155 | The Bloom (Part 4)

Soo-Ah's arms were empty. Her lips were dry and her cheeks were stained. Her chest was crushing inward. She was hollow. How could emptiness hurt so much? She continued sobbing for a while longer looking around the room to find traces of the one she used to know. The one who could be so brutal and then so caring. So filled with reason then outmatched by resentment. Too much resentment, weighing heavier than any of the anchors keeping the ships docked down in the port.

She did find traces of him - the money he left for her courtesan services. She got out of the bed and came stomping her feet to smack the pouch across the room, making the bronze coins fly through the air and scatter on the floor in a rattling sound. Then she flung herself on the bed and cried even harder.