The home-cam alert went off at 2:07 a.m.
[Motion detected at front door]
Half asleep, Han Jia reached for her phone. Her husband was away on a business trip and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow evening. They didn’t have a cat. Nothing should have been moving at the front door.
Her fingertip was cold as she tapped the video.
On the screen was a familiar floral cardigan. The finger pressing the door code didn’t hesitate. Beep, beep, beep, beep. The door opened.
“…Mother?”
Park Jeongsuk crossed the living room without taking off her shoes and opened the fridge. She opened the side-dish containers one by one, sniffed them, and slipped a few into the bag she had brought. Then she stood in front of the bedroom door for a long while before turning away.
Jia held her breath under the covers. It felt like she shouldn’t make a sound. In her own home.
* * *
“Mom probably dropped off some side dishes. She worries about us, that’s all.”
The next evening, Seo Doyun said it while loosening his tie. He didn’t even watch the video to the end.
“She didn’t drop them off. She took them. At two in the morning.”
“Ah, well… she probably thought we wouldn’t eat them.”
Jia laughed. She’d heard that some people laugh when they’re angry, but she had never thought she would be one of them.
“Doyun. I’m changing the code.”
“Hey, that’s a bit… Mom will be hurt.”
Then Jia’s phone buzzed. Her mother-in-law.
[Jia~ Keep your fridge tidy, will you. And that document in the bedroom drawer — what is it?]
Jia stared at the screen. The bedroom drawer. Inside it was a document she hadn’t told anyone about.