The couple arrived at Yuri’s mother’s house after a short drive from her father’s, both anxious of what would come next.

Yuri had left the car first, watching as Yoona grabbed her girlfriend’s duffel bag and swung it over her shoulder before walking the older girl up to the front door.

“Is your mum home?”

Yuri nodded. “She usually is.”

She knocked a few times, before hearing footsteps on the other side of the door. A few moments later, a woman – similar in Yuri’s features – had appeared. At first, there was a smile. And then, there wasn’t.

One look at her daughter’s face and she knew what had happened.

“Mum…”

“Oh my god. My baby!”

In an instant, they both came in for a tight hug, short tears shedding from her mother’s eyes. Yoona could only watch, her grip on the bag never loosening.

“Come inside. Please.”

They walked into the living room with Yoona following close behind. It was understandable why her girlfriend’s mother hadn’t even acknowledged her yet. Memorable things must’ve happened in the family for a big greeting like that to chance.

“Mum, this is Yoona.” The older woman gave a smile to the said girl. The resemblance was uncanny. “I’ve told you about her already.” Yoona’s eyes immediately widened at the new information.

Her mother knows about me? She knows I’m her girlfriend?

“Is this the girl you keep sneaking into the house?” Yuri gave a meek nod, and even though she was crying moments before, her mother still managed to let out a minor chuckle. “You’re getting dangerous, dear.”

The lady came face to face with Yoona, authority written all over her. She didn’t know what it was but Yoona had felt like she needed to step up her game. She was in the presence of a queen. One mess up, and her head was coming off in the next second.

“It’s very nice to finally meet you, Yoona. Yuri never used to trust people until she came to this school. I hope I keep hearing good things about you.”

“I’ll always be there for her.” Yoona side glanced the girl beside her, catching a glimpse of her smile.

“I know you will.” Her girlfriend’s mother turned back to Yuri, laying a soft hand on Yuri’s cheek for her daughter to nuzzle into. “I think you should go have a shower, dear. You’re a mess.”

Yuri nodded before grabbing Yoona’s free hand and bringing her to the guest room. Yoona closed the door behind her before dropping the bag on the bed. She watched as her girlfriend came up to her, wrapping her arms around her waist and propping her chin on her chest to look up at her.

“I’m really sorry for worrying you…”

“I just want you to be safe. That’s the only thing I care about right now.” Yuri smiled and kissed her on the chin, letting go to rummage through her bag.

Yoona didn’t know what to do but fiddle with her fingers. It was too early in the morning to be going through things like this, and she only wondered more of what would happen next. What was her father going to think? What the hell was even going on?

Yuri sensed her distress and didn’t bother to turn around to speak. “I’ll tell you everything later. Please stop worrying about me.”

“I’m a patient girl. I’m ready to wait.”

The older smiled and grabbed a towel off a nearby hook. She gave Yoona a kiss as her hand slowly ran down the younger’s arm. “Go talk to my mum. She’s been dying to meet you.”

“Really?” The way Yoona’s eyes lit up told Yuri more than she needed to know. In an instant, she was out of the room, nervously making her way to her girlfriend’s mother in the lounge. “Ms Kwon?”

“Yoona?” The lady sitting on the couch had a fine brow raised. “I thought you would’ve wanted to shower too.”

Yoona blushed, taking it the wrong way. “Uhm, I can shower at home.”

“Come and sit then.” And she was more than happy too.

Yoona sat on the single seater not too far from the side of the couch Ms Kwon sat at. She drummed her fingers against the arm of the chair and gulped down her saliva. She was suddenly so nervous in the presence of her girlfriend’s mother, Yoona felt one small mistake would screw up everything.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Ms Kwon looking at her – judging her.

“So,” The lady spoke. “You’re the girl who’s stolen my daughter’s heart…”

Yoona smiled at that one simple sentence. “She stole mine first. It was only fair to take hers.”

A light chuckle, and then a sip of her morning coffee. Yuri’s mum could already feel the connection between the two girls. “I’ve heard all the things you’ve done for her. Especially when you sacrificed your future career just to be with her.”

“I’d sacrifice anything to be with her, ma’am. I love her.”

The lady sighed. “I know. And she loves you.”

They never spoke about Yuri’s bruises or the fact that Yoona had already seen them on the older girl. She was afraid her mother would take her as a who enjoyed gawking at her daughter’s bare body. And it wasn’t like that at all.

Yoona respected Yuri and would wait as long as she needed to. By this time, Yoona didn’t want to jump to conclusions of why Yuri would have new wounds every day.

She had gotten curious a couple of times, asking Hyoyeon about it only to receive a shrug in return. But she knew Hyoyeon knew by her excessive need to jump around the question. It was a clear sign for Yoona to stop getting into other people’s business. Yuri would tell her when she was ready.

The day she met Yuri’s mum wasn’t that day. And neither was the one after that.

***

Yuri sat on her bed, reading the book she hadn’t been able to finish for 2 months now. She was back at her father’s house after a week of staying at her mum’s. It was the longest she’d ever stayed. Yuri would usually just sleep for the weekend and then go back, but she was too afraid.

He made up stupid excuses now just to assault her. If he woke up earlier than her, he’d hit her. If she didn’t stock up the fridge for the week, he’d hit her. If she spent longer at her mum’s than necessary, he’d hit her. She found that out the night she came back.

He usually didn’t come into her room, but Yuri was surprised the moment she saw him leaning against the door frame, squinting at her.

“How did you get to your mother’s?”

“By bus, dad.” She forced her eyes to leave the book, closing it to give her full attention to the man before her.

“Don’t lie to me. Whose car was in the front that morning?”

“The neighbours. They never have space in their garage or drive way to put their car.” Yuri was lying. Yoona had the tendency to park her car right in front of the house to let Yuri know she was there, waiting for her.

She didn’t know how she was going to get herself out of this one. She could actually feel her heart shaking at each lie she told.

His eyes wandered around the room, landing on a soccer jersey that hung on Yuri’s chair. “Whose is that? You don’t play football.”

“I’m learning.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I-I did. Maybe you fell asleep before you could hear me say it.” To be honest, she only kept that jersey because it smelt like Yoona’s perfume. The younger found it to be extremely adorable rather than major creepy.

Her father was buying it, surprisingly. Yuri couldn’t afford to cry now. Not by the way he was looking at her.

He sighed and sat on the edge of Yuri’s bed, making the latter pull her legs towards her chest.

“Did you leave because you’re afraid of appa?”

She vigorously shook her head, eyebrows knitted. At this point in time, one mistake could cause 10 or so wounds. “No, of course not. You just…startled me when you grabbed the knife…I…” Her voice trailed off, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

“It is to discipline you, Yul.” He laid his rough hand on Yuri’s blanketed knee. It felt like shards grazing against her skin even through the thick layer. It was different from the way her mother touched her.

“I want you to do as dad says. I hurt you because I love you.” His voice like fire burning through her ears. It was different from the way Yoona said those three words.

Yuri nodded in understanding. He does this because he loves me.

“Please don’t leave appa. You’re all he has left.”

“I won’t, dad.” Yuri reluctantly laid her hand atop her father’s larger one, giving it a tight, shaky squeeze. “I’ll never leave you.”

***

Ever since that day, Yuri had been acting like nothing happened. She avoided looking Yoona in the eye but still showed she loved the younger. She still wore a large scarf around her neck to school and forbid Yoona from taking it off, even when it had gotten unusually hot one day.

Both groups sat at a table in the cafeteria. After everything went down, everyone agreed to sit at the same table, ignoring Hyoyeon and Sooyoung’s disapproval.

Yoona dusted her hands and went straight for Yuri’s scarf. “Here. Let me take this off, it’s getting hot in here.”

“I’m fine, Yoong.” She shooed away her girlfriend’s hands, earning a confused look from her. “It’s not really that hot.”

“Are you sure? You’re wearing like 3 layers of clothes.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Stop worrying about me.” Yuri pinched her cheek playfully and returned to eating her lunch. She was obviously uncomfortable with Yoona’s questions and didn’t want to do what she said.

“O-Okay…” Yoona mimicked the older, resorting to eating her lunch as well.

From afar, the girls saw Hyoyeon and Sooyoung making their way to the table. Sooyoung half limping and Hyoyeon with a giant smirk across her face.

“Hey guys.”

They sat down, the taller one struggling to get onto a seat. Jessica pushed over her tray of food for the taller girl, offering her some. The latter took it without any hesitation, gobbling down most of the contents.

The two had gotten unusually close during the past couple of days. Recently, Sooyoung had been blowing off her and Yoona’s game night just to go shopping with Jessica. And Yoona knew more than anyone else how much Sooyoung hated shopping.

“Are you guys okay? Why are you limping, Soo?”

She talked with a full mouth. “Hyoyeon wanted to get back at me so I let her kick a ball to my shin. I didn’t know she was going to be so accurate! She’s at kicking balls!”

The girls laughed at Sooyoung’s misjudgement, as if cheering on for the dancing queen instead.

“I don’t need my legs anyway…” She grumbled, continuing to eat.

“Oh yeah. What did your of a coach say to you after you dropped out?” Taeyeon asked as she swallowed down her food.

After hearing about what the football coach did to Yoona, the girls had hated him ever since. Sooyoung even went as far as dropping out of the team – not wanting to be taught by someone like him.

It was the best decision she’d ever made.

“I told him I never want to join this football team again. He almost punched me, man!” Food from Sooyoung’s mouth flew everywhere, hitting everyone like bullets. “I got out of there before he could. You know people are starting to leave now because of what Yoong did? No one wants to be in the team anymore.”

A smile broke out on Yoona’s face. She didn’t know why her former coach’s failure made her so happy. She knew she shouldn’t have been smiling in the first place, but how could she not? He was getting exactly what he deserved.

Sooyoung took her eyes off the food once it was gone, thanking Jessica with a warming smile, weirdly flirty from where Yoona sat. Her eyes then averted to Yuri, tilting her head at the older girl’s choice of clothing.

“It’s like 100 degrees today. Why are you wearing that?”

“It’s really not.” Yuri gave a nervous chuckle.

“I can see the sweat on your forehead.” Sooyoung smirked, not realising how tense Yuri looked at the moment. “It’s just us. We’re all friends no- Well…sort of…” She side glanced Hyoyeon, earning another threat of a ball to her leg.

“Shut up, Soo.” Taeyeon blatantly demanded. “Let the girl be.”

“But she could get a heat or something with that much jumpers. It’s probably a sauna in there.”

Yuri stood up and without a word, quickly left the cafeteria, avoiding everyone’s eyes as she walked past the variety of groups that watched her.

Hyoyeon grabbed the taller girl by the collar. “Do you enjoy getting on my nerves?”

“What?! What did I do?!”

Before anyone could tell her, Yoona had already dashed off after the older girl, worrying of her whereabouts. She promised she’d deal with Sooyoung later.

She stepped out the building, searching the area.

Gosh, she’s fast.

Yoona went to the one place she knew Yuri would be.

She spotted her sitting by the tree, burrowing her face into her scarf.

“Yul.”

Her head shot up and there was no sign of her actually crying. No tear stains. Yoona pulled her girlfriend up into a hug, now burying her face into the vanilla scented scarf – swaying Yuri’s body side to side.

“We’re jerks. I know you didn’t feel comfortable with taking your extra layers of clothes off. You just looked stuffy…and you are sweating like crazy.”

“I didn’t leave because of that.”

Yuri walked until her back hit the tree. She moved Yoona’s head away from her neck to look at her confused doe eyes. “Then why did you leave?”

Yuri smiled and kissed her girlfriend on the forehead. “I can’t tell you. Not yet.”

“Not yet?”

Avoiding her question, she laid her head on Yoona’s shoulder. “I want to sleep next to you.”

“Okay!” It was like Yoona had completely dropped the issue knowing her girlfriend wanted to sleep over at her house. “I’ll let your mum know.”

“You have my mum’s number?” Yuri cocked a brow.

“Yeah! She’s such a cool lady! She told me when you were younger, you used to run around because you didn’t like clothes.”

Yuri groaned. “Oh my god. Are you kidding me?” She covered her face with her hands and buried herself into Yoona’s chest, making the younger laugh and cuddle her.

“It’s cute! Clothes are horrible. You should wear less to bed.”

“Ughhhh!” Yuri pushed her away and crossed her arms. “Quit that. Just because you’ve already done it…”

“I’m kidding! I’m kidding. Come here.”

Yoona wrapped her arms around Yuri again, giggling at how defensive she was being. She didn’t mean it, of course. Although, she’d enjoy it more than ever.

To have Yuri in bed with barely anything on. It was easier to imagine now after catching the older that one time. She couldn’t help but mentally fan herself every time her eyes ran over Yuri’s protruding hips.

“Stop imagining me .”

“I-I wasn’t!”

***

“Honey, can you come down here for a minute? Appa and I want to talk to you.” Yoona’s mother called from downstairs, curiosity growing inside the young couple.

Yuri was busily setting out clothes for her to change into while Yoona laid on the bed propped up on one elbow, gazing at her. “I’ll be there in a minute!” She yelled, unable to take her eyes off of her girlfriend.

It was weird. Everything Yuri did seemed to be the most entertaining thing to Yoona. She’d rather watch her say the alphabet backwards than catch a game of football with her dad.

Yoona found herself forgetting what her mother had called her for as she received a smirk from the girl standing.

“Are you fascinated, Im Yoona?”

“More than I have ever been.”

“What in particular catches your eye?”

Yoona sat up and crossed her legs, placing a finger on her chin as if thinking. She roamed her eyes over Yuri – head to toe. “Your face.”

“What about it?” Yuri enquired.

“You do that face every time you’re thinking. Like, the tip of your tongue pokes out for no reason and your eyebrows scrunch up together.” Yoona imitated it, only looking like an angry puppy.

Her girlfriend burst out laughing, covering with one hand. “That is not the face I make when I’m thinking.”

“Show me then.”

Yuri tilted her chin down and pretended to delve through her bag. Her eyebrows did exactly as Yoona had described and the tip of her tongue peeked through her thin lips. It had Yoona smiling.

“Exactly like that. Come here.”

Yuri crawled onto the bed and straddled Yoona’s lap, being enveloped into a tight hug from her deer. They smashed their lips together and refused to part for air. Yoona’s hands ran down her girlfriend’s sides, her thumb hooking into the older girl’s jeans.

At that very instant, Yuri pulled back, pushing away Yoona’s hands. “Your parents are calling you…and I need to shower.” She looked away, blushing.

Yoona pouted. “Right.” The younger gave a last peck before running off into the dining room, finding her parents sitting there waiting for her.

“What’s up?” She sat down, a wide grin plastered on her face.

Her parents looked at each other before her dad finally spoke. “Your mother and I need to wake up early tomorrow to do a few errands for uncle.”

“Yeah…so?”

“We’d appreciate it if you…held off your…activities tonight.”

Yoona groaned at the misconception her parents were making. They were embarrassing her. Yes, her parents already knew about her and Yuri and have said that they’ll support them the whole way through but ever since, they think is all young teenagers do nowadays.

But really, that was one of the things the couple haven’t done. It was far too risky for Yuri and she’d said multiple times before that she wasn’t ready.

She had stated how self-conscious she was about her body and Yoona knew she wasn’t referring to her figure, but the scars she had. Because why the hell would she be self-conscious about her close-to-perfect hourglass figure?

Yoona had been deprived of it for so long and she wouldn’t admit it but she was desperate, having to rely on her hands and poorly acted out scenes on the internet to keep her sane. Sooyoung had told her that it wasn’t something to be ashamed of and people did it all the time.

The younger girl didn’t like doing things like that though. It had been a while since she had.

But she’d devote everything for Yuri. She’d wait for her until she was ready. She’d always wait for her.

“Guuuuys. We don’t do that stuff.” She covered her face in embarrassment.

“We’re just checking, dear. If you do…not tonight, please.”

“Uuuugh. Okay, whatever. Can I go now?” Her parents nodded, making Yoona dash back upstairs again.

God, that was horrible.

Yoona ruffled her hair in hopes to get the talk out of her head. As her hand reached for the handle, Yoona remembered the last time she walked into the room without knocking, deciding to use her voice this time.

“Yul? Are you, like…fully clothed?”

She cringed at her stupid question. On the other side of the door, Yuri stood in front of the mirror – only in her undergarments. Her eyes roamed over her own body, wincing at all the bruises and cuts on her delicate skin.

She hated seeing herself . She felt disgusting. She never wanted anyone to see her like this, but the fact that her own girlfriend still had no idea was killing her. Yoona was important to her and keeping something like this hidden was the worst thing she could do right now.

She didn’t mind Yoona seeing her . In fact, she wanted her to. Yuri thought that if she did, they’d feel more comfortable around each other.

Heck, she’d already caught Yoona a couple of times after waking up and the younger didn’t even seem to mind. Although, it did leave Yuri in a blushing mess with a stark Yoona smirking at her.

But she was afraid of how the younger would react. Would she love her all the same or would she find her scars completely horrific? Would she continue as her girlfriend or would she leave for another?

Risk taking played a big part in relationships and Yoona had already done so much of that for her.

Now, it was Yuri’s turn.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke. “Come in, Yoong.”

The said girl took careful steps into her own room, her eyes not landing on Yuri yet. “My parents literally think that all we do is have . I mean, it’s completely bogus. It’s not like we’re gonn-”

Yoona’s hand shot up to her eyes the moment she saw her half- girlfriend. “Holy ! I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t know you weren’t clothed! You said I could come in!”

It wasn’t necessarily the reaction Yuri had planned for. “Look at me, Yoona.”

“You don’t have any clothes on!”

“I let you in knowing that. I want you to see me.”

Yoona couldn’t confess she already has. “A-Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Ever so slowly, Yoona removed her hand, peeking through her fingers. The last time she’d seen Yuri was without her permission. Now, knowing Yuri knew she was staring, the information was so overwhelming.

Every scar, wound and bruise Yoona saw crushed her to the point where she couldn’t look anymore. It was odd.

She had thought this time – the second time – Yoona would be a little more composed. But it was worse. She couldn’t handle all that she was seeing.

Yuri’s body was so tainted, it was enough to scar Yoona’s own heart.

The moment her eyes spotted all the familiar wounds on Yuri’s skin, Yoona turned away. A painful look on her face.

“What’s wrong, Yoong?”

The taller girl kept quiet, afraid she was going to say something that would hurt the older girl. It was stupid of her to have the actual thought that looking at her own girlfriend’s body disgusted her. She had a nice figure, but the scars were too excruciating to look at.

Yoona couldn’t do it.

“Do I scare you?”

Why the hell aren’t you saying anything? Answer her!

“Is this not what you want, Yoona?”

God, I want this and more. Please say something. Look at her, at least.

Yoona wanted to turn her head and voice out everything she could. Tell Yuri how much she wanted to protect her from who could have caused these wounds. She wanted to tell Yuri how beautiful she was.

But it was like every scar had knotted her tongue into a mess. A mess in which forbid Yoona to speak. It clogged Yoona’s brain and denied her of speaking the truth.

The truth where Yuri was painstakingly beautiful. Where those scars are only what made her as a person.

It denied Yoona of being the very reason to why Yuri could make it to this day.

Don’t make her cry. Please, don’t make her cry.

“Yuri, I…”

Yuri slowly nodded, deciding to look at anything but Yoona. “I’m sorry for scaring you.” Yoona’s heart broke the moment she heard the crack in her girlfriend’s voice.

Yuri grabbed her towel and change before striding into Yoona’s en-suite, not daring to look at her again.

After Yoona heard the click of her door, her hands clenched into fists and her breathing suddenly became heavy.

You’re an idiot.

She grabbed at her hair and pulled at it in anger until the soreness drained her guilt.

You’re an idiot.

She squatted into a ball and ran her hands roughly against her face as if it would clean away her selfishness.

You’re an idiot.

She looked at the bathroom door that stopped her from seeing the one person who was always able to make her happy. The one person who told her that being herself was the best person she could be. The one person who she had fallen in love with.

But you are so, so goddamn beautiful.

…

__________

Yikes! I held this off for too long :/// I’ll definitely try harder next chap!!! ((Please don’t think of Yoona’s character as a bad person again coz I mean, can you blame her? I’d be pretty freaked out too))

Thanks for reading! :***