Suji stepped out of the library, debating putting her sunglasses back on. It was already dark outside, so there wasn't much of a need for them. But she liked the feeling of having her face shielded.
Staying late after school to work on her admission essay was a choice she now regretted, because Hyunji had left early and Suji no longer had a ride up the mountain. She sighed, leaving her glasses on her head for the time being.
As Suji left the school grounds and began walking towards downtown Seoul, she began running through the list of people she could call in her mind. Not her parents, they were on a business trip. She had no siblings.
Her only real close friend had left her. Who else had a car? The idea that she could call Jaemin left a flicker of nervous excitement in her, but she squashed that down fairly quickly. He was Hyunji's boyfriend, which meant off-limits.
That left her with the only option of taking the bus. It wasn't an option she gladly accepted – the bus only came every hour, and then it took another hour to get to her house – but it was the only option she had. So, Suji set to plodding down the sidewalk to the bus stop.
To her surprise, it was not empty. She recognized the slightly slouched figure of Chenle, tugging on the strings of his hoodie.
She smiled hesitantly as she approached. "Hey."
He glanced up, and paled. "Hey." For a moment, neither of them spoke, and Suji began nervously pulling at the hem of her blouse.
"Um, so what's up?" She finally managed. Chenle looked around, seemingly wanting to be anywhere but here right now.
"You..." he started, taking a deep breath. "Look, you can't hang out with us anymore."
For a second, the world stopped making noise. Suji was left with an odd buzzing in her ears. "W-what?"
"We don't want to see you," Chenle ground out. "None of us. We aren't interested in being your friends anymore."
"Chenl-"
"Not the girls, or Jae and I, or Hyuck, or-"
"Chenle, look at me."
He did.
"Did Hyunji put you up to this?" She asked softly.
He choked, and hung his head. "Yes." Raising it, he looked at her imploringly. "But you can't tell her, she threatened my dog"
Oddly enough, Suji didn't feel that angry anymore. In fact, she felt a bit like laughing. "What a horrible person," she said, "letting her jealousy get to her like that."
"Suji-"
"You know the only reason she doesn't like me?" Her voice was rising steadily. "Because she sees me as competition. She thinks I'm prettier than her."
Chenle frowned. "You are."
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Look, I'm not – that is, I don't want to-" Her voice broke. Chenle moved forward, but she held out a hand. "No, I'm fine. Listen, I promise I won't tell her. I'll pretend you've gone and broken my heart."
"I'm sorry," Chenle murmured. His face looked anguished.
Tears threatened to spill over Suji's face. So she sniffed and squared her shoulders.
"No worries. I know she's blackmailing you." Firmly, she walked around him, passing the bus stop. She didn't feel like going home anymore. "See you around sometime."
Chenle stood watching her go.
She felt bad, but she really didn't blame him. All along, she'd suspected Hyunji was not all she appeared to be. And she knew how much Chenle loved his dog.
And she also knew how Hyunji flattened anyone she saw as a threat. She should have guessed this was coming, really.
Thunder rumbled overhead. With one last deep breath, Suji broke out into a run.
She ran until one of her heels broke, by which point she was halfway through town. The heavens had opened up and she was thoroughly soaked with rain.
Cursing loudly, she wiped her bangs back and slipped the shoe off her foot.
Honestly, why did she even care? It wasn't like Hyunji or Hyuna were the best friends she had ever known. Truthfully, she barely even liked them.
Except now she was back to the beginning. Suji had only just moved to Seoul this year. She didn't know anybody else. She was all alone, again.
The cold pavement stung her bare feet. Suji had reached the town square, where all sorts of local bars, cafes and coffee shops were the regular hangouts of high school and college students.
Her eyes found The Palace, a high end cafe she and the girls had often gone. Through the windows, she could see Hyunji and Hyuna drinking lattes and going over notes.
There was a pang in her gut as she remembered the three had made plans to design Halloween costumes tonight.
Turning away from the window, Suji stumbled through the parking lot until she could no longer walk.
Her feet hurt far too much. She leaned against a battered old Jeep, wondering what the hell she was going to do.
Loud laughter from the right caught her attention. Pushing off the Jeep, Suji realized that she was outside of a small little coffee shop that had never caught her attention before.
It was small and tucked out of the way, with one boarded up window and a barely glowing neon sign that read
"Mirae's Cottage"
Lightning flashed across the sky, followed closely by a loud roll of thunder. Deciding not to spend a moment outside any longer, Suji ducked into the little shop.
Inside it was well-lit, and a lot cosier than it looked from the lot. Although the booths were a little threadbare and the tables scratched, it still seemed to emanate a friendly atmosphere that Suji wanted to sink into.
There was no one behind the counter, but two women with white hair and aprons were sitting around a table. In fact, that was the only table occupied in the shop.
Apart from the two women, there was an older brunette drinking beer from a glass and four girls Suji vaguely recognized from her school.
"So you can stay late tonight?" One of the girls was asking, poking the ravenette beside her. Said ravenette laughed and put away her phone.
"Yeah, Aeri's mom just said the weather was too nasty to go out, so they're staying in."
"Well, that's good news!"
"No, it isn't! What about my money?"
Suji stepped forward, wet clothes squelching. One of the workers glanced up, blue eyes widening in alarm as she took in Suji's appearance.
"Good Lord!" She gasped. "You're soaking!"
"Suji?" The ravenette asked in surprise. With a sudden jolt, Suji realized why she looked so familiar – that was Hyunji and Hyuna's stepsister.
"What are you doing here?"
"I..." Suji gulped. "I...um..."
But she didn't need to say anything else, because the ravenette titled her head to the side and said, "Hyunji's piece of work, isn't she? What'd she do? I'm Yeseul, by the way. Come on, sit down and tell us all about it."