Chapter 70: Home (3)

She'd been planning to drive straight home, but on impulse she took a detour into Hongdae district, where the sidewalks were always crowded, even on a Tuesday night. She cruised past movie theaters dressed in neon radiance, bars and restaurants throbbing with the electronic pulse of amplified music, storefront windows framing pyramids of record albums and platoons of T-shirts gliding on automated racks. A sudden inexplicable urge seized her, the urge to get out of her car, join the crowds, become part of that cheerful chaos just beyond her windshield, just out of reach.

The feeling passed. After she'd circled the area a few times, crawling at five miles an hour in the sluggish traffic, she had no urge to do anything except go home and climb into bed.