umbrella { sunjay }

29.

days turned into weeks. weeks turned into a month. a month turned into two. but through it all, the time blurred together.

there wasn't a day that jongseong didn't think about sunoo. it wasn't right but he couldn't help but to see sunoo's face and smile in the most random of moments.

the orange leaves that painted the ground were long gone, burried underneath the white fluffy snow that coated the soil like a blanket.

and as the time raced faster than anyone could realize, some things were still the same. 

for example, sena.

although the months kept arriving like clockwork, her womb never seemed to grow. to which jongseong began to become worried, but overall suspicious of his wife's actions.

although this would be her sixth month of pregnancy, her figure hadn't altered one bit. jongseong tried to do research on his own once he picked up on this observation. 

he found out there were cases of no showing during pregnancy, which is true. however, sena had absolutely zero symptoms. and she would behave in a way that caused jongseong's eyebrow to raise.

whenever sena had an 'appointment', she refused to allow him to accompany her. "i'd just feel uncomfortable with you there." she would tell him. 

respecting her preferences, and never wanting to stress her out, he always agreed. even though it hurt him, a lot. 

of course he wanted to be there every step of the way. it was supposedly his child after all.

another thing that caused a rise in suspicion from jay was the fact that she wanted absolutely no one to know. not even his parents. without her knowledge, he had already told sunoo two months before. 

which happened to be the last time the two had spoken. after that night, it was hard for jay to face the younger male. something inside him broke into two every time he replayed that scene of him sharing the news.

sunoo never contacted him either. he figured jongseong was already preoccupied with his new 'family' and it was better for them to be apart. for his own mental health. 

he knew it would kill him from the inside out if he stayed by jongseong's side.

every once in a while, jay would message and ask how sunoo was doing. he would only receive a 'read' flag on his own text. but for him, knowing that sunoo had seen his message was enough. 

jongseong had everything he though he dreamed of, yet his heart was still hollow and had a gaping hole that needed to be filled.

earlier in the day, he and sena decided to go shopping for the 'baby'. jongseong was obviously more excited about the activity than the woman. 

during the entire outing, her bored eyes and passive countenance gave it away.  she was very uninterested and just wanted to go home. after merely peeking at the children toys and blankets, she felt ill. 

she wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of it. which added onto jongseong's doubts. 

he became frustrated with her disinterest in things that were important. so they ended up going home with nothing in their hands.

"what's wrong today? we have to eventually buy things for the kid." jay tried to reason as they sat in the vehicle to return home. 

"i wasn't in the mood today." sena responded with indifference while staring out the glass window to watch the snowflakes flutter around the light grey sky.

"you're never in the mood." jongseong stated firmly. it's true, she barely wanted to discuss the child, let alone buy anything in relation to it.

sena ignored how his words made her feel a sense of guilt. 

when they entered the house, sena set down her things and reentered her bedroom to shower. jay sighed and just wanted to hurry and end the night. 

until he heard a phone notification, but didn't feel the device in his pocket vibrate.

with furrowed eyebrows, he opened the main bedroom to follow the source of the sound. he glanced at the mattress and found sena had abandoned her phone on the duvet.

another notification popped up as he approached the bed and the screen lit up. 

if you had asked jay to peek at his wife's phone while she was away last year, he would have said no. he trusted her.

however, now he had his suspicions. he hesitated for a minute, weighing the pros and cons of invading the woman's privacy.

then, another notification arrived. and he could read it from the lock screen.

'don't be stupid, park sena. or else you'll regret it.' was a message she received from her mother.

now, his mind was made up. he needed to know why his mother-in-law was speaking this way to her. there was a gut feeling that it had something to do with him. and he didn't have much time before sena would reappear from her shower.

he quickly put her birthday into the number code and the phone instantly unlocked to four message notifications. when he opened the app, his face hardened the more he read.

'i don't think i can keep this up, mom. he's starting to get suspicious.' sena's texts was the beginning of the conversation.

'no, you will.' was the first reply from her mother. 'i don't care if he's suspicious. do as i said or else.' 'print out sonograms and doctor notes. i don't care, do whatever it takes.'

'don't be stupid, park sena. or else you'll regret it.' was the last text. 

jay felt his throat start to close up. suddenly he felt dehydrated and almost lightheaded.

just then, sena opened the attached restroom door to find a pale park jongseong staring at her with her phone in his hand.

her eyes widened in horror. the water droplets from her hair pooled onto the flooring beneath her as she stood completely still.

his gaze held a storm of feelings and emotions swirling within, almost begging to be released. 

"what the fuck is this?" 

he lifted the device to display the messages between sena and her mother. his voice was scratchy and grating. the visible anger began to rise as the seconds passed. the air was so thick, you could slice it with the dullest of knives.

sena had no words. she wasn't going to attempt to defend herself either. there was nothing she could do now. 

"was it all a lie?" his voice began to raise. the pain was so prominent it could almost be described the same as him reacting to physical agony.

"was it all a fucking lie, sena?!" he bursted into a scream with tears pooling into his vision. the woman winced and her chin began to tremble. 

jay's chest heaved up and down harshly, trying to regulate his fast heartrate. once the initial anger had subsided, he was left with the look of betrayal painting over his features.

"how could you do this to me?" his voice deflated into a whisper.

❀

all of them are victims honestly.