JENNIE

Cheating...

Its sounds weird to me. Never in my life would I have thought Lisa would cheat on me. Even after my year long absence, I never got to this conclusion. Cheating was the last thing on my mind. I had actually thought it was something I had done but now I knows better.

All the while my wife was never home, it wasn't because of me, it was because Lisa had found someone better to spend her time with. I stares at the cup of coffee in my hand and sighs. I had taken a cab and had asked the cabbie to drop me at a park far far away. Far far away turned out to be Seoul Park which was about an hour from the house. I had walked around until I had found somewhere to get something warm to drink. Since I walked out in my jammies, the cold was just sinking into my skin little by little and I don't want to sit inside a café because I didn't know when the tears would fall and the last thing Iwants to do is cry in front of strangers. So I am sitting on a bench at Seoul's Park and it's four thirty in the morning.

Gosh,life sucks.

I pull out my phone. 79 missed calls from Lisa.

I shakes my head at the missed calls. This is the most I had gotten from Lisa in a while and I don't even know what to do at the moment. I am stuck. My eyes hurt but the tears refused to fall. And lord, dear lord, does I want to cry. I wonders if any of my children have noticed me, I was gone yet, I wonders what Lisa had said to them if they have noticed I was gone yet.

Even here, as I am sitting out in the cold with just a jacket on and a hot cup of coffee in my hand, I wanted my children. I knows I had to go home later, if not soon.

I sighs and looks up to the sky. The stars were gone and everything was coming awake little by little. I places the cup of coffee on the bench and runs a hand down my face. What should I next step be? What should I do? Should I just confront Lisa? What would happen to the children?

"You okay?"

I jumps when I hear the voice. There was no one in front of me, nor was anyone beside me. The voice was coming from behind me. I hear the soft sound of leaves being crushed and that urged me to speak.

"Just please leave me alone."

I was alert. I don't know who exactly I was speaking with and I don't know what would happen next. All I knows is I just wanted to be alone for now. The footsteps begin again and it got closer until the owner of said footsteps and voice was standing in front of me.

Standing in front of me was a six foot three tall man, with brown hair low by the side and a neatly trimmed beard. The man had on a brown long coat that was zipped up and a pair of blue jeans. He looked...not dangerous.

"I will, but you have to answer my question." The stranger says.

I stares at the stranger. I was lost. I had no idea what to do, I just wanted the stranger gone. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

The stranger doesn't say a word. He stares at me, his hands still deep in his pocket. I don't move, I am scared if I makes a wrong move, things would go astray. I seen movies and I knows about fifty percent of people sitting alone at the park when it's dark, end up getting killed or kidnapped.

"Have a nice day then." The stranger says and with a wave to me, he turns around and continues walking.

I stares at the back of the stranger as he walks away. I wonders what in the name of sweet heaven just happened. I stands up from the bench, I didn't want to risk anything. What if the strange man comes back?

I goes in the opposite direction of the man and picks up the pace until I back at the café. This time the café was empty. I makes my way to the booth far away from the door and the window. I orders another cup of coffee.

I don't drink it this time. I gets lost in my thoughts and absentmindedly watched the smoke rise from the cup. I knows it'd be a bad idea to drink another cup of coffee at that time of the morning. I checks my phone again and sighs when I sees it's five am. It was time for me to go back home. If I leaves now, I'd be home by six. I'd be home in time for the kids to get up and get ready for school. I didn't want my children to worry and oh, they will, if they don't see me at home.

I takes a cab home. I watched as the sky turned bright with each distance the cab closes on to. I get home at ten past six. I drops my keys at the door and places my jacket where it should be. This was my home. It's been me and Lisa's home for fifteen years and I'm going to make a move now, I just had to wait. Lisa is the love of the life, Lisa is my wife, Lisa is the dada of my kids and the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It's my marriage and I going to wait. Wait to confirm. Wait to find out. Find out what, I don't really know but I'm going to wait.

I finds Lisa in the sitting room. She was pacing and staring at her phone. The lights were on but were set to dim. I was thankful Lisa had on a shirt and a plaid bottom.

"Morning." I greets as I walks into the sitting room.

Lisa turns around so fast, I thinks I had a whiplash. It would be funny if it was in another situation but sadly, this is where I was. Lisa blinks once, twice, three times and rushes close the distance between them. She wraps her arms around me and hug me tight.

"Thank heavens, you're safe. " Lisa whispers. "I was worried."

I wanted to laugh. Instead I bites down on my bottom lip and let myself be hugged. I takes a couple of steps backwards when Lisa let go. I don't look my wife in the eye, I turns around and makes my way to the stairs instead. I needed to wake the kids or they would be late for food.

"Jennie..."

I stops but I don't turn around. I feel like if I does, I'd lose in the ground and fall.

"I'm fine, Lisa." I replies. "I need to wake the kids or they'd be late. Why don't you go and get ready, breakfast would be ready by the time you come down." I runs my fingers through my hair and walks away.

I takes the stairs two at a time and goes to Lego's room first. Like always, the kids get up like clockwork and do what they were meant to. Thankfully, none of them knew I had left the house.

[AN]

Breakfast consisted of oats with fruits. The children knew something was wrong immediately their Mommy had woken them up. They felt how cold she was through the tips of her fingers but they don't say a word because Jennie looked like she'd break if any of them ask. Kuma warns them not to ask but instead let their Mommy have her space.

When the bus comes, Lego, Lily and Kuma kiss me on the cheek before walking to their bus with brown bags which held their lunch.

Lisa was the last to leave the house like always. She made her way to the kitchen where she found me scrubbing the burnt oat left in the pot away.

"Jennie..."

I turns around and gives Lisa one of her brightest smiles. I points at the bowl of oats resting on the table.

"I made oats, I hope you don't mind." I says as I pours Lisa a glass of cold water.

In the time I had used to wake the kids and get breakfast as well as their lunch ready, I decided to just ignore it. Out of sight, out of mind is what I wants to do. Just waiting might end up killing me but at least with out of sight, Lisa would wear a shirt to cover it up every morning. With out of sight, I'd go to sleep early and not see anything I didn't want to see on my wife's body. Out of sight, out of mind is the perfect thing to do if I was to save our marriage.

"You alright, A? You just left abruptly, I was worried."

I places my hand on the counter and leans forward. I stares at Lisa and wonders if the girl was playing with her? Did she not know she had does marks on her body when she came home at three this morning? Was Lisa trying to insult me? Is that what this is?

"Jennie?"

I don't think I had the strength to smile again so I settles for waving it off. "I just needed to breathe." I goes to complete my sentence when Lisa's phone began to ring. Its been months since I had heard Lisa's phone ring, her phone was always on vibrate or silent. It seemed the sound also startled Lisa who pulled her phone out in such a hurry that it gave me the answer I needed.

"Lisa speaking..."

I decided I don't want to stay and watch my wife fumble her words while trying to pretend she wasn't talking to her lover on the phone. I leaves the kitchen and makes my way up, Luca should be awake at the time. I push into Luca's room as quietly as I could and couldn't hold back my smile when I sees Luca lying on his back, his feet in the air and his thumb in his mouth.

"My darling baby." I coos as I walks close to the crib. I pulls a funny face for Luca and the little boy giggles, his lips loosely wrapped around his thumb. I picks my little boy from the bed and places him on the carpet. I made sure Luca had his footing right so he doesn't fall and then made my way to Luca's closet to pick what my little boy was to wear today. He had school.

Like always, bathing for Luca was a watery disaster but thirty minutes later, Luca was ready. He had on a white shirt with a bright yellow bow tie and black jeans. I made sure Luca's socks were perfectly rolled down to rest on top of the buckle of his shoe. When I gets downstairs, Lisa was gone.

"Luca, do you remember when dada used to kiss me before going to work?" I asks my little boy as I straps him into his seat.

"Dada!" Luca screams, staring at me with his big blue eyes.

"Right. You don't remember do you? Well, she used to do it until a year ago. Now she just leaves and comes back whenever she feels like." I says as I puts two spoonful of oatmeal into Luca's special bowl. I grabs Luca's sippy cup and fills it with water.

"I miss those days, Luca. I miss your dada." I says as I feeds Luca his food. Like always, Luca eats without fuss. He takes breaks between a few spoons and lifts his sippy cup himself to his lips. I loves watching Luca do things by himself, each time I does I feels my chest fill with pride. I had the smartest two year old in the world.

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