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Y/N's POV:
The bell had gone before that horrible little spiral could continue. I hadn't wanted to try and explain things in front of the student paparazzi anyway. But I wasn't having much luck during the next few periods either. Myungho wasn't at school today due to baseball training, and must've had his phone turned off.
It turned out that Chae-soo had figured out that I was the girl in the photo with Myungho at the convenience store, and even though there was nothing wrong with that, the fact that it had been piled on top of that stupid, circulating video, it probably looked sus. Haemin was sick and wasn't here today either, and I hadn't wanted to drag Kyungmin and Bo-Bae into anything, so even though they were texting to ask if I was okay, I didn't go up to them. Neither did I want to leave and risk looking like I was giving in to guilt, but I couldn't deal with this gossip and judgement based on lies, so I pretended to be sick and left.
I didn't tell my parents what had happened, and instead continued feigning being sick for the next couple of days. Myungho, Haemin, Bo-Bae, Kyungmin, and even Seungheon, Ahyeon, Yoonsung and Yungyu tried calling, but I just wanted to hide and pretend the outside world didn't exist right now. It felt like I was in a pressure cooker.
It had been almost a year since the Gabi incident, and I thought moving a whole-ass continent away would've been enough. Clearly, it wasn't.
It was the middle of the day on my second sick day, and I sat in my room, flicking through channels on my wall-mounted small TV. Something about a gang member having been suspected of stealing crucial evidence was circulating the news, but even that white noise wasn't enough to numb my brain. Or maybe it was, because it took me way too long to register that something was repetitively hitting my window. When I looked, I could've sworn I'd seen a tiny pebble hit the glass, followed by what sounded like someone scaling my house.
Then a particularly large pebble could be seen climbing onto the abutment just below my bay window, except this pebble had limbs and a face and waved at me like we'd just casually passed each other on the street.
Eventually, I got off the bed and drew up the window. "Seriously?"
The pebble shrugged. "Hey, you're the one that accused me of being clichéd. Thought I'd cover all bases."
Rolling my eyes, I stepped aside and Myungho hopped in. "You've been dodging my calls."
I closed the window and turned back to him. "I've been dodging everyone's calls. I'll just assume you already heard what happened at school. You probably don't want to risk being seen coming to a serial homewrecker's house."
Myungho sat on my bed, strangely unbothered. "I'll just assume you haven't already heard what happened at school."
I narrowed my eyes. What was he talking about?
"I told everyone," he said. "Yesterday at school, I went up to Chae-soo, in front of everyone, and asked her why she was still acting like we were going out when she'd dumped me weeks ago. You should've seen the look on her face. You should've seen the look on everyone's faces."
I didn't know what to say at first. I thought I might've been in shock. Myungho sounded weird though. Then it sank in. "Good for you and all, I think. And not to sound like a self-centred cow, but if people didn't already think I was a homewrecking bitch, they probably will now."
"No they won't. I also may have gone on a bit of a tirade that you had absolutely nothing to do with it, and that I was the one who offered to walk you home from that convenience store because it was late and I didn't want you walking home by yourself, and it was before you even started at MNH. None of which was a lie."
That was...good. Right? For me. But there it was again, that weird, airily happy, but ever-so-slightly manic look in Myungho's tone. "Myungho, are you okay?"
"Yep. Better than ever. It was very freeing, actually. It was like directing all your frustrations into one channel, but without hitting anything. You should try it sometime, Y/N."
I started to become concerned, and went over to stand in front of Myungho's lap. Something was wrong. "What frustrations?" When he'd leaned back on his palms, his varsity jacket had slid back a little, and I noticed a bruise on his shoulder. "Myungho, what happened?"
He took my hand when I reached for his shoulder, and fixed his jacket. "Got hit with a baseball. It's nothing."
I sighed and let it go for now, and sat sideways on his lap when he gently tugged me forward. "Can you please tell me what's wrong?" I didn't think this was just about school.
He didn't speak for a while, instead tracing his finger across my palm. Then he released the quietest, shaky breath. I still heard it though.
"I think I might've done something really bad this time, Y/N."
"I could help be the judge of that if you want? Seeing as your judgement is sometimes lacking." I tried going for light-hearted to help break through Myungho's staring-into-the-void expression. He only managed a delayed, barest fleck of a smile so I kissed him on the temple.
"You can tell me if you want."
Again, Myungho remained silent for a while. "For a few months now, I've been transporting laundered money for the White Dragons." Looking like he couldn't quite believe he'd said that out loud, Myungho still continued, "That was the deal, be the courier until they make up the lost money confiscated during the series of drug shipment busts last year, and they'll hand the papers over. To their credit, it's a good plan. Who'd suspect a rich kid of transporting dirty money across South Korea in his Lexus?
"I'm not a complete idiot, I know Helios will try to string me along for as long as possible, but I've got time to figure out another way to fix it before the end of our initial agreement. And I will." Myungho sighed. "Helios Kwon is White Dragons' leader, if you were wondering," he uttered distantly. "And, fun fact, Changhoon's uncle. Changhoon doesn't know about this, though."
"I'm guessing you know that Jae and Seungheon's dad, Jaehwa-ssi, is the CEO of the construction company that built our school, and the hospital? Last year, one of the hospital's wings collapsed, injuring several, a couple pretty severely. An investigation was led but nothing or no one was found to be at fault and the matter was settled, but some paperwork, if discovered, would prove otherwise. The supervisor of the team that built that wing...there was an oversight. Corners were cut and safety standards were not met. It was not Jaeyun's dad's fault, but as he was the leading signature that allowed the construction to go ahead, it would still fall on him.
"That supervisor responsible was under Jaehwa-ssi's contract, and used dodgy methods," explained Myungho, embittered. "He was fired over something unrelated. The wing collapsed not long after. Turns out that that prick of a supervisor had connections to the Dragons. Pissed over the ordeal, the petty bastard wanted to steal the incriminating paperwork with Jaehwa-ssi's signature to blackmail for reparations, and told Helios about it. That supervisor's an idiot and it wouldn't have worked. But unfortunately, Helios isn't an idiot. He sent out a few junior members to get close to Seungie...and being the sweet and kind and naïve and too-trusting sap that he is, my dongsaeng managed to get himself tricked into unknowingly stealing that paperwork from his dad's office on a dare."
Myungho, with my hand in his, used my palm to press into his eyelids.
"If it got out that Jae-hwa's signature allowed second-rate methods to complete the wing's construction, leading to its collapse and all those injuries, he, his company, his wife, Jae and Seungie...their lives would be ruined. I'm glad though that Seungie came to me instead of Jae. Jae shouldn't be a part of this. So rather than Seungheon being blackmailed, I volunteered. Seungheon doesn't know that though, I only told him not to worry and that I'd fix it, and that's all he needs to know. Helios says he'll hand the paperwork over once the deal's done. That paperwork can't be digitalised, scanned or duplicated due to the formatting and special paper used, so, at least there's that I guess. But the asshole keeps pressuring me into getting inked up and joining and I reckon there's only so many times I can tell him to go screw himself before he actually starts to get pissed."
I found myself cupping his cheek and resting my forehead on the side of his head. "Myungho..." Was there anything I could say right now to help even slightly? And the fact that he had kept all of this to himself for so long, was taking this on all by himself.
Myungho leaned into my palm, though I didn't know if he sounded like he was about to laugh or cry when he scoffed. "And that's not even the worst part. You know the stolen evidence that's been making the rounds on the news? It was a USB, and it had the names of all the informants and deep cover agents involved in exposing last year's White Dragon's drug operations. The gang member who managed to get and stash it was hospitalised. And I stole it, and handed it right back to Helios' second-in-command. I didn't know what was on it then."
"You really have to try and one-up everyone else's drama, don't you?" I teased. I knew it was probably the worst possible time for humor, but I hated what this had done to Myungho, I just wanted him to smile, like Jaeyun said he used to all the time.
It elicited a small laugh from him, but I resumed in a more genuine tone. "If you were dealing with all that, why add to it and cause that scene at school? You probably would've been better off pretending to be with Chae-soo again and sticking by her until this whole thing was over." It would've sucked even more for me, but at least it wouldn't have added to Myungho's plate.
He kissed my palm. "Both of us don't need to have problems," he mumbled. "You should come back to school. Society and Culture is boring."
I smiled, even if I didn't think it would exactly be that simple. We didn't say anything for a while.
Then, "I don't think you'll fix this alone. But we will," I told him. "I promise we'll figure something out. It'll be okay."
Myungho nuzzled my neck and hugged me tighter.
☆★☆
In my new sneakers, going for my early morning jog before school, I didn't know how to feel. Because of Myungho, I was determined to go back today and get everything clear and sorted, for better or worse. After three days, things had simmered long enough. I still hadn't spoken to Haemin but I would do that too today. I was not going to spend the whole second half of my senior year in the middle of this.
But now I was also consumed with figuring out how I could help Myungho, who had sneakily stayed the night again—Mina helping to cover for us. He'd had to leave early for baseball before homeroom, and I could tell he already regretted telling me due to thinking I'd get dragged into it. But I was honestly glad he had told me. No one, especially an innocent teen only trying to help his friends, should have to deal with that alone. Realistically, I had no idea what I could do to help. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to try.
I jogged over the now-mended bridge that Myungho had crashed through a couple of months ago and continued down my usual route. I didn't have earphones in, and the tree-lined lane was quite, other than the sounds of nature, which is why I heard the engine turn into the lane behind me. A dark SUV wasn't inherently suspicious, but when it picked up its pace instead of slowing on the narrow road, I picked up mine too.
But was cut off by another SUV suddenly turning in ahead and drifting to come to a stop just before me. Cornered, I didn't have time to round either vehicle to get a clear sprinter's head start before four tattooed men jumped out and two grabbed me. One covered my mouth.
"Well hello there little love," uttered that one into my ear. "Sorry to interrupt but you'll be coming with us."
I tried to kick out, but one was holding a gun and I couldn't even scream as they shoved me into the car.
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Why the hell was Sneakers by Itzy playing in my head while writing that scene though 💀
And random photo dump because I spent too long deep-diving into 8turn content at 2 a.m 😭😭😭
Bitch excuse me how did I not know they were in vanity teen fair??????
Oh no how did that revealing photo get in there?? Ya'll know my stories are only for the lord Jesus, and Myungho needs to stop accidentally ripping half his shirt off for performances, he must be so cold.
PLS WHY IS YOONSUNG ON THE SUBTITLE AND WHY IS YUNGYU MAKING THAT FACE? 😭😭😭😂
~ Daci, who's ruining the serious tone of her story one author's note at a time