Mia's POV:

  Mia's heart pounded.

  It felt like a dream. Her mother giving her advice on how to keep her brother by her side. How ridiculous was that?

  And yet it was advice she already knew. Had already, perhaps unconsciously, been acting upon.

  Jae-il was desirable, yes. There were other women after him, of course. Women who weren't her or Su Ah. Those were the real competition. Not her sister. Not anyone else in this house. The girls who threw themselves at him after matches. The fangirls online who wrote those depraved, thirsty comments about her brother.

  Disgusting bitches. If Mia wasn't so busy thirsting for her brother too, she'd have gone over to their houses, burned their possessions to ashes and sshed their tires.

  Hell, she might do it anyways.

  And so Mia envisioned it—the perfect outcome.

  A chain around his neck.

  That's what she wanted. To be the only one holding the leash. She wanted him bound to her so tightly that the very thought of another woman would make him physically ill. But Mia knew that this was just a fantasy.

  A wonderful, far-fetched fantasy that was impossible to achieve.

  Jae-il wasn't a dog. He wasn't someone to be owned. He'd reach heights Mia couldn't possibly fathom; no matter how tight she tried to hold onto him, she'd either be left behind or be dragged along.

  Eun Ha moved to start on the next nail. Mia's hand tensed with the memory of Jae-il's touches.

  "Are you listening, honey...?"

  Mia's eyes fluttered open. She didn't even realize she had closed them again. "Huh? Oh, yes, mom. I'm listening."

  The look Eun Ha gave her was... peculiar. The girl couldn't put her finger on the reason why. She felt something churning in the pit of her stomach, something like nervousness. It wasn't pleasant.

  She gulped and gave the woman a hesitant smile.

  Eun Ha returned a simirly hesitant smile. "Well, just remember that people can be sweet or handsome, or both. But finding the perfect guy isn't just about the looks or the money." Eun Ha inspected her handiwork thus far, her tone lowering as she did. "It's all the little things, you know."

  "Right?" Mia said in the same pitch her mother had.

  Eun Ha moved on to the next nail; they were all coming along very nicely, Mia had to admit. "Good character is essential. Your future husband should be hardworking and patient, or at the very least not as arrogant and petunt and hot-tempered like the ones we're surrounded by nowadays. These men don't take responsibility, they cheat and bully others... those men..."

  "Those men..." Mia repeated after her. The tone her mother took was deeply unsettling.

  "They'll hurt you." Eun Ha swallowed a thick lump, and cleared her throat, which sounded dry and raspy. "As long as you choose right... you won't have a reason to go through what—I mean, you'll be fine."

  Mia stared at her, her brow furrowed. "Mom...?"

  "Hmm?"

  Eun Ha briefly looked up before returning her attention to Mia's pinkie nail.

  "Are you and dad having problems?"

  The older woman was startled, her eyes growing wide. She snapped her neck up, dropping the cotton pad she held. It rolled off her thigh, into the carpet. Eun Ha gulped as she slightly bent to pick up the discarded tool. "Problems...? Honey, whatever makes you say that?"

  Mia didn't answer. She only gave her a look.

  Eun Ha stared back for a moment, and then her shoulders sagged. "Oh, honey... it's... complicated."

  "Isn't it always..."

  Mia replied, in a rare dispy of mencholy. Her father wasn't exactly the most present figure in her life. They had a great retionship, whenever he was home, which was a rarer occurrence nowadays.

  But Mia didn't miss him as much as she probably should have. His absence wasn't as painful as it should have been.

  And she hadn't stopped to think how that could've affected her mother, who stayed behind and kept the house running. It must've been lonely.

  Eun Ha sighed. "It's nothing for you to worry about, dear. Just... adult things." She forced a small smile. "I'm handling it."

  Mia couldn't bring herself to accept the expnation her mother offered. Yes, what would a girl who was banging her underage brother say? How can you talk about responsible choices, about loving the right partner, about looking up to her own mother who was so gentle, understanding, so wholesome... when you're sneaking around and fucking a guy three years shy of his 18th birthday?

  She couldn't even begin to try and understand, or even offer any type of comfort. Her tongue felt tied and useless, so she only managed a nod. It seemed enough though, or enough to pass as understanding anyway, as her mother then reached across, gently and affectionately rubbed her daughter's head.

  Mia didn't want to let the conversation end on such a bitter note, especially after Eun Ha unintentionally revealed what must have been her own home issues.

  "At least he doesn't hit you, yeah?" Mia blurted, mentally hitting herself afterwards for failing to pick up the less self-incriminating choice of a conversational direction. Like, she could've discussed the weather or something equally uninteresting yet bndly innocuous. Why did her brain decide to dig itself into an even deeper hole?!

  Her mother didn't freeze like earlier, which was a good sign, right?

  "Oh no, he doesn't..." Eun Ha sighed. "Your father is the gentleman that, ah—he doesn't get angry or angry enough to actually resort to... physical violence, anyways. You know him better than anyone." She started to get caught up in her thoughts.

  At least it wasn't something Mia would've had to intervene herself, or even discuss it with Jae-il and Su Ah.

  "...but, like I said... things are..." Eun Ha hesitated, her purple eyes lingering somewhere inside her own mind. A second passed. She cleared her throat. Then another. She seemed to finally catch herself and gently pced Mia's finished hand away. "A little complicated, but it'll pass... I have more pressing concerns, honestly." She trailed off, her voice growing quieter and quieter until it was only a whisper.

  Then she remembered Mia was still there and mustered a smile that was entirely too strained to look remotely genuine.

  "Anyway, there you go! What do you think, Mia?"

  Mia's gaze moved, like in slow motion. She looked at her newly painted, glossy red nails. Perfect length. Perfect sharpness. Perfect color. Her brother would definitely approve. These were the kind of nails that you could trace across the skin and watch in awe as lines of vibrant ruby appeared in the flesh. These were the kind of nails you could dig deep into his back.

  "This looks perfect, mom! Thanks." Mia smiled widely, wiggling her fingers and watching the color shine under different angles. Her hands were so slender. Pale fingers dipped in blood.

  Eun Ha gently patted Mia's head and grinned. "I'm gd."

  xXx

  Eun Ha's POV:

  Mia mumbled absent-mindedly. "I'm gonna send this pic to—I mean, the friends on the campus!"

  Ah...

  Her phone was already in her hand. She angled it, snapped a quick photo—hand curled just so, nails sharp and gleaming—and tapped send before Eun Ha could blink.

  "There." Mia said, satisfied. "The girls are gonna be jealous."

  Eun Ha forced a ugh. "I'm sure they will."

  But the ugh felt thin. Because she knew, deep down, that Mia hadn't sent that photo to the girls. Not really.

  She'd seen the way Mia's eyes went distant when she talked about university boys, the way her voice fttened into a monotone. And she'd seen the way those same eyes lit up whenever Jae-il's name came up, even in passing.

  It didn't help that Jae-il himself also seemed extremely attentive towards her. Of course, Eun Ha would start thinking back to all of their interactions and go looking for signs. Stuff like this leaves a trail, it just doesn't happen overnight.

  The brief smiles. The looks. The banter. Every time Mia got handsy with him was suddenly put under a new light.

  Things began to seem a little different. And the more Eun Ha began to see what wasn't there, the more she saw a hint of a strange connection between the pair. And the more she was inclined to believe there actually was one.

  Something in her chest shifted. It wasn't something she wanted to acknowledge. What mother would?

  But she knew that if left unaddressed, it could swallow her whole.

  Mia's fingers hammered away on the keyboard as Eun Ha put away the nail polish bottles, taking her time to clean the mess, keep busy, her thoughts moving too fast for her to keep up. She gnced at Mia, saw the young girl focused on her phone, saw the excitement in her face as she sent text after text... and thought that maybe she was just getting ahead of herself again.

  Her mind had been like an old computer tely. Overclocked. Overheated. Overthinking. But that's why she had been going to Dr. Han for counsel. Perhaps she had to take a page from the therapist's book and communicate properly with Mia, figure out what the girl had on her mind.

  Or she could continue the path of total obliviousness and leave matters where they were, pretend nothing was wrong, ignore the inklings of suspicion crawling around, and move forward. She didn't know if she could shoulder all of this alone, but involving Yeong Gu, of all people, was out of the question.

  "Mia..."

  Eun Ha started, sitting next to her daughter, hands tucked prim and properly on her p. No matter the situation, she'd always stick by her own standard of proper behavior. Mia was smiling from ear to ear and chatting with someone via messages, her thumbs a frenzy on the touch screen.

  It was only after two seconds of silence and typing that Mia reluctantly wrenched her gaze away from her phone, putting it away for good measure after seeing how close Eun Ha was to her side of the couch. "Uhh. What is it?"

  Her mother struggled to find the right words, the best approach. Maybe simplicity was the best way to tackle this issue. No complex words, or metaphors that would send her mind reeling into a deep byrinth, trying to find hidden meanings within hidden meanings.

  She'd start simple, and then slowly try to dig around the periphery of the subject.

  "Nothing major." She started, her lips twisting a fraction. "Only... I have a question. Something silly, perhaps."

  Mia sighed in relief and threw her head back into the headrest, her golden locks sprawling like a sunflower.

  "Finally! I swear to God, for a moment you looked so serious I was so damn afraid you'd say something actually serious, or whatever. So? What is it, mom? Spit it out, already." She pushed some blonde bangs from her forehead. They promptly fell over, but she made no attempts to remove them once again.

  Her head twisted so their eyes met and the girl smiled at her. It was a bright, curious sort of smile. A little quizzical, with a raised eyebrow added for emphasis. It could've been a mask for all she knew. Mia could've very well have known that she'd be on the receiving end of another line of questioning.

  Eun Ha's mouth decided to spit the contents her brain formuted into a coherent question before her brain could decide otherwise. "When was the st time you brought someone over?"

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