Two and a half hour later, the train rolled into the station in Daegu. It was time she’d spent listening to music and trying to come up with a story to tell her grandmother, whom Eunbi was delighted to see for the first time in almost half a year. The old woman would surely react with surprise upon her arrival, more so since it was weekday and school. But midterms were over and she could only hope the few days of being gone wouldn’t affect her grades. After having made sure she had enough money, Eunbi headed for the subway and the house she and her mother used to live in up until they moved to Seoul. It was a subway ride that took ten minutes, then she had to walk yet another five before arriving. The house itself was modest with three small bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. No fancy details or pricy furnitures. What’d become of her and her mother’s bedrooms, she couldn’t know. Though, Eunbi was pretty sure her grandmother made use of them somehow.

Her pulse skyrocketed as she stood in front of the gate a short while later, staring ahead on the building before her. It looked exactly the same as it’d done six months ago. To be there overshadowed everything she’d been through. Even the pain seemed to lessen at the thought of finally being able to see her grandmother again. If only it didn’t have to be temporary. “Excuse me. Are you looking for someone?” Eunbi felt her heart exhilarate as she stared at a young male standing at the front door. He was someone she couldn’t remember having seen before, and that sparked a certain uneasiness within. To think the old woman moved somewhere else was unreasonable, more so since Eunbi knew how much her grandmother liked that house.

“Eunyoung? I’m looking for Seo Eunyoung.” she would be in quite the trouble if the older woman no longer lived there, for the said girl didn’t have enough money to buy anything, especially not a train ticket, or a bus ticket for that matter. “Oh. Wait a minute.” the male disappeared into the house, only to, a moment later appear, “she’s wondering who’s asking?” Eunbi couldn’t help but to smile a little, for it was so typical her grandmother, always being so suspicious of everything. “Tell her it’s Eunbi.” her last name wasn’t necessary as she was the only one with that name in the old woman’s circle of friends. “I’ll let her know.” who was this guy, running in and out of her previous home like it was his own?

Time ticked on and Eunbi began to wonder whether something was wrong. Maybe the unknown male was an intruder, or a person who didn’t want the old woman to know someone had been there looking for her. Eunbi’s mind came up with all kind of scenarios, all of them more terrifying than the previous one. Luckily, they ended when she heard her name, “Eunbi.” a rush of emotions swept over the girl, who felt tears building up in the corner of her eyes. It was such a nice feeling hearing her grandmother’s voice, and the barrier she’d had to keep up to not completely break, fell once she wrapped her arms around the person she’d missed for so long. It hurt of course, the pressure against the bruises. But she didn’t care. “Honey, did something happen?” yes. Far too much had taken place. Stuff the girl wanted to forget, but couldn’t, “sort of.” she didn’t want to explain it then and there though, for the male from earlier stood in the doorway, almost as if he thought something would occur. “Are you here all by yourself?” Eunbi nodded at the question, thus causing a few built up tears to run down her cheek. “Now then. Let’s get you inside and we’ll talk.”

With tear stained eyes, Eunbi followed after her grandmother inside. So did the male, who seemed to have realized she was harmless, for he smiled at her as she entered. “Oh, where’s my manners.” the woman laughed, the heartwarming sound sent shivers down Eunbi’s spine, “Eunbi this is Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, this is my granddaughter, Eunbi.” out of instinct, she greeted him with a quick nod of her head, “hello.” and he did the same, only that he added on, “so you’re that Eunbi.” what. That Eunbi? What did he mean by that? As far as she knew, she’d never before seen him. He was a total stranger to the said girl, who glanced at her grandmother, as if to question what this Kyungsoo boy meant. “He’s renting your room.” not only was that a huge surprise, but Eunbi could still not understand how the male knew of her. It wasn’t like there were any -. Oh god. The painting. The one she’d painted onto her bedroom wall when she was, what, like eight or something. It was ridiculous, at least now when she thought about it.

“Don’t tell me it’s still there?” Eunbi felt embarrassed all of a sudden. Not just because of the Kyungsoo guy having seen it, but also due to the childish imaginations she’d had back then. “No dear. Kyungsoo got permission to paint it over.” Eunbi heaved a sigh, only to regret it instantly as pain overwhelmed her. It stung like hell and she could feel the ache slowly building up again. The painkillers must be wearing off. “Hon, is everything okay?” the concern was noticeable in the older woman’s voice and she wanted so badly to say yes. But reality was different though, and the said girl felt yet another wave of raw pain wash over. It’s suddenness had Eunbi clutching onto her stomach, as if that would lessen the agony. “Eunbi.” her grandmother sounded alarmed, “you’re not sick are you?” there was no reason to hold back anymore for she needed help before it got worse, “kind of. It hurts real bad.” that would be quite the understatement, as the torment seemed to grow by the second. “Where does it hurt?” slowly but surely, she began to feel light headed. “Kyungsoo, go get my aid kit.” the room was spinning, droplets of tears, or was it sweat, ran down her face. She’d felt fine just moments earlier, so what’d changed so drastically? Eunbi didn’t get the chance to come up with a theory for everything suddenly blanked out.

“Halmoni, she’s waking up.” her eyelids fluttered open and she stared up on the male, who was too close for comfort, something that must’ve showed because he moved back, “sorry.” Eunbi didn’t say anything, she was still a bit shaken up by what’d happened for she could only remember a small part of it. There had to have been something though, since she was laying on the floor. “Honey how do you feel?” the pain wasn’t as obvious anymore, which was a huge plus considering how terrible it’d been earlier. Then again, Eunbi was lying completely still and could therefore not give a valid answer. So she sat up. Much to her surprise and relief, it didn’t hurt. That’s when she noticed it, how the clothes she’d worn had been changed, and she panicked, “grandma, where’s my clothes?” the old woman must’ve seen them, all the bruises. The ordeal caused Eunbi to become uneasy, as she knew her grandmother wouldn’t back down from asking Eunbi what’d taken place and how she’d suffered such severe blows. “Kyungsoo.” he nodded, gave them both a smile, and then left them alone.

“Your clothes put too much pressure on your skin and the bruises. That’s why you fainted.” Eunbi opened to say something, but closed it again once she realized she didn’t know what to say. Instead her grandmother continued, “your body can only take a certain level of pain before you pass out. It’s a mechanism the body sets in to survive.” once more, Eunbi was left dumbstruck at the old woman’s wise words. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” the said girl understood more than well what her grandmother wanted to ask, what she wanted to know, and that had her heart beat faster. To explain everything from Luhan’s assaults to Sehun’s weirdness, and their complete and utter lack of sympathy would be difficult. But the ones who’d given her the bruises weren’t them, but the students at school. “Where did you get all those bruises?” she should’ve prepared herself better, more so since she’d already known how that question would arise. But Eunbi hadn’t and now she found herself stuck, trying to come up with an answer. “Eunbi. I may not understand what you’re going through. But I’ll always stand by your side. And I always want your best.” hearing those words meant more than anything, and she broke down, tear after tear rolled down as she told her grandmother everything. Ahbin, how nice she’d been to her and how they’d become best friends. Yixing and Kai, the two males whom she liked so much because they were friendly. But all that was quickly overshadowed by the bad. Luhan, Sehun, the students in school, and then her mother, who hadn’t reacted or done anything to help. Her mother didn’t even seem to have realized what was going on because she was always at work or doing something else work related.