Seulgi was tempted – again – to beat her cat. Seriously, what was with that smug look of her sitting on the freshly set-out clothes? It had been a game they pyed for years, and today the cat won.

  Gring, Seulgi picked up one of the half dozen lint rollers that were scattered around her pce and thwacked her cat on the butt to get her to move. She just didn’t have it in her to quibble and get another outfit. She also didn’t want to put Yeji through more effort than necessary.

  She made eye contact with Yeji as she was using the lint roller.

  To her surprise, Yeji seemed to be more amused than the cat. Transferring the gre from the unrepentant cat, the young woman took the brunt of the wrath. She, like the cat, seemed to be made of Teflon and that heat just slid off with amusement.

  Seulgi was tempted to throw something at the pair of them, but she was too prim and proper. She would not demean herself to stoop that low.

  For now.

  But, like any good woman, retribution was always an option. Maybe a full-body shave on the cat. Something involving a glitter bomb for the woman. The machinations began. The problem was keeping it proportional and not escating.

  Then again, with the looks on their faces, maybe a little escation was in order.

  While lint brushing the outfit vigorously, she just might have, totally unintentionally, of course, slipped while holding the roller. It flew out of her hand and bounced off Yeji. For which she apologized profusely. The apology is, of course, completely fake. It was fake enough that even Suki didn’t buy it.

  The antics continued while Seulgi got herself dressed. There were a few new bruises added to the bunch before she got herself presentable.

  Between projectiles, they managed to concoct what they were going to tell her father. Mostly it revolved around what she was NOT going to tell him. Which summed up, was not much of anything.

  Yeji was going to stay for a couple of hours for both security and as a metaphorical safety bnket. Yeji never considered herself a ‘woobie’ but was willing to give it a try.

  The trio left the bathroom and spent about five minutes straightening the bedroom. Well, two straightened the bedroom, and one got in the way. The bedroom was as presentable as it was going to be, so they steeled themselves to enter the living room.

  Seulgi stopped Yeji with a hand on her shoulder. She made sure to have firm eye contact and simply said, “Thank you.”

  It was an all-encompassing moment that didn’t really need to be said, but at the same time, it really was needed to be said. There was even more warmth in the statement than in the hand on her shoulder. Yeji just smiled that special smile that she kept for family and friends.

  Then they went into the living room. The nerve ratchets up again. Thousands of things to say, reasons to give, situations to make up or give, flew through her mind at a thousand miles per second. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and took another breath in so should could address her father.

  Only to find him asleep on the couch. With the sleeping cat that was still awake in the bathroom, st they knew.

  They did the only thing that they could do, turn and look at each other. They cracked up but kept it soft to not wake her father.

  Jackson dreamed. It was an unpleasant dream. He was reliving the st few days. He had to pretend to listen to that monster. He had to pretend Stockholm Syndrome in order to try and make a break for it. Or break the man, but he never had the chance.

  He ate his meals at the table, but always with one handcuffed to something that weighed more than he did. He was so sick of cleaning himself with wet wipes. He wanted a shower with a mortal desire. Eliminating was also challenging, but he did it.

  The hardest part of all of this was all the drugs he was forced to take that dulled his senses. He had no idea what he was being forced to take, as the man never said what they were. All he knew was that he got very dizzy, tired, and had a numb floating sensation when he took the medication He tried to hide the pills under his tongue to spit out ter, but the man would check his mouth and tell him to lift his tongue.

  The st two that he was to take, he managed to hide them between his fingers so did not actually take the st two. He was lucid enough to know that Bhuwakul had him and he was safe. He also knew that the best thing for him to do was sleep. He would get rid of the drugs and whatever else was in his system faster while asleep. So, sleep, he did. As much as he could without sedatives.

  This would become a lifelong avoidance. He would hate any sedatives of any form from then on, even when it was necessary. Later in life, it got to the point that he would only accept any form of sedatives when Gillian was in the room with him. He also got to the point that the only thing he would willingly accept was a tea with metonin. And that would be only with a tea that either he or Gillian made. And with a spoonful of sugar.

  Soo-young was asleep through all of this because she had to work that night and needed her beauty rest.

  JooHyun was the gym. There were a host of casualties today because she was on the machine circuit today, not just pites. What made things worse for all involved, today was legs and butt day.

  The twins had pns today that did not involve each other. They actually split up and did their own things. Min-Jeong went and had dinner with her parents. Yeojin went to hang out with her sister.

  Nayeon just went home and took a nap.