SIN | CHOI MUJIN/JUNG TAEJU

4 SINS

"I saw an older man drive her to school." One of Heejin's subordinates piped up behind her.

"So... did you sleep with a married man?" Heejin laughed. "Or maybe you're what they call a sugar baby?"

"I didn't." Aera tried to defend herself which only served to anger Heejin.

"Looks like your mother didn't teach you to not talk back to your superiors." Heejin grabbed Aera's hair and tossed her across the room. "Wait... I forgot! You don't have a mother!"

It was the last straw for Aera when Heejin had mentioned her mother and the next thing she knew, she saw red. Before she knew it, Aera had picked herself off from the floor when Heejin and her groupies were busy laughing and slapped Heejin so hard that her bottom lip split. "Don't talk about my mother like that!"

"This crazy bitch!" Heejin wiped the blood from her lower lip before she gave her subordinates an order. "Teach that crazy bitch a lesson."

A passerby had reported the fight and both girls were called to the teacher's lounge concerning the matter.

"Aera, how could you harm a fellow classmate's face?" Mr. Yun lectured her even though Aera's condition was far worse than Heejin's. Heejin feigned an innocent look as she knew for a fact that things would go in her favor because her father was filthy rich and had donated thousands to their high school for years.

"Why aren't you asking her why she did this to me?" Aera spoke back to a superior for the first time in her life. "I'm in a much worse condition than her, yet you ask me why I did what I did?"

"The teachers at this school are really pathetic." Aera finally lost her filter. "You choose to side with the student who did wrong because her father has donated money to the school rather than the actual victim."

Overcome with sheer anger, Aera spoke her final words before exiting the teacher's lounge and slamming the door behind her. She angrily walked back to her homeroom where she was confronted by Heejin's friends once again.

"Look! She brought drugs to school! She really is a gangster's daughter!" One of them laughed as she pointed to the white package set on her desk. Aera angrily picked up the white package and threw it at one of Heejin's friends before picking up her school bag and elbowing her way out of the room.

"Park Aera!" The home room teacher who had just returned from a meeting shouted at her. "You can't just leave school as you please!"

Aera completely ignored her as she angrily made her way out of the school. She had enough of the constant bullying and prejudice of her classmates and of the teachers who turned a blind eye to her suffering just because her late father had a gangster's reputation. As she exited the school's gates, she couldn't control her emotions anymore and as a result, hot tears started streaming down her face.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying." Aera lied as she wiped her tears before facing the person who questioned her. She came face to face with the man who had decided to take her under his wing, Choi Mujin. "Why are you here?"

"Answer my question first, Aera."

"Will you believe me if I tell you?" Aera whispered as she fought another onset of tears. All the adults in her life had always sided with the people who wronged her and just for once, Aera desperately wanted someone to believe in her instead.

"I'll believe you." Mujin reassured her. "Come sit in the car first and tell me what's wrong."

In a world where no one ever believed her, Park Aera found comfort in someone for the first time in her life and that unlikely individual was none other than Choi Mujin.

"What are you going to do now?" Taeju asked his leader when Aera had finally fallen asleep in the car due to the stress and anxiety she experienced on her first day of school.

"Threaten parents of course." Mujin smirked as if it were the easiest answer known to man. "I'll have Aera's bullies beg on their knees for forgiveness."

"And if the bullying continues?" Taeju locked eyes with Mujin the rearview mirror of the car.

"It won't. You know best that Dongcheon always protects its members." Mujin stated as he looked at the black and blue bruises that decorated Aera's skin. "Have Do Gang-jae attend school with her from now on. Have him protect her."

-

hi everyone x

this update is a tad bit later than usual, but i hope you enjoy it! as always, please excuse any spelling or grammar mistakes! if you do see any, please feel free to point them out!

much love,

shirley x