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━━━ " 📂 " ..⃗. ༉
𝙍 𝙊 𝙈 𝘼 𝙉 𝘾 𝙄 𝙉 𝙂
! chapter one hundred
& twenty five ─── ʚĭɞ
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It had been a strange couple of days, and in all honesty, Miyeon was exhausted. The past twenty-four hours had been so busy, with her, Seojun and Chorong doing the most they could to try and find the webmaster.
And now they had found her, Seojun had threatened her and the post had been taken down. The ordeal wasn't over yet, but it was beginning to near the end, and all that was left was Jugyeong - and figuring out what to do with Soojin.
A blanket was curled up over Miyeon's knee as she sat by the keyboard in the small spare room of her apartment. It was rare for her to go in it, but after everything, something felt different, it felt comfortable being in there. But she still wasn't playing it, just staring down at the pattern of black and white keys.
From an early age, before her mother had turned into the monster at the product of many affairs and the wish to simply be rich and not have the husband that came along with it, Kwon Yujin had pushed Miyeon to do things that she enjoyed.
And from the first time that Miyeon had seen her mother and father by the grand piano that now sat dusty and out of tune, she had known she had enjoyed music. Ballet lessons had threaded through her weekends, violin and cello lessons being something she had weekly sessions with and learnt until practically a prodigy. But piano lessons were her parents thing.
Hours upon hours had a younger version of herself slaved over the piano, her mother leaning over her shoulder, Eunjoo watching fondly as she made dinner and her father arriving home from work with a smile on his face as Miyeon played a particularly hard piece.
But then it had all turned sour. Hwang Sangwon worked late hours, Yujin disappeared for weeks with her 'friends' and all Miyeon's time was taken up by being a trainee and school. Piano lessons became a forced thing when her mother was at home. She had lost the element in love, didn't allow mistakes and almost broke all the bones in her daughter's right fingers when she let the cover fall on them.
Since her abundance of broken bones, fractured fingers and the forced usage of her left hand whilst her right was wrapped up in bandages, Miyeon had not played a piano. When writing a melody to accompany her lyrics, it had been Seojun, Seyeon or Suho who played for her.
And now that she was out of that house, away from the tainted memories of playing piano and her mom turning into a monster, Miyeon wanted to start again. Miyeon had been at an incredible level for her age when she played, and if she kept playing then perhaps she wouldn't have ended up living the same life. So perhaps, just perhaps, being able to write a full song would make her feel better about it.
It was just one song. One song and she would break out of that cage that she had forced herself in. She had managed to start writing songs again, and now her next aim was to be playing piano once more.
But it was proving harder than Miyeon had expected it to be. Her hand had been hovering over middle c for a long while, unable to push down on the key. And just as she was nearing it, less than an inch between her and the instrument, there was a knock on her door.
The girl breathed out a sigh of what could have been relief as she pushed herself off of the stool, turning the keyboard off and flipping the light switch and locking the door to the spare room behind her. She would try again another day.
Pulling open the front door, Miyeon froze, eyes wide as she saw Jugyeong, eyes full of tears. "Hi-" The Hwang girl was shocked to say the least, faltering over what words she wanted to say. "Hold on - I'll get my coat and keys and we'll go for a walk, alright?"
Jugyeong didn't say anything but nodded, wiping her tears from her bare face and watching as Miyeon pulled the leather jacket that didn't belong to her over her shoulders, grabbing her phone, keys and wallet and shoving them into her pocket.
Having locked the door and descended down onto the streets, the two of them walked side by side in silence, Jugyeong's arm linked with her best friend's. "What happened, Ju?" Miyeon knew that it was something other than the situation at school, which she had decided to not talk about just in case it upset her even further.
"Soojin - I.. she.." The emotion in Miyeon's eyes darkened slightly as Jugyeong began, sniffing away her tears. "I asked her if it was her and.. she said.." Her words were interrupted by a harsh sniff. "She couldn't tell me what I wanted to hear."
"You mean..?" Miyeon's eyelashes fluttered as she deciphered through the Im girl's interrupted sentences, piecing it together as quickly as she could.
"She was the one who uploaded the photos." Jugyeong's words were filled with sadness, fresh tears falling from her lips.
"Oh Ju.." Miyeon stopped walking and pulled her friend into a hug, Jugyeong's head resting against Miyeon's shoulder, trembling as she cried. Her hand was stroking the girl's soft hair, pulling them over to a bench and sitting down, letting her get her emotions out.
"You knew, didn't you?" It wasn't asked with malice, but instead curiousity from Jugyeong.
Miyeon nodded slowly. "I can't believe she openly admitted it. Me and Seojun.. we've been suspicious for a while. Then yesterday we found out about the video being posted we went to Yongpa High and confronted Semi, who hadn't posted it. Then we came back and asked Soojin." She explained.
"We've also managed to find the webmaster and get the video deleted. I know it won't change that everyone saw it but.." The Hwang girl shrugged, offering Jugyeong a tissue from the pack in her pocket.
"Thank you.. it does." Jugyeong sighed, wiping her eyes and snifing once more, gulping to clear her throat. "I'm sorry I haven't returned your calls, I just needed some time."
"It's fine, don't you dare worry about it. I'm just glad you didn't think it was me." Miyeon ran a hand through her hair and grinned. "I was worried you would do."
"Soojin had a reason to tell people. She found out about mine and Suho's relationship, and she likes him." Jugyeong shrugged. "I doubted that you would tell anyone - you've known for so long and not even spoken to it to me, really. Suho's known since I started at the school. Neither of you would say anything to anyone, which left Soojin."
"She was particularily.. spiteful when she mentioned it when we confronted her." Miyeon nodded. "But I'm glad you knew I wouldn't tell anyone, I've never planned to ever."
"You're a good friend Miyeon. I'm sorry I was missing your calls." Jugyeong offered a weak smile. "So has anything else happened? You seem to have had a pretty busy past couple of days."
"Me and Hyunwoo decided that.. well we figured that I'm not exactly feeling the same way he is." Miyeon told her, pulling herself to her feet and then bringing Jugyeong up with her.
"But you seemed so happy with him.." Jugyeong smiled slightly as she saw Miyeon's expression. "He was nice about it, wasn't he?"
"Forever the gentleman." Miyeon confiirmed. "Even if the girl he likes is in love with someone else." She added under her breath, before turning to Jugyeong and linking their arms once more. "Come on, I'll walk you home."
And as the two best friends made their way back to the Im girl's home, discussions centered around Jugyeong's wish to attend makeup school, Miyeon knew then that it would all work out alright for Jugyeong. She was surrounded by people who cared, and she knew who didn't and she knew what she wanted to do.
It was just a matter of time until everything sorted itself out.