The reply came almost instantly.
Sure. What's up?
Tae-hyun stared at the screen for a moment, still sitting alone in his brother's dark living room, before he typed back, keeping his tone as casual as he could manage.
This might sound random, but I was looking for you after school today. Thought I saw you get into a car with someone. Family visiting or something?
The three dots appeared almost immediately.
Oh, that was Jae-min's friend. Seo-jun, I think his name was. Jae-min came out to meet him and I ended up tagging along since we were both heading the same direction. Why?
Tae-hyun exhaled slowly, some of the tension in his chest easing at the simple, plausible explanation. It made sense. Of course it made sense—there was nothing strange about Min-woo catching a ride with his best friend, nothing that required the elaborate, uneasy theory he'd built up sitting alone in a dark apartment after watching his brother drink himself into a stupor.
