CHAPTER 17: CHANGE OF DIRECTION

Murphy’s law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. So basically, when you think things start going the right way, the direction changes and things become hectic and chaotic. That’s basically what happened to us. One day after Eunwoo and I came back home from school, aunt was all smiles and told us that she and Sunhee had been talking, and that some shady documents had been delivered to the police – we were very close to getting a search warrant, and the abuse case would be likely to be investigated soon. For that evening, we were at home, celebrating. Eunwoo didn’t go to his academy that evening, and that was more than enough to tell how happy he was. Aunt had made some delicious food and we had ordered bingsu and macarons to be delivered at our house. Everything seemed so bright and nice.

And then, the next day at school I got a hysteric call from aunt. She had been home, normally, as she had been for the past weeks, when someone had started ringing the doorbell aggressively and banging the door, ordering aunt to open the door. She hadn’t been going to work lately and her superiors apparently had started to get suspicious. However, aunt had been emotionally stable enough to take her phone and film the door phone’s screen. The man’s face wasn’t visible because of his cap but his voice was heard and his words were very clear. He would return to barge in and beat aunt up until she’d die, if she didn’t open the door. And she didn’t.

That day aunt and I had a long talk with Minhyuk’s father. He took a copy of the video aunt had taken and said everything would be solved soon, and that he could get us protection until that. Aunt, anyhow, disagreed and said that we would be able to stand on our feet and keep the bad guys away. I admired her bravery but still felt a little bit alarmed. What if the man would really return and break into the apartment? I already knew Eunwoo wouldn’t be attending school for the following days, he wouldn’t let his mother alone after hearing about this.

And so we had to wait and endure a little bit more.

One day I was going home together with Bin. He had someone to meet at the area we lived in, so he had decided to walk me home first. The situation had taken its toll on him too, he was visibly stressed. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles and he slept in every lesson we had. We hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time together because his father had been acting out a lot, wanting to spend time with his son – and use him as his own stress relief toy. Even though Bin didn’t admit it, he had been beaten up again. I could see the bruises on his arms even though he tried to cover them with his sleeves.

“I think you should go and stay at your friend’s house or something”, I said as we walked down the street towards our house. “You need to get some rest, properly.”

He just smiled at me tiredly. “It’s alright. Didn’t you say this will be over soon?”

“Well, yes… but I’m sure Jinwoo or Myungjun would be happy to share their houses with you for a short while”, I said quietly, pouting a little bit while looking down on my shoes while walking.

“It’s really alright”, he chuckled. “Besides, I wouldn’t leave Sunhee alone.”

Of course I understood him. Our situations were quite similar. Both had a parent, or a guardian, to protect. I wouldn’t have left our house either, even if Eunwoo would stay there. I needed to be by aunt’s side. I glanced at Bin. His eyes were tightly shut as he yawned. I sighed. He really needed some rest. I stopped walking and just stared at his back, looking as he continued moving ahead. After a while he seemed to realize I was missing and he looked back at me.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” I asked. “You don’t pay attention to anything. You would have walked into that pole if you hadn’t noticed me stopping.”

Bin turned around to look towards a pole that was just inches away, and then turned back at me, scratching his head. He really would have crashed into it. He looked a little bit embarrassed and flashed me a tired but still amused smirk.

“It’s nice to have you worrying about me”, he sighed and walked up to me.

“Of course I’m worried”, I said and tilted my head slightly. “It’s pretty visible that you’re exhausted.”

Bin chuckled. “I will get better if you hug me.”

I sighed and stepped closer to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. I buried my face into his chest and smelled his perfect, fresh cologne. I felt him let out a deep breath as he put his arms around my waist. Our hugs had become very comfortable, and not as heart fluttering as they were at first. We hadn’t still had any official dates or told anyone that we were actually a couple – it was probably because of all the stress and the messy situation. We hadn’t had the time to actually be head over heels for each other. In a way, it was nice and comfortable because we took things slow. But still, I did feel a little bit sorry about it.

“Once this all is over, I’m going to take you to a real date”, he whispered, as if he had been reading my thoughts. “Would you like to go to an amusement park? Or maybe a movie date and dinner?”

I smiled against his chest. “They both sound great. Will you get me a stuffed toy too?”

“Yes”, he replied seriously and slowly broke the hug. “A huge teddy bear.”

I chuckled. I almost blushed as Bin leaned in again to place a sweet kiss on my forehead. Then we continued our walk towards my home. As we reached the building, Bin waved me goodbye and told me to sleep tight and dream of him. Smiling I waved back at him and then hurried inside.

Inside I ran into Eunwoo who stood at the door of his room, eyes narrowed and hands crossed on his chest. He was leaning against the door frame and stared at me for a while as I took off my shoes and threw my backpack to my room. Then I stopped to stare back at him, raising my eyebrows questioningly.

“Are you dating Moon Bin?” he asked.

I couldn’t prevent my eyes from turning to look at the wooden floor. I knew this day would come, and now I had to convince my cousin to not kill my boyfriend.

“Well, yes, but – “, I started but Eunwoo cut my sentence short.

“Do you understand it’s his father who abused my mother?” he asked, eyes shooting lasers at me.

“But he is not his father, and he is not on his father’s side”, I replied, raising my eyes from the floor and looking straight at him. “He wants to protect his mother just as much as you want to protect aunt – from his father.”

Eunwoo didn’t reply, he just stood there, hands clenched into fists, and stared at me for a while, trying to stay strong. In the end he gave up and sighed, crossing his arms again. “Fine. Date him. But don’t come crying to me when he breaks your heart.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you think I don’t know that’ll happen? We’re teenagers and relationships don’t last forever. But I want to live in the moment, for the first time in my life. I won’t bother you.”

And then I walked into my room and closed the door behind me. I felt a bit bad. Was I really fighting with Eunwoo about something like this? My nature was very kind and this kind of things weren’t natural for me. My conscience told me to rush into his room and apologize for him, but I knew I was right and he was getting angry for no reason so I held back. I sighed and fell on my back on the bed. I glanced at the clock. It was 5pm. I would take a short nap before dinner and then do my homework.

The next morning, I woke up to a phone call. I was still half-asleep and struggled to get my phone from the nightstand. I tapped the screen multiple times, not even seeing who was calling, before raising the phone onto my ear and mumbled a slurred hello.

“Minji!” Bin’s loud voice woke me up completely and I was wide awake.

“What?” I asked, sitting up on the bed. Something was clearly wrong.

“Where are you? Are you safe and home?” Bin’s voice was very concerned.

“I’m home, you just woke me up”, I replied. “What’s wrong?”

“Dad has disappeared and has taken Sunhee with him”, Bin’s voice was shaking, not from crying but pure rage. “I believe he found out.”

My eyes enlarged and I let out a shocked gasp. My thought travelled to Sunhee saying she was pregnant. I hoped from the bottom of my heart that she and the baby were alright. I got up from the bed and walked in circles, trying to come up with something that would calm Bin down.

“Wait a second”, I heard him say. “I think I know where he has gone.”

“Where to?” I asked quickly. “He… hasn’t left the country, right?”

“No”, Bin stated. “He’s probably going to our villa in Incheon. I’m going there!”

I felt my knees go weak. “No. No, you’re not. I’m not letting you go there alone. I’ll call the police instead.”

“Sunhee is my only family, Minji”, Bin said. “I won’t let him hurt her or my little brother.”

“Of course I know that!” I burst out, scratching my head nervously. I let out a desperate groan and said something that would probably be a bad idea. “I guess I can’t hold you back. But you’re not going alone – I’m coming with you.”