fourteen.

The smell of the hospital made her feel sick and there was something about the lighting that also added to her nausea. Joohyun squeezed her eyes shut momentarily, taking in deep breaths and walked down the hallway with determined steps after getting a bottle of water from the vending machine.

Seulgi’s private hospital room was just in view but Joohyun halted in her steps when she caught sight of a specific person standing outside. It was too late for her to turn around and she froze up when he walked over to her, his intimidating aura and authority filling the atmosphere instantly.

“You must be the one who came in with Seulgi.” He said.  

She was stuck for words momentarily because after all, it wasn’t every day that you encounter your father’s killer face to face. She nodded gingerly, unable to remove her gaze from the older man’s face and felt the overwhelming swirl of emotions hitting her all at once, forcing her to clench her fists to keep them contained.

“How is my assistant doing?” He asked, nodding in the direction of the closed door and the cold stare from Joohyun went unnoticed. “Is she still not awake?”

“No, not yet.” Joohyun replied, keeping her head slightly lowered and her eyes looking everywhere but him to express her disinterest in continuing a conversation. She just wanted him to leave so that she could go back to sitting beside Seulgi’s bed and waiting for her to wake up.

She saw the bodyguard lean in to whisper something in Sangmin’s ear and the man’s eyes widened slightly. “I see.” He murmured before turning back to face her. “Miss…How should I address you?”

“Irene.” She replied as stably as possible. He didn’t appear to recognise or know who she was, and she didn’t plan on changing that. It would be safer if she kept her real identity from him.

“Miss Irene, shall we have a talk?” He gestured vaguely for her to walk aside with him. “You stay here and make sure no one disturbs Miss Kang.” He told the bodyguard.

Joohyun’s throat went dry and she clutched the bottle in her hand, her feet unwillingly moving to follow him as they walked around the corner. She was internally shaking from fear of what he might do, but there was no reason for him to do anything, right?

He folded his hands behind his back as he turned to face her, face solemn and sincere. “I must apologize to you, for what my daughter did.”

She almost sighed in relief out loud. For a moment, she thought he had recognised her.

“What she did was wrong, it was reckless and stupid. It ended up with people getting hurt…” He pointed back in the direction of Seulgi’s room and then also gestured to the small band-aid on Joohyun’s face. “Krystal really crossed the line this time, but I want to let you know that this only happened because she’s not…well, mentally stable all the time and requires consistent medication. Of course, that’s not an excuse for her actions and I am willing to take full responsibility for any medical fees or other needs you have.”

“Paying medical fees won’t excuse what your daughter has done either.” Joohyun replied with an edge in her tone. She could sense his implications and she didn’t like it one bit. “Money doesn’t solve everything. Your daughter is lucky that none of Seulgi’s vital organs were affected but that doesn’t mean she’s not guilty of crime.”

She could see the look of surprise on Sangmin’s face as he clearly didn’t expect her to be so bold and talk back to him. Taking advantage of his silence, she continued on.

“She deserves proper judgement by the justice system and if she’s not mentally stable then you should consider getting her into a mental hospital.” She continued, growing more angry by the second as she remembered how insane Krystal had been in the moments leading up to Seulgi getting injured. There was no way Joohyun was going to let this pass; no amount of money would convince her to stay quiet and pretend as if this never happened.

“Miss Irene.” He said in a calm tone but his gaze shifted to something unidentifiable that sent shivers down her spine. He took a step closer and she instinctively leaned back slightly when she saw the glint in his eyes. “Or should I call you by your real name? Miss Bae Joohyun?”

She inhaled sharply, jerking backwards as if she had been electrocuted and her eyes betrayed her by showing him the fear in her eyes. He grinned wickedly, enjoying the look of vulnerability on her and Joohyun didn’t blame Krystal for being crazy when her dad was ten times more insane than she was.

“Ah, you’ve grown a lot since the last time I saw you.” He said. “Yet, still as naïve.” He chuckled while shaking his head mockingly at her. “Did you really think for a second that the justice system would do anything to my daughter?” He moved closer, tone turning threatening and Joohyun was frozen in her spot as if his stern gaze had rooted her firmly to the ground. “Justice has no power over people like me, you should know that already.” He smirked and Joohyun felt her hands tighten into fists, almost breaking the water bottle. Tears brimmed her eyes as she glared at him helplessly with anger and detest, hating him for who he was and what he had done and hating herself for not being able to do anything to stop him. Why was she so powerless?

“You are welcome to take this matter to the police if you want but I’ll tell you now that it will just be a waste of time, effort and money.” He told her. “You will never win against me. Just as how your father lost to me, you will too if you try to fight a battle that you have no chance of winning.” He said in a low voice and laughter erupted from him when he saw the way she was too stunned to say anything in response and the defeat in her expression was evident.

Because she knew he was right and she couldn’t win no matter how hard she tried, because this world was unfair and this world was corrupted. Those with enough power and wealth could do anything they want and even the most heinous of crimes could be covered. He would never get the proper punishment he deserved and Joohyun couldn’t do anything about it.

“So here is a warning, Miss Bae.” He stepped into her personal space again and when she tried to take a step back, she felt a firm grip against her arm preventing her from moving. She winced at how tightly he was holding her and tried to tug her arm away but only received a tighter grip as he leaned in and she almost choked at the thick air of cigar smoke and cologne that surrounded him. “Unless you want to end up like your father, you better stay out of my way.”

Joohyun was more than ready to lash out at him for mentioning her late father again and her free hand was halfway to striking him across the face when she felt a hand grab her wrist firmly yet with careful gentleness as to avoid hurting her. She turned her head sharply, her anger dissipating and being replaced with shock when she saw Seulgi beside her, but the latter wasn’t acknowledging her because she was glaring at her boss. The painful grip on her right arm loosened and Joohyun felt Seulgi tug her backwards so that she could stand in front of her and shield her from him.

“Mr Jung, what brings a busy man like you here?” Seulgi asked politely but with blatant confrontation in her tone.

“I rushed here immediately after my meeting when I heard you got in trouble. I was concerned about my faithful assistant, of course.” He replied and Joohyun almost rolled her eyes when he said that with little to no emotion at all. He wasn’t even trying to be convincing with his lies.

“As you can see, I’m fine.” Seulgi said, concealing her pain well when she straightened up slightly and the movement made her wound throb. “You don’t have to concern yourself with such trivial matters and I can take care of things myself. Regarding the accident, I understand it was unintentional and I won’t pursue the matter any further.” 

“Good decision. I always knew you were a smart one.” He replied and his gaze met Joohyun’s briefly as a smirk formed on his face.

Seulgi’s jaw tightened and she shifted to the side so that his view of Joohyun was blocked completely. “And you shouldn’t waste your time on insignificant people either. There are much more important matters to attend to.”

He gave a knowing smile in response, nodding his head once. “Then I hope you recover to full health soon, we still have so much to accomplish.” He then turned to Joohyun. “And it was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Irene.” His eyes glinted before he bowed slightly and she stood stiffly, not returning the gesture. She continued to glare at him until he had walked out of view and she only stopped glaring when she heard Seulgi slump against the wall to support herself as she relaxed her posture to relieve the pain caused by standing upright for so long. It reminded Joohyun of her condition and she instantly forgot all about the encounter with Sangmin, even letting go of the fact that Seulgi wasn’t going to make Krystal pay for her actions. Right now, Seulgi’s wellbeing was the most important.

“What are you doing out here? You’re not meant to be out of bed.” She reprimanded lightly, moving closer to hold onto her arms instinctively so that she could stay upright.

Seulgi gave her a weak smile, “You weren’t there when I woke up and I got worried so I went to look for you.” She replied.

Joohyun felt a pang of guilt when she realised she had broken her promise to her and was the reason why she wasn’t resting properly. “I’m sorry, I was going to come back in but then…”

“It’s alright.” Seulgi cut her off softly, understanding her reasons and she smiled at her, more genuinely and brightly this time. “I didn’t even expect you to still be here. The doctor said I was out for quite a while.”

Joohyun was sure that Seulgi didn’t mean that in a way to make her feel bad, but it stung a little to know that Seulgi didn’t think she cared about her. Although she really didn’t have anyone to blame but herself for giving off that impression.

“But now that I can see you’re fine, I’m not so worried anymore.” She didn’t seem fazed by the lack of response from Joohyun and absentmindedly reached up to touch the band-aid on her cheek, smoothing her fingers over it gently. She let her hand linger against the side of her face for longer and she felt Joohyun lean into her touch out of habit. They had completely forgotten their identities and their relationship to one another, but neither of them cared about that in this moment.

“Why is it that you always worry about me when you’re the one that needs worrying about?” Joohyun asked with a soft laugh, reaching up to cover Seulgi’s hand with her own and feeling reassured when she felt the warmth in Seulgi’s hand. She could remember a little too vividly the way her heart sank and the fear that seized her when she held onto Seulgi’s cold and unresponsive hand in the ambulance. She rubbed light circles on the back of Seulgi’s hand, again out of habit. “You make it seem like I’m the one who just got out of surgery.” She added.

“You went through a lot too.” Seulgi replied quietly, biting her lip. “If I had arrived even a second later than I did, this wouldn’t be the only mark on you.” She touched the side Joohyun’s face again, referring to the small wound.

“But you didn’t.” Joohyun argued, knowing exactly where this was heading. “You came and you saved me. I’m fine and I’m safe now, so don’t start blaming yourself for things that weren’t in your control.”

“It’s my fault that Krystal got to you in the first place.” Seulgi said, lowering her head in shame “You got involved because she found out about us.”

“I know, she talked about us a lot.” Joohyun replied quietly. She was still surprised that Seulgi and Krystal weren’t dating like she had assumed they were this entire time and she was even more surprised to hear that Krystal had been rejected by Seulgi. Although she knew she wasn’t meant to feel this way, it still made her feel relieved and selfishly happy.

“I’m sorry you had to get involved.” Seulgi said with a short sigh and she moved her hands up to hold onto Joohyun’s bandaged wrists lightly, being careful to not apply any pressure. “You don’t deserve to have that kind of experience.”

“I’m fine.” Joohyun insisted.

“Not really.” Seulgi murmured, tapping her wrists lightly with her thumbs and Joohyun couldn’t stop the smile from blossoming across her face when she realised how comforting it was just being able to be this close to Seulgi and feel her gentle touches.

She should’ve known the moment wouldn’t last and before her mind could fully register what was happening, she felt a pair of hands pulling her away from Seulgi and she was spun around to meet a pair of familiar, warm but very worried eyes.

“Get away from her!” She heard a voice snap at Seulgi and there was no doubting that the voice came from Sooyoung. She tried to turn back around but was held in place firmly as questions were rapidly fired at her.

“Are you alright? Where are you hurt? Oh my god, what happened to your face? And your wrists?” Seungwan panicked when she saw the bandages which made her injuries appear a lot more serious than they actually were.

“I’m okay-” Joohyun tried to reassure them but then Yeri and Sooyoung had joined in with the worrying and she wasn’t given the chance to say anything when they bombarded her with more questions.

“How did this happen?” Seungwan demanded.

“Um…Do you remember Krystal?” Joohyun started but she wasn’t able to finish her sentence when Sooyoung’s eyes fired up with anger and she whirled around to glare at Seulgi.

“This is your fault!” Sooyoung raised her voice, storming closer to her despite Joohyun’s attempt to pull her back. She stabbed a finger against Seulgi’s chest accusingly, “How many times have we told you to stay away from Joohyun? Now she’s even injured because of you!” She shoved Seulgi with her palms against her shoulders which sent her stumbling backwards from the sudden force.

“Sooyoung stop it!” Joohyun yelled out, rushing over to Seulgi’s side and instinctively wrapped an arm around her, looking at her concernedly and making sure she wasn’t hurt. Seulgi was gritting her teeth and had a hand covering her side, no doubt trying to suppress the pain. Joohyun looked back up at Sooyoung with a glare. “Can’t you see she’s injured?” She snapped rather angrily.

“I’m fine.” Seulgi said, holding Joohyun’s arm and shaking her head to tell her not to lash out at her own friends.

“You’re defending her?” Sooyoung scoffed in disbelief. “Did you get knocked on the head? You’re siding with her and not us?”

“I’m not taking sides.” She replied exasperatedly. “Seulgi is hurt and I’m not going to let you push her around when she needs to rest.”

“What happened to Seulgi?” Yeri and Seungwan were unable to hide their concern but they didn’t dare to take a step closer when they saw how protective Joohyun was.  

“I’ll talk to you later.” Joohyun said to them before turning back to Seulgi. “Let’s get you back to your room.” She said, gently nudging her to start walking back. Seulgi glanced at the group, an apologetic expression on her face and she considered saying something to them but Joohyun ushered her away before she could. “I will explain to them, don’t worry about it.”

“It is my fault. They have every right to be angry at me.” Seulgi mumbled, following her obediently but feeling even worse than before after seeing how worried Joohyun’s friends had been. She felt Joohyun tighten her grip around her wrist and judging by the way she almost slammed the room door open, Seulgi knew she had enough of hearing all of her self-blaming so she shut immediately and allowed Joohyun to drag her back over to the hospital bed.

“Does it hurt anywhere?” Joohyun asked, pulling the covers up once Seulgi was back in bed and one of her hands hovered over the button that called for a nurse. Seulgi shook her head, fingers playing with the fabric on the hospital bed absentmindedly. “You should rest more. Don’t move around again.” Joohyun instructed, displeased at her for already being out of bed once.

“I want to sit up, I’m not sleepy.” Seulgi said as she reached for the remote that adjusted the hospital bed. Pressing down the button, the head of the hospital bed moved up to an angle but that caused the pillows to fall down and Joohyun tutted at her, immediately leaning over to position them behind Seulgi for proper and comfortable support.

“Is that better?” She asked, adjusting the pillow behind Seulgi’s head. She didn’t even realise how much she had leaned over the bed until she looked away from the pillows to look at Seulgi and her hands faltered on the pillow behind Seulgi when she finally became aware of just how close she had gotten.

Her breath caught in the moment she felt their noses brush and the contact made her jerk back slightly, but an invisible pull kept her from moving away completely. She briefly wondered if Seulgi could hear her erratically beating heart trying to jump out of her chest or if she could tell that she was holding her breath because she was too scared to even move another muscle out of fear that it might break whatever they had between them right now.

Seulgi’s eyes drew her in closer and Joohyun heard the voice in her head telling her to move away before she did something she wasn’t supposed to. Her gaze dropped down to Seulgi’s lips and all logic and reasoning was abandoned completely. Her body moved without thought and she leaned in closer, like a moth attracted to a flame, until she could feel the gentle exhale past Seulgi’s lips on her own.

Before the gap could be made non-existent, there was a series of knocks on the door and Joohyun broke out of her dream-like state, moving away with a startled and flustered expression before finally releasing the breath she had been holding. 

Seulgi looked just as flustered as her and the two of them avoided eye contact by pretending to be distracted with doing other things when Amber entered the room cautiously.

“Hi, you wanted to talk to me?” Amber asked, moving closer to the bed and not noticing the awkward atmosphere in the room although she did wonder briefly why Joohyun was blushing while fixing the curtains.

“Yeah.” Seulgi cleared , stealing another glance at Joohyun and quickly looked away when their eyes met.

“Oh! We haven’t properly met. I’m Amber.” She turned to Joohyun who stood on the other side of the bed and bowed. “I’m sorry that this happened. It’s my fault Krystal got to you, but I really didn’t know she would go out of control like that, if I had known then I would never have given her that information.” She apologized. 

“I know you didn’t mean for it to happen, so don’t blame yourself too much.” Joohyun replied with a gentle smile that made Amber breathe a sigh of relief. “And I’m fine anyway.”

“I’m just glad nothing worse happened to you, I would be dead for sure now.” She rubbed the back of her neck, glancing at Seulgi sheepishly. “Although, I really thought I was going to die on the way to finding you.”

“Why?” Joohyun furrowed her brows.

“Seulgi ran like, three red lights.”

“Amber.” Seulgi warned but she was promptly ignored by the talkative girl.

“I swear to God we were going to crash. She was so worried and impatient to get to you, you should’ve seen how stressed she was! She cares a lot about you, you know? The whole time we were going, she was like-”

“I think that’s enough.” Seulgi cut her off quickly, reaching out and grabbing her arm before shooting her a dangerous glare.

Amber gulped, nodding. “Sorry, I got carried away.”

Seulgi looked at Joohyun, but was unable to look at her straight in the eye. “Maybe you should go back to the others.” She suggested. Joohyun nodded but she looked reluctant to move. “I’ll be fine, you should go home and rest.” Seulgi urged.

She was taken by surprise when Joohyun reached over and placed her hand over hers. “I’ll come and see you tomorrow.” She whispered, squeezing her hand lightly before letting go and leaving the room. Seulgi blinked, looking at her hand again in disbelief as her words sunk in and she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from smiling like a complete idiot.

“So…” Amber folded her arms and leaned closer with a teasing smile. “Are you guys together again?”

“What?” Seulgi looked up at the false accusation, the smile wiped from her face. “No.” She said bluntly and fell back to the painful reality. 

“Why not?” Amber looked over at the door that Joohyun had left through and then back at Seulgi. “She still likes you.”

Seulgi stared down at her hands, quietly thinking to herself. “We can’t.” She said quietly.

“I don’t get it, why can’t you?” Amber scratched the back of her head. "If you still like her, and she still likes you then you can-"

“We just can’t!” Seulgi raised her voice at her and she winced when the force exerted in her tone caused discomfort in her abdomen. She slumped back against the bed, taking a few deep breaths while Amber looked at her worriedly. “Look, the reason I called you here is because I’ve already told Mr Jung that I’ll let this go and won’t get the police involved.” She heard Amber breathe a sigh of relief. “However, that doesn’t mean you can get away without any consequences.” She added quickly before the girl got too happy.

Her face fell immediately and she grew worried. “What do you want from me then? I don’t have much money.”

Seulgi almost laughed out loud at the fact that Amber really thought she would ask her for money but she was able to hold it back and keep a serious straight face. “I want you to work for me.” She didn’t bother waiting for the private investigator to recover from her shock and continued. “You can start right away, I want you to look into Krystal’s medical records and specifically her prescriptions over the past few months.”

“But why?”

“Something doesn’t seem right.” Seulgi sighed, rubbing her temples when she felt an impending headache. “But I need confirmation for my suspicions.”

Amber nodded, not daring to disobey her. “I’ll see what I can find.”

…

The sun was rising already and Joohyun remembered it had been setting when she arrived at the hospital. Without realising it, she had spent almost half a day in the hospital.

“What are you thinking about?” Seungwan asked from beside her in the taxi. Joohyun looked away from the sky, holding down the button to close the car window as she turned back around to face her friend.

“Nothing.” Joohyun replied quietly, looking down at her lap while she picked at the bandages around her wrist.

That always meant something, but Seungwan didn’t want to pressure her anymore knowing how stressed and tired she must be after all that had happened. Joohyun just wanted to go home after giving them a quick recap of what happened, telling them how Krystal threatened to hurt her and then how Seulgi arrived in time to save her. They were all surprised to hear that Seulgi, without hesitation, had jumped in to take the weapon off Krystal when she attempted to hurt Joohyun again but that resulted in Krystal accidentally stabbing Seulgi in the side during the scuffle.

Seungwan could tell what was on Joohyun’s mind and she wished she had the ability to change the thoughts Joohyun was having because up until this point, she still couldn’t be sure about Seulgi and her intentions. How she was the distant, selfish and cold Seulgi one moment and then the gentle, protective Seulgi who did anything to keep Joohyun safe the next moment, was confusing for all of them because it meant they couldn’t fully hate her.

Joohyun was quiet for a while until finally, when they were almost home, she spoke up carefully.  

“Seungwan?”

“Yes?”

“What if…” Joohyun was hesitant to complete her sentence and she exhaled, mustering the courage to look up and meet her gaze.  

Seungwan prepared herself for the inevitable. She saw it coming already. She knew this would happen one day even if she tried her hardest to stop it from happening. 

“What if I want to be with Seulgi again?”

…

a/n: oops this chapter wasn’t entirely seulrene-focused
thank you for reading! and for all the comments/subs/upvotes <3 i appreciate all of them!

surely follow - twitter