The chair was taken

The chair was taken. Of course it was taken. I walked in and Im was already there at the head of the register beside Appa like he had always been there, like someone had taken a photograph of the life I was supposed to have and pasted him into it and I was the one standing in the doorway with a court order that suddenly felt like a party favor.

Maa grabbed my wrist. She has always been stronger than she looks. Her fingers found the old bruise from the building incident and pressed right into it and I thought, she knows exactly where it hurts. She has always known where it hurts. I photographed it on the KTX — the new one forming beside the old one, the label CHUSEOK stamped on it in my notes because I need to be precise about these things now. Evidence. Dates. Locations. Bae Yu-jin needs a clear record if this goes anywhere and right now I am the only one building it.

Ji-seok watched me the entire time I was in that room. Not with confusion. With the slow, deliberate attention of a man who has been told exactly who I am and is deciding what I am worth. I sent the photo to Bae Yu-jin with the word TONIGHT and she replied GONNA BE OKAY and I held my phone against my chest on the train and believed her for about four seconds.