I Should Have Never Sat In That Seat

Chapter 9: THE HOUSE THAT NEVER SPEAKS LOUDLY

Emma’s message stayed in her mind the entire morning, even while she tried to act normal at school. The words weren’t loud anymore, but they felt heavier each time she remembered them, like they had slowly settled somewhere inside her thoughts and refused to leave. Even sitting in Class 2-3, she found herself glancing at her phone more than once, half expecting another message to appear, but the screen remained silent, as if whoever sent it had already said everything they needed to say.

Daniel noticed her distraction without saying anything at first. He was sitting beside her as usual, but his presence felt different today—less distant, more alert, like he was quietly observing her reactions instead of ignoring them. Every now and then, his eyes would shift toward her phone, then back to the front of the classroom, as if he already understood what was happening but chose not to interrupt her immediately.

At the same time, Lily kept watching from across the room, her expression sharper than before, especially every time she noticed Emma and Daniel sitting too close without speaking. Ryan, on the other hand, tried to act normal by joking with Sofia, but even his laughter sounded slightly forced, like he was trying too hard to erase yesterday’s tension from his memory.

But far away from all of this noise and suspicion, Daniel’s home was completely different.

It was quiet in a way that didn’t feel peaceful—more like everything had simply learned not to speak too loudly.

His mother, Anna Kim, moved slowly through the kitchen that morning, carefully arranging baked goods into trays for the small bakery she owned near their street. The smell of fresh bread filled the house, warm and soft, but Daniel barely reacted to it as he sat at the table, staring at nothing in particular while his untouched breakfast cooled in front of him.

“You didn’t eat much yesterday either,” Anna said gently, glancing at him while wiping her hands on her apron. Her voice was soft, but there was a tiredness behind it, like she had said this many times before without much change.

Daniel didn’t answer immediately. After a short pause, he finally spoke in a calm, low voice. “I wasn’t hungry.”

Anna sighed quietly, not pushing further, though her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer than usual. She wanted to ask more, but she didn’t. In that house, questions often stayed unspoken, not because people didn’t care, but because answers rarely came easily.

Upstairs, his father, James Kim, was already dressed for another business trip, checking documents and packing his bag with the same efficiency he used for everything in his life. He barely looked up when he passed through the kitchen, only pausing briefly to place a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.

“I’ll be away for a few days again,” James said, his tone practical rather than emotional. “Take care of your mother.”

Daniel nodded slightly. “Okay.”

That was all.

No long goodbye. No extra words.

Just another departure that felt like part of a routine everyone had accepted.

After his father left, the house became even quieter, and Daniel remained at the table for a few seconds longer before standing up. He finally picked up his bag, not because he was in a hurry, but because staying still felt heavier than moving.

Back at school, Emma was still trying to make sense of everything when Daniel suddenly spoke beside her again, this time quieter than before, like he didn’t want anyone else to hear.

“You didn’t sleep well,” he said, not as a question but as an observation.

Emma turned slightly toward him, surprised that he noticed. “How do you know?”

Daniel didn’t look at her directly at first. His eyes stayed forward, but his voice was steady. “Because you keep checking your phone like you’re expecting it to tell you something.”

That made Emma pause.

Before she could respond, Lily stood up again from her seat across the classroom, her chair scraping slightly louder than necessary. She didn’t speak yet, but her eyes locked onto Emma with a clear sense of irritation, like she was watching something she already disliked becoming more complicated.

At that same moment, Ryan leaned toward Sofia and whispered, “This is getting worse every day.”

Sofia didn’t reply immediately. Her eyes stayed on Daniel for a second longer than normal, then she quietly said, “It didn’t start today.”

Emma, still sitting beside Daniel, felt that sentence land strangely in her mind, because it confirmed something she didn’t want to accept yet—that whatever was happening around her wasn’t new. It was continuing.

And she had simply stepped into it.