"Does it hurt?" Jisu asked as she rubbed the healing ointment onto Yeji's back that was horribly bruised from the collision with the table and the ground, further adding on to the already piled up injuries Yeji had.
"Are you alright?" Yeji asked in return.
Her back was in pain, but she didn't care.
Yeji was much more concerned about Jisu, especially the noticeable swelling that Jisu's cheek was going through, along with the gash inside the younger girl's mouth from when Soobin punched her, causing her teeth to graze the insides of her cheeks and bleed.
"I told you, I'll be fine. Let's get you fixed up first." Jisu continued to apply more ointment, before cutting out a large patch from the roll of cotton pads that Yeji had in her first aid kit and gently taping it onto the bruised area.
The 5 along with Hyunjin and Kim Jisoo were gathered in Yeji's apartment, sitting around the living room area, the atmosphere a little gloomy.
After the fight had ended, they agreed to head back home to one of their places, ultimately deciding on Yeji's apartment as Jisu knew Yeji kept a much more extensive medical kit there compared to the rest.
She had also asked Kim Jisoo and Hyunjin to join them, seeing that Yeji's cousin was in the worst condition among all of them, and she couldn't forget what Jisoo had meant when the girl said that she was on her side.
There were too many questions floating around in her head.
And she was determined to get them all answered tonight.
And so, the 5 took Yeji's car once more, this time Ryujin was the one to drive as both Yeji and Jisu had sustained injuries, while Kim Jisoo drove Hyunjin's car, trailing behind Yeji's black Fortuner until they reached their apartment complex.
Which leads to where they're at right now, sitting in Yeji's living room with Jisu treating Yeji's wounds while Kim Jisoo and Chaeryeong helped treat Hyunjin's.
"Unnie...," Yuna spoke up first.
She was sitting on the floor, leaning her back against Ryujin's chest with her phone in her hands, the short haired girl embracing Yuna in a backhug, her chin resting lightly on the younger's head, hands gently tapping in rhythm on Yuna's stomach, comforting the younger girl who was still noticeably shaken up from witnessing a fight.
"The video is already spreading around ..."
"And what's wrong with the video spreading around?" Kim Jisoo innocently asked, as she applied alcohol on a stick of cotton bud, gently dabbing it on the gash that was on Hyunjin's face, with Chaeryeong doing the same.
"She could get suspended," Ryujin answered, her voice had a hint of displeasure in it. "Or worse, she could get permanently kicked off the team."
Yeji could only defeatedly sigh.
She knew the consequences all too well, which was why she had desperately asked Yuna to stop Ryujin from involving herself. And she knew that those consequences were something she had to face sometime in the near future, maybe even as early as tomorrow.
But there was no use in worrying about it now.
The video was already spreading like wildfire across social media, and it was clear that they were able to catch Yeji being a part of the fight.
Yeji pulled down her shirt to once again cover her back and turned around to face Jisu.
"Your turn."
The silver haired girl took the tube of ointment from Jisu's hands before tenderly applying it onto Jisu's swollen cheek.
"Let me know if it hurts," Yeji softly said, which Jisu in turn nodded, though noticeably wincing whenever Yeji's fingers touched her face.
"What happened back there?" Ryujin asked.
From after the fight ended to their arrival at Yeji's place, nobody had yet explained what really happened that caused the fight. Other than Yeji and Jisu, everybody else was clueless, though Hyunjin probably had a rough idea of it.
"It was my fault. I shouldn't have agitated Soob-"
"No it was mine," Jisu interrupted Yeji. "Soobin wanted to talk ... but I refused, and when I tried to leave he didn't let me. Not until Yeji stepped in to help."
"He was obviously after Yeji though. The way he looked at her was different," Chaeryeong chimed in.
"Which brings me to my point. Thank you, Chaeryeong-ah," Jisu once again redirected her gaze towards the girl sitting in front of her. "Yeji ... what did he mean when he said hurt you again?"
The silver haired girl could only look down on the floor, very much hesitant to speak up and answer the question Jisu had just asked her.
But it was Hyunjin who spoke first.
"Yeji, they deserve to know."
Yeji looked up to settle her sight on her cousin, as if looking for any sort of confirmation and assurance, that it would be alright if she told them.
"How are you so sure?" Yeji asked back. "What if he goes after them next?"
"It doesn't matter at this point. He dug his own grave. He exposed himself. They know what he's like now, they deserve to know what happened to you."
Everyone now turned their attention to Yeji, expecting the silver haired girl to talk, to explain, to tell them what they seemed to not know about her for all these years.
Past
The moment Soobin laid eyes upon Jisu when he saw her at the high school orientation, Soobin knew he wanted Jisu.
The way the girl was able to look so cold and menacing on the outside only for her aura to completely take a 180-degree turn just from smiling instantly captivated Soobin.
He knew he was crazy for her.
But throughout their first year in high school, there was always someone else next to Jisu.
Someone who would accompany the girl everywhere she went, sitting beside her in homeroom, sharing lunches in the cafeteria, and even walking home together.
And it angered Soobin to know it wasn't him.
It was Yeji.
Without Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna who were still in middle school, the two relied on each other more than ever.
Every activity they had, whether it was in class or extracurriculars, the two were always there for each other. Always cheering on for one or the other.
One could even say that it was during their freshman year in high school that their feelings truly bloomed for one another. But if they were being honest, they've always felt something different when it came to their feelings for one another. It just took them a little while to figure out that they liked each other, more than just friends.
Soobin tried everything he could to win Jisu's heart over, despite knowing that her heart already belonged to Yeji.
Buying her flowers, asking her out on dates to fancy restaurants, even buying concert tickets for artists that came to their town.
None of them worked.
All of them were rejected.
And it wasn't like Jisu enjoyed rejecting the boy's effort. She did feel bad, truly.
But she knew where her heart belonged already.
In fact, with how often Jisu and Yeji were around each other, almost everyone in the school knew the two had a thing for one another.
It didn't stop Soobin though.
It only made the boy mad, angry, frustrated and jealous.
Angry that he wasn't getting what he wanted, frustrated that the silver haired girl was always there in his way, and incredibly jealous it was Yeji and not him who Jisu was willing to spend her time with.
And this feeling of almost hatred culminated in their second year of high school.
By this time, Yeji had already solidified her position as the high school female basketball team captain, rivalling that of Soobin who also held the same position but for the boys team. And with Ryujin finally entering high school as well, they were achieving great success as a team.
One would think because they shared a passion for the same sport and the same responsibilities as team captain, that they would at the least respect each other.
But it wasn't the case.
It only made Soobin hate Yeji even more, and Yeji knew this all too well.
Which was why the girl always stayed clear of him.
She didn't want any trouble.
What Yeji miscalculated though, was to what lengths Soobin was willing to go to get Jisu, to make sure Yeji stayed away from the girl he was after, to make sure she was out of the picture.
It was a windy autumn night, and Yeji was once again staying late after school, practicing alone in the basketball court.
It was already 8 p.m. Almost all the students had already left, with a few here and there just finishing up their club activities.
Basketball practice had ended 2 hours ago, but Yeji felt like she needed more. And though Ryujin offered to accompany her, the older girl declined, knowing that Ryujin had homework to finish too, which was why she was here alone, just going through the repetitive motions of shooting the basketball.
Or so she thought she was alone.
"Yeji-sshi," Soobin called out.
Yeji was surprised to see someone else still there, much less for it to be Soobin.
"Oh...uhm...hi, can I help you with something?" Yeji asked.
"Nothing much really. I was just wondering why you're still here. Didn't practice end like two hours ago?"
Yeji was getting a bad feeling about this. She had never maintained a conversation with the boy for this long, so it struck her odd that he would suddenly care why Yeji was still practicing on her own.
"Yeah, it did. And you? What are you still doing here?" Yeji questioned, hoping to get some sort of read on what was going on, but also still trying to sound calm.
"Just finished some club stuff," Soobin answered. "Say, since we're both here anyways, wanna play a little game of 1-on-1? You look like you could use a sparring partner," he flashed an unconvincing smile at Yeji.
Yeji was hesitant to accept the boy's offer. But if wasn't like her to shy away from a challenge, especially not when it came to individual skills. After all, Yeji had pride in her abilities. Not to mention Soobin was kind of right. She needed the practice, and playing Soobin could provide her with just that.
"Yeah sure, I don't mind," Yeji agreed to Soobin's offer after having thought it through in her head.
Once they started playing, it was clear that Yeji was easily the better player of the two.
Though Soobin was athletically faster and stronger than Yeji, the girl was far more superior when it came to skills.
The way Yeji handled the ball, dribbling craftily around Soobin, not showing off too much and doing the precise number of moves needed to get around the boy and ultimately laying the ball into the hoop easily showed that she was above and beyond the boys level.
It was almost as if the girl was dancing with the ball.
But it didn't take long for Soobin to show his true nature, his true intentions.
He wasn't there to just play basketball with Yeji, nor was he there to hone his own skills or serve as a practice dummy for Yeji.
No.
His intentions were much more malicious, and much darker than Yeji would have ever thought or predicted.
As their game progressed, Soobin slowly unveiled what he came to do.
The boy started playing much more aggressively. Not in a sense that he was determined to win, but in a sense that made him dangerously violent.
Soobin began swinging his elbows around carelessly, and though it was a common move to make to shake off an opponent, Soobin wasn't trying to do that.
He was intentionally trying to hurt Yeji.
But it was too late for Yeji to realize.
She was admittedly much more naïve back then, and it unfortunately costed her a lot of pain that night.
Every chance Soobin got to hurt Yeji, whether it was while he was trying to get pass Yeji by dribbling or whenever the two were going for the rebound or every time Yeji went up to take a shot or lay in the ball, he took it.
His only purpose was to cause as much damage as he could on Yeji.
And each time he had elbowed or harshly bump into a specific area of Yeji's body whether it was her face, her ribs or her back, he would ignorantly mumble a quick oops and say an empty apology.
Yeji was all battered and bruised, her left eye beginning to swell, a gash on her cheek, her bottom lip was busted and bleeding, and though she couldn't see it, she was sure her ribs and her back were horribly bruised as well.
But she didn't back down.
She didn't want to give Soobin the satisfaction of seeing her be defeated. She had too much pride on the line to lay down her sword and quit the fight.
Which was why she continued playing, her body flowing on purely 100% adrenaline to keep going.
Soobin was surprised to see the girl's tenacity, even almost fearing it. But he was determined to beat Yeji down as much as he could. It was why he came here in the first place.
It was his ball at the moment, and while he was carefully dribbling, waiting for an opportunity to once more hurt the girl standing in front of him, he carelessly dribbled the ball onto his feet, causing the ball to go off into another direction.
Yeji took this as a chance to take back the possession, as she dived for the ball to reach for it.
Though it was unintentional, Soobin saw this as his best opportunity yet, causing him to also dive forward for the ball, which led to the two getting into a physical struggle, which was exactly what Soobin wanted.
Because while the two were tussling on the hardwood floor, he was able to sneakily lock Yeji's right knee between his own two knees.
And just like that, he twisted his entire body hard to one side, causing Yeji's right knee that was tightly stuck between his legs to also twist hard.
Yeji yelled out as loudly as she could from the pain.
Soobin quickly let go of Yeji's knee, slowly getting up as he looked down with condescending eyes upon Yeji who was desperately clutching onto her knee, her face all scrunched up and wincing in pain, teeth gritting as tightly as possible.
"I didn't want to end up doing this, Yeji-sshi. But you pushed me. You brought this on yourself. I'd suggest you stay way from Jisu," Soobin coldly said, not an ounce of regret or empathy in his voice, as he made his way out of the court, leaving Yeji alone defeatedly laying on the floor.
She didn't know how long she had stayed there, but soon enough, someone else entered the gymnasium.
It was Hyunjin, who upon seeing his cousin laying on the floor all bruised and tethered, came running as fast as he could.
"Yeji! What the hell happened to you?!" Hyunjin exclaimed, kneeling beside the girl.
"Hyunjin ...," Yeji managed to mutter out before groaning again. Her knee was still in pain, but it was becoming at the very least tolerable.
With the help of Hyunjin letting Yeji throw her arms over him so that he could sustain some of the girls weight, Yeji was able to stand back up, as the two slowly made their way to Hyunjin's car, with Yeji limping on her left leg every step of the way, trying her best to not put any weight on her right knee.
"We have to get you to the hospital," Hyunjin said, as he started his car engine.
The two were now seated inside Hyunjin's vehicle.
"... No," Yeji shook her head.
"What do you mean no Yeji?? Look at you! You need to get to the hospital now!"
"Take me to Jisu's."
Hyunjin was about to explode from Yeji's unreasonable request. She needed a doctor, so why the hell would her first thought be of going to see Jisu. And if Yeji was being honest, she doesn't know either. But her heart was screaming for Jisu and in that moment, nothing else mattered.
She just wanted to see the girl.
But before Hyunjin could argue back, Yeji interrupted him before he could start.
"Please Hyunjin. She has a medical kit there, I'll be fine. I'll go to the doctor after I see her. Please?" Yeji begged, looking at Hyunjin not with eyes of pity, but with the most serious gaze she had.
She wasn't playing around.
And once Hyunjin saw the way his cousin looked at him, he knew there was no way to change her mind. That was just how stubborn Yeji was.
"Promise you'll go to the hospital after?"
"Promise."
"Fine. But you have to tell me what happened."
"Only if you don't tell anyone else."
"Yeji are you kidding me! How do you expect me to not speak of this to anyone??"
"You'll understand once I tell you. So please Hyunjin, can you start driving?"
Hyunjin couldn't believe how irrational Yeji was acting, but as much as he wanted to disagree, he knew from the girls aura that there was no way he'd win in an argument, not with the Yeji that was sitting beside him in the passenger's seat.
And so Hyunjin reluctantly drove Yeji to Jisu's place, with Yeji explaining to him what had happened. The way Soobin had asked her to play 1-on-1, only for her to realize his true intentions too late. The story was just enough that by the time they had arrived, Yeji was already done recalling what had happened.
"That piece of shit! I'm going to kill him," Hyunjin scowled.
"You can't. You can't let anyone else know Hyunjin ... you know why, right?"
Hyunjin could only grit his teeth in frustration, even punching the steering wheel in hopes of letting his anger loose.
But he knew Yeji was right.
If Soobin was willing to go this far, letting anyone else know would only put them in a worst spot, and would just lead Soobin to retaliate even harder and potentially causing further damage than what was already done today.
Yeji doesn't want him to be hurting anyone else but her.
"Yeji ... I-I'm really sorry this happened to you. I-if only I was ther-"
"Stop it," Yeji interrupted. "There's nothing you could've done. Move on from it."
Yeji opened the car door and stepped out, carefully making sure she got her footing right as to prevent herself from stumbling hard.
Hyunjin was about to open his door too, to help Yeji get all the way to the front of Jisu's apartment, but before he could do so, Yeji spoke up first.
"It's fine. I got it," she flashed a smile to him, hoping to reassure him that she was okay.
"Don't forget to go to the hospital after. I'll ask Jisu to make sure you do that."
Yeji chuckled in response. "I will, don't worry," as the girl closed the car door and made her way inside.
It took her three times the time it would usually take for her to get on the elevator and reach Jisu's apartment, but after painstakingly limping her way there, she had finally arrived in front of the door, knocking on the wooden surface three times.
When Jisu opened the door to see Yeji all beaten up, she could only open her eyes wide in shock.
"Hey," Yeji managed to mumbled out weakly, her mouth forming a warm smile at the sight of the girl she desperately wanted to see, her eyes shaping into two tiny crescents.
"Yeji! What the hell happened to you?!" as the shorter girl quickly took Yeji's arm and placed it over her shoulders, wrapping her arm around the taller girl's waist and quickly carrying Yeji inside, gently letting the injured girl sit on her living room sofa.
Jisu quickly went and grabbed her medical kit, hastily opening it up and taking out all the relevant items she needed, from alcohol and different ointments to cotton buds and pads to cover up the wounds after she was done treating them.
"What happened??" Jisu continued to ask, her voice filled with concern, as she began to softly rub alcohol onto the cut on Yeji's cheekbone and busted lip, cleaning the wound, while the older girl winced at the stinging sensation.
"I ... had a bad fall," Yeji answered.
"You really expect me to believe that?? Look at you Yeji!" Jisu angrily said back.
But Yeji didn't change her answer, instead coming up with a ridiculous story as to how she showed up to Jisu's apartment all beaten up, insistent that it was nothing but a bad fall.
Jisu didn't believe the girl, but with the way the silver haired girl was being extremely stubborn about it, Jisu decided she wasn't going to push it. Because it didn't matter how Yeji got hurt, all that mattered at the moment was that she was already injured, and helping the girl heal was Jisu's top and only priority at the moment.
Nothing was going to change the fact that Yeji was hurt, and there was no use in wondering why and how. That could be asked later.
Jisu quickly patched up the marks on Yeji's face, rubbing healing ointment onto Yeji's bruised left eye as her eyes became noticeably glossy from the tears that had started to build up.
"Anywhere else?" Jisu asked, her voice slightly choking up though she was trying her best to cover it. It hurt her so much to see Yeji like this in front of her.
Yeji silently lifted her shirt up, revealing all the dark blue and purple bruises all across her torso, especially on her ribs and her back.
"Oh Yeji ...," at the sight of the silver haired girl's tethered body, Jisu could no longer hold back the tears she had been keeping in since the moment she had opened the door to see the silver haired girl.
Yeji could only quietly drop her head down, embarrassed and heart broken that she had caused the younger girl to cry.
The two silently sat there, as Jisu continued to patch up Yeji's body, applying ointment to the areas that needed it and carefully covering it with cotton pads, though Yeji couldn't help but notice that Jisu was continuously sobbing and sniffling, obviously trying her best to hold in her crying.
It made Yeji feel all the more guilty.
Seeing Jisu upset was the one thing that could certainly make her sad, which was why she felt a stinging sensation in her heart every time she took quick glances at Jisu's face.
After having treated most of the wounds on the older girl's body, Jisu then knelt down on the floor in front of Yeji, remembering that Yeji came in limping on her left side, which meant her right leg was the one hurt.
"Which part?" Jisu managed to mutter out, tears still slowly sliding down her cheeks.
Yeji gestured towards her knee, which Jisu immediately began examining.
She lightly pressed on the knee, which caused Yeji to grit her teeth and wince, even letting out a groan and just based on Yeji's reaction, Jisu knew this was beyond her capabilities. She could fix up bruises and wounds, but a busted knee was out of her league.
"I-I don't think I can fix this ... we'll have to go to the hospital," Jisu explained, her voice shaking. "I-I'll wrap it up with a bandage first, okay? And I can take you there after."
Yeji only nodded in approval, though her eyes were now continuously fixed upon Jisu, who had begun carefully wrapping Yeji's knee in a roll of bandage.
Yeji wasn't entirely sure what was going on in her mind at the moment or how it even came to this point, but suddenly all she could focus on was Jisu, as if everything else around her began to blur, like a camera hyper focusing on a subject, her cat-like eyes continuing to fix their gaze upon the younger girl as her mind began to go absolutely blank, to the point that she was no longer even registering the pain from her injuries.
All that her 5 senses could now register was the girl kneeling in front of her, gently tending to her knee. The way Jisu's sweet scent seeped into Yeji's nostrils, the way the shorter girl looked so elegant even with little drops of tears streaming down her small round face, her hair neatly tucked behind her ears, the way her little fingers grazed upon Yeji's skin. It was the closest thing to perfection Yeji could ever think of, and for a moment she was just grateful that the universe had somehow given her the opportunity to even meet Jisu.
And almost instantaneously, something took over Yeji, like a light bulb that had been switched on, and next thing she knew, she found herself leaning in, touching her lips against Jisu's.
They stayed that way for a few seconds. Jisu's eyes were opened as wide as possible, in shock and still not comprehending what just happened, before Yeji quickly pulled herself back, realizing what she had just done.
"J-Jisu, I-I'm so sorr-"
But before Yeji could even finish her sentence, this time it was Jisu who went in for the kiss, and unlike just now, Jisu closed her eyes, pressing her own lips hard against Yeji's and even beginning to move her upper and bottom lip in rhythm, which Yeji responded by doing the same.
Their faces were so close to each other that Yeji could even feel the streaks of tears on Jisu's cheeks and though they wanted to keep going, it didn't take long for them to have to pull away from each other, out of breath and breathing heavily, and although they desperately wanted to touch lips again, they needed a few minutes to regain the oxygen they had lost.
"Jisu ... I-I'm sorry ... I-I don't know what's gotten into m-"
"Shh," Jisu interrupted, her hand moving in to caress Yeji's cheeks as a soft smile began to form on the younger girls face, though her eyes were still noticeably teary.
"You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to do that, Hwang Yeji."
Author's Notes:
Sorry no updates yesterday.
Was freaking out about ITZY's performances on 2020 KBS Song Festival and I'm still not over it.
WE GOT TRIPLE DANCE BREAK FOR WANNABE, RYUJIN COLLAB STAGE, YUNA MAKNAE STAGE AND FINALLY CHAESIS PERFORMANCE LIKE WHAT?!
I'm a little sad Yejisu didn't have a special stage, but the way they supported the younger members had me so soft 😭.
We're so blessed as midzy's ❤️.
And thank you for 3k reads I can't believe it! Really appreciate the continued support for this and I'm glad it's able to entertain a few of you out there😊. I'll do my best!