted with shame.

"His biological daughter is deaf and his spoiled son is dead, and only you... my biological daughter is still alive!"

Mum shook like a kite without a string.

"Even if he doesn't say it directly... Do you think it was easy to find a man like him? Do you know how hard I fought to get here?"

"M- Mum."

"He'll be angry when he sees you unharmed, and then he'll hate me, I'm sure of it."

Heeju lay motionless, breathing shallowly.

My feelings, my situation, my life was a mess.

Everything bothered me to no end.

What had I done wrong?

I pretended to be aphasic and kept my mouth shut. This event made the chairman sad, strengthened my bond with my sister and further alienated Heeju from the rest of the family.

For a long time, Heeju clung to the false hope that keeping quiet would make everyone happy.

As a child, this burden easily made her lethargic and depressed. She was crushed by the weight of it, and at one point she really couldn't speak.

I was scared to death to raise my voice in front of others.

『 A..nnou..ce..ment."

At that moment, the radio, which had been dormant, came to life.

But is this the price of speaking out? What a pathetic and humiliating conclusion I faced.

The choppy sound quality was now clear.

『 In an official statement released at 17:55, the Blue House declared that the negotiations had been successful. "Argan's forces have agreed to release all Korean hostages," the statement said. Spokesman Baek Sa-eon then went on to say....

He turned to the dashboard.

"We would like to thank the families of the captives, the public and the media for their active cooperation in enduring this painful time."

'......!'

The low voice shattered her dazed mind in an instant.

Each of his words pierced her ears more painfully than the pouring rain. Heeju unconsciously clenched her fist.

"I will take all necessary measures to return the captives to their families as soon as possible," he said. 』

It started with a small chuckle, but soon it erupted into a full blown laugh.

There was still a tear in Heeju's eye.

Now her mother's words made sense.

Until...the end...'

A strange, electric tingling sensation shot through her legs, and it felt as if her legs were slowly dissolving, starting from the ankles and moving upwards.

A shattered expectation.

And the sound of something breaking inside her reverberated.

After all, we've come this far.

"I would also like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the two men who lost their lives in this kidnapping," he said. 』

My eyes were burning.

His voice was incredibly polite, firm and loyal. Something that was never directed at me.

These glass windows felt like prison bars.

My situation was the same as before.

Heeju gritted her teeth and pulled her leg out from under the car.

"Ahh- Ugh..."

She grabbed anything she could get her hands on and started smashing out the windows.

A hardened, almost venomous expression twisted her face.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The car was filled with the incessant sound of hammering.

I want to make a home.

A place that's all mine, not a newlywed's house, not my parents' house, not my in-laws' house.

I want to build a sanctuary where I can be myself.