Ahyun woke up with a start, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked over at her husband, still sleeping peacefully next to her. She let out a sigh of relief, chiding herself for her momentary lapse of suspicion. It wasn't like she had slept with another man, right?

She let out a shaky sigh of relief. Maybe she could sneak in a shower and some damage control before Seojin woke up and demanded answers.

She quietly got out of bed, pulling the sheet to cover her sleeping husband. She quickly gathered her clothes that were strewn on the floor, covering herself as she made her way to the door.

Ahyun frowned and picked up the clock, examining it. The battery seemed to be fine, but the clock still wasn't working properly. She slapped it twice, hoping to jolt it back to life, but it was no use. The clock needed a new battery. She placed it back on the table, feeling a sense of unease settle over her.

She closed the door behind her. She didn't want Seojin to wake up any soon.

Walking over to the sink she splashed cold water on her face, trying to shake off the remnants of her unwarranted suspicion and the sleep that still clung to her. Ahyun cringed, remembering how she had lashed out at Hana the previous night in a fit of paranoia and insecurity.
Unnecessarily slapping Hana, creating the chaos and then Norton. Everything had made her impulsive.

As she tried to grab the nearest towel, she felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped, letting out a shriek of surprise.

"Where have you been?" Norton asked, his voice low and dangerous.

Ahyun spun around to face him, her heart racing. "Why are you still here?" she shot back. "I thought you had left."

Norton chuckled, a cold, mirthless sound. "I can't leave without talking to you."

He tried to pull Ahyun close, but she pushed him away, anger flashing in her eyes. "Don't touch me. I am married."

Norton laughed, a cruel, mocking sound. "C'mon, Ahyun, don't be like this. You know you like it when I'm rough with you."

Ahyun felt a surge of anger, pushing him away roughly. "Fuck off, Norton. I'm not in the mood for your bullshit."

Norton's face twisted in a sneer, the cheap aftershave he wore doing nothing to mask the sourness emanating from him. "Is that so? Well maybe you'd prefer it when that loser of your husband you gave it to you then, huh? Or did you forget sleeping with me before getting married to your husband?" Each word was a poisoned dart aimed to wound, to reopen old scars Ahyun had desperately tried to heal.

Red bloomed in her vision, hot and blinding. Years of simmering resentment, of suppressed anger and humiliation, ignited in a single, explosive moment. Her hand moved before she could think, the crack of her palm against Norton's cheek echoing in the tense kitchen air. The sting reverberated through her own hand, but the satisfaction, sharp and immediate, was intoxicating.

A roar ripped from his throat, animalistic and terrifying. "You fucking bitch! You'll pay for that!" He lunged, his bulk a sudden, menacing force crashing towards her.

Ahyun struggled, trying to break free from his grasp. Sharp nails raked across her forearm as she tried to deflect his grasping hands, the thin fabric of her blouse tearing. She saw Hana out of the corner of her eye, standing at the kitchen door, her face pale with fear. Had she heard everything? Probably. Ahyun's heart clenched. Shame mixed with a surge of fierce protectiveness. This wasn't how she wanted Hana to see her, to see their home - a place of safety, now invaded by this ugly, raging man from her past. But she didn't have time for that.

Instinctively, Ahyun threw up her hands to shield herself from his blows. She blocked another clumsy punch, her body screaming in protest, then lunged forward, driving her knee upwards into Norton's soft underbelly. He grunted, doubling over for a split second, giving her a precious moment to create distance.

"Hana, run! Call for help!" She screamed.

Hana nodded. Her eyes were wide with terror. She turned and ran up the stairs, with Ahyun following close behind.

But as they reached the halfway point, Ahyun glanced back and froze. Norton stood motionless at the base of the stairs with his limbs locked in place like a mannequin. His face was frozen in a rictus of rage and fear, eyes wide and unblinking.

"What the hell?" Ahyun muttered. Hana looked back over her shoulder and gasped.

Ahyun looked up to check on Hana and was shocked to see that she had reached the upstairs landing, but was stuck there, firmly glued to the spot. Ahyun tried to reach out to Hana but couldn't touch her. She couldn't move either.

A bone-deep chill shook Ahyun to her core. This wasn't possible. Past and present collided in her mind. Ahyun looked back down at a paralyzed Norton. The man she had betrayed and betrayed her. The man she had fought with and raged against. The man she might have killed tonight, if not for this impossible intervention.

Tears pricked at her eyes as the enormity of what she had done, what she had become, crashed over her. This was her atonement, her penance. This was her awakening.

She glanced up and saw Hana trapped as well, suspended motionless at the top of the stairs near the door leading out to the terrace. What was happening? Some kind of dark magic?

Ahyun took a tentative step forward, eyes darting between the two. Was this her imagination running wild again after the night before? She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to clear the fog.

When she opened them again, relief flooded through her. She could move, but Norton was moving too, straining to climb the stairs. He glared up at her with pure malice. Somehow the strange paralysis had broken.

Ahyun turned and fled, adrenaline surging back into her veins, fear lending her a desperate speed. She reached Hana first, her heart hammering against her ribs. She shook her gently, pleadingly, trying to rouse her from the eerie immobility that held her captive. "Hana! Wake up! Hana, please!" But Hana remained as still as a statue, her eyes wide and unblinking, fixed on some unseen point beyond the balcony doors.

A meaty hand clamped around Ahyun's ankle and yanked cruelly, sending her sprawling on the carpeted stairs with a shocked cry. Norton loomed over her, eyes blazing.

"Thought you could run from me, you little whore?" he snarled.

Ahyun scrambled backward, pulse roaring in her ears. "Leave me alone, you psycho! I never did anything to you!" It was a lie, of course. She had done things. Things she regretted, things she was ashamed of. But in this moment, facing the raw, unbridled violence in his eyes, all she felt was terror, and a desperate, primal urge to survive.

Norton lunged for her, hands grasping. Ahyun twisted away and leapt to her feet, scrambling up the last few stairs just ahead of his reach.

She grabbed Hana and dragged her toward the balcony door, bracing to heave it open. But it was locked, or stuck - the knob refused to turn in her sweaty palm.

Norton roared with predatory laughter behind her. "No use running, Ahyun."

She spun to face him, cheeks burning, searching frantically for a weapon. In the middle of the stairs there was nothing she could use.

Ahyun fought to break free from Norton's iron grip as he dragged her into the house. Her heart pounded, her palms slick with sweat and fear. For a moment, she thought it was all over.

But then Hana appeared out of nowhere, a flash of movement. Her foot lashed out, connecting with Norton's face in a sickening crunch. He staggered backwards, releasing Ahyun.

She crashed to the floor, the wind knocked out of her. As she struggled to catch her breath, Hana helped her to her feet. "Quickly!"

They pushed themselves up the stairs, their hearts pounding in their chests. They had narrowly escaped from Norton's clutches, but they knew it wasn't over yet.

"What the hell just happened to you back there?" Ahyun asked breathlessly as she pulled Hana to her feet. "One minute we were sneaking out, the next you just...froze up!"

Hana looked equally baffled, dark hair dishevelled. "I don't know! It was like my whole body locked up on me. I couldn't move a muscle."

She looked around the empty rooftop, her gaze landing on something strange. Suspended in the air right above her head was a small bird, its wings outstretched as if in mid-flight. But it wasn't moving.

"Ahyun, look at that," Hana said, pointing at the eerie sight. Ahyun joined her and gasped. The bird hung motionless, defying all logic.

"This is so freaky!" Ahyun exclaimed. "How is that possible? It looks like time has stopped for that bird."

Hana's mind raced, trying to make sense of this bizarre phenomenon. But before she could formulate a coherent thought, a crash from the stairwell snapped them back to reality.

They stood in stunned silence for a moment, their minds reeling. Then Ahyun suddenly stiffened, her eyes going huge.

"The door," she breathed. "We left the door to the terrace open. We have to shut it before he gets up here!"

But it was too late. Norton stumbled out onto the rooftop, blood trickling from his split lip. His eyes zeroed in on the two young women and a maniacal glint flashed in them.

"You bitches think you can run from me? I'll show you what happens when you try to cross me!" He snarled.

Ahyun's eyes darted to the door they had just come through. They had left it wide open in their panicked flight. Now it was too far to reach and close it before Norton would be on them.

Panic rising in her throat, Ahyun grabbed Hana's hand. "We need to get out of here, NOW!"

Ahyun had no answers, but a deep unease was growing inside her. None of this made sense. Something was very wrong and she needed to protect Hana and herself, no matter what.

"But-"

"I can't move Ha-" Her words stopped midway as she stilled, almost like being paralyzed.

"Ahyun!"
Hana stared at her friend in dawning horror. No, no, this couldn't be happening. But even as that thought crossed her mind, Hana saw Norton halt in his tracks as well, his face twisted in a snarl that was never completed.

Frantically, Hana spun around to look behind her. The bird still hung suspended in the air. But then, to her amazement, it moved. Its wings flapped three times, propelling it forward a couple of feet before it went motionless again.

Hana's head swivelled back and forth as she looked around wildly. The clouds hung unmoving in the sky. A single drop of Ahyun's tear was suspended in mid-air halfway down her ivory cheek. Time had stopped. It had to have. But Hana was still moving, still experiencing the passage of seconds.

She was so stunned, so flooded with a clamouring chaos of emotions, that she failed to notice the creeping numbness spreading through her body. It started in her toes, moving up her legs and stealing into her torso in an inexorable tide. Hana tried to cry out, tried to reach for Ahyun, but she couldn't even twitch a finger.

Within seconds, she was frozen as rigid as her friend and her enemy, her eyes the only thing that still moved as they darted frantically back and forth. Hana was trapped in her own body, as helpless and immobile as the bird, the clouds, the teardrop.

__________

And? How was it?