Another Level: CLC SYS

chapter 14: first love

     “It's normal within couples to fight sometimes.” Seunghee says. “You can bounce back from this.”

     “Eonni,”

     “Hm?”

     “Have I ever told you both how I met Joon and how we started dating?”

     “You said you met him at work.” Seunghee replies, filling my plate with food.

     Seungyeon sits down without a word. “I really wasn't interested in dating at all, you know that. Especially, at that time. But Joon was always there. I was having a hard time but he was always there and whenever he's there, I forgot about the bad things for a while. That's why I like him. Joon is a comfort to me.” I say, feeling myself tearing up again.

     Seunghee sighs, giving me a tissue. “Aigoo, don't cry. Your eyes are so swollen already.”

     “Eonni, I... don't think we could bounce back from this. Not me.” I finally say.

     “Are you crazy? It's just one fight. You said you really like him.” Seunghee says in disbelief. Seungyeon holds her arm and shakes her head at her silently.

      So, I finally tell everything to her that I've also opened up to Seungyeon and I tell them about what happened yesterday because I feel like if I continued bottling everything up inside, I might explode. I want to take control of my feelings, of everything, of my life.

Seunghee is quiet when I was done. There's a stain of tear on her cheek and without a word, she comes over and wraps me in a hug. “You don't deserve any of this.” She says. “I've been working behind the scenes in the entertainment industry and I've seen plenty of shitty people but that CEO... woah, I can't believe it. I can't believe evil people like that really exist.”

     “You should sue, Yeeun.” Seungyeon says softly.

     I shake my head. “I tried. They won't believe me. Why would they believe me? Who am I compared to the CEO?”

     “Don't even compare yourself to him.” Seunghee says. “He's rotten inside.”

     “But... Yeeun-ah,” Seungyeon says, “You said Joon is his son. I really hate to say this but are you sure he doesn't know anything about this?”

      “Would he had gone out with me if he knew?”

* * *

SEUNGHEE

Yeeun and Seungyeon have gone to their own rooms but I go to the back of the building and sit there with a beer in hand, staring at the night sky. Since we're on the ground floor, we get the luxury of a small garden although none of us ever put plants there or planted something, there's just this wooden bench that's already there when we moved in.

It's a shame that the stars can't be seen from Seoul at all due to all the lights outshining them.

I couldn't sleep thinking about Yeeun. Why were we born so powerless into this world? Why do the evil ones get to have this power over good people?

The can cracks in my hand.

I've always let sadness make home inside of me. I never once thought that life was easy. My dad passed away sooner than any of us ever expected. I've got a mom who's given up on us after that and a younger brother who's yet to know the real world and learn from it. I thought I've had it so hard; what with the career path I chose where you compete with other people that seem to just be always better than you and  then there's a failed relationship I couldn't just stop writing about.