TW: mentions of abuse
Haeun sat there, still a little shaken up. She was hugging herself, attempting to comfort herself as tears crept up to her eyes. Adjusting the dark tights on her legs, she prayed that no one would notice the blue-red bruises all over them.
Her mind was spinning, replaying the memory over and over again.
11pm. It was 11pm, but Haeun's headphones were on full volume. 11pm, but Haeun was curled up in a ball, trying her hardest to get distracted. 11pm, yet the fight downstairs was still happening full blast, sounding even louder than the pounding music.
Haeun's body was trembling lightly. She then heard the clear noise of an audible door slam, suddenly casting silence over the entire house.
Cautiously, she took out once headphone just to hear the sound of thundering footsteps coming from the hallway outside.
Her eyes widened. The door was unlocked.
But before she could lunge at it, it was already thrown open.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SLACKING OFF!" The scream was so loud that it caused Haeun to jump up from the wooden floor.
"Mom, I-"
"WHY CAN'T YOU BE A BETTER DAUGHTER?? I DIDN'T LET YOU COME WITH ME FOR YOU TO ACT LIKE A SMALL LITTLE BITCH! YOU'RE SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT."
And then the beating began.
Haeun looked down, staring at her palm. It was covered up by a white bandage, hiding away the dozens of small scars and cuts that she'd gotten from the empty soju bottle her mother had tucked at her.
She shut her eyes tightly, trying to erase the scene from her memory.
"What happened to your hand?"
The familiar voice made her snap upwards, finding the boy to be standing right over her. Although he tried to keep his expression cold, he was struggling, and his worry was really obvious.
Haeun pulsed her lips together as she stared up at him. This only gave Jisung the chance to scan her further, eyes widening slightly when he noticed another detail. "You have a bruise-"
But before he could finish, Haeun used her hair to cover up the side of her face, making the small bruise on there invisible.
"Haeun, what happened." Jisung demanded firmly, looking down at her expectantly.
But the girl just let out a long sigh, deciding to stand up to face him.
"I don't have to explain anything to you." She huffed out, as confidently as possible, and then began walking away.
But Jisung quickly caught up, hand encircling her wrist and forcing her to stop.
"You're hurt, Haeun. What the hell happened? Was it Donghyuck?" He continued asking, now allowing his worry to seep into his voice.
The girl closed her eyes.
'Please... please stop pretending that you even care.'
"No, it wasn't Donghyuck." She snatched her hand out of his, quickly stepping back a few steps before facing him again. "Please just leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you."
And Jisung could only stand there helplessly, as she left him alone at the bus stop one again.
➥
Somehow, Haeun had dragged herself over to school.
She was of course late, by a whole two hours. But she had managed to excuse herself pretty easily and just went on with her day.
Now not only was last night haunting her mind, so was Jisung. Her heart throbbed sadly each time she thought of him.
'Did he actually do it? It really doesn't seem like something he'd do... I should've talked to him about it first.'
Haeun bit down on her bottom lip, but shook the thought off.
School had already ended, so as she entered the hallways, there was no one there. Knowing that her grades were dropping, the girl had decided to stay behind like a couple of other kids. But after some time, she had to get up to go to the bathroom.
And that's where she had arrived just now.
After doing her business, Haeun came out of the bathroom stall and began washing her hands. It was taking long, as she was so deeply into her own thoughts that she did not even notice the figure standing right beside her.
"E-excuse me?"
The small voice took her completely by surprise, and Haeun jumped away, hands wet.
"Oh no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" The short girl looked terrified.
"No, I'm sorry. I was zoning out." Haeun awkwardly shook her hands in an attempt to dry them. "Your name is Lee Yeri, isn't it."
"Y-yeah it is, but that doesn't matter right now. I have something to tell you."
Haeun raised up a surprised eyebrow. "You do?"
"Yes, it's kind of urgent." Yeri bit down on her bottom lip, staring down at the ground.
"I know you're good friends with Jisung, and now that the video's been published, I thought-"
"What video?" Haeun interrupted, tensing up slightly.
"H-huh? Oh, the video where Jisung and Seulbi did... the thing." Yeri coughed out awkwardly. "Someone posted it on the school forum today."
"They what?!?!" Haeun exclaimed in shock, making Yeri flinch.
"But this is why I'm here- the video isn't real! It's really not, it's all just a scam!" The shy girl exclaimed urgently.
Haeun's brows furrowed. "It's not real?"
"Yes! I know it was wrong of me to hold this from you, because I could tell that Seulbi ruined your guys' friendship. But you should really listen to this." Yeri hurriedly took out her phone, swiping through it for a short while before playing a recording.
'-she'll fall for it?'
'Of course she will! Are you doubting me?'
'No, but what if she asks him about it?'
'I'd be surprised if she did. She'll be too heartbroken to even start a conversation with him.'
'Woah, I almost feel bad for her.'
'Right? But don't worry. I've planned this out perfectly, and there's nothing money can't solve. She'll never figure out that it's fake.'
'You're truly amazing, Seulbi.'
'Thank you, but I already knew that. And you know I can't let some bitch just do me like that. And since Donghyuck didn't do shit about it, I took things into my own hands.'
'Jesus, when are you going to finally drop him? He gives me a bad vibe.'
'He does, and he's totally boring to hang out with. But he's hot! Besides, don't worry. I'll drop him soon enough, but I'd like to toy around with him a little more, you know. He's just... too much fun.'
'Wow Seulbi, you're truly-"
"I'm sorry, my phone ran out of battery after that. But I hope this is enough evidence, Jisung doesn't deserve all of the slander he's getting right now!" Yeri exclaimed.
But Haeun was too much in shock to hear what she was saying, and she needed a short minute to process what she had just heard.
Instantly, she felt all her emotions washing down onto her: relief, confusion, anger, regret.
But she couldn't waste any more time.
"Could you please send that over to me, like right now? I need to go." Haeun exclaimed with an urgency with her voice, taking out her own phone.
"Yes, I'll do it right now!"
Soon after, the girl's phone buzzed at the new message.
"Alright, thank you so much. You don't know how grateful I am that you showed me this. You're really brave." Haeun sent Yeri a weak smile.
"Don't worry about it, I've been feeling guilty about keeping this a secret. You should probably go now, and find him."
"I will, thanks again!" Haeun yelled out running out.
As she speeded through the empty hallways, she quickly un-blocked Jisung's number and tried calling it repetitively, but it was no use. He wasn't picking up.
Hand anxiously sweeping through her hair, Haeun suddenly bumped into a figure that appeared from behind the corner.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" The girl exclaimed after stumbling back.
To her surprise, in front of her stood 3 boys, who all seemed to be a nervous wreck.
"Hey, you're Jisung's friend!" One of them, that she recognized as Zhong Chenle, pointed at her. "Do you know where he is?"
"No, and you don't?" Haeun asked.
The three of them sighed anxiously, Na Jaemin beginning to mumble. "This is bad... Donghyuck's literally going to murder him for this."
"Wait, Donghyuck saw the video?!" Haeun interrupted them, receiving a vague nod in response. "Then why are you still standing around? Go!"
They all looked at each other, slightly confused, but decided to go with it and ran off. Haeun, now more desperately, continued dialing Jisung's number, but again, to no avail.
"Where could they have gone?" She muttered to herself anxiously.
For what she'd understood, she assumed that they were still on school grounds. But where?
And then it hit her.
Without another thought, Haeun set off running. Her things burned with effort, from how cramped, bruised and hurt they were, but she continued at full speed. She ran through the school doors, quickly turning two corners to end up at the back of the school.
And there they were.
The girl had emerged from behind Donghyuck, only being able to see his back. His white t-shirt was now stained with dirt and dust, and he was panting heavily. Looking further, she spotted Jisung's, who's uniform was also an absolute mess and red blood reeked from his nose.
"You fucking asshole! How could you?! I thought you were my friend!" Donghyuck yelled out, the rage clear in his voice.
"I said I didn't do it!" Jisung responded, also angered. "Do you think I'd ever sleep with Seulbi? I knew that she was your girlfriend, then why would I ever do that?!"
"Stop trying to play innocent. I'll fucking tear you to pieces."
Haeun's breath hitched, and she quickly set off into a run. She managed to get in front of raging Donghyuck, hands on his arms to prevent him from walking further.
"Stop! He didn't do it!" She cried out desperately, but Donghyuck just scoffed.
"You? Of course you'd defend him. Didn't you try to beat up Seulbi as well? Both of you are sick." He spat out. "Now get out of my way." He then roughly grabbed her by the wrist, throwing her off to the side.
Haeun scowled quietly as she stumbled, trying to ignore the burning pain from her entire body.
Upon seeing what Donghyuck did, Jisung's hand twisted into anger.
"I know you're mad, but you can't just hurt her like that!"
"I'm mad? Oh, I'm much more than just mad. You slept with my girlfriend, Jisung. I'll fucking kill you."
But before Donghyuck could lunge in the other's direction, he was once again stopped by a person taking a stand in front of him.
"Please, there's something you need to see! Don't act rashly!" Haeun tried her best to convince him, but Donghyuck was so clouded by rage that he could barely process what she was saying.
"I told you to get out of my way." He threatened in a low voice, and this time, he threw her to the side even harder.
Haeun's body got slammed against the wall, and she let out a small cry of pain as she dropped onto the floor. She was getting dizzy from the harsh hit that she had received to her head, to the point her ears were beeping.
"HEY!" Jisung yelled out, getting more and more furious. "STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING HER!"
"Oh? So that's what gets your blood boiling?" Donghyuck asked with a small smirk. "I hope you feel even a little as bad as I do."
And then he walked up to Haeun, raised his foot and disposed it right into her stomach.
The girl cried out in pain, curling her body up from the impact. The kick had been so hard that she felt like she couldn't breathe, and slowly began choking.
"Motherfucker." Jisung whispered in anger, before throwing himself at Donghyuck.
And as they began fighting, throwing punches and kicks at each other, something in Haeun switched.
With a single blink, her eyesight was now completely cleared once again. She tucked away the feeling of pain, basically making herself feel numb to cast it out. Without a trouble she then stood up, and snapped towards where the two boys were fighting.
She was pissed.
As quickly as her limp leg could take her, Haeun stomped up to Donghyuck, who was about to attack Jisung since he had fallen to the ground.
Before he could even try to swing at her, she kicked him straight in the lower leg, causing him to stumble back.
"What the-" Donghyuck spat out, but upon looking up he noticed her fascial expression.
It was different. She wasn't fearful, weeping and desperate. No, she was enraged, he could see it by her eyes.
But he didn't get much time to analyze, as he was kicked down to the ground. There, Haeun used her entire body weight to keep him down by the wrist.
"Stop. Right now." She ordered coldly.
Somehow, that caused Donghyuck to usher down a bit, staring at her shock as she took out her phone.
Realizing that she was no longer in severe danger, the switch began coming back. Haeun felt more and more nauseous as she scrolled through her phone, feeling all of the crashing pain coming back. She began breathing heavily, trying so hard to keep her composure.
That was when Donghyuck had decided he had enough, and attempted to push her off. But the girl used the remain of her power to hold him down, desperate eyes staring into his.
"Please... please just stay down. You need to listen to this."
And then with a trembling finger she pressed down onto the 'play' button and the audio began playing.
The world had gone completely quiet. The only thing she could hear was her rushing, pulsating heartbeat.
And after a few more seconds, she blacked out.
this so cliché damn
we stan the girl that told them everything