" Jiyeon, Hana. This type of behaviour is unacceptable. Fighting in the cafeteria?" The headmistress yells at us both so loud it almost makes me go deaf.
I've only met her once, when I first entered the school but she wasn't really that important to me, Frankly I had even forgotten she existed, it's so rare to see her around school. Worst part is I don't even remember her name.
Her office is completely dark; the walls are covered in quilted black and crimson, the lighting is an antique yellow, all the furniture looks like they're from centuries ago. It's so...Elizabethan era in a way, just a darker version of it.
After Heeseung left me alone, I was quickly summoned to her office. I didn't even get time to think about what he had said to me. He can't have been serious anyways, he probably said those things just to mess with my mind as always. I can't trust a single word that comes out of his mouth.
" She's the one that hit me first!" Hana yells in frustration as she throws her hands in the air.
She quickly turns around to glare at me, and I almost start laughing. Hana wants to act so tough, but she's covered in bruises; her lip is busted with blood coming out, she can barely see out of her bruised right eye, her hair looks like it's been through war and back, and she's holding onto the side of her stomach for support.
Me on the other hand, I look perfectly fine. Other than the fact my hair is also a bit messed up, from when she tried to grab it, there's hardly any bruises or scratches on my body.
" I don't care about that. This won't be tolerated in my school." She folds her arms as her voice echoes throughout the entire room, making me go still," Both of you are suspended for a week, starting immediately."
What? I'm suspended? I've literally only been back to school for about two weeks and now I'm suspended, unbelievable.
I don't reply to her statement, arguing with her won't do anything for me. It'll only make matters worse. Instead I just sit there taking in the entire situation, how this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gone and hit Hana. The anger inside me was just too great at that moment, it overpowered my conscience and I just did what I had to do.
Now I'm just going to have to suffer the consequences of my own actions.
She's probably gonna tell my aunt too, I'm done for. Shin Young isn't going to be happy with this at all, another consequences I'm going to have to endure
" But I-" Hana tried her best to intervene and I'm guessing defend herself, but the headmistress immediately cuts her off.
She slams her hand so hard on her desk that I'm sure I see the wood dent, the loud sound making everything else in the room go quiet. She quickly calms down and readjusts her long black blazer dress, her eyes glowing red as she speaks again.
" That's another week for you Hana. Now both of you. Go." Neither of us try to dispute her command and quickly leave the room as quietly as we can.
The moment we step outside, Hana tried to argue with me again. She yells saying this is all my fault and that I'm annoying and bla bla bla, I don't really bother to pay attention to her. I just laugh in her face once she's done and walk away, I smirk when I hear her frustrated sigh as she walks away in the opposite direction.
The boys were all waiting for me further down the hallway. The minute I reach them they start bombarding me with questions, too many for me to focus on.
I cut into their rambling and simply stare that I've been suspended for a week. They instantly stop talking as they look at me in shock. I'm quite surprised myself, this is not the typical punishment they give for what I did. I can only be happy I didn't get an more horrible consequence.
I don't say anything else as I grab my bag, that they were holding for me, from them and head outside. The second I left the office, Shin Young have a simple message that she's in her way. From the way she texted me I know she's angry, I'm not prepared to see her at all.
As I'm thinking about all of the possible things that Shin Young will do to me when I get home, I hear the low chuckle of a man emerge from a nearby corner. Their body coming into view shortly after and I let out a deep sigh.
K.
I don't want to see him right now either. I don't wanna see anybody, I just wanna go home and lock myself in my room until my suspension is up. But things are never really that simple around here.
" Didn't know you had all that fight in you." He continues to laugh lowly as he folds his arms, taking a few steps closer towards me.
I've been a very argumentative person at school, him and many others being victim to it, but this is the first time I actually got physical with someone else. It's not abnormal to me that people are a bit surprised at how I reacted, most of them though I was all bark with no bite.
At least I proved those people wrong, though I don't like to fight. I only do it when I'm extremely disrespected or someone has tried to hit me first, but even after the fight I still feel a bit uncomfortable. It feels like I did the right thing but didn't at the same time, maybe I took it a bit too far.
But I couldn't control myself at all, it's like my body was moving against the part of my mind that was telling me to stop. The anger and rage I was feeling completely consumed me in a way I've not really felt before and I just kept going and going.
And it scared me.
" I was defending myself." I snap out of my thoughts and respond, my voice slightly shaking.
Of course my voice is going to falter like that, how embarrassing. I'm never one to show myself as being weak or scared, but the shake in my voice has done exactly that. I want this conversation to be over.
" Looks like my calculations are wrong..." that's all K says, his eyebrows raising slightly as his eyes look like he's got a lot on his mind.
I'm so confused.
"What do you mean by that K?" I say in a questioning tone, still a bit commanding in nature.
" Don't worry about it Jiyeon. I'll figure it out." without another word K turns around and leaves me alone by the gate, surprisingly just as my aunt Shin Young pulls up in her car.
What does he mean by his calculations are wrong? What is the calculation? How has he figured out it's wrong?
K is so cryptic and it's the thing I truly dislike about him, he can never give you a clear answer. He'll let you know something is wrong, but not say what. He'll tell you he knows how to help you, but refuse to explain in detail. Sometimes I feel like he's only that way towards me, but I'm probably just overthinking it.
Before I can think about it for another second, the sharp beep of my aunt's horn causes me to jump. I almost forgot she was here.
I take a deep breath as I take the walk of shame towards the car, she doesn't even look at me but instead keeps her eyes fixated on the road. Each step I take makes me feel more and more anxious, I don't think I can take it. I reach the handle of the door, my hands suddenly trembling, and I pull it open to feel the ominous energy deep out of the car.
As I step into the passenger seat of the car, Shin Young doesn't say a word to me. Instead she frantically taps on the wheel and rolls down the window for air. She's very mad. You can always tell when my aunt is angry, she'll initially look freakishly calm until you see her trying to distract her anger with something else.
I'm screwed when I get home.
The ride home is filled with an uncomfortable silence, it's eating away at me. I don't know what to say, I feel like if I even try to say anything that she'll push me out of the car. So I continue to say quiet as I try to mentally prepare myself for what's coming.
" Suspended Jiyeon, really?! I get a call in the middle of work to hear you've been suspended!" As expected she started yelling at me the second I step foot in the house.
She speaks at a speed that is so hard for me to understand as she starts throwing pillows at me, which I effectively dodge which only makes her even angrier. She starts roughly coming her hair with her fingers while pacing around the room, still rambling on.
" I'm sorry, but she spoke about mom and dad. And you. I couldn't let her disrespect you all like that."
She stops after she hears my explanation, she understands. Every time someone bring her or my parents up I get very defensive. It's not always resulted in physical altercations, in fact they're quite rare, but the times they have it's been really bad. That's why she doesn't like to talk about what happened at my last school too much, even though I hardly remember it myself.
She takes in a very deep breath before speaking in a much calmer tone.
" You were already kicked out of one school for violent behaviour. I brought you here so could change, not fall back into the same cycle." She takes a deep sigh as she closes her eyes, in an attempt to continue to keep herself relaxed.
I can't help but feel a bit guilty. She's been taking care of me all of this time, and since we've moved I've not really given her any piece of mind.
I may not remember a lot about what happened at my last school, but I do know that whatever I did was so severe that I didn't only have to move schools but cities as well. I don't want to have to make Shin Young do that all over again.
I'm even lucky that they let me off with only a week suspension. This school is know you plane very strict when it comes to acts of violence, my aunt made that very clear when we first moved here, in most cases I would be on probation at another school right now. I'm surprised that they didn't do that to me.
I wonder why.
" I know, and I'm sorry. I never wanted to worry you like this." I place my hands on my legs as I bow as low as I can. I've not had to apologise like this in a while, it feels so strange to me.
I keep bowing in silence, my back hurting from how low I am, and I don't stop until Shin Young bends down and speaks to me again.
" Just please, stay out of trouble." she whispers as she pulls me into a hug. I almost cry from the pain in her tone, I don't want to disappoint her. I can't disappoint her.
I head up to my room and close the door behind me, I let myself fall into my bed and sink into how comfortable it feels. I close my eyes as I think about everything that's happened. This is all just too much for me now, let me go take a shower and clear my mind.
But then I try to open them again, and my eyes won't move.
I try to move my body off the bed, but it doesn't move. I'm stuck, in fact I can feel myself sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of my mind, my forehead feeling that similar pounding feeling once again. This time it's sharper, the pain feeling like there's a thousand needles piercing into my brain all at once.
I open my mouth in an attempt to scream for help but nothing comes out.
Suddenly the darkness begins to fade away, slowly but surely. With each second that passes I see the image of a castle, just like from before. I'm inside it once again, but this time there's a series of items lined up before me. There has to be about eight of them if I'm seeing correctly, but they're not clear enough for me to make out.
I try to walk closer towards the items, this time my body complies as takes steps forwards. Just as they're about to get clear for me, that same black smoke that has consumed the princes in my last vision comes back. By the time it's gone, so are the items and the castle is not more.
All I see is rubble, bodies and people fighting on a battlefield. It's awful, the ruthless of it all, killings happening as if they don't even matter.
Save them.
The woman from a previous vision shows up again but in front of me as we both watch the people fight among themselves. It all feels so real, but this doesn't feel like a past situation. Not any past that I've been a part of. Is this the future?
Save them before the war begins.
The voice echos through my ears, surrounding the entire room before consuming my mind and my thoughts. Who am I supposed to save, and what do they mean by war?
Suddenly my aunt opens the door and all of the voices immediately disappear, my body quickly regains all control off itself like nothing ever happened.
" There's someone at the door for you." Shin Young gives me a soft smile as she leaves my room, judging by the smell she's going to the kitchen.
At least she seems to be in a much better mood than before. I don't know if I could've handled her being mad at me for any longer. I don't even have the will power to dwell on whatever I just saw, but it was so real to me. I'll worry another that another time, when I'm in the right mindset.
Who would want to see me at this time? I told Sunbi and the boys that I'm fine, that they don't need to check on me. I know Hana isn't stupid enough to come over to my house. K, he's the type to not make his presence known to anyone other than me.
Who else could it possibly be?
I quickly throw on some more comfortable clothes; my black cargo pants, paired with my black zip up hoodie that I've had for years, and my black and white converses as I slick my hair back into a low ponytail.
I take my time as I walk down the steps, my heart racing. I'm still confused about what just happened, that was completely different from all the other flashbacks I've had before. Or maybe it was a vision of the future. Who am I kidding, that's ridiculous.
As I finally reach for the handle and open the door my body freezes as I see whose on the other side, my eyes grow wide in surprise.
There's no way.
" Follow me?" I don't even get to respond as they grab me by the hand and drag me along with them.