It wasn't often that Caleb came home silent and apathetic.

It was instead a rare occurrence which indicated that something had gone wrong or something wasn't right.

Hyolin sent her kids to their playroom, knowing that any sort of loud noise or possible disturbance might trigger Caleb further into a spiral of silence.

He was the type that when stressed or perturbed ended up building walls around him.

Shutting off both his family and his friends.

Hyolin silently started off the routine which she knew worked wonders in getting her husband to relax and in some form spill the beans.

She quietly made her way to his form laid on the sofa of the living room.

She helped get rid of his jackets and his socks not before turning on the television to some random music channels which would mute any of their words in case the kids actually decide to come out of their play fortress.

Hyolin did not know how this conversation was going to go but based on the empty and wandering look on Caleb she could clearly tell it probably would be something really challenging to deal with. Given despite her husband's soft nature he was not as emotional as others may think.

Hyolin took off towards the kitchen, putting on the kettle and bringing out the calming tea and the honey which she knew worked wonders.

It was best to have something hearty, warm and sweet when having a heart to heart conversation.

She also brought out the home-made plain brioches that they normally get delivered at home every morning.

They enjoyed pastries and cakes, it was sort of comforting to have them whenever they needed affirmation or just any sort of basic comfort.

With measured, yet confident movements Hyolin finished up the set of delicacies which she proceeded to place on a tray.

Just like that she made her way towards him.

She noticed he had now shifted his gaze towards the television, his eyes still looked unfocused, but this was still a great start meaning she'd probably easily get to have him concentrate on her words without too much of a hassle.

Placing the food on the glass side table she gingerly got herself to her knees ,her frame blocking his view of the television, she gently placed her hands on top of his before softly massaging them an action she had learned from her mother in law helped to soothe and calm him down.

"-Babe..." She called softly letting her voice trailed off, letting the man in front of her focus on her as his eyes met hers.

"- what happened?" She continued asking

Waiting for him to finally speak up.

Hyolin could see the exact moment Caleb had processed her words as she could see a swirl of emotions hit him at once, the friend and the confusion clear and legible in his face despite him not having said anything yet.

Hyolin waited, she knew he was going to talk now, he just needed a minute to collect the right words to say.

"-I just don't understand," he said pausing once more.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"-It's like....it's like. He's a different ,new person. He acts weird, he says weird stuff and he got rid of 90% of our higher management team."

He said, Hyolin finally catching up with who the "person" in question (who he was talking about) was.

"-90% of the team !" He said his voice getting higher as the pent-up anger and frustration he felt finally bubbled out.

"-And all the new people..."

He sighed

"-everyone he newly employed are just so weird ,they give me bad vibes, really bad vibes. I have no idea why and what it is with them, but I don't feel like it's safe to be around them.

And guess what? When I asked his secretary about that she just shrugged her shoulders and claimed that our previous management were all part of some sort of conspiracy coalition trying to get embezzlement.

Embezzlement?!

Hah what a joke!"

Hyolin observed the way Caleb scratched his head in frustration and she sighed, before responding

"-You have every right to feel upset and frustrated...but do you think shutting down on your family is going to solve anything she said bounty yet gently"

Caleb froze at her statement, his eyes going wide with realization at just how bad he had been.

It was true that there was a lot going on at work, but it wasn't a good reason for him to just ignore everyone and jump further into his own bubble

Furthermore, they had worked hard, all these years to get him to the healthy state he was in today.

He looked back at his wife apologetically.

"-I'm sorry" he said trying to silently convey his remorseful state.

Hyolin smiled happily that he had realized his mistake.

Things would always go back to normal as long as he realized his mistakes.

To be honest Hyolin had noticed a certain different vibe from the man Caleb had just ranted about, she had noticed how cold and distant he had seemed at the barbeque get together. His usual lively personality had been replaced with a quieter and more... calculating? Vibe.

It obviously wasn't her place to point fingers or to meddle in others' business but also her best friend Lorraine had seemed to inevitably go through some changes.

The two of them had known each other for years and tended to share everything with each other from great events to little trivial mommy adventures they often had.

But nowadays,

Lorraine was evasive.

Very evasive.

She avoided talking about her family ,she avoided talking about Sungjae.

But the weirdest thing was she had begun to rely on the babysitter way more than usual.

She knew for certain that the other woman would often leave the kids at the office because that's what she did herself too. It wasn't so much of a deal.

Everyone loves their kids, or at least loved.

Thinking back at the information that Caleb had given her, she was not sure whether she wanted to be leaving her young offices in an environment full of fresh faces.

Hyolin was not close to Sungjae like that ,but she knew that she could talk to him and make him listen to her .

Talking to Lorraine would probably not solve much especially given how much she was trying to avoid speaking of her family these days.

Hyolin was not sure , but she had a hunch something was going south in her best friend's personal life somewhere and had a feeling this was what was inadvertently affecting all of them directly or indirectly.

Hyolin inwardly sighed and made a resolution, she would confront Sungjae.

She had no intention of telling her husband not wanting to stress him about it further.

She obviously could not tell Lorraine either not wanting to upset her into thinking she did not respect her privacy.

So, the best option was to meet up with Sungjae secretly and demand him to explain himself.

Hyolin mentally scanned all the information she knew about the man in question, when a sudden light bulb hit her.

Wednesday.

Tomorrow was Wednesday.

She knew that Sungjae stayed in the office only half a day before he went to the gym.

Just before he enters the gym would be the perfect moment for her to talk to him, given as she couldn't just visit the office this time, for obvious reasons.

Hyolin mentally high fived herself.

She could do this ;she could fix everything.

Focusing back at her husband she smiled, sweetly

"-It's ok, I am sure things are going to get better, whatever the actual reason is for this big change I'm sure it's not going to be so bad." She said comforting

Caleb made to open his mouth to refute but just as quickly as he opened it , he then closed it shut, sighing as he rubbed his head before finally smiling back at her.

He had already talked too much about work, and that was not pleasant, it was best that he left his work problems at work and focused on his family at home.

Not knowing of the plan that his wife had just designed for herself he gingerly asked her about her day, trying to make up for his previous unresponsiveness.

Hyolin happily engaged in the conversation, happy with the knowledge she would sort his problems out.

Little did she know just what she was really getting herself into.

A quick confrontation was to turn into a quick expatriation.