“Joohyun!”

“Pay respect to your mother!”

Joohyun eyed the said woman tucked by her father’s side in the living room, her hair blonde and her eyes calm in their darkness.

Their hands were tangled together and Joohyun resisted the urge to vomit the sickening feeling in her gut.

Mother?

The word begged for nothing but to be spat out of like venom.

There was no way on earth she would call that thing her mother.

“Joohyun!”

Her dad yelled again and Joohyun only spoke half-heartedly when the man was close to stepping forward and grabbing her by collar.

“Name's Joohyun. Welcome to the home you steal.”

Joohyun was ready for a big, heartless hand to slap her across the face, but the darned blonde woman with voice way too silky for her likings, spoke up. “Enough honey. It’s understandable that she still can’t accept everything yet.”

Joohyun threw her the most scathing glare. How dare she acted all kind and proper after chasing her mother away. She was about to give the woman what she truly deserved when the next sentence out of the vixen stopped her cold on her track.

“Wendy dear, give your greetings to your older sister.”

Wendy?

Confusion swept over Joohyun’s previously angry eyes and she glanced over to see a little girl, not much younger than her, poking her head out hesitantly from behind the woman.

“Hi.” The girl greeted sheepishly, and though her voice was kind and her eyes were warm, Joohyun couldn’t help but feel a striking chill ran up her spine.

“I’m Wendy... Mom said I will be your little sister starting from today...”

The little girl grinned skittishly, afraid of the way Joohyun was glaring at her, and Joohyun never thought she would hate a pure, innocent smile so much.

She had got a step-sister, from the woman she hated.

Joohyun didn’t know if she should cry or laugh.

-------------------------------------------------

Irene wasn’t born a clingy person.

She spent most of her childhood avoiding people rather than hording up with them.

People, especially kids, seemed to misunderstand her a lot for her quiet nature, and Irene knew well enough not to force herself on them.

She was a lonely kid, but she was never too lonely until her dad decided to kick her mother away for a woman she didn’t know.

Irene felt really alone then. The only person she held for dear life was ripped away from her and she felt like a fish thrown out of water.

Loneliness grew overbearing and she began scraping for affection even from the person she loathed the most. Her father.

No matter how much hatred she had for him, she was still a child who longed for care at the end of the day.

But her father never looked her way anymore since the new child came.

The happy, bubbly girl whose energy and brightness seemed to spread up to everyone and light up the entire room, a painful contrast to Irene who dragged sadness and dejection behind her steps.

Soon, her father would prefer going to her step-sister’s singing competition than attending her school meeting.

Soon, her father would flaunt her little sister around to their relatives while forgetting her behind the door.

Soon, her new sister was the princess and she was the shadow.

Sometimes Irene looked at them laughing together and felt like she was not a part of the family anymore. Just a broken doll thrown to the dusty attic.

When she hit fourteen, voice in her ears started to speak louder than anything else and fear clawed at every waking thought of her mind. Irene ran to the last offer of comfort she could get.

Boys seemed to flock to her the more she aged and she accepted them thinking that she could find solace in them. That perhaps they loved her.

But alas, they only flocked to her for her beauty and once they realized how flawed, how defected she was inside, they ended up discarding her.

Giving her lame excuses about how attached and dependent she could become.

Irene gave up then, throwing away the remaining hope of finding solace to the pits of hell, because maybe there was no sanctuary for the damned souls.

And for ten years she lived her life believing so, until she met another damned soul on one sunny afternoon who seemed to be as lonely as she was.

Seulgi.

Seulgi who looked so unfeeling outside but cared about her more than anyone else.

Seulgi who made her smile again and reminded her of what being loved felt like.

Seulgi who was willing to look past her flaws and treat her like she was whole.

Seulgi, the sanctuary she had lost since her mother was taken away years ago.

This time, Irene swore she wouldn’t let anyone take it from her no matter what.

------------------------------------------------

“I can’t play the song if you keep doing that.”

Seulgi hummed through her curled lips, a pair of warm lips pressing against the back of her ear.

The said lips only kissed further, breathing soft air against sensitive shell, and Seulgi resisted the urge to throw down her guitar and tackle the lips owner onto the bed. Finish her or something.

“Stop playing then.” Irene murmured, arms circling around Seulgi’s neck from behind and Seulgi felt nose nudge against her ear. “Am I less interesting than your guitar?”

“Well, it --“ Her words halted. Teeth were scratching against the top of her ear -- undoubtedly red as heck now -- and she sighed her next words. “It does have better curves than you.”

Heavens. She should make a law forbidding Irene from dangling on her back and playing with her ears next time. Except not really.

“Mean.” Irene pulled away, shifting on her bed. “Alright, go play your guitar then.”

Seulgi giggled and scooted closer, wrapping her arms around the older girl’s waist as she moved on the rumpled bed, guitar thrown away somewhere.

Her forehead pressed against Irene’s temple and she nuzzled her nose on soft cheek. “Kidding. I like you better than anything.”

“No.” Irene insisted, crossing her arms defiantly on top of Seulgi’s arms around her belly. “Go play your guitar, you said it’s better than me.”

“Really?” Seulgi raised an eyebrow in disbelief. The said girl remained looking away. “I was just kidding! Of course you are way better than it.”

“Why am I better?” Irene inquired.

Her face was still turned away but Seulgi could see that she was hiding a smile.

She decided to play along. “Because you can kiss me back and it can’t?”

"Hey!" Irene turned to protest her reasoning -- how could Seulgi only think that she was better because she could kiss back?! -- and failed miserably because Seulgi caught her lips with hers the moment she turned.

“This..is...not fair.“

“Shut up and kiss me.”

A firm press on her lips, warm and incredibly delicious, and Irene forgot her complaints.

Not a minute later, her fingers found their way to tangle in Seulgi’s brown locks.

Her back was pushed against the mattress and Seulgi hovered above her with lips on her jaw, and Irene sighed.

“This is too good for someone who claims to not date a lot.”

“Is that a compliment?” Seulgi murmured between her kisses, lips still pressing against soft skin. “Judging from the way you keep riling me up, I should be the one asking.”

Irene laughed and Seulgi climbed up to stare at her eyes, smile forming on her lips.

The older girl smiled back and reached up a hand to tuck stray strands of hair behind her ear. Seulgi leaned into the touch and kept their gaze locked.

“I have dated several people before but I have never got this...close with them.”

“Why?” Seulgi asked, fingers playing with the soft tresses on Irene’s forehead. “You didn’t like them enough?”

“They didn’t like me enough.”

Seulgi arched her eyebrow and laughed. “That’s really hard to imagine while looking at how pretty you are right now.”

“Will you like a pretty doll if it’s defected?”

The fingers on Irene's hair stopped brushing and Irene felt Seulgi’s gaze weigh down on her. Frown creased her face.

“You are not defected. How many times have I told you this?”

“Sorry.” Irene muttered. A second later she sighed and looked away. “I’m sorry, Seulgi. I’m older than you and I’m supposed to be the mature one comforting you and --“

“It’s okay. I love you. Useless unnie or not, just don't call yourself defected.” Seulgi grinned lazily, and Irene gave her a light slap on her arm, earning hearty laughter from both of them.

“You know, your eyes are really beautiful.” Seulgi stated when their laughter died down, her eyes gazing into Irene’s hazel pair with awe. “They look like sunflowers.”

The older girl snorted lightly and played with her shirt collar. “Stop smooth-talking.”

“No, really. They are beautiful. They are like a mix of amber and green? And brown. It’s hard to describe but they are beautiful.”

Irene laughed softly and pretended to think. “Whose eyes are prettier, mine or the girl's you used to like in high school?”

Seulgi narrowed her eyes. “Are you really still jealous over that?”

“I will forever be.” Irene ran a thumb over her lips. “You were moping about her for seven years. It’s something to be jealous about. Not to mention you drew her a lot before but you never drew me. I even had to beg you for two months before you sang me a song.”

Irene frowned deeply but Seulgi burst into a fit of laughter instead.

“Hey, what?”

“My god, you are so petty.” Seulgi chuckled.

The older girl huffed. “I am petty. What are you going to do about it?”

“Shut you up.”

She dove back in to smack the pouty lips with hers again and Irene groaned when the kiss escalated quicker than she expected.

Seulgi’s tongue was flicking her bottom lip for entrance when the door creaked and someone screamed.

“Oh my god!” Joy shrieked and slapped hands to her eyes. “What are you guys doing?!”

Seulgi rolled off of Irene with lightning speed and tumbled to the floor gracelessly to see her friend and -- to her everlasting horror -- Krystal staring at them with big, horrified eyes.

The whole world stopped, and then a high pitched yell boomed.

.

-----------------------------------------------------

“You are lucky she didn’t tell you to clean the bathrooms again.”

Seulgi only snickered at her tall friend, walking with big guiltless smile as they strode to the lobby where a new patient was said to wait for them.

She didn’t know how she managed to get out alive from the earlier incident but she supposed Irene had a part in calming down the livid psychiatrist.

Krystal always seemed to soften in front of Irene and Seulgi was more than happy.

“The new patient is 24? That’s pretty young.” Seulgi mumbled while reading the record and Joy scoffed. “I don’t know why Krystal insists on putting us together for this case. I guess she thinks we are still on bad terms.”

“We are not?”

Seulgi grinned and Joy slapped her on the arm. “Stop grinning, you look stupid. Jesus, good old days when you spoke less and appeared chic.”

They continued walking to the lobby with Seulgi grinning until their steps halted in unison.

“Oh. My. God.” Joy mouthed in disbelief. “Please don’t tell me that’s our patient.”

“Holy , that’s-“ Seulgi paused. The said patient turned over to them and cried out loud with dark eyeliner smudged all over her face.

“I said I don’t need a doctor!” The woman wailed dramatically to the nurses, wiping her tears. Seulgi winced at the way thick mascara smeared even more.

Bright, red hair. Extremely tight tank-top. Shiny, jumbo sized jewelry. And extremely short skirt, coupled with sharp red stiletto that could stab a person to death.

“Miss Kim Yura...?” Joy prayed hard that the name wasn’t the same with the record she held, but the girl shrieked at her and she flinched.

“How do you know my name?!”

“Ms.Kim, please calm down!” The nurses held her up and one of them smiled apologetically to Seulgi and Joy.

“Please forgive her. She has just been brought here and she is still unstable.”

“What do you mean unstable?! My girlfriend cheated on me with a stupid waitress at a bar! You try and see if you don’t go mad too!!”

The woman sobbed again dramatically and started crouching on the floor. Joy winced at the way lacy peeked through extremely short skirt and cleavage seemed to spill out from uncontaining tank-top.

“I think I know what this one is...” She trailed slowly. “, I'm the last person on earth who will handle a histrionic patient.”

Seulgi stared dumbly for a while, trying to recall what histrionic personality disorder was and grimaced when she registered.

A personality disorder characterized by excessive attention-seeking behavior, loud and inappropriate appearance, exaggerated emotions, and provocative, seductive behavior.

A high pitched cry tore again and Seulgi flinched.

“This is totally yours.” Joy slapped the record to Seulgi’s front and wheeled around, Seulgi staring at her with wide eyes. “I’m not dealing with hysterical lesbian. Bye.”

“Hey!”

Seulgi shouted for the black-haired girl but the girl ran away, leaving her to stare alone at the nurses.

“Are you not going to take her inside and examine her?” The nurse asked.

Seulgi stuttered. “Y-yeah, sure. I have to fill in the mental status. I will take her inside.”

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