You hurt me (but that's okay) | Bbangsaz

Chapter Six

"Rex?" Minji called, as she stepped up to the half open door to Rex's bedroom, pushing it open as she approached. She narrowed her eyes on her son as he quickly slammed the lid of his laptop shut and looked up at her in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Uh, nothing," Rex said, pushing his laptop away from him and sitting up on his bed. "Just some research for a project for school."

"Okay," Minji said, still looking suspicious as she came over to sit down on Rex's bed.

"What's up?"

"Rex," Minji sighed, "I'm sorry if I made you feel like you had to choose between Hanni and myself tonight. That wasn't fair."

Rex shrugged. "It's okay. I know nothing's really easy right now for you."

"Or you," Minji acknowledged.

Rex shrugged again. "I'm alright. I just needed to get away from the kids for a little while. It's…"

"Overwhelming?" Minji suggested.

Rex nodded.

"And it's calm and quiet," Minji continued, as Rex continued to nod his agreement. "Just you and her, like how it used to be here: just you and me."

"It's gonna be an adjustment, I get that," Rex acknowledged. "But it's not just about that, either. She's all alone there now. I think she just needs me around sometimes."

"How is Hanni?" Minji asked, tentatively. "She told me she'd been ill."

"Yeah, she was. She seemed better tonight. She actually ate with me, and she hasn't been eating. Everything makes her throw up."

Minji swallowed as she felt a knot forming in her stomach. Perhaps she'd been too rash in assuming that Hanni's behaviour lately had been all about the night she shared together, and the way Minji had abruptly ended it. Hanni had seemed extremely upset at the time, but Minji wondered if maybe it hadn't affected her as much as she had thought it did?

"Did something happen between you and my mom?" Rex asked, after Minji had fallen silent.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… you two seemed to be getting along great at Granny's at Thanksgiving, but you've barely spoken since then. Did you two get in a fight or something?"

Minji shook her head, knowing there was no way she was getting into any of this with her son. "No, Rex. I've just been busy with Jae and Jun. They don't leave me a lot of free time. And Hanni's been sick."

"Good," Rex said, with a small smile. "Because I think she's still going through a tough time with her break up from Sunghoon, and I don't think it's gonna get easier any time soon, with Christmas coming up and everything. She'll probably need a friend."

Minji stiffened at the notion, already convinced that any chance of salvaging whatever friendship they'd been developing had been snuffed out now. Maybe if Hanni hadn't been so hasty to break up with Sunghoon over a one night stand, things might have been different, but she couldn't risk letting Hanni get in the way of the life she was building with Hyun-Ji.

"Maybe you should go back there tomorrow and spend the weekend with her," Minji suggested, trying to find a middle ground. "Not because I don't want you here, but it sounds like she needs you right now."

"Yeah, I think she does," Rex agreed. Either way, he'd been planning on going to see Hanni the next day anyway, as he was sure he was about to have a whole new string of questions for her very soon.

"Alright. Well, it's well past midnight, it's time for bed," Minji said, and Rex watched as his mother stood up to leave the room.

Once Minji was out of the room, he opened his laptop again, to the Google search results for 'Diclectin'.