Chapter One: Pre-Infected 3 Days


"This place is disgusting." Marie grumbled as she started throwing takeaway containers into the trashcan, "How can a place so tiny be sooo messy?"

Her brother chuckled uneasily as he moved the trash can closer to where Marie was crouching, "I-Well I wasn't exactly expecting company, Marie. I mean- why are you even here?"

She glared up at her older brother, "Why? Aren't you happy to see me?"

The twenty-five-year-old sighed, "You know that's not what I mean, Marie."

Marie turned away from Glenn and stood up before stretching, "Dad's pissed at me."

"Why?"

"The same reason he's pissed at you."

That was an understatement. Their dad had never really been good at holding in his temper, not that he ever really got physical with any of them but his mouth often got away from him. He was an expert at making you feel like absolute shit with only his words. That was something Marie hadn't missed during high school, since she'd been living with their grandparents in Daranengi -a village near the town of Namhae in South Korea- at that time until a year after she graduated and moved back to the states to go to college. Now that Glenn's small kitchen was free from old takeaway and instant ramen containers it looked somewhat decent. Though she wouldn't call it done. Marie started handwashing the dirty plates in the sink before placing the clean ones in the drying rack.

"You told him that you... wouldn't do engineering?" Glenn guessed sarcastically.

"No." Marie sighed, "He found out that I changed my major from horticulture to philosophy."

"Oh," Glenn murmured as he hissed under his breath, "Yeah... that would do it."

"I mean it's not like I lost interest in horticulture..." Marie grumbled, "I just like philosophy more. Besides, I'm not dropping it entirely. I took enough classes to get a degree in the subject... it's just not my passion anymore."

"Hey, you're not going to get any complaints from me." Glenn snorted, "I mean dad still won't talk to me and it's been what, three years?"

"Yeah." Marie agreed, "But that's mostly because you're brilliant with computer science and all of that hacking shit that goes right over my head... but you dropped out of school and refuse to go back."

Glenn leaned against the counter tiredly, the florescent lighting illuminating his pizza-boy uniform-clad physique, "College... just wasn't for me."

"So you said." Marie nodded, "Though, with your skills couldn't you just hack some money into your ATM account instead of working as a delivery guy?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha." he laughed sarcastically, "Very funny... If only it wasn't, I don't know, illegal."

Marie shot him a coy smirk, "Yeah, if only."

"So..." Glenn started somewhat nervously, "How long are you going to hide out here?"

A shaky sigh escaped from her lips, "As long as you'll have me."

"It was pretty bad, wasn't it?" he asked softly.

"Yup." Marie nodded, "He said he wasn't gonna help pay for schooling anymore... In fact, Dad wants me to pay him back 'every cent' he's spent on me so far."

Glenn let out a low whistle, "Shit. What about mom? What'd she say?"

"Mom..." she hesitated before stating in a softer voice, "Opted out of intervening."

Her brother winced, "I thought that was getting better?"

"Yeah, um, no. After Hana sent her wedding invitations last week, well..."

"Shit... um, yeah. I can see why that would have thrown her off the wagon."

Their eldest sister Hana would have been the perfect golden child and the apple of their parents' eyes if it weren't for one not-so-tiny detail. Hana was one of the proudest lesbians Marie had ever had the pleasure to meet. The twenty-eight-year-old was a successful pediatrician in Michigan and had been in a longterm relationship with her girlfriend Samantha Davis, who worked as a delivery room nurse in the same hospital, for a couple of years now. Their parents had been absolutely horrified when Hana 'came out' of the closet, back when Marie was thirteen. Hana had been seventeen then and Marie's personal hero. That was probably the reason why her parents had been so pushy and eventually decided to send Marie to live with her maternal grandparents in the countryside of South Korea where her mother had grown up. Despite all of the distance between the sisters their bond had never broken and only gotten stronger. The same went with Glenn, who had actually been pretty upset when Marie was forced to leave. Her big brother spent every school holiday in Daranengi with Marie, not caring if that meant that they would both have to help out in the rice paddies instead of hanging out at malls or at arcades like normal teenagers.

It's needless to say that her parents did not handle having a homosexual child well. Their mom turned to her trusted pharmaceuticals and a nice glass of red wine in the evenings to help her forget the 'embarrassment' while their dad became even more intense and unforgiving about what he believed to be the right thing or path for his children to follow. In hindsight, Hana was pretty amazing in how she handled the whole thing. Her big sister hadn't crumbled under the pressure of their parents, instead, Hana had studied hard and had gotten various scholarships before putting herself through med school since mom and dad refused to help her unless Hana renounced her 'deviant' ways.

It had taken years for their parents to even somewhat grudgingly accept their firstborn child, and that was only after Hana started making a name for herself in her field. That didn't mean that anything pertaining to Hana's preferences didn't make their hair raise on its ends. If anything, they both viciously started pretending that it didn't exist and their mother would occasionally try and introduce Hana to a 'nice boy' that she should date. Samantha proposing to her big sister hadn't really been a surprise to her or Glenn. The peppy ginger-haired woman had called them first to tell them of her intentions towards Hana since she knew that their parents weren't accepting of their lifestyle, but it had been a huge blow for their parents.

"Yup. Mom did not take that well... she actually fainted, Glenn!" Marie exclaimed in annoyance as she recalled that afternoon, "Dad was pretty quiet, though he did throw the invitation in the trash rather angrily a few minutes later."

Glenn nervously removed the baseball cap from his head and ran his fingers through his short black locks, "Does Hana know?"

Marie winced, "I-I, um, gave her a heads-up that the folks didn't take it so good. Hana and Samantha expected it really... but you know her. I think she was a bit hurt anyway."

"Man, they can be such-such prejudiced dicks sometimes!" he growled out angrily. Marie nodded in agreement, it was something that bugged and angered all three of the Rhee siblings.

"I know." she hummed soothingly as turned the faucet off and dried her hands before deciding to change the subject, "Dad's friends in Administration tipped him off when I changed my major. He probably thought I would back off and change my mind when he gave me that ultimatum. He sure as hell didn't expect me to run off in the middle of the night with all my shit."

"That's my little sister." Glenn grinned proudly as he pulled her into a hug.


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