CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
It was an ordinary Saturday for the Lee family.
Jihyuck was doing her skincare routine in Jenna's room while the girl played a game on her electronic device.
"What are you doing here?" she said, glancing at her twin on the bed.
"Playing games with Jenna," he answered.
"Go check on your friend, Jeno," she said with a steady tone yet it held some authority in it.
He spread his arms as a sigh escaped his mouth. "He's taking a shower," he told to assure the girl. A thought suddenly crossed his mind, making him sit up straight. "Ji, shit."
She snapped her head at him, shooting him a death glare. "What did you just say?"
"We're in big problem. No, you're in big trouble," he stated. Horror clouded his sharp features.
"What now?" she sighed. She kept her products in a maroon pouch before she turned to pay attention to her twin.
"Dad," he said, glancing at Jenna who seemed unbothered. "He's coming home today."
"What?!" her eyes almost fell out of her sockets. Death just flashed before her eyes. This can't be happening now. She bit her lips, looking at Jeno with pleading eyes. "What do we do now?"
"I don't know? It was your idea to bring him home!"
"Jeno, are you fucking kidding me?" she stared at him in utter disbelief.
"What?"
"I helped him because you told me to!" she told.
"And I didn't ask to bring him home!" he argued.
"Are you dumping all the blame on me now?" she shrieked.
"No, but—"
"Shut up!" she snapped. She fanned her face with her hand. "He wouldn't know if Donghyuck doesn't leave my room, right?" she asked.
"Ji, you think Jedi will keep quiet about this?" he crossed his arms on his chest.
"Shit," she shut her eyes.
"You come clean about this to him?"
"Are you dumb? I can't do that!" she scowled. She tapped her foot anxiously, racking her mind to think of a solution that'd bring no harm to them. "Instead of saying it's my idea, we can say we brought him home because he's your friend and he's injured!"
Jeno shook his head furiously. "Why are you dragging me into this?" he frowned.
"Jeno, he's your damn friend!"
"You're right but—"
"Case closed! Now, let's bring him downstairs. Your father will be home before breakfast!"
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She watched them as they dramatically checked every inch of Donghyuck's body as if he had gone through a car accident. It was Donghyuck's friends, what did you expect?
"I'm surprised that you're still alive after meeting their father," Jaemin blurted out.
"Same," Jeno nodded his head. Goosebumps rose around his arms as he recalled the scene from this morning when they had breakfast together.
"Honestly, I thought I'd lose my head," Donghyuck said.
"What did Mr. Lee say?" Jaemin questioned.
"He asked why Donghyuck slept here so we told him about his injury." Jeno then leaned forward to whisper, "This is a secret but my stepmother is a doctor and my father is a surgeon. So, they nagged at us about why we didn't bring him to the hospital."
"That was how it went," he released a sigh of relief, glad that it was over. "Wait, maybe you forgot to mention that your father complimented me?" he suddenly smirked.
"Holy shit, for real?" Jaemin covered his parted lips with his palm.
The guy nodded with much pride. "He also said that Jihyuck should become like me. Active in school—"
"Now that all of you are here, please get the fuck out of my house and bring this burden home as well," she stretched her lips, forming an insincere smile.
Donghyuck rolled his eyes as he did not get to finish his sentence.
"Ji, they just arrived," Jeno nudged her with his elbow.
"So, what?"
"Let us stay for a little while," Jaemin whined, puckering his lips.
"I'll slap your face if you did that again," she told, deadpan.
"Sorry," he instantly distanced himself from her.
Perhaps they talked in their group chat and they found out that Donghyuck hurt his ankle. Without prior notice, they came to her house and barged in as soon as she opened the door.
Renjun slapped Donghyuck's arm. "Why did you run so much? Your previous injury is yet to heal and you got another one?" he scolded.
"Please scold him, Renjun," she smiled, satisfied.
"Wait," Jeno looked at his twin and then Renjun. "You guys are friends now?"
"I mean, we've met many times," she shrugged her shoulders.
Jaemin suddenly gasped, grabbing everyone's attention. "Now that we're here, what about a round of PUBG?" he grinned.
Jeno showed a thumbs-up.
"Guys, today is the weekend. Can we respect their privacy?" Renjun sighed, massaging his temples.
"I don't think they mind, right?" Donghyuck raised one of his brows in front of Jihyuck.
"I mind. Very much."
"You can just stay in your room. I promise we won't bother you," Jaemin fluttered his eyes a few times, trying to charm her.
And in the end, she did allow them to stay until the afternoon.
It was indeed—a very bad decision. They did not bother her family. His father and stepmother were in their room which was far from Jeno's room so it wasn't a problem. Jenna and Jedi played in their room so everyone and everything was fine.
Except for Jihyuck.
If she was not mistaken, Jaemin said they wouldn't bother her if she stayed in her room. As you can expect, that did not happen.
Jaemin barged into her room, well, he was used to coming here so she should've at least expected that. He said playing games got boring after a while.
"If you're bored, go home, Jaemin," she gripped her hair, almost losing her sanity.
The guy who was laying atop her comfortable bed grinned shamelessly. "You never allow me to even sit on your bed. But you let Donghyuck freaking sleep on it?!" he questioned, looking hurt.
Donghyuck who was sitting near her study table quietly listened to their conversation as he munched a chocolate bar.
"Pst," Jeno waved his hand, telling Jaemin to come closer. "She even let him use her blanket," he whispered, although it could be heard by everyone in the room.
"What?!" he sat up straight with bulged eyes. "That dinosaur blanket?" his tone increased in volume.
"Yup," Jeno replied nonchalantly.
"Guys, please leave me alone—"
"Ji!" he pouted.
"What, Jaemin?"
"I don't like this."
"What?" she stared at him with an uninterested face.
"What is this? A Donghyuck privilege?" he asked, with a sullen face.
"Donghyuck privilege, my ass," she rolled her eyes. She took her time fixing her hair as she inhaled a deep breath before looking back at them. "I'm asking nicely, please leave me alone," she said, almost begging.
"I think we should go home now," Renjun seconded. He stood up and extended his hand, trying to get his friend off Jihyuck's bed.
"Fine," Jaemin sighed.
She playfully punched his upper arm as he walked past her. "Please. Don't show me that sad face of yours as if you won't come back tomorrow," she sneered.
His face lightened. "You know me too well!"
"Don't tell me you come here often," Donghyuck scowled, ashamed of his friend.
"At least once in three days," Jeno told.
"Damn. You're truly a different kind of breed, Jaemin. A shameless one," he spat out.
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It was quite a hustle to bring Donghyuck to their unit since he couldn't walk properly.
As soon as they stepped inside their house, Renjun and Jaemin assisted him to his room.
"Who wrapped your ankle?" Renjun asked as he noticed the bandage wrapping his injured area. It was to prevent further swelling. "It looks very neat. Did Mrs. Hana does it?"
Donghyuck rested her head against the bedframe. He slowly shook his head. "Jihyuck did it," he told.
"Jihyuck?" Jaemin interjected.
"Sounds unbelievable, right?" Donghyuck looked at his friend. "You can't believe what happened to me yesterday. She treated me—nicely. I think she was—possessed," he whispered in horror.
Jaemin clicked his tongue. "That's just Jihyuck, you idiot."
"Are you crazy? You want me to believe the Jihyuck I saw yesterday was the usual Jihyuck who screamed and hit me? No way!" he shook his head furiously.
"She let me stay in her room, let me use her personal belongings, even bring food for me? Damn. I got goosebumps," he said again.
"I think she was being a decent human," Renjun said as he crossed his arms on his chest.
"I don't want to tell you this," Jaemin started with a long sigh. He thought his friend should know why this was a big deal for him and Jeno.
"What?"
"The blanket she lent you last night, she treasured it so much. She never even let Jedi and Jenna borrow it. It was the last thing her mother gave her. And by her mother, I did not mean Mrs. Hana that you saw before. She is not her biological mother," Jaemin explained.
He could feel his stomach churn as he remembered the pain Jihyuck was dealing with alone. "I hope, the least you can do is to appreciate what she did. Don't disregard her kindness," he said with pure sincerity.
Donghyuck was quiet, giving himself time to process everything. It was hard, for sure. He just can't seem to be nice to her. He had his own trauma as well.
Now that he knew more about Jihyuck's relationship with her family by accident, he couldn't help but be curious. Not in a nosy way. Rather, he wanted to know how she made it so inconspicuous that she was having her own problems with her family.
He suddenly remembered the conversation they had this morning.
"So, you're really just Jihyuck's friend and nothing more?" Mrs. Lee questioned with a steady tone.
The boy nodded. "I rarely talk with her, Mr. Lee. You can say that I am Jeno's friend and merely someone she knows," he explained eloquently.
"Well," the older clasped his hands together. "After hearing about you, I don't really mind if you want to date my daughter—"
"Dad," Jihyuck said sternly.
"I believe you're a good man," he continued.
She dropped her cutlery, causing an unpleasant noise. "I'm so sick of this," she muttered, almost incoherent.
"Ji," Jeno squeezed her arm, trying to calm her down.
"Don't act like a good father, dad. It's too late. You should've done it a long time ago," she blurted out. She had enough. The pain she felt was bottling inside and it was overloaded. "I can date whoever I want. A bad man, a good man, anyone. You don't have to care."
To be honest, he felt like he shouldn't be there. The twins must have been uncomfortable that a stranger like him saw the scene earlier this morning.
Judging from the way Jihyuck and Jeno didn't say anything about it, he decided not to talk about it either, not to make them uncomfortable.
For the first time in forever, he felt bad for her. He wondered what happened in the past that caused her such a great pain to blurt out things like that even when she was aware Donghyuck was around.
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jihyuck is such a nice person :( the world is too cruel to her. okay, i think we're sad for too long so let's expect a happy chapter soon. thank you for reading ♡