Escape

Playing Pretend
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Night time used to be Seulgi's favorite time of day but things have changed and she has learned to resent the night. She tries to deny it even though the reasons are obvious. She'd rather not think about it and would rather just plug in her earphones to occupy her mind with a more pleasant noise rather than those that keeps her up at night. However, it's been hard for her to fall asleep without glancing at the other girl as if she's anticipating for something to happen. Those anticipations are what keep her disappointed and for the most part, frustrated. Her frustrations happen too often that she'd get tired and fall asleep unintentionally facing Seungwan's back from the opposite side of the room.

Mornings don't help because she wakes up feeling bitter as she sees an empty bed sitting right across hers. Nothing. Like the usual, that shouldn't be a usual, well to Seulgi that is, Seungwan's avoiding her again for no particular reason. But then again, Seulgi knows nothing about Seungwan anymore just like how everyone knows nothing about her. Sure, Seulgi would be annoyed by it but that doesn't mean that she's giving Seungwan an attitude. What for? They're not little kids anymore and she doesn't have a time to be petty knowing that that would definitely be adding fuel to the fire.

Seulgi wonders if the girl hates her. If Seungwan does, can she really blame her after what happened? But to Seulgi, it's not really important if the girl hates her or even loathes her. What matters is convincing Seungwan to talk to her. Doesn't matter if it's about a how good the color blue is, as long as Seungwan responds to her, that'd be fine. She misses the times when Seungwan would talk all the time about her day. She misses that kind of noise. Seungwan's noise. She wonders how long it would take for her to wait to finally get those days back: warm nights and a peachy scent.

 

 

 

Three loud knocks on the door is enough to wake Seungwan up in the middle of the night. She glances at the clock, squinting her eyes in the dark. It's 12:33 am, who the hell would be up this late banging on her door at this hour on a thursday?

The squeaking of Seungwan's bed is enough to wake Seulgi up. She watches the smaller girl cautiously walk towards the door in her oversized sweater. And an extremely short shorts. This isn't the time for that. She tells herself before aggressively shaking her head that Seungwan doesn't notice because the latter is too busy looking for the light switch.

"Who is it?" Seulgi asks, eyes squinting when Seungwan turns the lights on. Seungwan shrugs in response before leaning in towards the door with her ears as if it'd help her identify who the person is behind the door. It was eerily quiet outside not until she hears another set of loud banging on their door.

"What's going on?" Seulgi asks again, this time annoyed of how their sleep is being interrupted. Seungwan looks back at her, uncertainty evident on her face.

"I don't know. Should I open it?" Seungwan bites her lip looking away from Seulgi realizing that she's talked too much to the girl tonight so she starts to unlock the door out of curiousity despite being a little scared of the consequences.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Seungwan." Seungwan gives Seulgi another look. She tries to read the expression on Seulgi's face whether the latter's annoyed or concerned or maybe she just doesn't care and is only pretending to becuase it almost seems like the girl's talking in her sleep. But she doesn't listen to the bear like girl and quickly opened the door wide open. She furrows her eyebrows at Yerim who is just looking straight at her with no expression on her face. However, Yerim seemed to rush her way to their dorm because by the looks of it, she barely put any effort into fixing her hair and putting on two slippers because the latter is barefoot and Seungwan thinks it's nasty to run around the corridor like that.

"Yerm, what the heck?" It took Seulgi 2 minutes to process what's going on before she notices the familiar figure standing by the door. Seulgi doesn't say a word and remained on her bed as she watches Seungwan invite Yerim inside their room. She picks up her white baggy shirt just lying around on the floor next to her bed and puts it on to cover the skin that the tank top wasn't able to cover. Yerim paid little to no attention to her so she figured maybe this doesn't have to do with her. Still, she remains attentive just in case something happens to either of the Sons or just to be there for moral support if needed. She just wants to be helpful this time.

On the other side of the room, Yerim's going through her voice mails without saying anything to Seungwan that's getting the latter impatient so she asks her for the nth time

"What the heck is going on?" But all Seungwan gets in response was Yerim cursing at her phone which is rather concerning than anything. She tries to not look at Seulgi's confused face which is rather distracting. Atleast to Seungwan that is.

"Henry's picking us up in an hour, or two, I don't know."

"Can you atleast tell me what's going on? You're scaring me, Yerm." It's quiet for a minute. The night is cold and tense for some reason. Seungwan gives her sister some space and some time to think through about things. Yerim's acting odd tonight and it's not helping with either of them. Not Seulgi either because all she can do right now is to listen to the dead silent atmosphere because it's not like she has any other choice.

"Honestly, I don't know. I woke up to 28 missed calls. All from Henry and I started panicking because just what the hell was going? You know Henry doesn't do that kind of unless 's going on, you get me?" Seungwan looks at Yerim in disbelief, almost as if Yerim's just bluffing right now.

"I think you're just overreacting, Yerm."

"What?! No , unnie. Why would he call us at this time for nothing?"

"I don't know maybe he's into something right now."

"Like what?"

"Drugs maybe? You know Henry can be a up sometimes"

"So? How is that related to him texting me for us to pack up?"

"Like I said drugs or maybe some strong alcohol that hit him pretty hard."

"Yeah. Pretty ing hard to text me without any grammar and spelling mistakes." Seungwan sighs and at the same time accidentally catching Seulgi looking worriedly at her which caused her to quickly look away back to her sister who is still obviously panicky for whatever reason. Maybe Yerim's stressed and Seunwagn's just too busy pretending not to give a damn about Seulgi the past weeks and it caused her to believe that she actually doesn't care about anything at all except her grades. Sooyoung's been calling her a "real nerd" now rather in a good way because she used to be "the loud redheaded nerd". It's not for Sooyoung to state that she prefers this current Seungwan because in fact, the old loud Seungwan is so much better. She just didn't want to insult the older girl. She just didn't want her to be reminded of the past.

It took Seungwan a couple sigh to finally be convinced that maybe this is a bad situation. She glances at the girl who remained quiet on her bed only this time she's looking back at her confused. Seungwan can't take her eyes off her. She gazes at Seulgi a little too long enough for her to notice the change in Seulgi's expression from confused to what? She doesn't know how to describe the way Seulgi's looking at her. The furrow on Seulgi's eyebrows gone. Lips slowly parting and eyes look a lot less harsher. Her whole features so sharp yet so soft. Seulgi looks lost and Seungwan's feeling things she shouldn't be feeling anymore. That's what she keeps telling herself but it seems as if right now, that reminder is forgotten as she falls harder for Seulgi.

"Geez stop eye ing each other this isn't the time for that." Both blushed and quickly look away from each other. Seulgi coughing intentionally as she rubs the back of her neck convincing herself that it can get rid of the awkward atmosphere.

"I'll head to my room for now and pack."

"Pack?" Seungwan asks, shade of red still evident on her cheeks.

"Henry mentioned that we're gonna be gone for a couple days." Yerim leaves the room silently with a sigh before the room went back to its usual silent and gloomy atmosphere. Seulgi sits on the edge of her bed eyeing Seungwan who started packing her clothes. She just watches her without talking, expecting for something to happen. By something she means anything. By anything she means actually something specific such as Seungwan looking back at her or initiating a conversion to happen. But she got nothing. So when she realizes this, she knows that she should be the one doing the initiation or just anything. By anything she means anything.

"Are you really going to be gone for many days?" She knows how long the latter's going to be gone but she had to say something. She just wants to talk.

"Yeah, I guess." And then the room went silent again. Seulgi fidgets as she watches Seungwan which the latter knows. She's not that oblivious. But she lets her, it calms her knowing that maybe Seulgi hasn't change still, just her-Seungwan, concealing for the best until she finds the right time to confess which Sooyoung always remind her.

Seungwan clicks her tongue, pissed which Seulgi recognizes.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't have enough clothes. I forgot to do the laundry."

"You can borrow some of my clothes."

Seungwan doesn't say anything but Seulgi lends her clothes anyway. She awkwardly gets up and started looking through her closet for Seungwan to borrow.

"Thank you." She says meekly and Seulgi gives her a gummy smile. She continues to pack while Seulgi watches her. When she approaches the door, Seulgi stops her by calling out her name. She quickly looks back at the worried Seulgi, almost as if she's begging her not to leave yet.

"Can I call you?" Seulgi asks shyly, looking down at her feet. Seungwan only gives her a hesitant nod before asking "Why?" catching Seulgi off guard. The latter struggles to answer the simple question.

"I don't know. Just because." Seulgi lies before Seungwan replies "Sure" and tells Seulgi to take care when she could've told her something better from her heart and leaves the building with Yerim.

 

 

 

Seungwan and Yerim hops inside Henry's car. He looks serious and normal. Maybe he really isn't drunk or on drugs but Seungwan's conflicted whether to feel good or twice as bad. Henry starts to drive with Seungwan taking the shotgun and Yerim at the back fighiting the urge to fall asleep.

"Where exactly are we going?" Seungwan asks impatiently as Yerim leans forward.

"Mokpo."

"For what?"

"Who else lives in Mokpo?"

"I don't know? I know one person but is he worth all of this?" Then realization hits Seungwan. Her heart sinks and she looks at Henry before looking at her sister who has the same thought in mind. They look at each other without speaking and Henry waits for a couple minutes to pass before opening the conversation.

"He's out from prison."

"Since when?"

"What the ? Did I just panick for no reason?" Yerim interrupts, leaning away from the two as she crosses her arms bitterly.

"Come on, he's still your father." Henry responds.

"Since when?" Seungwan repeats

"More than a year now."

Seungwan crosses her arm and leans back the same way as Yerim did, as they both gaze out the window. It's 2 am and dark outside. They let the silence take over with Seungwan thinking again as usual, nothing new. She wonders how she'd act around their father after years of being separated. She knows exactly where this is going and she starts to think deeply of her decisions. 3 days she'd be gone away from school, away from her friends, away from Seoul. Away from Seulgi who she shouldn't really be thinking about right now. She should be thinking about herself and Yerim.

"Three days..." she mumbles. Henry glances at her directions, unsure if he should say anything back or let the girl mumble to herself.

"He's giving us three days to decide huh?" she mumbles again, this time loud enough for Yerim to hear but not enough for the latter to care. She too knows the purpose of this "emergency trip" as she'd like describe even though she's still bitter about the fact that she exaggerated the situation for a thing as small as this. But unlike her sister, Yerim doesn't need to think because she's already figured out how she'd deal with whatever is going to happen. She just hopes Seungwan would make the right decision for herself and not for anyone else.

The ride is gloomy and cold with the radio turned to a lower volume. Yerim slowly falls into slumber and Henry

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jennielive
#1
Chapter 24: I’ve been waiting for updates and idk why it took me so long to read the last 2 chapters but I finally did it. I cant believe this story is over it has made me cry so much. Thank you author for such a beautiful story. I’m happy wenseul got to be together and the others are happy as well. I will forever cherish this beautiful story so thank you again
Kaz012_ei #2
Aww. That was really good! I think we all have to figure things out ourselves with the help of uncanny characters but hey, that's life.
Bunnylovehamster
#3
Chapter 24: complicated beautiful and amazing story
Thanks for sharing :)
naepittamnunmoon
#4
Chapter 19: you destroyed and deceived me way more than my ex. I will never forget this disappointment, thank you so much. maybe now I can move on from her!
naepittamnunmoon
#5
Chapter 14: eu nunca senti tanta raiva lendo uma fanfic. the fact that I need to expose myself in my mother language just proves that I'm a , leaving rage comments because I can't stand this happening right in front of my salad
WeenieHut_Jr
#6
Chapter 24: OK woW THIS WAS A ROLLERCOASTER I MEAN IT.. AUthor YOU HELLA TAleNDTed you making me cry too,,,,, someday somehow i aspire to write something like this too... your amazing!!!!
Ssw022194
#7
Chapter 24: I CANNOT BELIEVE IT TOO ╥﹏╥
Damn I'm crying so much, a mess..
This.. This is so good, wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
_eunice_ #8
Chapter 24: OMG!!! This story really is a wonderful one! It really made me cry and made my eyes puffy ToT

I hope that there will be upcoming stories and i want you to know that I will be supporting your upcoming stories (if ever there really is).So with that said i hope there would really be another story written by you(>﹏<). Thank you very much for such a wonderful story Author-nim
PS. I'll be looking forward for your other stories (hope you share it with us). Again, thank you for such a nice story(⌒∇⌒)
revelink__
#9
Chapter 24: Can't believe its over already. Thank you for this wonderful fic authornim huhuhuhu.