Read Online Shelter by Jung Yun - Free Book Online

you do that? They were only trying to help.”
    Of course, he thinks. She’s always quick to take a side unless it’s his. “Someone should have called me once she started giving her statement. It’s not like I can ask her what happened. She’s too embarrassed. The whole time I was there, she wouldn’t even look at me.”
    â€œSo why don’t you just call my dad and ask him what she said?”
    â€œCall?”
    He can’t remember having more than a handful of phone conversations with Connie in the past five years. Most of them started and ended the same way. No, Gillian’s not home. Yes, I’ll tell her to call back. There was never any middle to them.
    â€œI can’t call after telling him to leave like that.”
    â€œThen why don’t you just ask Jin?”
    Kyung shakes his head.
    Gillian straddles him from behind, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as if she’s expecting a piggyback ride. He’s tempted to carry her up to their bed and close the door behind them, but to do that now would only invite a misunderstanding. She’ll assume he wants sex, which is the furthest thing from his mind. The only thing he wants is to be quiet together, to feel the comfort of her presence, but not have to listen to her advice.
    â€œSo should we go to my dad’s house, then? Maybe if Ethan and I are around, it won’t be so awkward, and you’re going to have to apologize eventually, right?”
    Kyung doesn’t think he owes Connie an apology. His father-in-law did something wrong—he even acknowledged it. They were intruding, he said. Intruders. He gets up from the floor, brushing off the flecks of dust and bread crumbs clinging to his pants.
    â€œIf you don’t want to ask my dad, I still think you should try talking to yours. I mean, I know things have never been all that friendly between you two, but it’s not like any of this was his fault. It might be nice for you to acknowledge that this happened to him too.”
    On some level, Kyung knows she’s right. He just can’t bring himself to that place yet. In college, whenever one of his roommates said his mother was on the phone, he picked up the receiver slowly, expecting to hear that Jin had hit her again. By the time he was in grad school, the years had stretched out long enough so he could take a call without having to brace for the worst. Until yesterday, the beatings seemed like another lifetime ago. Not forgiven, but in the past. How quick he was to assume that Jin had hurt her. And now here he is, feeling the same terror clutching at his throat as if eighteen years haven’t gone by, and there’s nothing he can do to make it go away.
    â€œHow long will it take you and Ethan to get ready?”
    Gillian shrugs. “Ten minutes.”
    â€œLet’s go to Connie’s, then.”
    It takes her half an hour to change Ethan’s clothes, pack his lunch and toys and books, and find a clean shirt and jeans for herself. By the time they’re all seated and strapped in the car, Kyung is having second thoughts. He drives slowly—obeying the speed limit, coming to a complete stop at the lights—things he never does. At the fork in the road that leads to the Flats, he turns left instead of right.
    â€œWhat are you doing? This isn’t the way.”
    â€œI want to see something.”
    She doesn’t bother asking what because two turns later, it’s obvious. He’s driving up the hill toward the Heights again. As they near his parents’ house, he sees neighbors gathered on the sidewalk, small packs of them huddled in conversation. With every passing block, he sees more. More people, more cars, more congestion. A block away from the house, there’s nowhere left to park on the street. Every space is occupied by vans with satellite dishes on their roofs and logos painted on their doors. Channels 6, 11, 22, and 64. Two local