Mia's POV:
At lunch the next day, Mia had no appetite for food at all. She only nibbled on the meat because her stomach was in a tumble.
To distract herself, she thought of school work, and assignments. But her eyes kept wandering over to the dinner table, and to her mother, who had that bright, smiley smile of hers on full display today. Su Ah ate quietly, not exposing a single emotion. She didn't even look up from her bowl, her chopsticks delicately slicing her meat into bite-size cubes.
Mia eyed her in disdain and nearly pointed her chopsticks at the poor girl.
How could she be so... chill about this? Why didn't Su Ah try harder to have them stop Mom's weird laundry fetish.
She sighed heavily, looking down at her food with a sudden weight akin to her brother's dumbells in her stomach. "How's the food? Girls, everything okay? It's alright, right?" Eun Ha asked carefully. Her eyes glanced down their plates.
"It's good." Su Ah replied mechanically.
As for Mia...
"... yeah..." She answered back after a few drawn-out, torturous seconds of silence, forcing her lips to bend into a feeble, tight smile that certainly didn't fool that perceptive sister of hers.
Eun Ha had no clue that her beloved daughters, while acting compliant on the surface, had not only witnessed the umpteenth occurrence of her nighttime visits to the laundry room and her obvious attempts at enjoying herself while the family slept upstairs.
No, her bliss was that of complete ignorance of their knowledge.
For a while, Eun Ha smiled softly as she drank her wine, satisfied with their half-assed, insincere reply. When did she start drinking wine anyway? Su Ah glanced down into her glass with a light frown.
"Mom, when did you start drinking wine...?" Jae-il's words sounded almost identical to those thoughts, yet his expression didn't appear as antagonistic.
"Oh..." Eun Ha seemed to snap out of her thoughts and look at her glass with an expression close to surprise and sudden realization." This... well... just thought it would go great with our meals these days..." She chortled, giving her loose hair a playful toss.
Now that she noticed, her hair wasn't tied into the typical messy bun she had during their mornings, but flowing loosely down her back and over her shoulders.
And... she was wearing perfume as well?
Since when?
Mia felt an awful stab of pain inside her stomach and thought she might vomit the little she had eaten up. 'Please... please tell me she isn't acting like this to attract his attention...'
Even in her thoughts, she wasn't confident enough to voice that particular one, and so settled on mentally repeating the words 'dear god, dear god', over and over.
She knew that was likely the case, with their findings and everything, but at this point she could only hope to be wrong... just this once.
Su Ah stole a sideways glance at Mia, who frowned in her sister's direction, and then looked at her brother, who was... staring in mild disbelief.
Jae-il was the only one unaffected and seemingly oblivious. He also didn't seem to mind how different Eun Ha was. Of course, it didn't occur to him the reason behind such a sudden and unexpected change in her style. He only noticed that she looked good, even better than usual, perhaps.
"Right...?" Jae-il shook his head with the kind of conviction only he could have. "As long as you're happy."
Mia watched how Eun Ha took another sip at her son's words, as if to mask her embarrassment.
"Really happy." She whispered before flashing the three siblings a gorgeous smile.
Mia closed her eyes for a moment—realized that sitting there trying to eat a meal was basically the last thing she wanted—got up and quietly left.
"Mia?" Eun Ha called out, eyes flitting back and forth between the untouched food and her eldest daughter.
Su Ah stayed quiet, but the subtle downturned curl at the edges of her mouth was an expression none of her siblings failed to read. She'd slowly put her chopsticks down and, with her own uneasy scowl, rise from her chair and follow.
Neither of them explained, they just left wordlessly in a hurry.
"Mia Noona, Su Ah Noona?"
Jae-il looked like he wanted to chase after them, but leaving Eun Ha on her own just like that was clearly not something he could live with either.
"Something must have bothered them." Eun Ha mused, eyes ever so slightly downcast.
...
"Unnie!"
Su Ah cornered Mia somewhere between Jae-il's room and hers, right before Mia had the chance to slam her own door shut.
"What, Su Ah?" Mia snapped, her nerves already frayed beyond repair.
"We need to talk."
"No shit." Mia grunted, whirling around to face her sister. Mia's jaw was clenched so tightly that it was a wonder her teeth didn't shatter under the pressure. "Did you see her? Did you see what she was wearing? The perfume? The wine? She's trying to look pretty for him."
Su Ah's expression was unreadable. "And?"
"'And?!' Are you kidding me?" Mia's voice rose to an indignant squeak. "We need to do something! We can't just let her... let her... prance around like that. This is getting worse, not better."
"And what do you suggest we do, Unnie?" Su Ah shot back. "Should we tie her to a chair and lock her in her room? Should we tell Jae-il what we saw? Because I'm sure that would go over real well."
Mia deflated a little, but the anger in her eyes didn't dim. "We could... he deserves to know."
"You never were someone who thought about consequences." Su Ah sighed, rubbing her temples.
"As if you do." Mia hissed.
"Perhaps, but this is different, Unnie. This is Mom. We don't know if this is a 'phase', if she'll stop, or if it'll get worse." Su Ah's expression became pensive. "Should we really ruin what peace Jae-il still has in this house? Should we drag him into this... mess? He already has to deal with us, he should not have to bear with this, too, should he?"
Mia, although disagreeing on several levels, reluctantly conceded her sister's point. Jae-il had an upcoming world cup to deal with. As much as the situation irritated her to no end, it wouldn't be fair to distract her younger brother when he had much bigger and more important things to focus his attention on.
Su Ah spoke carefully. "All I'm suggesting is that maybe, we should just leave her alone and let this run its course. If she keeps up her therapy sessions, then... she might just figure her shit out."
Mia blinked; that was new to her. "Therapy?"
Her sister nodded, closing her eyes. "I rummaged around her stuff this morning. Found a business card and an appointment slip from a psychiatrist's office. I'm not sure if it's an ongoing session or not... but she's clearly had at least a visit. And with how crumpled the paper looks... well, she's been at it for some time now. I'm guessing she needs some extra... time."
A million and one different scenarios began running through Mia's mind at a hundred miles an hour, and none of them boded well for Eun Ha. Or any of them, for that matter. "You reckon Dad knows?"
"I don't think so, he's too busy working." Su Ah added, voice suddenly bitter. "Why? What are you planning to do? Tell him?"
"What? No!" Mia didn't like her tone. "Just curious."
"Well... it's not like they're at their best either. They're not really active with each other anymore."
"I noticed." Mia sighed, briefly remembering how the man himself didn't even stop the ogling stares directed towards his wife. "Wait... is that part of the reason?"
"Maybe it's a coping mechanism?" Su Ah shrugged, her expression non-committal and frankly disinterested, despite the rather sensitive topic at hand. Their parents' relationship problems were no new thing to her or Mia, despite the brief flashes of glamor and smiles displayed here and there.
The younger sister leaned against her doorframe and crossed her arms tightly in a show of sudden interest. "This could be her outlet, too. Better sniffing Jae-il's clothes, than sleeping around or whatever. You never know, she could have found something else to do... as bad as that was... had we not seen her. Things could have gone way out of hand for everyone involved."
Mia did not answer. She stood by the door, brows pinched together, head leaning against the wood. "Perhaps."
"Look, I can't take the possibility that she might become more reckless just yet, especially considering that... no one is even bothering to act like a normal family here." Su Ah began, emotionally drained. Mia sympathized, even if she hated her current train of thought. "Or am I the only one here who has come to this family's defense?"
A brief pause, then Su Ah went on in a defeated tone. "Everyone's got their demons, whether it's the habit we have for ruining each other's lives or... this. Don't do anything stupid, Unnie. We'll intervene only and solely if we can see for a fact she's taking her obsession a little too far."
"You can't be serious!"
Su Ah continued as if Mia hadn't interrupted. "Mom's always looked like the sensible sort... I'm willing to put up with her snooping if it means... she doesn't do anything that makes us regret that."
"......"
"Let's not burden Jae-il anymore, Unnie. If anything, we should support him since a more important tournament is about to arrive soon. He needs the love and protection only family can provide, and... whatever Mom's doing right now... doesn't seem harmful, at least. She's clearly trying her hardest to get out of that... problem. And... for now, that seems... satisfactory..."
Mia exhaled softly as she opened the door to her room. Su Ah didn't move an inch as her older sister swept inside and closed the door, putting an end to the discussion.
Su Ah had likewise lost her appetite and found no desire in lingering, lest Mia came up with even more preposterous scenarios and suggestions. So, she started towards her bedroom in the same mood, all thoughts on Jae-il and what she could do for him in the time ahead.
And just like that, the winds of time continued to sweep forward.