缘分 y͏u͏a͏n͏f͏e͏n͏ -; j͏u͏n͏g͏r͏i͏

c a i m 該隱

jeongguk licks his lips nervously, before asking her, "are you alright?" and that one question got the girl to freeze instantly, as she feels her tears building up and the lump at the back of her throat, her heart dropping instantly to the pits of her stomach.

yerim wanted to shake her head, she wanted to tell the male she isn't alright, and she's barely hanging in. she wanted to tell him, but she can't. who was she to even taint the male with her brokenness?

faking a smile as she always does, yerim nods her head, "i'm good, stop worrying."

"then why are you cutting yourself?" jeongguk whispers softly, and she can sense the crack in his voice, and that one crack immediately breaks her heart. the last thing she wants is for the male to be crying over her, to be hurting over her because she isn't worth it. with what and how she has turned out, yerim thinks jeongguk shouldn't waste his time to cry over her.

yerim pulls her hand back, lifting her head as she musters a neutral expression towards the male; she never wanted him to spot her scars on her arm but some things just can't be hidden from that long, especially when jeongguk is pretty alert to such stuff. "don't ask, jeongguk. please don't ask," she replies, before grabbing her bag to take her leave.

it isn't even a fall, so why are you lying to me? he looks at her, holding onto her gently, before saying, "yerim, you know i'm always here for you right, no matter what. for your everything, your pain, your sadness, your happiness, your scars and everything else, i'm always here, okay?"

and what the male didn't know is that yerim is crying internally, wishing how much she can hug him and cry to him about everything, asking him to protect her but she can't ― simply because she's broken and destroyed, and a person like jeongguk doesn't deserve a person like her; she doesn't deserve his love, not even a drop of it.

jeongguk plays with his food, twirling his noodles before dropping them back onto the plate as his mind is filled with thoughts of yerim, and her bruises. "jeongguk, is everything okay?" his mother's voice breaks his train of thoughts, causing him to look up just to see his family looking at him with concern.

"y-yeah, i'm good," he mumbles, before lowering his head again, hesitating for a few seconds before looking up, "why do people fall?" his sudden and weird question causes his family members to look at him with confusion, when his older brother asks him, "what are you talking about?"

"i have this friend, who keeps falling but how can you fall till your entire body is covered with brusies?" he shakes his head, his frustration clearly expressed through his frowning and his father then tilts his head slightly, "perhaps she is clumsy."

"she isn't clumsy. okay, fine, you're clumsy and you fall. what about cutting herself? why does her bruises not look like a natural one formed by colliding into something?"

"jeongguk, you're wandering off to a rather dangerous zone about your friend. if she's cutting herself, you should tell your teachers and let them talk to her parents! she may be a victim of bullying," his mother cries out in horror, shaking her head when jeongguk's frown forms a rather thin line.

"what if she's being abused? i tried asking her before, but she brushes off any topic about her family members, as if they don't exist!"

"jeongguk, that's a rather sensitive assumption," his brother points out, taking a sip of his water before continuing, "but how do you know her entire body is covered with bruises?"

"because i saw."

jeongguk rolls his eyes as he grabs his friend's gym clothes from the locker before heading towards the gym's changing lockers to pass them to jimin. being the typical jimin, he forgets about his gym clothes and heads off to the gym and strips bare, and then realizes he didn't bring his clothes.