Chocolate Girl || Yeorry

#37 - Star

"If you're worried about me killing you, don't worry, I won't. It's not you I'm going after. I'm more interested in your... girlfriend. Congratulations on that by the way."

Although he said he wasn't going for me, I don't feel relieved at all. In fact, I feel worse. If he really is going after Yerim, that's a bigger problem.

And how did he even know that we were girlfriends?

Suddenly, I feel a hand sneak up onto my hurt arm. I hastily move away from the hand and pull out my gun. I turn towards him and aim for his head with my two hands. I expected him to at least back off a little, but he doesn't move. Even though he was the one who was threatened, he looks calm. In fact, he seemed to be satisfied with the current situation. That terrifies me.

My hands tremble more and more as we stay in this position. Me, on high alert. Him, nonchalant. The sirens outside were louder than ever.

His expression changes in a fraction of a second, and my blood runs cold.

"You shouldn't have turned your back."

Two arms grab me from behind.

Yerim's POV

"I have to find her."

"You don't even know where she is! Yerim, this isn't going to work."

"It has to! I can't lose her."

Hyeju throws her arms up, then massages her face with her hands. She heaves a sigh, and glares at me.

"You're not thinking straight."

"I know I'm not!" I yell out, tears brimming from my eyes. It has been an hour since the events ended, and I failed to find Yeojin. The pain from the wound didn't feel as strong because of adrenaline coursing through me, as I tried to find a trace of Yeojin. When I checked the house, no one was present, not even her parents. I searched everywhere, looked at every single corner of her house, just to find nothing.

We were back at our home and everyone's injuries have been taken care of. Hyunjin had a bullet graze her cheek and another hit the side of her waist, while Hyeju suffered a black eye because she fought one of Jaehyun's men one on one. She won, obviously.

I don't care about my injuries. I wouldn't care getting more, if it meant that I could've gotten to Yeojin on time. But I didn't. I couldn't. Now she's gone missing, and I don't have anything to help me track her down.

Although I know who got to her first, that doesn't give me any information at all except for the fact that I am now intent on making his life a living hell. Guess we have both of that in common now.

"Yerim, calm down." Hyunjin gets up from her seat, flinching a bit from the pain coming from her waist. I'm surprised that her leg healed so quickly ever since we came back from our trip to Paris. She could now walk perfectly fine.

Even though I was happy for her recovery, I still shot a glare at her.

"How an I supposed to calm down?! He took her! He took Yeojin! He could be doing anything to her right now and I'm not even there to help. In fact, here we are, taking our sweet time having a conversation when I can just chase after them right now!" I yell at both of them. I'm far from a clear state of mind right now, and I wish they'd understand.

Hyunjin puts both her hands on my shoulder and stares at me hard.

"You're not going anywhere. Where would you go anyway? You don't know where Yeojin is. You don't know where Jaehyun is. You do not have any information about anything, so chasing after something like that is practically impossible. I know she's your girlfriend, you have the right to be concerned. But try to think rationally or else we're going to end up in deeper trouble, that we could avoid by thinking a bit more." She says to me sternly. This time I couldn't argue back, staying silent for a minute. My nerves calm a bit while I try to regulate my breathing. Hyunjin is still looking at me, but I look down instead. When she notices the tears dropping to the ground, she engulfs me in a hug.

I immediately break down. I have kept my composure ever since we got back, but it just was too much now. All I wanted was to be able to start again. It was going so well. I had a lot of people around me. I did well in school. I was part of a massive friend group, fell in love, and got a girlfriend. But that asshole, he crawled out of whatever hole satan kept him in and decided to fuck me over, again. Was one time not enough? Was being haunted by my past actions not enough for him? Do I have to lose everyone around me for him to  finally be satisfied with himself?

Hyeju joins the hug shortly after, patting my back at the same time. My tears keep flowing down, and for minutes, they didn't seem to stop, and the hugs from who I consider as family never falter.

We stayed like this for as long as I kept crying, until the tears finally stopped coming out. Hyunjin pats my back.

"I know how much you want to go after them. To get Yeojin back. To finally end Jaehyun's grasp on you. I feel the same, but maybe not as strong. Yeojin was and still is one of my best friends, and I desperately want to go chase after her too. But with what we have right now, we would find and gain nothing. We have to have a plan and we need more information so that we can really get Yeojin back."

I wipe the remaining tears that threatened to come out, listening to Hyunjin speak. I felt drained from everything that happened today, but the fire from rage I felt from failing to protect Yeojin was still burning brightly, and Hyeju must've noticed that.

"You need to rest. We all do. And with the police that arrived after we ran away, we need to lay low for a moment, and they have to too. Let's take this time to rest, heal up and make up a plan." She says and both me and Hyunjin nod.

We finally break away from the hug and I feel this sudden wave of tiredness hit me. Hyeju rubs my back, telling me to go take a shower and go to sleep. I comply and head up towards my bedroom.

It was the middle of the night when I woke up. Not wanting to go back to sleep yet, I get up to look at the stars from my window. There were many thoughts going through my head right now, but one was more prominent.

Is Yeojin okay?

I know that the answer was negative, but I couldn't help but hope she was, even though I saw her motionless body get dragged away, and I was too far to do anything, and the police were closing in at an alarming rate.

I saw her get taken, and I couldn't do anything to stop it from happening.

Even now, I still can't do anything to bring her back safely. And every second that passes, the more danger she's in.

I couldn't afford that. I couldn't afford losing someone close to me because of my actions ever again.

No, it's not because of me.

It's because of him. The source of all my problems. The guy who just keeps ruining it all for me.

Jaehyun.

His name tasted like poison on the tip of my tongue. Every time I think of the things he has done to me, for no good reason, it makes my rage stronger. I had so many opportunities to end it all for good, and I missed them all, deciding to keep my morals up in situations that weren't missions.

But I already killed so many people, what's one more?

The more I thought about it, the dumber I found myself to be.

The person I want the most dead is the one I had always kept alive, and now even life had to interrupt and kick me in the ass.

Through my thoughts, I kept looking at the stars. When stars die, they can still shine in the sky for millions of years until they finally fade. It's a bit like people. When a person dies, their memories are still alive, burning bright, until one day, no one remembers them anymore. Some stars shine brighter than other, just like how more famous people are more likely to be remembered.

But the difference with stars and people, is that you can make people forget about someone, so that they can stop shining forever.

I'm going to make sure no one remembers Jaehyun. I'm going to become the very thing that will make him stop shining.

I'm going to kill Jaehyun, to end this once and for all.

I scribble a note on my desk for Hyunjin and Hyeju. I dress up and get out from the window with nothing but a gun.

As I run towards an unknown destination, I notice that one of the stars in the sky stopped shining.

________

well... school happened i guess?