✔ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐃: 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟

CHAPTER 10

Yesterday was like a movie in my head. Every now and then, images would pop up in my mind's eye that I liked to remember. Although I had forgotten the promise and felt incredibly guilty, I was happy when I saw how proud Minja was of her new dress and shoes this morning. She was positively glowing and her cute dimples were showing.

I could only smile when I thought about it.

The date had also gone surprisingly well. I could remember a few moments when it had been quiet, but it hadn't been an oppressive silence. Rather, we were people who sometimes needed that silence.

Taehyun was quirky in some ways, but quite interesting and what I appreciated was that he listened.

I had already gone home for lunch that day because I knew I still had to clean the apartment. As my mother wasn't at home, I took over this work and spent the rest of the time cooking. As a result, the day passed quite quickly and eventually the time came when I had to pick Minja up from school. So I set off straight away.

When I got there, I was horrified to discover my little sister standing alone in the entrance, crying. One of the children's teachers was kneeling next to her and trying to calm Minja down with gentle words.

The first thing I noticed was that the new dress she had been so proud of was completely dirty and partially torn. The sleeve was hanging off her shoulder and one pocket was torn open. The pretty purple was barely visible and her crocodile tears were soaking the fabric. It looked terrible.

I immediately ran up to her, stroked her hair and knelt down in front of her to stroke her shoulder. "What happened?" I asked, startled, looking at the teacher as well. My heart was pounding. It hurt because I could imagine what had happened.

I didn't really want to hear it.

But the teacher shook her head as if she didn't know how it had happened. "She doesn't want to tell me. I've been trying to get what happened out of her the whole time."

And Minja didn't make any effort to do so, as if she was going to say anything. Instead, she hugged me and cried into my shoulder.

She was trembling all over and I hugged her tightly to make her feel safe. At the same time, I felt fear and anger because several things were buzzing around in my head. "I'm here," I whispered and made circular movements on her back. The teacher gave me a confused and sympathetic look and I nodded to her. "I'm going to take her home now, maybe she'll tell me what happened," I informed her and stood up slowly. I took Minja by the hand, who was looking at the floor with a distorted expression on her face. Her tears were still finding their way down and dripping onto her not-so-white shoes.

After we had been walking home for about ten minutes, Minja finally said through tears and sobs: "The girls pushed and punched me during the break."

My grip on her small hand tightened and I could feel the anger rising in my head. I felt a burning sensation in my chest and took a deep breath. "Do you know what these girls' names are?" I asked in a calm tone, trying really hard not to show her that I would have loved to pay these girls a visit.

Minja shook her head.

"They don't go to my class..." the little girl sniffled and started to cry again, "I'm sorry the dress is broken now."

I stopped abruptly.

I turned to her and dropped into a crouch. Her swollen, red eyes looked back at me with that doomsday look and this time I really hoped it wasn't what I had already thought. I rested my hands on her shoulders and sighed heavily. "Min," I mumbled with a heavy heart, my gaze sliding over the broken dress once more. A lump formed in my throat and tears welled up in my eyes at the thought of how radiant she had been yesterday. "Don't apologize for it, you didn't break it." Before she saw my eyes glaze over, I hugged her to me, stroked her head and plucked a leaf out of her hair. "I'm going to do something about it, okay?"

+×+

"How dare you look at me like that!" Bongcha hissed at the girl, grabbed her by the collar with her right hand and pulled the poor student in her direction first, causing her to lose her balance a little and being pushed to the ground by Bongcha. The student's sobs reminded me of my sister.

The pitiful sound echoed in my ears and I stood motionless while Bongcha pushed the girl into the ground until her face turned bright red. I couldn't even catch my breath, clenched my hands into fists and watched the scene trembling. It was absurd why Bongcha was having such a go at these girls.

Because she wanted to be in power? Because she wanted to be above you?

I couldn't understand it, but I couldn't summon up the courage to do anything either.

"Bongcha, she's turning blue already!" Daesy shouted desperately, while her hands hovered over the person she was talking to as if she couldn't touch her. "We're in trouble!"

"We'd better get going," stuttered Chaewon, one of our cheerleaders, stepping nervously from one foot to the other.

But Bongcha just waved her hands away, let go of her victim and patted her hands together. Her sharp eyes wandered over her team, none of us looked particularly thrilled and I couldn't get the image of my crying sister out of my head. She must have felt the same as this girl did now. Crying and sitting on the floor.

I had to do something.

But my body was stuck.

Especially when Bongcha's gaze hit me, I remembered the pulling pain at my hairline or the times she had pinched me. I didn't want that anymore.

Wake up, Paenji, and do something!

I'd been trying to tell myself that for years, but I also knew what I had to lose. And I didn't want to lose the cheerleaders and the dancing.

"I'm sure she won't say anything more," Daesy muttered, her voice trembling. You could hear that she was scared. "Let's go!"

"All right, let's go," Bongcha gave in, wiping the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and waving a hand outside. Her black hair was sticking to her forehead and her cheeks were tomato red with exertion. She sighed heavily and didn't even look at the younger girl sitting on the floor. Cheerleading practice and the soccer team's practice would start soon, they shouldn't be late for that, but my eyes were still on the girl who was slowly getting to her feet and taking the chance to escape. Her gasping for breath and still audible crying left me unable to think clearly and I closed my eyes, hearing only the loud pounding of my heart. I had to calm down.

Fortunately, the girls got moving and we left the school building together to go outside to the soccer field where we normally held our training sessions. On the way there, we spotted a few of the boys, Daesy greeted Beomgyu in particular as usual, but got a strange look from Bongcha.

I also exchanged a quick glance with one of the boys.

It was Taehyun, but he didn't look like he was looking at me in particular.

His eyes were on all of us.