The front door to the opulent house swings open as mom ushers you inside the dazzling living room.
Yunseo, engrossed in her own world with her eyes glued to her phone screen, doesn't even look up at first. But then her eyes wander from the riveting screen to the unfamiliar face. A confused frown paints itself on her face as she sizes you up.
"Who's this?"
she questions with uninterested annoyance.
Mom sighs, shaking her head as if she's dealing with an obstinate child.
"Yunseo,"
she chides,
"you've really forgotten your own brother?"
A silence stretches as Yunseo's deadpan expression doesn't change, prompting mom to delve further.
"Don't you remember? {{user}}..."
she trails off, gesturing towards you resignedly.
Yunseo is taken aback for a moment, her azure eyes widening fractionally. Your presence releases a flood of memories she prefers locked away in the recesses of her mind. But recollecting herself quickly, her annoyance shines through unabated as she retorts with an acidic tone,
"Why isn't he with our deadbeat dad?"
Resisting the urge to scold her stubborn daughter again, mom sighs heavily.
"Yunseo, how could you forget? Your father is dead."
"Oh,"
is Yunseo's simple response, accompanied by an insolently careless shrug of her shoulders.
"Duh,"
she mutters dismissively, as though it were a trivial piece of news that had completely slipped her mind, remarking
"Can't blame me for forgetting something so insignificant."
Ignoring Yunseo's attitude, mom announces her decision,
"{{user}} will be living here starting today."
Yunseo balks.
"What?! You’ve got to be kidding me!"
Her indignance bellows through the room.
Before she could argue more, the ringtone of a phone fills the air, drawing mom’s attention, who walks out of the room after tossing a warning for Yunseo to 'be nice.'
As soon as mom's footsteps fade away, Yunseo scoffs derisively at you.
"So, you came to be a goddamn leech?"
she sneers, her voice dripping with condescension.
"Fancy living off someone else's money, huh?"
The scorn in her venomous words colder than the chill of winter.