“Okay, listen.” Sooyoung took a bite out of her sandwich, speaking with a full mouth. “The movie is always better than the book. When will you get that through your head?”

Yoona shook her head in response, always seemingly disagreeing with her best friend. “No way, buddy. The books will always be better. They’re worded so beautifully.”

“Honestly, who are you?”

Yoona burst out laughing. She didn’t even know who she was. Ever since she started reading Yuri’s books, she’s been finding them more interesting than the movie itself. She’d always find herself arguing with Sooyoung about it. What could she say? The books had more depth to them.

It was like she was morphing into another Yuri because only God knows how long she can go on talking about her favourite books. Weirdly enough, Yuri’s the only person she’s been thinking about.

Sooyoung noticed that sometimes Yoona would stop talking and burn a hole through the blank spot in front of her. Of course, she was worried about her girlfriend.

“Hey, man. Yuri’s gonna be fine, okay? You look like someone died.”

“My heart. My heart died.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes before laying down at the foot of the hospital bed. “The guy’s obviously going to jail. Yuri will be safe.”

Yoona shook her head. “I know, but Yuri still cares for him. I mean, it’s reasonable because he’s her father but she’s gonna get hurt seeing him go. I don’t want her to feel any more pain.”

“You can’t stop that, Yoona. Pain has to be felt. If there’s no pain, what’s the point of feeling?” Sooyoung closed her eyes, ready to take a nap.

There were times Sooyoung knew what to say and there were times she didn’t. The shikshin just found it hard to differentiate which was which. Yoona took her words into consideration nevertheless even if they didn’t make any sense. Because somehow, Sooyoung always seemed to be right.

***

Yuri found it hard to breathe inside the walls that bled murder. Countless of trials were made in the very room she sat in and countless criminals have tainted it with lies. She thought she could already hear her mother crying beside her but maybe it was the lady in the back row, because when she turned around to look at her mum, there was no sign she was ever crying.

It was like everyone had stopped breathing the moment Yuri’s father walked into the room. He didn’t dare glance at his daughter, knowing he’d break down just looking at the scars on her cheeks. Yuri was hurting just by how defeated he looked.

“Do you have a lawyer to represent you?” The woman sitting at the table at the front of the room spoke, her voice loud and clear.

“No, your honour.” Mr Kwon much the opposite.

“Have you had legal advice?”

“Yes.”

The lady ruffled the papers in her hands before putting on her glasses. She skimmed through as everyone watched in anticipation.

It wasn’t a surprise he turned up with no lawyer. He couldn’t afford one and there was no way Yuri’s mother was going to help him out. But then again, he looked confident on just how strong he stood on the case. He knew what he had done and it looked like he knew what he deserved.

Yuri turned back to look at everyone who showed up for the hearing. There were people she didn’t even know, most likely watching to see how everything turns out. Then there were her friends with mixed expressions displayed on each of their faces.

It was like they were worried but angry at the same time. Yuri still wasn’t clear about how she felt yet.

Her mother reached out her hand and held onto Yuri’s, giving it a tight squeeze without even looking at her. Her eyes were glued on the man at the front.

“You have been accused of domestic abuse. During hearing, you pleaded guilty. Is that correct?”

There was silence but the look on her father’s face said it all.

“Yes, your honour.”

And it was the way her father said it that brought Yuri close to tears. Defeat in simple words and the strain in his throat just thinking of how wrong he was. What he had done to end up facing the law as his family watched him.

He had realised all those years he’d wasted harming his daughter when he could’ve been hugging her instead. The twitch in his brows and the quivering lip didn’t help anybody. He was being taken away from his family, and he knew it was all his fault.

The trial didn’t go for long seeing as Yuri’s father was pleading guilty rather than not. He was even trying to negotiate. He obviously knew what he did and he knew he deserved everything that was coming to him.

He stood, waiting for his sentence. Everyone else were on the edge of their seats.

“Mr Kwon, you will be sentenced to 26 years in prison as well as rehabilitation courses starting in two weeks’ time. More information will be given to you at the end of the trial.”

All the man did was nod. Just a nod. He was accepting his punishment and was willing to stay in prison forever if it meant keeping his daughter safe.

But he didn’t want to think that and he didn’t want to tell anyone he was thinking that, because leaving would be harder and crying would be a lot more painful than it already was.

In a split second, two police officers made their way to Yuri’s father. The younger girl watched as they handcuffed him, having him walk past Yuri to get him out of the room.

The moment they both made eye contact was the worst feeling Yuri had ever encountered. His eyes glimmered with regret and the worst part was the smile on his face. The saddest smile only filled with remorse the more it grew.

He was scared and he didn’t know what was going to happen to him but he smiled. He smiled because he wanted his daughter to know that everything was going to be okay and things happened for a reason.

The last thing he wanted her to do was worry.

The time he had left the room was the time everyone else had decided to leave as well. Yuri was having trouble even getting off the seat.

It hit her that she was probably never going to see her father ever again. She doubt her mother would even let her visit him in prison. She didn’t want her daughter anywhere near the other man.

A tap on the shoulder and Yuri was out of her thoughts, facing her mother.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Yuri was blank. What exactly was wrong?

Yuri’s mother pulled her in for a hug, not letting go until Yuri hugged her back. But she never did. “Yul, please talk to me. Tell me you’re okay.”

She still wasn’t saying anything. The scene of her father leaving the room was the only thing repeating through her head.

“Yuri, ple-”

“I want to go home.”

Hyoyeon’s brows furrowed. “Don’t you wanna go see Yoona?”

“I just want to go home. I’m not ready to see anybody.” Yuri’s eyes were dead with no emotion. Her mother looked at Hyoyeon and then back at her own daughter.

“Alright, honey. We’ll go home.”

***

“Yoona’s gonna blow. You know that right?”

“She’ll understand Yuri doesn’t feel too good. I’m sure Yoong cares about her girlfriend more than she cares about herself. You of all people should know that.”

Sooyoung sighed, running her fingers through her glossy hair. “I do, but she’s been waiting all day to see her.”

The voice on the other side of the line had gotten sadder than the first time Sooyoung picked up the phone. Yoona was so obviously vulnerable without Yuri but there was no way they could get the latter to stay overnight. She wanted to be alone.

“She’s capable of waiting a little longer.”

“You better hope so.”

“Taeng and I will come over with Jess to see you guys, okay? Be good.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “Yes mum.” She could feel the smile piercing through the phone before Tiffany hung up. Walking back inside the hospital room, Sooyoung was met with an eager best friend. The last thing she needed to see.

“Where is she? Did you tell her to come in? She’s allowed to come in.” Her voice was a little too chipper for Sooyoung. There was no easy way to break the news.

She scratched her head with a low hum. “Yul…can’t make it, buddy.” She added the last word to make it sound less painful for the younger.

“What?” Yoona wasn’t so happy anymore. “But she said she’d come back right after the trial. I need to know she’s okay with what happened.” Sooyoung watched as her friend’s frown deepened the more she realised she wouldn’t be seeing her girlfriend.

“You think she’s going to be okay? Her father went to jail, Yoong. Who would be okay after that?”

“I just…want to be with her…” Yoona looked down, a longing look at her bandaged chest.

“Think about how she feels right now, yeah? She needs to be alone. Her father’s gone and her girlfriend sits in a hospital bed with broken bones. She’s overwhelmed.” Sooyoung sat at the chair beside the bed, a reassuring hand on Yoona’s shoulder. “You’ll see her. You just need to wait.”

Waiting wasn’t really something in Yoona’s dictionary and even Sooyoung knew that, but it was obviously the only thing she could do. Leaving early was an option and there were multiple times Yoona had thought about it but every time she brought it up to her friends, neither of them agreed.

“The doctor assigns your time of discharge for a reason, Yoong. You leaving early won’t help anybody. Not even yourself.” Tiffany had once said to her on an afternoon.

It was the right thing to say but for some reason, it pissed Yoona off. She didn’t ask to be held captive in a place that smelt of embalming chemicals, strapped to a bunch of machines that had no meaning to her.

There was no reason for her to recover here in the first place. She had the capability to recover at home or at least some place that didn’t creep her out.

She remembered a memory when she was younger, effortlessly kicking a ball into a goal only to roll her ankle a few seconds later. It hurt like hell, of course but she was able to heal without help from professionals in fancy clothing.

That wasn’t really a good analogy seeing as breaking bones was much worse than rolling an ankle, but Yoona’s not a doctor. How was she supposed to know what’s good for her?

Yeah. How am I supposed to know what’s good for me?

Yoona took a good look at her arm as it sat in the sling. Who knew a man could hurt her this much?

She was pathetic. She was never as strong as Yuri, the girl who took a beating every day but always seemed to have a smile at the end of it. Yuri’s heart was gold and the least Yoona could do was hold it up for her.

“Did you finish that book she gave you, by the way?” Sooyoung asked, flopping stomach first onto the foot of Yoona’s hospital bed. She rolled around a couple of times before taking out her phone.

“Yeah. You were asleep when I finished it.” Yoona tried to ignore the thought of asking Sooyoung to call Yuri, just to see how she was doing.

“You were so into it, I got bored.” Sooyoung said without taking her eyes off her phone. “Hold on. I got to message Jess and cancel our dinner date.”

“You can go on your date, dude. I don’t need you to babysit me.” Yoona gave a small pout, wondering why Yuri hadn’t left her mind yet.

Sooyoung looked at her with a raised brow for a split second before turning back to her phone. “Yeah like I’m gonna leave you to sulk around in your temporary home. You need distractions and I’m the right gal for it. Jess won’t mind.”

Yoona really wanted to stop her, or did she? She’d actually rather have Sooyoung there to clear her thoughts rather than to have Yuri in her head all day. Maybe this was a good thing. She’ll just have to give Yuri the longest hug and biggest kiss tomorrow.

“Alright buddy,” Sooyoung switched her phone off, turning her attention to her crippled friend. “What do you want to do? You want to make fun of the doctors’ hairstyles again? That was pretty fun.”

“It’s always the same doctors though.”

“Want me to go get you some snacks from the vending machine? There’s new ones I think.”

“I’m not hungry and that’s only going to satisfy you.”

Sooyoung pouted before placing her slender finger against her chin, thinking of something else they could do. They’ve been in the hospital room all day and the only source of light was the setting sun outside the window.

In fact, Sooyoung was pretty sure Yoona hadn’t left the room since she got there. She’s walked around the room before, orders from the doctor, but she’s never actually stepped foot outside the door.

“I’ve got an idea.” Sooyoung got off the bed and grabbed the footwear underneath Yoona’s bed.

“What are you doing?”

“Put these on.” She showed to the younger before placing them back on the floor. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Yoona didn’t know what compelled her to get up off the hospital bed – Sooyoung’s hand on her back as support – but for some reason, walking sounded like the best thing to do right then, especially with her best friend.

***

“We just want to know you’re okay. Don’t hurt yourself over this.”

Yuri tried to hold back her tears. There was no way she couldn’t hurt herself over it because just the thought of always having to see her dad in an orange jumpsuit pulled at her in more ways than one. There was never going to be a normal day for her again.

“I’m fine.” She managed to croak out to her friend on the other line. “I’ll be fine.”

“Seohyun, Sunny and I are worried. Hell, even Yoona and the others are worried too.”

Yoona.

A name that brought her joy.

There was no reason for her not to stomp out her room and go see Yoona at that moment but the pain in her chest doubled having to talk to people without showing how hurt she was.

She wanted Yoona to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay but she knew Yoona had bigger things to worry about like her broken self. She knew the younger meant well and staying away from her for now was the best thing she could do, or so she thought.

There was no one in the world who could understand her but for some reason, Yoona did. And for some reason, Yuri was hiding from her.

I just need to be alone. Yuri kept telling herself. It took every power in her to let out the tears the moment she fell onto her bed. And it took even more for her to tell herself that.

She just needed to be alone, because when was she ever?

“I’ll call you guys later, okay?”

“We love you.”

“I love you too.” She hung up the next second and cried the one after that. Everything was falling apart and there was no way for Yuri to stop it. School didn’t even seem that much important to her anymore which was saying a lot.

Yuri fiddled with the ring on her finger, a tear drop falling right onto Mickey Mouse’s head. She cleaned it quickly, as if her tears were able to make it rust.

***

Two weeks had past and if Yoona didn’t go for walks every now and again, she’d go insane with the lack of Yuri. This was the most they’d ever been apart which said a lot about their relationship. She was obviously vulnerable without her Yul.

She thought she’d see Yuri the day after the trial and planned to take the older around the hospital’s garden. It was a quiet place and the only patients you saw were elderlies and people getting used to using their legs after they’d fractured it from some clumsy incident.

She thought it would be perfect and quiet for Yuri, but when Hyoyeon told her she wouldn’t be coming, Yoona realised she’d wanted to go on that walk by herself. She didn’t want Sooyoung beside her. She, too, needed to be alone.

Of course, her friends took turns in sleeping overnight with her. Her parents too once but they couldn’t stand sleeping on the couches after one night. Their backs ached the day after.

Yoona was okay with that though. She felt bad at how much they ignored the pain just to make her happy so she caught them in the act, telling them that they didn’t need to do it anymore.

They didn’t, thankfully but they still came by every day just to check up on her which she found very endearing.

Unfortunately, the one person she’d been begging to see hadn’t shown up throughout the whole two weeks. Each day, she’d get a call from one of Yuri’s friends telling her Yuri was still not able to visit her.

By now, Yoona should’ve been mad. But she felt whatever Yuri was going through was because of her. She told Taecyeon to call the cops. She put her girlfriend’s father in prison. You couldn’t get as stupid as that.

Some part in Yoona told her that maybe Yuri hates her. Maybe the reason why Yuri doesn’t visit her anymore is because she’s scared of looking at Yoona. But then that part didn’t seem to make sense at all.

That part was just Yoona’s way of always making everything her fault, and it was, partly. But that wasn’t something that Yuri would do.

Yuri loved her. She just needed time to come to terms with everything. She just needed time to understand.

Yoona sat in her hospital bed as she already had gone on her daily walk around the hospital not forgetting to visit the gardens. All four of her friends sat on the couch, conversing about things that happened in school while Yoona was away.

Her parents sat on the chairs on the other side of her bed, silently listening.

Their smiles were so big and their eyes glimmered in a totally different way than Yoona had seen. And it was because they were all together in one room, sharing stories that didn’t make sense and telling jokes that were too unbearable to listen to.

It was just them and her, smiling and talking and loving and laughing. It was beautiful.

“The burger joint.” Sooyoung turned to the cripple on the bed. “When you get out of here, we’ve gotta show you. Tiffany and Taeyeon haven’t seen it yet. I’ve told Hyoyeon about it and she’s up for it too. You’ll love it. Mr and Mrs Im, you can come too if you’d like.”

“I’ve been. Wasn’t really something I’d have again and I’m sure my wife wouldn’t want to either.”

“I’m sorry but when was it okay for you to make decisions for me?” Yoona’s mother raised a brow, slightly offended.

“Y-You don’t even like burgers, my dear.”

Yoona had to cringe at how vulnerable her father looked in front of her mother but seconds later, Yoona was laughing, already excited to go. She hoped Yuri would want to as well.

“I think your stomach is just a black hole. All you talk about is food.” Jessica glared before patting her girlfriend’s stomach.

“You love me for it though. I know.”

Yoona was only able to laugh harder. They were all pretty much used to their shikshin by now. She couldn’t help but wonder.

When the hell am I gonna get out of here?

And it was like in that instant, her prayers were answered. Her doctor waltzed in, a happy smile on his face with an invisible trail of good news following behind him.

“Friends and parents,” He spoke, smile still on his face. “We have settled on Yoona’s date of discharge and you’ll be quite happy to know when.”

Yoona watched her friends as they leaned closer, butts hanging off the couch. Her parents stood with their hands clutched together, big smiles on everyone’s faces. Except Yoona.

“It will be tomorrow. You’ll be discharged whatever time tomorrow as you’ve recovered quite well lately. We’ll give you your antibiotics during your leave.”

It was her mother who was first to speak. “Oh my god. Thank you, doctor.” He bid his goodbye and left with the same smile.

“Finally!” Sooyoung exclaimed before crushing her friend in a tight hug. “Guess you’ll be eating those burgers sooner than later.”

“Guess you’ll be going back to school sooner than later.” Her father added.

Yoona groaned at the thought of doing school work again, but her excitement for tomorrow couldn’t compare to her disgust for education.

She just hoped a certain someone would be there to take her home.

***

“She gets out today. You know that right?”

That wasn’t really something someone should say to a person whose dad went to prison. Especially when the sentencing was only a few weeks ago. But Yuri knew her mother was referring to a completely different person.

Only because her father was definitely not a ‘she’.

“Who told you?” Was all she could say.

“Hyoyeon. She called earlier wanting to tell you but you were asleep. She told me instead.”

Yuri gave a slow nod, still a little occupied with what happened to her father. There was really nothing else that needed to run through her mind besides him, and one other.

“I think she would like it if you were there.” Her mother ate a spoonful of the bowl of rice in front of her, watching her daughter play with her own.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Well maybe I’m still not ready, mum. Did you ever think of that?”

And that was pretty much the last straw for Ms Kwon. She’d obviously had enough of her daughter’s attitude and needed her to understand how to get over things.

“Listen to me.” She dropped her chopsticks as it clattered along the table, startling Yuri. “There is nothing you can do about it anymore. Nothing.” Her eyes were fire, staring at Yuri as she’d finally stopped putting up with her.

“This is it, Yul. Stop beating yourself up over this because you’re hurting me and I hate seeing you like this. I hate seeing you push everyone away just so you can cry on your own. I love your father but I will not put him before you and you sure as hell will not put him before Yoona.”

Yuri’s brows furrowed at her mother’s words. Was that what she was doing? Putting her father before Yoona? Why did that assumption sound so wrong?

“You know full-well your father deserves to be in prison and don’t think I’m harsh for saying that. He would agree with me too. He doesn’t have the right to be anywhere near you.” She blew air threw her nose before continuing.

“Now I want you to go and get ready. Because I bet Yoona’s not gonna step foot outside the door without you there helping her.”

And sure enough, Yuri was on her feet, making her way to her room. Because everything her mother said made sense. Something finally made sense. And the only person she wanted to see right then was the one person she hadn’t seen for weeks.

…

__________

Gfhasnda the next one’s the last chapter ((that’s why this one’s so short)) :’((((

Thank you for waiting so patiently and thank you for reading this far!! :**