~/~/~ : flashback
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<chuu>
"mr. and mrs. ha? you may enter, now," principle choong-min called. "you as well, sooyoung."
with tightened hands on mine, sooyoung gulped and looked down nervously. even i was worried for her. i patted the top of her hand, then held her shoulder.
"hey," i said, but she did not budge.
i want to console her. that way, she could face this head on and be strong and happy after.
"hey, yves," i warmly called to her. i placed my hand on her cheek and said, "look at me. look at me, please?"
and with that, sooyoung finally got to look at me for real. not in a literal way, but in a sense that she finally looks at me with her true yves self that was starting to unfold piece by piece. and i'm here, witnessing all of that.
i smiled at her and lightly tapped her long sleeves, up-and-down, "you don't have to tell them everything, okay? just—"
"come on, sooyoung," her dad ordered.
"—just don't tell them if you're uncomfortable," i quickly finished my sentence before sooyoung could let go.
she gave me a small smile before entering the office. though she did not say a word, i could feel all the anxiousness exuding from her. i'm just hoping she could get through this without punishment.
❖
after minutes of waiting, the door opened.
"chuu..." sooyoung softly said with her mouth still trembling a bit. i'm a bit relieved that she still had her blazer on. "you're being called, now."
i stood up and immediately entered. luckily, i have to deal with this on my own.
sooyoung's family was there on one space, and minhyuk and his parents are on the other side.
oh, just a quick fact. this is going to be a tough debate. minhyuk's family is one of the powerful people who invests and donates to this school. they are the brand; the reason why seoul orbit high is still being regarded as "high class".
mr. park looked at me sternly and started, "let me get straight to the point, jiwoo. how does a week suspension sound? that's already the least adverse of a punishment i could give."
"w-what?!"
"it's pretty clear you did some serious damage on minhyuk here. violence is not tolerated in this school. don't worry i have given him the same punishment as yours."
"i call bullshit!" i furiously got up from my seat. "how is this school being fair? it's so obvious i was just defending myself and...—" i paused, but i didn't want to make the situation more complicated, so i just skipped it. "anyway, you guys couldn't give this asshole a more grave punishment because, what? because they're your shareholders? is this school just all about money now?"
"calm down, miss kim," minhyuk's father tried to stop me.
"no! i won't calm down!" i looked at his family. "and i will never calm down, not when i go home thinking that i'm receiving the same consequences as his."
i huffed and spoke with every angry fiber of my being.
"i will never calm down until this school serves justice just for fucking once!"
but then i looked at sooyoung who had sorrowful eyes. all this time, she have had been in pain. that day. that day when she cried. it must have begun then.
i'm sorry, sooyoungie. i did not want her to see me throwing a fit. her week must have already felt like hell to her, i don't want to bring any more burden. i composed myself.
"i guess it can't be helped," i sighed and bowed to minhyuk's parents and to the principal. "i'll just accept whatever's offered to me. i apologize for the inconvenience."
i'm still mad, of course. i'm only complying so that there won't be complications anymore. just... fuck it all.
after a moment of silence, i could hear some fuzzing sound behind me. i turned around and saw sooyoung stripping her blazer off.
"s-sooyoung, no," i raced to her, but she stopped me by looking. i just looked at her with great agitation.
after completely taking her long sleeved top off, her scars and bruises were finally revealed, bring everybody in the room to a shock. she shed a tear while her mother was already crying.
i hope you're sure about this, yves.
i approached her and held her hand. as we locked eyes, i nodded at her, showing her that i'm here.
sooyoung readied herself by slowly approaching the other family and bowed to them. her tears rolled continuously at this point. we were all waiting for her explanation as the room was just filled with total silence. after pulling herself together, she seemed to have finally gathered her courage to speak.
<yves>
since i did not want chuu to receive such punishment, i decided to face this myself. i did not want to run away anymore. even my friends and parents have been getting hurt because of my changed behavior.
i just want to be me again. i want to end this nightmare.
"minhyuk and i don't talk that much in class, but he seemed to be interested in me since the past month. he tried to converse with me as much as he can, but of course, out of politeness, i just went along.
"then... his interest just slowly became an obsession," i gulped. i just hoped that minhyuk would not lash out while i tell this story. "he kept warning the other boys.. boys who confessed to me.. to stay away from me. he even warned me to 'be careful' with them."
and it was just pure shit because i should have been careful from him!
i continued my side of the story, "it came to the point where it had felt suffocating. we were not even dating in the first place yet he kept thinking i was his. then one day, he decided to slap me when i told him to stay away from me. he told me to keep quiet after that or else he would find away to kick me out of this school."
at this point of the story, that was when it all began. i remembered i got frustrated and scared and sad because i could not open this up to hyunjin and jungeun. i felt... pathetic because i was a coward. i felt disgusted because i just kept on meeting with him as i was scared of his huge title; scared that he might actually get me dropped out.
~/~/~
the day after the incident, i was relieved to hear the news that minhyuk was absent. i decided not to mention anything to my friends. if this worsens, then it's all on me.
the next day, however, we met again after school. i could not escape from him. then, he took the one thing that i never wanted to be taken too soon.
minhyuk fucking stole my first kiss. he forced it on me. i have never felt so disgusted my entire life.
no. it was not fucking sweet. no. it was not anything i have dreamed of.
i knew in myself that i had a reason for every rejection i gave to those suitors of mine. it took one after another just for minhyuk to have his 'jealousy' and obsession grow. as much as i wished i would have prevented it someway, there was nothing i could do to control him-, er, i mean his feelings.
after aggressively pushing him away from my face, i ran away. luckily, he did not follow.
my eyes were starting to water. i ran inside the classroom and quickly sat on my seat. i began sobbing with my head down on my desk.
then... after a lot of tears that were shed...
i saw a strawberry yogurt milk on my desk, right beside where my head was.
from then on, i finally found my escape.
i overstayed every day after that. her music box kept me going. i knew i still had hope to overcome my situation.
chuu has continuously proved to be a great friend, not just to me but to my friends as well.
chuu. kim jiwoo. she'll always be with me, right?
~/~/~
i never realized that my tears never stopped falling as i was telling them my case. i could never forget that last thought i said about her.
my eyes went to jiwoo and she gave me her comforting smile yet again. my heart ached seeing that smile. the smile i took advantage of.
"okay," minhyuk's mother spoke.
"what? mom—!"
"enough, minhyuk," she scolded. "you've done enough mess for this school and we can't keep covering you up. mr. choong-min, i believe it is only fair that this young lady will be able to continue on without any fear of my son."
my parents' face lit up as well as jiwoo's. as for me, i was almost taken aback (but was totally relieved about what was happening).
mr. choong-min looked at minhyuk's family, "are you suggesting that we...—"
"—demand expulsion for our son, sir. yes," the father suggested.
the agreement was then settled shortly after. minhyuk stomped out of the office with his parents following him and gave us an apology.
❖
"thank you so much... for saving our daughter," i overheard my mother telling that to jiwoo.
i just came back from the comfort room. it seemed like my parents were definitely relieved that she was there.
"ah, it was nothing mr. and mrs. ha. sooyoung's my friend, i'd do anything," she nodded at them.
when she saw me, she raced to me to give me a big hug.
"and as for you, sooyoungie," she snuggled her head on my neck. "i'm so proud of you. you were so brave for doing that."
"wow, i'm brave? look who did a karate kick to that asshole," i broke the hug and smiled back at her.
chuu hummed, "then i guess we both saved each other."
i never thought of it that way. kim jiwoo may sleep a lot, but she's actually great with words. that sentence alone somehow made my heart flutter.
"chuu, thank—"
"you don't have to! you've thanked me a billion times already!" she said with a high volume. "anyway, i should head back to class. you deserve this day off. you've been through a lot."
before i could say anything else, she just smiled and walked away, without forgetting to greet my parents goodbye. just the sight of that dropped all the weight that i had been carrying. jiwoo helped a lot in shouldering that weight. she knew what was going on without having to ask me anything. i knew that she was concerned, but she still respected my privacy. little did she know, i wanted to tell her everything from the get-go.
but her fun company seemed nicer. i did not want to kill the mood.
every day that i spent with her felt like a world that i have never been in.
i sighed.
i... don't deserve you...
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[a/n:]
another long-ish chapter. took me a lot of time to brainstorm on some dull parts that were originally written. hope this was enough for you guys!
thank you for your continuous support!
love you all. stay healthy and happy. :>
#stanLOONA