DRAINED [Kim Sunwoo]

05

It was Saturday. I roamed around the apartment and saw no one in the living room nor the kitchen. Younghoon was not up yet, probably tired. He had to do group project until late night yesterday, meanwhile Jeyou had a sleepover at his friend's.

I decided to buy some stuffs from the convenience store at the nearby shophouse. I brought along my belongings and locked the apartment door.

********************

"Good morning, welcome to CU Mart!" The store worker greeted me, smiling. I slightly bowed to her in return.

I unintentionally grabbed quite a lot of stuff. I just realized it when I did the payment. How am I supposed to bring this?

"Can you handle all of this, miss?" The worker asked, looking at me with concern. I only smiled and nodded. "You can leave them here and come back. I'll take care of them while you're away."

I sighed. That's a lot of work.

"Dabin?" I turned around upon hearing my name being called out.

"Oh hi." I then turned my attention back to the stuff that I needed to bring.

"You're going straight home after this right?" I heard the worker asked the guy but I decided to brush it aside.

"Miss, do you live far from here? Which path are you taking?"

"I'm going this way." I pointed to my left. 

"Not that far, I'll be back. Just leave my stuff unattended, I don't mind." I smiled and was about to head outside when the worker stopped me.

"Wait up!" She raised her hand up as a sign for me to stop walking. She then turned her head towards the guy.

"You! Faster help her! You're going that way too right?!" The worker pushed the guy towards me causing him to roll his eyes.

"She doesn't seem to need my help tho!" I scoffed. What kind of guy is he?

"Yeah, I can handle this right, Sunwoo?" I answered sarcastically.

"See?" Sunwoo shrugged his shoulder, heading outside the store before getting dragged by the worker.

"You're not going anywhere. You need to help her right now!" The worker lifted one of the plastic bag and placed it around Sunwoo's wrist. He sighed and took another plastic bag from the counter.

"I can bring tha—"

"Lead the way." I furrowed my eyebrows, confused with his attitude. He's unbelievable.

********************

"You don't have to be so cocky just now. I was about to help you but seeing your expression, I decided not to do so." Sunwoo inched closer to the girl, lowering his head to match his eyes with hers.

"Huh?!" Dabin stopped at her pace, looking straight into the guy's eyes. His face remained expressionless.

She then turned her head, facing forward. "It's not like I forced you to help me." She softly mumbled while walking.

"Right! You don't need me. I've told Minju but she didn't believe me!" Sunwoo placed the plastic bags in the middle of the footpath and walked away. Dabin was confused and enraged upon seeing him walked away, leaving her alone.

From a far, she made an eye contact with an old man who was observing her up and down. He creepily smirked and was about to walk towards her.

Dabin put down the remaining plastic she was holding and decided to chase after him.

"Kim Sunwoo!" 

He turned around and spoke. "Why? You were fine coming to store alone just now tho?"

She was about to cry, so she held her head low, preventing him to see her face. "Please help me just this time." Sunwoo barely could hear those words due to her low voice.

Noticing her sudden change of attitude, he sighed, walking back towards the place where he left her stuffs. Dabin wiped her tears when Sunwoo was not facing her direction.

"No wonder Hyunjae call her Crybaby."

They continued walking but the mood was different compared to earlier. No one dared to speak until Sunwoo decided to break the silence. "The worker earlier, she's my younger sister, Minju." Dabin just nodded in return.

While Dabin took the keys out of her bag, someone came up from behind. "The door isn't locked. I just came back from the dumpster." Younghoon showed up, smiling towards the girl before noticing the guy beside her. "Sunwoo? You're going in?"

"It's fine. Maybe next time." Younghoon took the plastic bags from the younger's grasp and got inside.

"Thank you." Dabin was about to close the door when Sunwoo called out her name.

He rubbed his nape, looking elsewhere, not wanting to make eye contact with the girl. "I'm sorry. I was childish earlier." The girl just nodded as she closed the door.

********************

The boys had a meet up that night, without Juyeon since he had something coming up.

"I accidentally made Dabin cry this morning. I don't know if that was an accident or not, but yeah, I made her cry." Sunwoo played with his drink, stirring them aimlessly with his straw.

"You what?!" Younghoon and Hyunjae bursted out at the same time. Sunwoo lifted his head up, taken aback with the two's reaction. Haknyeon and Eric also flustered with the sudden outbursts.

"No! She didn't cry yet, she was about to! Don't get me wrong!"

Hyunjae sighed, combed his hair with his fingers. "Whatever the reason is, I hope you don't look down on her because of that." 

Everyone knitted their eyebrows, confused at his statement. "What do you mean?" Younghoon asked before sipping his drink.

"She's fragile. She cries when she's upset, when she's mad, when she's sad, even when she feels delighted. That made her a bully target back in her previous school. She never tell but I always know." 

"That's my biggest concern actually when I first saw her here." Hyunjae heavily exhaled, feeling as if a huge burden had been released from his shoulders as he shared his biggest concern with his close friends.

"I only hope you guys don't find her annoying if she turns out like that again. I'll take care the rest." Hyunjae patted Sunwoo's shoulder and slightly smiled.

Sunwoo shook his head. "Don't worry, I didn't think like that at all. I just slightly panicked earlier." He returned the elder's smile to ensure that everything was fine.

"Yeah, she's now our friend too. Your concern is our concern too. We'll always have her back, along with Yubin and Suhyeon." Eric spoke, receiving nods from the others.

Younghoon placed his arm on the armrest. "She's also my responsibility now. I really hope that you can help me with that. You know her best. I really want to be the reason of her happiness at home, along with Jeyou."

Younghoon turned his gazed towards Hyunjae. "She had no one before, right?"

"For her to consider us as her real brothers," Younghoon paused, closing his eyes before continuing his words.

"really means a lot for me."

Hyunjae smiled, clearly showing that he was pleased.

"We're willing to help. Chin up!"

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Love, Nia♡