CHAPTER 16: RAY OF HOPE

After I opened the door for Bin and his mother, everything seemed somewhat confusing for a while. I didn’t understand that they were actually in our house, and I had no idea what had happened, why they were here, what had been holding Bin back for the whole week… I had too many questions. I just stood at the side of our living room, watching as aunt served tea for Bin and Sunhee. Eunwoo was leaning against a wall farther and he seemed a bit pissed off – it wasn’t a secret that he didn’t like Bin. I, anyhow, couldn’t take my eyes off Bin and his mother – and their new injuries. Sunhee’s arms were once again covered in bruises and there was a faded bruise around her left eye too, Bin instead had been clearly punched. I didn’t have to think twice who had done this.

“I’m sorry for barging in like this”, Sunhee apologized. “I didn’t even introduce myself. I’m Woo Sunhee, I’m Bin’s mother, as well as Moon Daewon’s wife.”

It sounded weird hearing Mr. Moon’s name said in such a casual way. To me he had always seemed so superior and high positioned. I glanced at aunt who nodded deeply, not seeming to think too much about the woman’s young age. “Nice to meet you. I’m Seo Dahee.”

“I believe you know what’s my reason for this visit”, Sunhee said and looked down. “I’ve heard from Minji that my husband has been hitting you.”

Now it was aunt’s turn to look down. Talking about it like this must’ve been hard. She and Sunhee were indeed strangers. I felt a nervous twitch in my stomach. I wished everything would go well. I was still surprised about the fact that Bin had been able to persuade his mother to help and visit us. Remembering how she had disagreed and ran away the last time, I still had my doubts about this.

“Well, I believe we are in the same boat”, aunt said quietly, trying to act strong and smile. “I noticed the bruises on your arms.”

Sunhee gently, probably unconsciously ran her fingers up and down her bruised arm and nodded. “Your niece told me this last time I saw her. That I should report my husband and also help you. That time I disagreed because I’m pregnant.”

I saw my aunt’s eyes widen, not in a negative way, however, but with joy. “Oh really? Congratulations!”

Sunhee flashed a small smile. “I thought that if I reported my husband, he’d get both me and the baby killed. But this week I’ve realized that if I continue living like this… the baby will never get to see sunlight. And as a mother I will fight for the sake of my child.”

I saw a wide smile forming on aunt’s lips. This is what she wanted to hear. Someone who had enough power to bring Mr. Moon down was offering her help. She wouldn’t be suspected and she’d easily get a document or something out of her husband’s office. Finally, the situation didn’t look as desperate.

As aunt and Sunhee were drinking their tea, Eunwoo stepped closer to me so that he could say something quietly enough for them to not hear.

“Do you trust these people?” he asked. “They could just be spying and this might backfire on us.”

I shook my head. “It won’t. I really trust these two.”

He nodded a bit hesitantly, then just shrugged his shoulders and went back on leaning against the wall and glaring at Bin. Boys and their ego, I really didn’t know what was it that made Eunwoo hate Bin so much. He had been badmouthing the boy from the day I transferred into the school. Fine, I disliked him at first too, but I gave him a chance and it lead to us liking each other. I had lost nothing, so why couldn’t Eunwoo even try to come along with him? I glanced at Bin who just sat on the sofa, not making any eye contact with anyone and just drinking his tea quietly. He seemed exhausted, sad even, yet still somewhat angry. I wanted to talk to him, but now was not the right time.

“To be honest”, Sunhee started, looking a tad uncomfortable. “I feel like I should tell you this. I’m not Bin’s biological mother, neither is Daewon his biological father. I was 20 when I was married off into Daewon’s family. I was married off to a man who was over 15 years older than me. I was so scared. And I couldn’t get pregnant back then. When I think of the times Daewon hit me or yelled at me for being an incompetent woman…”

As the woman choked on her words, Bin reacted immediately and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, calming her down. It was so interesting to see Bin acting like this – he had done it last time at their house too. My aunt looked at Sunhee with a caring, soft expression and waited until she was calm enough to continue.

“And in the end, he decided that we would adopt”, she said. “He said it was good for the public image too, being kind and adopting… Well, that’s how we got Bin. He was 5 years old, and he had been living in an orphanage for 2 years. But that’s not all there is to that.”

Bin’s glance sharpened and he met his mother’s eyes, looking a confused. The woman lightly shook her head and smiled at her son. “I’m sorry Bin, I never told you everything. Your biological mother was actually a young single mom who had gotten some money from a loan shark – yes, that happened to be your father. She couldn’t pay pack her loan so he sent his subordinates after her. She was forced to leave you behind and leave the country… and then Daewon just decided we’d take you instead. I could have never done anything like – “, her words got mixed with a sob and she let a tear fall down her cheek.

Bin was just staring at her mother, eyes widened and mouth lightly open; he was clearly teary-eyed and fighting against the tears. He must’ve been shocked and furious about what he had just heard. His arm, anyhow, didn’t move from her mother’s shoulder, and he seemed to even hold her tighter now.

“That’s… just horrible”, aunt whispered. “I heard him talk about some shady money transactions at work but I’d have never imagined something like this.”

Sunhee wiped her tears and nodded. “He is hard to read. You never know what he’ll do next. And that’s why I think we need to beat him.”

“I would be so thankful for your help”, aunt said, gently grabbing Sunhee’s hand.

“I will go home and act like nothing is wrong. I will find something that will be viewed as a proof of his crimes”, the woman stated and put her hand over her stomach. “I will do this for the sake of my child.”

The women talked for a little while, and it looked like their chemistries actually met quite well. I was trying to comfort myself by thinking that they would probably stay in touch and become good friends after this mess, whether we’d be able to crush Mr. Moon or not. I didn’t get the chance to talk with Bin, neither did Eunwoo get a chance to shout at him or beat him up, so the evening was a 50-50 for me. When Sunhee and Bin started to make their leave around 9pm, I felt relieved as I received a smile that was close to the trademark smirk, from Bin. I smiled back at him as I said goodbye and closed the door behind them.

I walked into the living room where aunt seemed to finally be able to relax – she had laid down on the sofa, looking so comfortable I could have thought everything was completely alright now. Now that Bin was out of the house, Eunwoo seemed relaxed too, and he sat next to his mother, grabbing her wrist gently and smiling at her.

“We’re going to get through this”, he said.

That was the first time I had seen Eunwoo so sure and optimistic.

Later, after showering and changing into my pyjamas, I was laying in my bed, checking through my phone, as I got a text from Bin. I opened it right away. Finally, he contacted me!

I’m sorry I couldn’t text or call. Dad had a major rage moment and he kind of grounded me for the week.

I sighed. I hadn’t thought about that. Only possibilities that ran through my head were connected with major injuries or even death. I was sure he was so badly hurt he couldn’t write or answer the calls. I did feel relieved but also a bit annoyed at myself. I quickly texted him back.

It’s alright. Will you come to school tomorrow?

And the reply came in seconds.

Sure. Why, do you miss me?

I smiled at the text. Saying things like that still seemed so awkward for us – we weren’t even basically dating, at least in my mind I didn’t see it that way yet. Still, it was true I kind of had missed him.

It’s not that I miss you… but it’s boring when you’re not there making a mess.

And again, the reply came in a blink of an eye. Were his fingers on fire?

Alright, we’ll see tomorrow then. Sleep well!

I set the alarm clock to wake me up at 7am and threw the phone onto my desk before rolling under the blanket and putting the lights off. I had eight hours until the alarm and that was a lot of sleep for me. Smiling with satisfaction I closed my eyes. I was so relieved now that we had Sunhee on our side. We might have the better of this soon. With these kind of thoughts, it was easy to fall asleep quickly.

The next day I had a phone call with Minhyuk’s father before leaving for school. He was very happy about the fact we now had the chance to win since there was someone backing us up. I gave Sunhee’s contact information to him and he promised to be in contact with her and start to ask for a search warrant beforehand. Finally, I got my hopes up. Now I could breathe freely and try to not worry for a while. Even the full rush hour bus I took to school together with Eunwoo wasn’t able to bring my mood down. I was all smiles as I walked in from the school’s gates and marched into the classroom.  I was too positive right now to even pay any attention to Mikyung who was glaring at me the whole lesson. I had Eunwoo and Youngmi right next to me and they both seemed to notice my good mood too since they were very talkative. Only Bin was silent, but I could feel him stare at me the whole lesson.

At the lunch break Eunwoo had some appointment to attend, so I went to eat with Youngmi, Minhyuk and Sanha. The progress that had happened with Sanha’s shyness was very noticeable. He was now chatting with Minhyuk like they were old friends – they were indeed only a year apart. I couldn’t help but to feel a little bit awkward eating with Minhyuk after the incident in the coffee shop the day before, but he had seemed to forget all of it already – or then he was a very good actor.

At some point Youngmi leaned in to whisper something into my ear. “Now, you have a lot to explain to me.”

I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t know?” she snorted. “Mikyung’s been spreading the rumour about you and Bin dating. Is it true?”

I felt my cheeks become hot and fiery red in colour, and I cursed at myself for blushing so easily. “Uhh… Well, we – “, I couldn’t even form any sentences that made sense as I felt so flustered.

“I knew it!” she said. “You’ve been acting all weird for a while now.”

“We’re not dating”, I finally got to say. “Or I don’t know. He likes me, I like him… but we’re not properly dating.”

“But you have something going on and that’s enough to it, so I’ll just say you’re dating”, Youngmi stated. “Wow, I could have never believed you two end up together. You used to hate each other so much.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. What she said was true, I couldn’t have ever thought about it either. Even Minhyuk and I would have made more sense as a couple than me and Bin. But, love is blind, that’s what they say. I blushed about my own thoughts. Love? Maybe that's a bit too far.

“Did you talk with Minhyuk?” Youngmi suddenly asked with a quieter voice. “He seems somewhat different.”

I sighed. “He figured out by himself. I didn’t even need to reject him.”

Youngmi nodded. “Alright, I see. You guys handled it well, still being friends.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess.”

I glanced at Minhyuk who was busy chatting with Sanha and they both laughed at something, I was clad we had been able to bring these two shy boys into our little group and socialize them. Now they seemed to be very happy. I was smiling and glancing at the boys as my eyes noticed Bin walking out of the cafeteria. Had he actually eaten at school? That was unusual, he usually never ate there. He passed our table on the other side of the glass wall and as he noticed us, smiled at me while going his way. I couldn’t hold back my smile. It was nice having him back at school.

After getting rid of our trays we were heading back to the classroom, but I somehow knew Bin would be under the main hall’s staircase, probably waiting for me to go there as well. It had become our meeting place, even though most of our meetings there had been quite chaotic – running away from him, being afraid… but then again, he first hugged me there. There were also nice memories. And my insight was right, Bin was there, leaning against the wall and checking his phone.

“Hi”, I greeted him as I walked to him.

He looked at me and smiled. “Hey.”

“I informed a police I know about the situation”, I said quietly.

“A police? You do know that dad has his people in the police as well, are you sure the police is a trustworthy one?” Bin asked with a clearly concerned vibe in his voice.

I smiled. “He’s Minhyuk’s father. He knows me, and I know him.”

Bin snorted and crossed his arms. “You’ve met his father and talk to him freely? Almost makes me jealous.”

I let out an awkward laugh. Maybe it was for the best I didn’t tell him that Minhyuk did indeed have feelings for me. It would just make things awkward since I still did hang out with Minhyuk. So, I just flashed him a small smile and rolled my eyes.

“He’s really just a friend”, I said.

“I know that”, Bin chuckled. “Did your aunt say something after we left?”

I tilted my head. “Like what?”

“Like something about how good looking friends you have”, Bin said and smiled at me smugly.

“Dream on”, I snorted and rolled my eyes. “She didn’t say anything; she just went to sleep.”

Bin flashed me a quick pout and I almost melted at his cuteness. I had never considered him cute, just handsome, but seeing him act cute like that made me chuckle a little bit. He had so many sides to him – and I probably hadn’t seen most of them.

“It feels kind of nice”, Bin said. “We are chatting casually. Lately it’s been a bit chaotic.”

I nodded. He was completely true. Since finding out about the situation I hadn’t really gotten the chance to really relax. Now it felt almost like any school day before. No stress or constant worrying.

“I think the lessons start soon”, I said. “Let’s go.”

“I don’t want to go yet”, Bin said and smirked at me. “Let me hug you once first.”

I sighed and shook my head, and even though I tried to act normal, I couldn’t deny the butterflies reminding me of their existence once Bin pulled me into a quick but tight and warm hug. I smiled against his chest and smelled his cologne. The scent wasn’t overwhelming but I could definitely smell it, and it was perfect.

“Alright”, Bin murmured. “Now we can go.”

As he backed away from the hug and we started walking back to the classroom together, couldn’t hold back my smile. Right now things looked so bright. Sunhee and Bin appearing at our door were really saving angels. They were our ray of hope. There was a good chance that things might be completely back to normal after Christmas.