Haerin's POV:
It's been two weeks now, and not a lot has been going on.
Me and Hyein have been going to school and now we have a few more days left until spring break.
The rest of the girls have been doing the same thing, which is head out to work early in the morning and then come back really late.
As we got closer, we started hanging out more outside of the house.
We'd go to cafes, theme parks and beaches in between our busier days, and thanks to that I've been able to get close to all of them.
Now I'm in bed at twelve in the evening on a Saturday because I'm too lazy to get up.
There's been a collection of noise downstairs. I've gotten used to that by now, the loud laughs, conversations, their random shouts. It's a norm for me.
The sounds downstairs don't bother me until I receive a text from Minji, "Come downstairs quickly." it reads.
I sit up and get out of bed, not taking the time to freshen up.
I skip two steps as I hop downstairs. When I walk into the living room, the atmosphere is so different, I instantly feel it.
They all look frustrated or angry, either one. Hanni is on the couch facing away from me, but her back is hunched over, her head is clearly in her hand.
Eunchae's next to her, her hands on her back, rubbing circles there. I really can't tell who's who sometimes.
"What's going on?" I break the uneasy tension, and they all turn to me except Hanni.
Hyein walks over to me, "The FBI officially closed her father's case." she says, clearly angry.
"Oh my god!" I gasp, "But why, it's been on for so long, right?"
"We think that they were paid to move on." Minji says from where she's standing.
"They can do that?" I ask, walking over to see Hanni.
"If you're powerful enough, probably." Kazuha replies.
"Hanni, go rest, don't stress yourself out, it's going to make it worse." I kneel on the ground in front of her so that I can take a better look at her face but she shakes her head, sniffling.
I look at Hyein but she waves her hand dismissively, telling me that there's no point, I hear Hanni sob.
"Hanni please, come with me, I'll help you get to bed. This isn't helping." I try to lift her head up to meet my eyes but she resists.
"She's too angry." Eunchae says.
"Well, what do we do now?" I look at them, but they just shake their heads.
"There's nothing we can do. We can't draw too much attention either, so speaking with them would be worse, because we don't know who they're involved with." Leeseo says, standing up from her place and starting to pace around the room.
Hanni suddenly stands up, walking swiftly upstairs before a door slams shut.
"Her father is a sensitive subject, they were really close." Kazuha explains, "She struggled making friends when she was younger, so her father was all she had."
My chest feels heavy as I hear this, she lost the only father figure in her life. A girl needs a father.
"Is she gonna get better?" I stand up from the ground and sit on the couch next to Eunchae.
"It'll take a day, she's good at repressing it." Hyein sits down across from me.
"You know, Haerin, a few years ago something like this would've made her react really badly." Kazuha says.
"What do you mean?" I ask, Kazuha looks at the others before replying "She was bad at dealing with her anger issues. She'd take it out on others." Kazuha frowns.
"What would she do?" I press.
"Hurt us." Hyein answers.
"Oh." My voice lowers.
"It was awful. She'd start to hit one of us if we kept trying to comfort her, then she wouldn't stop, she'd tackle us and keep punching because something would take over her mind. The others would have to hold her back." Danielle explains, her voice weak.
I frown, my mind not being able to imagine the sight.
"So she changed? How?"
"Well, she'd hurt us so bad we'd be covered in blood, so when we'd calm her down she would see what she did and start crying, apologising and then start hitting herself." Leeseo answers.
"That went on for a year before she started to lock herself in a room so she wouldn't hurt anyone." Eunchae then says from beside me.
"So that's why she went upstairs?" I point towards the stairs.
Hyein nods and the room then goes silent, my heart feeling like it has fallen.
I feel more sorry with every story they tell me about their lives, how can a person be ripped apart so many times and still continue to live?
How come they all turn out okay?
The world was so cruel to them yet they aren't cruel to the world.
"Sorry if that scared you." Minji walks behind the couch and puts her hand on my shoulder.
"No, I trust you all, I trust her too." I look at the stairs, placing my hand on Minji's.
~
A few hours later, Leeseo made dinner for all of us, and she tried calling Hanni but she never came down.
The dinner table tonight was too dull.
Everyone was silent, all I got to hear was the sound of forks scraping against glass plates.
A few 'Thank you's' here and there were heard when someone passed a dish over.
After dinner, we all decided to go up to bed, agreeing to leave Hanni for the night, then see what happens in the morning.
When I walk past her room, I hesitate a little, feeling awful for leaving her alone, but decide to listen to the others, they know her better.
So I walk into my room, brushing my teeth and changing into my pajamas.
I get into bed but find it hard to fall asleep, especially with the new story I've just heard.
Hanni abusing her friends out of anger seems impossible to imagine.
When I see them now, it's like they've never had an argument, and they treat each other so well.
It makes me wonder how dark their past was.
With the stories of their childhood, their parents and this one, there couldn't be possible all normal ones.
~
When I open my phone again to check the time, it's three in the morning.
I groan, annoyed that I won't fall asleep, and I got in bed four hours ago.
I've tried my best avoiding going on my phone as it would make it worse, but staring into darkness seemed even worse.
Then I tried counting sheep but got bored at twenty.
Then I tried creating a fantasy world but I ran out of creativity.
So now I decide to go get water, I'm bored of being in bed for this long.
I take my time walking through the hallways of the rooms in case I wake the rest up, and then step on my toes when I walk down the stairs.
I walk into the kitchen and switch on the light, getting a water bottle from the fridge and staring at the magnets there like I always do.
A lot of them were souvenirs from countries my family had been to when I was younger; Geneva, Madrid, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Paris, Istanbul, Budapest, Dubai.
I smile when they ring me memories of the happy family I once had, before my father left and destroyed the relationship I had with my mother.
I loved my parents very dearly, but now they seem to have almost neglected me completely.
"Why are you up?" a voice whispers, making me gasp, turning around to see Hanni.
"I was thristy." I show her my water bottle, placing my other hand over my heart that's now beating rapidly.
She walks over to me and starts wiping my cheeks, taking me aback.
I didn't realize I had started crying at the grieving of my parents.
"Are you okay?" she asks, her hands still holding my face.
I nod silently, trying not to blush.
She looks at me for a while, seeming to find a reason for what had made me cry, but then she removes her hands.
"I need water too." she says, giving me a weak smile and I move away from the fridge.
She opens it and takes a bottle out while I take a sip of mine. Then I close the cap.
"Well, goodnight." I whisper, walking away.
"Stay with me for a little while, please." she suddenly says, and I stop in my tracks.
I turn around, and her face seems broken, no sign of emotion in them, she's been drained.
I don't answer and walk back next to her, leaning on the kitchen counter.
"Couldn't sleep?" I ask her.
She shakes her head.
"Thank you for trying to comfort me." she says then, and I smile. "I'm sorry if the girls made me sound like an asshole. Don't be scared of me." she says.
I squint my brows, but realize that she was talking about her past stories that I've been told,
"I'm not scared of you, Hanni. Never." I reply, hoping that my words would at least make her feel better.
"But why? We've all had such traumatic pasts, aren't you afraid that something bad might happen and we snap?" she says, making me think again.
But I shake my head.
"No." I shrug.
"You're really something else." a small smile displays on her face, a very small one.
"How do you know they told me?" I ask.
"About how I'd hurt them? I heard." she says, looking down at the floor.
"Hm, it's a bad thing to eavesdrop." I tease, trying to get rid of the tense atmosphere.
"You said you trusted me." she says, looking back up at me.
I nod.
"Thank you." she replies.
Then my heart flutters.
"You say that too much." I tilt my head.
"It's because I really am thankful that you're so accepting."
"Of course I am, I mean from that first day you all gave me the phone call I knew you were all good girls." I explain.
She smiles then, a real smile, and relief washes over me.
"Is that a smile?" I walk closer to her.
She looks away, "No, what is?" she turns her head to the other direction.
"I think I saw you smile." I then try to turn her head but she resistes, fighting my hands off, we're both chuckling.
"You didn't see anything." she says, pushing my hands away.
"I did!" I say, getting closer to try to annoy her.
"Fine! See." she then stops and gives an exaggerated toothy smile and I laugh.
"Wow! So pretty." I reply, making her laugh too.
We both go quiet then, smiling at each other, our eyes running over each other's faces.
She then pulls me into a hug, a very tight one.
"Hanni?" I say, my eyes wide open, not touching her.
"For making me feel better." she replies into my neck, and there I relax, hugging her back.
Her hands are tight around my waist, holding me as close as she can to her body, and I allow her to.
Her breathe clashing against the skin on my neck making my body heat up again, but I don't move.
Her gesture comforts me, and I close my eyes to savor the moment.
A few more seconds later she lets go, but we're both still close.
Her breathing is as heavy as mine now, and our eyes are peircing through each other's.
She lifts her hand up to my face, taking it in her hands and pulling it close to hers.
She leaves a peck on my forehead, the spot burning there, her lips are soft and plump.
She pulls back and then caresses the skin of my cheeks.
How come I wanted more?
I want her to kiss me.
"I'm going to go to bed before we both do something we'll regret later on." she whispers, the sound making my heart ache.
I nod.
Why am I nodding?
And then she lets go, and I frown, not letting her see my expression.
She then walks out of the kitchen and up to her room.
~