Chapter 18: Ellie Tells Ji-soo She Was Wrong

The kitchen light was the one Ellie's father had never quite fixed, a fluorescent tube with a habit of taking thirty seconds to fully commit after the switch. She stood in the dark for those thirty seconds, not bothering to count them, watching the light flicker and decide.

Ji-soo was already there.

She was sitting at the table with both hands around a mug that had gone cold some time ago—Ellie could tell by the way she was holding it, not drinking, just anchoring herself to its shape. She had her mother's cardigan on over her pajamas. She did not appear to be reading or thinking about anything in particular. She had the look of someone who had been waiting without admitting they were waiting, which was, Ellie thought, the most Ji-soo expression in existence.