“Seriously, her parents tried to rob a bank! There’s no way she’d be any less evil, you know?”

“Yeah, true. It’s scary! I never know if she’s going to unleash some crazy rage, really.”

Yena turned her head towards the girls talking against the lockers, tilted her head in curiousity.

Robbing a bank? Who?

“Yeah, I really don’t know how Yena is friends with her,” One girl says, not noticing Yena nearby.

What?

“Friends with whom?” Yena asks as she pops up right behind them.

Who the heck are they talking about?

The girls jump and stared wide-eyed at Yena who just stared back intently.

“Huh? Jo Yuri, duh.”

What?

“What are you talking about?”

“Her parents tried to rob a bank two years ago but got caught after they hit someone with their car. You didn’t know?” One girl responds incredulously.

Two years ago?

“I didn’t.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuri looks down with her bangs covering her face, staring down at her hands as she sneaks glances at Yena pacing in front of her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.”

Yena whips around, screaming, “Don’t give me that!”

Yuri flinches.

“I was scared,” she replies meekly, not daring to look into Yena’s eyes.

Yuri thanked every god out there that Yena didn’t know about her parents. As far as Yena knew, she was just Yuri, nothing else in the equation.

But with the look Yena was giving her now, she knew that was no longer the case.

And it broke her heart.

Yuri struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall, wringing her hands while keeping her gaze locked onto the pavement.

Yena laughed wryly.

Yuri gulped. She knew that wasn’t a good laugh. She knew that she should be afraid of what will come next.

And she is.

“You know my dad, right? He used to work as a construction manager, always on his feet. He made a good living, too, and he loved his job.”

Yena stopped her pacing, freezing in place with her back to Yuri.

“Then one day, two years ago, he got hit by a car.”

Yuri’s eyes widened.

She couldn’t stop the tears from falling out of her eyes, sliding down her face and dripping onto the pavement.

“Thankfully, his life wasn’t in any danger. Jesus, I don’t know what I’d do if-”

Yena takes a deep breath.

“He couldn’t work for months. He lost his job because of it. Our family struggled to pay the bills and put food on the table. There were so many times I walked in on him sobbing to himself, how hopeless and beat he looked. God, he blamed himself for everything. Everything. Can you imagine? Getting hit by a car and thinking everything was your fault? Ridiculous.

“It was a really, really tough year. Really tough. I will never, ever, forget that imagine of my dad. I love him so much, I do, and that tore me and our family apart. We’re really lucky, though, because he recently got a job that pays almost as well. We finally got back off the ground. Heck, I have my own apartment too and I don’t have to pay a cent.”

Yena takes another shaky breath and turns around, facing Yuri.

“Look at me.”

Yuri can’t.

“Look at me, Yuri.”

The way Yena says her name is so cold, so harsh, nothing at all like what Yuri was used to.

It stings.

Yuri knows that she should forget all that now, because there’s no going back from this, she knows.

So, she looks up and stares straight into Yena’s red eyes, her jaw clenched.

“All I can see is my father crying when I look at you.”

Yuri can’t breathe.

“I can’t do this anymore, Yuri. Please don’t talk to me anymore. I don’t want any part of this or you. Looking at you makes me angry, okay? This will be the last time.”

Yena breaks their gaze, turning around.

“Bye, Yuri.”

She walks away, leaving Yuri by herself as she falls to the ground and lets the tears fall silently.

Yena doesn’t let herself cry until she’s alone too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just like that, Yuri is snapped back into that cold, dark place. Although, now, it feels like another piece of her heart was taken away.

She didn’t think she had any left to give, but she guesses that’s the last of it.

She burrows herself into the rough piece of fabric that could barely be called a blanket, trying to find some warmth (but failing miserably).

Her stomach growled.

Before, she found her stomach growling less. Yena would always offer her food to eat, making sure she had enough.

Now, all that was gone.

Yena was gone.

Yena refused to look at her at all or acknowledge her presence. Yuri never tried to talk to her anyways; she’d respect her wishes.

Not like this is that surprising anyways. This was just a little delayed.

Yena had built some of Yuri’s confidence back up. Years of looking at the ground out of fear or disgust for herself slowly disappeared as Yena make her feel like someone.

All that was gone now.

Now she was sure that she deserved every wrong in the world.

She deserved Yena screaming at her.

She deserved Yena cutting her out of her life.

She deserved all the insults thrown her way.

She deserved all the beatings, especially the ones that returned recently.

She deserved it all.