Lie 005

“Keeping a secret is the best intention for everyone.”

Her hands clenched together under the white covers. She stared to her right at the large window panels uncovered by vertical, rectangular shades. Her eyes wandered blankly at the dark, navy blue sky splattered with white stars.

Her gaze reverted back to her cream-taped cast on her right hand. Both arms taped with IV needles constantly keeping her hydrated and conscious. Her lips spread apart as she muffled a cry. Her eyes glimmered with tears, cascading down her face. She hiccuped and cried herself alone to sleep. Just like another day, she was alone in the hospital.

Jieun’s eyes blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to her surroundings. The sunlight flashed into her eyes, making her wince in annoyance. Her pupils enlarged two seconds later. The girl never left her shades wide open.

Fear took over as she gripped tightly on the covers and moved, but abruptly stopped in pain. She hissed and retracted her upper torso down to a lower degree. “Ahh.” She groaned and wiggled her legs under the sheets. There were slight pain and numbness in her feet.

Her brown orbs observed the black and white comforter that covered her body. She wasn’t even in her own clothes. Jieun was clothed in a checkered red and white long sleeved pajama set. A tinge of reddish-purple pigmented her skin under her sleeves. Her fingers grabbed the cuff and rolled it up. She stared at the large splotches of red and purple bruises below her elbow; parts of her skin bandaged up. Immediately, she unraveled and pushed the fabric back to its original length.

Her breaths became heavy and sporadic, throat at the edge of closing again. Please no panic attack! Her brain replayed any memories of what happened. She pushed her legs to her chest, despite the pain, she laid her head in the crevice formed between both legs. Jieun stayed put trying to comprehend the situation clearly. Where am I?

Her thought bubbles were interrupted by the creaking of the door to her left. She stared at the perpetrator who styled a casual formal wear of tan pants and a white button down shirt. I flinched and looked at the shocked face before he smiled comfortably. She couldn’t believe she is in the same facility as him right now.

“You finally woke up. How are you feeling right now?” He asked, taking steps in approaching the girl.

Jieun opened and closed it when no words came out. Her dry mouth stuttered our words she first thought of when she saw him. “Uhmm, Suho how?”

He chuckled under his breath, flashing her an angelic smile. Her muscles laid tense under the comforter. “You know my name? Baekhyun begged me to bring you here because of what happened. He didn’t agree to bring you anywhere else.”

Her head nodded down slowly before realization hit her. She gulped and asked him. “Wait Baekhyun brought me here? He could’ve brought me to the hospital or somewhere else.”

Suho gestured his hand and said, “I guess there were some reasons we couldn’t bring you there, but I hope you understand why we had bring you here even though I can’t tell you.”

Her eyebrows furrowed, suspicious and confused with his words, but asked a serious question. “Where am I?”

“My house.”

“Your ho-use.” The two words stumbled out of .

“Yep, don’t misunderstand. You were in horrible conditions and we needed to get you aid somewhere.” He explained clearly.

Jieun understood and coughed into her shoulders. The cotton fabric rubbed against her cheek before looking at Suho in the eyes. “Wait, who changed my clothes?!” She panicked thinking it was one of the two boys.

Suho appeared shy all of a sudden, his face grew nervous. Nonetheless, he responded as usual. “It wasn’t us, don’t worry. Our friend, Mihyun changed you. It was a close call that our group was hanging out closeby when you gave a call to Baekhyun.”

The girl sighed as the invisible blush hid in the shadows of the wall. Her pupils grew bigger as she coughed on her own saliva. She interrogated the host once more. “Wait all of you were there?”

“Yep, if you mean what I think you do. Wow you know all of us.” He laughed tenderly for a quick second as if the news weren’t a trudge for her. Jieun experienced first hand embarrassment and she wasn’t conscious. They all saw her mess and one of her lowest pitfalls in life. The populars saw her. How would she face them now? Even though I don’t. She cried internally at the unwanted humiliation that happened last night.

Escaping into whatever weather conditions outside didn’t seem like a bad idea. She wanted to leave the house instantly and get into the comfort of her own bed, far away from reality and them. That was an environment she didn’t picture she’d wish to be first-hand. She needed more time to rethink to herself about life. The moment he took another step closer to the edge of the bed did she grab a fistfold of the comforter.

For some reason, he halted in his steps and spoke from his position. His mood deflated into a glum and pitiful look, and it irritated her a little. She shook off her emotions as he started the conversation again.

“Let’s drive you back home now that you’re awake.” He smiled and gestured me to get up.

Interesting. His offer wasn’t one she suspected. She was worried he would offer her to rest longer or something that required staying here; her mind gnawing about staying in his house.

She swung her legs over the edge and touched the floor, surprised by the new pair of socks on her feet. She clenched down on her teeth to withstand the pain her nerves sent throughout her body. She stood up and stretched all so carefully to be less stiff without making her pain obvious to the boy.

Suho pulled away from the spot he stood, walking further away from the girl and to the door. “I’m going to grab your clothes and stuff from the laundry room. If you go out the door and down the staircase on your right, I’ll meet you down there to take you home. Did you want a new pair of clothes to go home in?”

He didn’t stare at her clothes when he asked that questioned. Her eyes glanced down on the new pair of clothing that covered her, unaware of whose it was. She felt grateful enough to be wearing something dry and waved her hand no. “It’s okay, I’ll wear these and return them clean as soon as I can.”

“Don’t worry about those clothes, you can keep them. Okay, I’ll meet you down there.” He walked out of the room and she frowned looking at herself again. She let out a big sigh she held back when Suho walked in. She stepped out of the bedroom and gasped at how huge the hallway and house seemed. The walls designed in black and white decor, while the floors were cut and plastered with fine granite. She walked softly and slowly down the spiral stairs, examining the pictures hung up. She presumed they were all of Suho’s relative and family; his physical appearance matching theirs. The staircase was as long as the two flights of stairs at school. Her hand grazed the wooden rail, hoping not to trip down knowing her awkward self.

The girl’s feet arrived at ground level, observing the living room. The electric fireplace ran, blue and red flames moving up and down. In the center were four white couches, all circled next to each other. The couch out of place was the one with a sprawling body. A wool blanket covered the lower half of their body as one arm covered their face. She took further steps to the couch and watched the body panting small breaths.

“Yeah he was worried about you, so he slept over for the night.” A voice sounded behind her shoulder. Her body tensely swung around, restraining the hiss from escaping . Oh it’s just Suho. Her chest heaved a sigh that it was only him. His arms carried all of her belongings that day.

The body wiggled on the couch, before a rough groan emerged. The girl turned to face the person as the arm rubbed back and forth on their face. He removed his upper limb, uncovering his face.

Baekhyun. His hand rubbed his eyes, scratching his fluffy locks of bed hair in the process. He stood upright and looked at the two. His eyes focused on the girl, pupils dilating.

He scrambled to stand up, dropping the blanket in the process. His eyes locked onto me, as she stared back nervously. He wore a black sweats and a plain white t-shirt full of wrinkles. Her eyes looked at the ground, hoping that he could stare at the other person in the room. However, she glanced up and locked eye contact with him.

Baekhyun’s eyes faintly red portrayed a sympathetic look. Her cheeks felt warm as a flashback streamed through her head, blood creeping up her cheeks. The last remnants of the memory showed her feeling his touch ー carrying her close to his chest. No, don’t think about it.

“Uhm...how are you feeling?” He asked cautiously and she questioned his demeanor. Suho’s behavior was confusing enough. He twiddled his fingers, but his gaze never inched off of her.

Jieun responded honestly in a flat tone. “Okay, maybe. Still kind of traumatic.”

His eyebrows crinkled after the last word, a faint long line formed on his forehead. Baekhyun looked troubled with her answer, but she suspected it wasn’t a scenario acceptable to just say ‘It’s okay’ to the other party. “Ah sorry you had to experience that. I hope you’re really okay. I didn’t know where you lived, and you weren’t in conditions to be there alone either. And I just thought it was best to bring you here.”

“Why are you apologizing when you helped me out big time. Thank you so much. It was my fault for being out there and taking that route.” Jieun said with an earnest heart, her lips curving up slightly. “How did you get there so fast though? Suho said you guys were closeby, I thought you would've called 199.”

He scratched the back of his head and responded, “Yeah, we were closeby and you would never call me from what you said yesterday. So when I picked up, you sounded so desperate. So, I rushed and passed through all of the alleyways and heard a voice say something about this guy chasing this girl. So I followed that direction and heard a noise. I made it in time, I didn’t believe the police would've came fast.” He coughed a couple times and continued. “I’m just glad I got there in time.” Another hard cough came after the sentence.

This time Jieun frowned at his actions. Was he sick? The coughs didn’t sound good at all, and he was completely fine the other day. The memory of the weather that day made her stomach drop. He got sick because of her. A motion of guilt passed through her eyes, feeling at fault.

“Are you okay?” She meekly questioned him under her breath. Worry oozing out of her three words.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be.” He replied. A wave of silence seized the room for a couple seconds, the girl figuring out what to say next.

A cough that sounded intentional took her out of her thoughts. She looked to the person besides her, almost forgetting that Suho was next to her when sh