Haerin hated going to school after taking her uncle’s blows.  People would ask her what happened and worry over nothing.  And she’s simply going to lie; giving them whatever reason counts to make them stop asking.

They shouldn’t worry, because it’s never going to pass.

Worrying about her is a total waste of time.

She wears her glasses instead of her contacts to school and tops her uniform with a jacket, pulling the hood over her head as she jammed her earphones into her ears.  It’s like saying, ‘no, I don’t want to talk to anybody,’ all because she wants to avoid the dilly-dally of the lie she’s going to tell them; that nothing was wrong.

Haerin keeps her head lowered until she gets to class, wincing when she takes a deep breath.  She keeps her hands in the pockets of her jacket and sits very lousily on the chair.  It hurts to breathe; she had lots of bruises up and down her ribcage area.  But it’s nothing she can’t handle.

She’d handle anything for Yunjae.

How long has she been living like this? Why is she lowering herself so much; getting beat up and cursed at by her uncle? Why does she cope up with it? With getting herself stepped on? Once, her uncle had suggestively looked at her and quietly said, in his drunken state, “It’s a good thing I’m not you.  I get that somewhere else,” 

Her fears, her pains, her mind; they were all dead when it comes to her uncle.  It stops functioning and it goes numb.  She doesn’t think at all.  She just faces him and says things without thinking.  She takes his blows, yelling in pain, only to know that they’ll heal and she’d get beat up again, sooner or later.  It’s not a nice life she’s leading, but she has Yunjae.

Yunjae was the only family she’s got.  At least, the family who cares.  Their parents died in a hit and run accident, and she and Yunjae was at the other side of the street, waiting for them to cross over before watching in horror as their lives are taken away in a second.  Haerin was in middle school and Yunjae was a mere 6^th grader.  She cried endlessly and disregarded everything, including Yunjae, for half a year, not even reacting when someone had informed her of the fact that the driver that had killed her parents had been taken into custody.

Her little brother was the one who brought her back.  He would make her meals, talk to her with his sign language, as if she would reply, even if she never did.  He would keep signing and signing, asking if she were okay, asking how she was feeling, and within 2 months, she was back, into her own life and his.

A year after the accident, their father’s brother took them in, obligated by a will their parents had written.  He had lots of money, and their parents believed that it would be best for Haerin and Yunjae to stay with him, economically supported. 

Apparently, he was not married because he was in love with their mother.  He didn’t hold a grudge towards their father, nor did he try an affair with their mother, but he blamed Haerin and Yunjae for their death.  He had loved the two equally and they were taken away, leaving their children, a constant reminder to their deaths, to live in the world with him. 

Maybe that’s why he keeps beating Haerin up.  Because human beings always have to find something to blame.  And to her uncle, that something is a someone.  That someone, in this case, is her.  As much as she’s a girl, he knows that she can take his blows, when Yunjae, who is the guy, can’t. 

If he loved their parents so much, how could he, of all people, beat Haerin up and badmouth Yunjae?

Sometimes, love just doesn’t make sense.

***

Kyungsoo wonders where Haerin went.  He hadn’t seen her at school at all today.  It’s already lunchtime and in 2 hours, they would all be on their ways home.  He groans and finds the rest of the day pointless without seeing Haerin.  He was looking forward to that drink. 

A part of his mind asked since when did she matter so much, but the question simply passes by unnoticed.

His decision? Skip classes.  He goes up to the rooftop and sighs contentedly at the blue sky.  “Good, weather is good,”

Thinking that he was alone, Kyungsoo frowns when he hears faint music in the air.  He looks over to one side of the rooftop; nobody. 

The other side; oh.

A girl in a grey hoodie was sitting with her back to him, facing towards the side of the building perpendicular to his usual view.  Kyungsoo strides over quietly and notice that the music blasting in her ears is way too loud.  He squats beside her and gently unplugs one side of her earphone, a thin smile coloring his lips when he recognizes who it is.  “Hey, it’s not good for your ears,”

Haerin turns her head to meet the guy who’s talking to her and slightly jerk back at the close proximity of their faces.  She hides a grimace as she gasps when she notices that it’s Kyungsoo.  “Okay,” She simply says, pausing her music. 

She returns her gaze towards the endless horizon and the tops of buildings and houses around her school, completely dismissive towards the guy whose heart just sunk at her cold demeanor.  It’s not that she’s brushing him off; she’s hoping that he doesn’t notice the dark bruise on the other side of her cheek. 

She had successfully avoided everybody’s eyes today and she really didn’t want the first person to worry about her to be Do Kyungsoo. 

Kyungsoo scans her face.  There was a weird rhythm to her breathing.  His eyes trailed over her body and he notices the way her socks are halfway pulled over a bruise on her shin.  Well, bruises.

“Hey, you okay?” He asks the question she dreaded.  Turning her head to meet his eyes, she chews on the insides of her cheeks when she sees pure worry etched upon his forehead and filling up his big, dark brown eyes.  He’s already worrying.  He doesn’t even know her that well and he’s already worrying.

3 years of living with her uncle gave her the ability to differentiate people’s sincerity.  And to this boy beside her, she didn’t want to lie.

She racks her brain for an escape from telling him a lie and the carton of unopened fresh milk by her side rings a bell in her head.  “Here’s the drink I promised,” She sends him a subtle smile.  “I’m sorry, I almost forgot,”

Kyungsoo blinks, noticing the way she shifts the conversation.  “Can I?” He asks her, gesturing to sit.  Haerin nods, fixing her glasses uncomfortably.  As he takes the milk from her, he asks reluctantly.  “D-did my fangirls attack you for real?”

Now it’s Haerin’s turn to blink at him, and a grin shines on her faces.  She holds back her laugh, pressing a hand to her ribcage.  “Did you really think they would?”

“Well, you know girls these days… they’re pretty scary,” He shrugs, not understanding as to why this girl is laughing when she has bruises all over her body.

Haerin’s laughter turns into a series of short breaths as the effort nudges at her bruises.  “I would have been able to handle a bunch of high school girls, thank you very much, Kyungsoo-ssi,”

“So that means, they didn’t?”

“No, they didn’t,”

“That’s great, then,” He sighs a huge breath of relief, jumping when Haerin goes back to laughing.  “What?”

“No, it’s just-“ She shuts her eyes and scrunches her nose as she finally stops laughing, the pain subsiding slowly.  “It was a joke, I didn’t know you’d think it would actually happen,” Her smile stays on her face as she sighs contentedly.

Cautiously, he turns to meet her eyes again.  “Then would you tell me why you’re bruised all over?” His hand reaches to tilt her chin to the side, eyes widening as he notices the severe bruise around the cut over her right cheek, not so subtly camouflaged by her glasses.

Haerin puts her hand gently over his eyes, obscuring his vision.  “Just once.  Turn a blind eye over these,” She pleads.

Kyungsoo gulps at the gesture and drops his hand, nodding, before finally getting his sight back.  The hand Haerin had used to cover his eyes; it was callused and rough with scars.  In exchange, Haerin has her eyes closed now, head rested on the wall behind her.  Her expression was grim, and it looked like every breath she took hurt.

Quietly, Kyungsoo blurts out.  “Want some milk?”

A playful smile tugs at Haerin’s lips.  She cracks an eye open and glances at him through her peripheral vision.  “After you,”

WHOOP triple update

im being nice bcs ive actually written like 51 pages or so for Cinderella on MS Word

and im a nice person

so i like to share

whats mine is yours and whats yours is mine

(that means your comments, guys.)