Minji's POV
The ride was quiet back besides Hyein's constant sniffles in the front seat. She blames herself. I know she does. I looked down at my lap and Haerin was asleep curling into my stomach. My heart sinks looking at the marks that bastard left all over Haerin's neck. It looks so painful with the dried up blood and fiery red marks everywhere. I knew I shouldn't have let her go without me. None of this would have happened if I was there.
"I'm so sorry." Hyein turned her head to the backseat as the tears continued to stream down her face. Hyein texted me basically as soon as she got to the party telling me to come. Thank God she did because if she wouldn't have I can't bear to imagine what could've happened to Haerin if I got there any later.
"It's not your fault Hyein you did good." I reached over the girl on my lap and patted Hyein's head. The young girl just nodded.
"I shouldn't have let her go alone."
"How were you supposed to know this would happen? You did nothing wrong." Hanni said as she continued to stare at the road in front of her. The atmosphere is so tense I'm just glad Haerin is able to get some rest. Hyein didn't say anything else for the rest of the ride. No one did.
After a few minutes Hanni finally reached my house putting the car in park. No one moved for a second trying to decide what to do next.
"Should we call the police?" Hanni turned her head around not meeting my eyes and looking at the girl still asleep in my lap.
"Let's wait until the morning. I want to get Haerin cleaned up and let her get some rest." Hanni just nods. Hyein immediately gets out of the car and basically runs into the house. I'm going to have to talk to her tomorrow.
"Do you think she needs to go to the hospital? Do you think he did anything else to her?" I cringe imagining what he could have done to her. I want to assume the best and since her shorts were still on that he didn't touch her down there.
"I don't know. I don't know what to do right now." I felt the tears start to brim in my eyes again. Keep it together Minji Haerin needs you right now.
"No one knows what to do when these things happen. Let's just get some rest tonight and decide in the morning. Do you want me to stay the night?" Hanni gets out of the car, opening the backseat door that I was at.
"Yeah you can stay in my room. I think I'll stay with Haerin tonight." I look down trying to decide the best way to get the sleepy girl upstairs. As I was trying to decide, the younger girl started to stir in my lap and eventually woke up looking up at me.
"Minji?" Her voice sounded so hoarse. She sounded so broken and sad. I reached my hand down touching her cheek. The younger girl flinched away from my touch causing my heart to break.
"C'mon let's go upstairs." I gently pulled Haerin up into a sitting position and she began shaking almost uncontrollably. I know she wasn't cold because it's one of the hottest nights of the year and she's wearing my sweatshirt.
"Minji get out so she can slide over." Hanni tugs on my sleeve and when I looked at her she looked worried. I have never seen her this worried. Nonetheless I listened to her and slid out of the car and looked at the back of the shaking girl that was just hunched over. My heart hurts seeing her like this.
"Baby slide over so I can help you out." The younger one didn't move. She didn't even seem like she heard what I said. I looked at Hanni and she just frowned. Instead of waiting for her I walked to the other side of the car opening and the first thing I saw was Haerin's dazed eyes. It was almost like she was sleeping with her eyes open. I reach out for her but she shakes her head backing away slightly. "Let me help you please." I reach my hand out again and this time Haerin takes it and I pull her out of the car. Hanni is already at the front door waiting with the door open so I wrap my arm around her waist causing her to wince in pain.
"I want to sleep." I loosen my grip on her slightly and help her walk to the front door with her stumbling all the way there. The drink clearly still in her system along with injuries she sustained from Niki prohibiting her from being able to walk normally.
"I know I know. I just need to make sure you're okay first." The younger girl doesn't say anything else as I help her into the house and up the stairs and finally into her room. Hanni followed us all the way up standing in the doorway.
"I'm going to make sure Hyein is okay. Do you need anything else?" I just shook my head sitting Haerin down on the bed. Hanni soon left, shutting the door behind her. I turn back to the younger girl and try to decide what to do next. I should probably inspect her and make sure nothing too serious is wrong. Haerin is looking at me, but not really. It's almost like she's looking through me at something behind me.
"Haerin? Can I take the sweatshirt off?" Haerin doesn't respond so I reach for the hem of the shirt trying to pull it off of her, but she shoves me away causing me to stumble back a little bit.
"Don't." Her voice cracked a little bit as her shaking came back. I sigh in frustration. Not at her, but at what Niki and Leeseo did to her. How am I supposed to help her if she won't let me?
"Haerin I need to make sure nothing is wrong. Please it'll be fast I promise." Haerin seems to think about it for a moment. I can't tell what she is thinking right now. It reminds me a lot when we first met and I never knew what was going on in her head and I hate it.
"Okay." I sighed in relief that the younger girl would finally let me help her. I walked back over towards her reaching for the hem of the sweatshirt and pulled it over my head. I tried my hardest not to gasp at the marks and scratches all over her chest and stomach. Her torso is way worse than her neck. I quickly went to the bathroom getting the first aid kid and got the rubbing alcohol and Cotton swabs. When I got back Haerin was in the same spot hunched over, still violently shaking.
"This is going to sting, I'm sorry." I crouch down in front of her dabbing some of the rubbing alcohol on a swab and gently press it to a particularly nasty scratch on her side. The younger girl flinched, causing me to wince along with her. I looked up at her eyes and she was looking at me like she was scared. This is the first emotion I've seen from her since this all happened. I continued to clean up the cuts on her stomach and chest and eventually moved up to her neck where there was a dark purple large handprint covering almost her entire neck along with several bite marks. Anger and sadness was all I felt. How dare he do this to her. She has been nothing but kind to him for all these years, always thinking about his feelings. Fuck she even went tonight to make him feel better. They are not getting away with this. I don't care if I have to kill them myself.
Haerin suddenly reaches down and caresses my cheek with her hand. She began whipping tears that were falling from my eyes. I didn't even know I was crying until she did that.
"Don't cry." Haerin's hand was shaking as she continued to whip the tears falling from my face. I continued to clean up her neck and she held my face with her shaking hand.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Haerin." I finished cleaning her scratches, letting my hand fall next to her on the bed as she continued to caress my face. Why is she comforting me? I should be the one comforting her.
"It's no one's fault but mine. You don't have to be sorry." My eyes immediately shot up by the girl's outrageous words. I'm speechless. There is no way she believes that she is the one to blame here. This is Niki and Leeseo's fault and no one else's.
"It's not your fault you have to know that." Haerin smiled a little bit as she tried to stand up. I immediately stood up with her trying to help her get to her feet. Suddenly the younger girl collapsed in my arms luckily enough I was able to catch her and secure my arms around her to keep her steady.
"I want my mom Minji." Tears started violently falling from Haerin's eyes. I have never seen her cry this hard before. She was slowly slipping to the ground so I went first so she would have me to fall on. The younger girl climbed onto my lap and continued to sob into my chest. There is nothing I can do. I can't bring her mom back from the dead so all I can do is rock the younger girl back and forth trying to soothe her. I lean against the side of the bed trying to support both Haerin and I as she continues to cry.
"I got you." Haerin continued to cry on me for an hour. I didn't even know a person could cry for that long. I feel so useless right now. All I can do is hold her and every once and while give her comforting words. Soon we both fell asleep on the floor.
-
I felt a breeze go past me causing me to wake from my slumber. I looked over at the clock on the wall which read 8:03. Haerin was no longer in my arms causing me to get worried. I looked around the room and Haerin was sitting with her legs crossed on the bed still in her shorts from yesterday and exposing the bruises, bites, and cuts all over her upper body.
"Haerin? How long have you been up?" She didn't look at me. I'm not even sure if she heard me. The only reason I know she did is because she responded.
"I don't know a while." I just nodded, getting off the floor stretching trying to get the crick out of my neck. I stood in front of her as she continued to look off into the abyss.
"Do you need anything?" The dazed girl just shook her head, not meeting my eyes. "Can you walk?" The younger girl nodded. I sighed and then I heard footsteps in the hallway. "I'm going to make breakfast then I'll bring you some. Is that okay?" She nodded at me, continuing not to say anything. After a couple seconds of me just staring at her and her doing nothing I walked out of the room closing the door behind me. I walked across the hall to my room and saw Hanni making my bed. She seemed to notice me since she stopped what she was doing and stood up straight.
"How is she?" I sighed walking over towards the shorter girl engulfing her in a hug. Hanni was stiff at first but she eventually hugged me back tighter than she ever had. Hanni and I don't really touch each other. It's really rare when we hug, but we both need this right now.
"Hanni, I don't know what to do. She seems so hollow and it's like she's not even here." Hanni starts rubbing small circles on my back pulling me even closer to her.
"I'm sorry Min." After a couple more seconds of us hugging we both pull away. "We need to call someone." I just nod sitting on the half made bed.
"I know, do we call the police? Should I call my dad?"
"Yeah we definitely should file a police report. Your dad could call your family's lawyer. She's most definitely going to need one since her father cut her off." I nod trying to decide what to do first. Hyein. I need to check on her first.
"How was Hyein?" Hanni frowned for a moment and sat next to me on the bed.
"She was really upset last night. She really blames herself." Hyein has always been an emotional girl. She's also extremely empathetic so I'm sure she is absolutely devastated that this happened to Haerin since they are best friends.
"I'm going to go talk to her." The Vietnamese girl nods, patting me on the shoulder. I give her a small smile and make my way down the hallway until I reach Hyein's door. I knocked twice but there was no answer. "Hyein?" There was still no response for a couple seconds so I opened the door and there she was curled up in her bed.
"I thought not answering would give you the hint that I didn't want to talk." I laughed a little going to sit on her bed.
"I'm your sister, I'll come into your room if I want to." Hyein rolled her eyes while sitting up folding her hands in her lap.
"How is she?"
"How are you?" Hyein scoffs and rolls her eyes again.
"I'm not the one you should be worried about. I'm not the one that was assaulted." I just frowned, taking her hand interlacing it with mine.
"Hyein it's okay to be upset, but it's not okay to blame yourself. You are not the reason that happened to her." Hyein's features softened a little bit.
"I should have gone with her. If I would have gone with her, they wouldn't have done this to her."
"How do you know that? They could have still done it. You are not to blame. The only one to blame is them, not you, not anyone else." Hyein sighs leaning against her headboard.
"Is she okay?"
"No. She is really hurt right now, but she'll eventually be okay." Hyein frowned and began playing with the hand I interlaced with hers.
"How do you know?"
"I don't, but I'd like to believe it."
-
The rest of the day was spent filing police reports and getting my father to get into contact with our family lawyers. We have to come into the police station tomorrow to file witness reports and Haerin's testimony. We have to wait until my parents fly back in from their vacation though so they can talk with the lawyers. Haerin hasn't eaten anything and refuses to. In fact she still hasn't moved from the position she was on the bed and it's been hours. I'm just at a loss of what to do. I don't know what to do to make her feel better and it breaks me.