Chapter 12: Lia Goes Dark

The first morning, Ellie assumed Lia was sulking.

This was not an uncharitable assumption. Lia had a practised sulk that expressed itself as total communicative absence — no responses, no read receipts, the family group chat reduced to her name sitting there inert while the rest of them narrated the day around it. It had happened before: after the argument about the winter recital programme, after the time their father had suggested she audition for the academy ensemble rather than pursuing solo slots, after any conversation in which someone delivered a reasonable observation in the wrong tone. Sulks lasted between four hours and three days, calibrated by the severity of the perceived slight, and then Lia would reappear as though nothing had occurred, demanding to know if there was rice, and the family would wordlessly reconstitute itself around her return.

The second morning, Ji-soo quietly mentioned that Lia had not slept in her room.