Chapter 6 - Discovery

 

“Okay class, please submit your self-introduction to your class president before going home. Chaewon will collect them all before giving it to me!”

“Yes ssaem!”

The bell rings and Chaewon stands up. “Sit straight. Thank you teacher!”

Teacher Park leaves the classroom and the students heave out a big sigh.

“Ah I hate doing self-introduction the most, more than taking actual tests!” Yuri said and slumps her head down on the table surface. Minjoo can’t agree more with her and nods her head.

Nako turns around and starts to join the conversation. “Why do we have to do this every year anyway? They can just re-use the introduction we wrote from past year!”

“Exactly!” Minjoo agreed. “They can just use the self-introduction I wrote from my old school,” she sighed.

“Guys!” Suyoon’s loud voice draws everyone’s attention. “Please submit the introduction to Chaewon now!”

Yuri smirks. “See, Suyoon can be Chaewon’s voice for this class, such a perfect match!”

“Can you give us some time? I have yet to write that much to be honest!” Minjoo pleads and some of the classmates can relate with her.

Suyoon then paces to Chaewon’s desk and discusses briefly with the class president. Minjoo watches as the head monitor and her assistant interact. Suyoon seems normal around Chaewon unlike how usual school girls react around their crushes. Is she playing cool?

“Okay,” Chaewon speaks up from her seat. “I’ll give you guys time but please submit it by today no matter what. Please don’t give Suyoon a hard time to remind you guys every time it involves school works.”

The corner of Suyoon’s mouth twitches into a smile as Chaewon stood up for her. The tall girl’s close friends snicker but maintain a calm expression.

“Don’t worry Chaewon, we promise to not give your Suyoon a hard time anymore!” they said.

Chaewon turns her body to the front and smiles at Suyoon. “It’s done. They’ll listen to us now.”

“Thanks!” The vice president giggles before skipping back to her seat where Yunjin is waiting to give her a headlock.

Minjoo returns her attention back on the sheet of paper about self-introduction, now losing focus because she can’t stop thinking of Suyoon’s happy face when Chaewon spoke up for her.

***

They reach the end of the class. Minjoo gives up on writing good words on the sheet of paper and just notes down whatever comes to her mind. She’s gotta be honest this time around that she has no passion for any dream career or anything. She’ll just go with whatever line of job will come in her way.

Suyoon starts to round from one table to another and collects the self-introduction from her classmates. When she reaches Minjoo’s desk, the latter stares up at her.

“Why are you the one who walks around and not the pres?”

Suyoon looks at her in bewilderment with the unexpected question. “Is it wrong if I want to help her while I can?”

The girls smiles before retrieving the paper that Minjoo hands her.

After counting that all of the self-introductions are in her hands, Suyoon strides to Chaewon’s desk and the papers exchange hand.

“Sorry for making you do all the works. You should have become the class president instead of me,” Chaewon said.

“No problem, Chaewon-ah! This is all I can do to lessen the burden on your shoulders.”

Chaewon hangs her backpack on her shoulder and hugs the papers. “Thank you!” She looks up and smiles to her assistant.

“Should I help you carry half of that to the teacher’s room too?” Suyoon offers.

“No, it’s fine. You should go home now, I heard it’s going to rain!”

“Oh no- Sohee!” Suyoon remembers she has to meet up with her younger sister and go home together. “Bye Chaewon! See you next week!”

Chaewon shakes her head but still smiling and waving her hand at Suyoon who’s walking backwards happily as she says bye to her class president.

The red-haired moves as soon as Suyoon’s shadow disappears to not waste more time and heads to the teacher’s room. She meets up with Teacher Park and hands in the self-introductions that her classmates have written down.

“Ssaem, do we really have to do this every year? Why not just reuse the self-introductions from past year?” she asked politely, repeating the questions she heard from her classmates.

“Uhmm, I’m not sure but we’re only doing this under the principal’s order. Until the principal says otherwise then I guess you all still need to update a new introduction. Besides, we know the students very well Chaewon. You all don’t have the same kind of mind or motivation every year. Your dreams and will to study might change next year, especially you’ll be in senior year.”

Chaewon nods her head and bows. “I understand sir. Thank you very much.”

She steps out from the teacher’s room and starts to book a grab driver. As soon as she secures a driver, she heads out to wait in front of the school gate, not until she sees the rain is pouring down.

“Oh - it’s already raining so hard!”

She feels her arm being grabbed from the back and finds Yujin as the culprit, panting behind her.

“Chaewon, did you see Minjoo anywhere?”

The red-haired shakes her head, not recalling seeing her classmates anywhere in her sight. “She already left the classroom when I went to the teacher’s room. What’s wrong?”

Yujin sighed dramatically before handing over an umbrella to the shorter girl. “She’s waiting for me because we’re supposed to hang out after school but my mom suddenly said she needed me home immediately! Can you please take the umbrella and walk her home with you?”

Chaewon looks so confused as Yujin keeps talking.

“She’s sleeping at your place tonight right? So please do me this favor!”

Yujin holds her hand and Chaewon can’t find a strength to reject her plead. “Fine,” she breathes.

“Thank you so much Chaewon-ah! Please take care of her!”

Yujin runs to the entrance gate and gets inside a car where her mom is waiting. Chaewon watches as the car drives off before she starts to move again.

Chaewon uses the umbrella that Yujin gave her well and searches for Minjoo outside of the school. If the girl has planned to wait for her girlfriend, then she must’ve not gone that far yet.

Then she sees the girl with long dark hair tied into a ponytail stands by the bus stop, seeking for a shelter from getting the rain pouring on her head.

Chaewon walks faster and calls for the younger girl.

“Minjoo-ya.” The dark haired girl turns around and surprised to find Chaewon actually called her name for the first time. “Come with me, my grab driver is already here.”

Seeing Minjoo standing frozen and not moving, Chaewon strides to her side and grabs her wrist. “Come on, let’s not make him wait any longer!”

She holds the umbrella up above their heads and presses their shoulders together so none of them will get wet. They walk in the rain under the umbrella’s protection. The grab driver parks his car right in front of the school gate so they have a few steps ahead of them before they could get into the vehicle.

Once they settle in, Chaewon apologizes for the delay and he dismisses her apology with a gentle smile, ensuring her that it’s fine.

On their way home, Chaewon explains how she ends up using Yujin’s umbrella for the both of them and saying that Yujin is sorry she can’t personally get in contact with Minjoo to explain things on her end since her phone battery died.

Minjoo finally understand everything and smiles sheepishly.

“Thanks...for telling me everything.”

***

They safely arrive home with Chaewon paying the driver and goes out to unlock the door with a spare key. Minjoo waits until the door is fully opened and Chaewon enters first. She feels too cold with the heavy downpour soaked her school uniform earlier and wants to take a shower fast before going to bed to rest.

Chaewon leaves to her room while Minjoo heads to Hyewon’s room but unfortunately, the eldest sister has locked her room and Minjoo is clueless about what to do about it.

Biting on her nails, her brain makes a quick scan of an idea to get herself changed her shirt. After much contemplation, Minjoo finally moves and decides to just ask for Chawon’s aid. She heads to the older girl’s room.

“Yes?” Chaewon opens the door after Minjoo knocked on the surface.

“C-Can I change in your room and b-borrow y-your shirt first? Hyewon unnie is not inside her room and the door is locked,” she said with trembling lips. The cold is really taking its toll on her.

“Right, Hyewon unnie has a plan to survey a good school she’s gonna attend with Kkura unnie today.” Chaewon blinks and stares at Minjoo briefly. “Come in then, you need to shower or you’ll catch a cold.”

Minjoo follows her instruction and Chaewon lends her towel to the younger. The former then goes inside the bathroom to take a quick shower for a refreshment. It’s a good thing that her hang out plan with Yujin was cancelled, or else she would be feeling too sick for staying outside while the weather is this cold.

After she’s done with the bath, Minjoo steps out of the bathroom and is stunned to see that Chaewon has just come back from the kitchen with a plate of slice cake and a mug of what seems like hot chocolate.

“It’s nice to have some warm drink on a cold weather and something sweet like blueberry cheesecake.”

Minjoo smiles warmly and nods her head. “Thanks.”

They’re staring into each other’s eyes, with the younger not realizing that she’s just wearing  towel wrapping around her body and Chaewon is staring into her exposed skin.

“M-Minjoo, y-you’re…”

Chaewon can’t get the words out of properly and just shows her finger to the younger, pointing out at something. Minjoo checks out what Chaewon is trying to point out in slight confusion and finally realizes her mistake.

The hook of her towel has pulled out and she’s almost in front of Chaewon if not for her armpit that has saved the towel from dropping down.

“I’m sorry!” Minjoo quickly apologizes and Chaewon paces to her wardrobe, looking for a shirt and a pants that she can lend to Minjoo.

“Here.”

The both of them sigh out of relief as Minjoo safely wears the oversize white top and a black tracksuit bottom.

Chaewon offers Minjoo to sit on the bed next to her temporarily while she finishes the treats. “Your room is nicely clean. It’s the first time I’ve actually seen it.” Minjoo starts to break the ice when the awkward silence was killing her.

“It’s mostly my mom who cleaned this room. And I don’t exactly like it messy either,” Chaewon replied, and the air is back to a deafening silence. None of them has anything to say and Minjoo starts to sip the warm chocolate more quickly so she can escape from this awkward situation fast.

When she finishes the drink and puts down the mug back, Minjoo tilts her head to the side and accidentally spots a medication bottle supply on the bedside table.

“What’s that?” Minjoo asked but knowing that Chaewon won’t exactly cooperate with her curiosity, her sharp vision catches some words and reads the label more properly.

“Sleeping pills? You take sleeping pills too?” Minjoo turns to her. “Not only you smoke, but taking sleeping pills too. How many unhealthy activities do you actually do on daily life?”

“I only took them under some circumstances, not all the time,” Chaewon replied calmly.

Minjoo can care less about it and give in to the excuse, but something else that catches her eyes on the same bedside table triggers her.

She reaches out her hand and takes a movie cover that lies beside the medication bottle. It’s a rated and matured content movie, surprisingly coming from the usually calm and nice girl.

Chaewon looks away, feeling the burn of Minjoo’s glare on her.

“I-I swear it’s not m-mine! It’s Chaeyoung’s, she left her stuffs here sometimes!”

Minjoo rises on her feet after putting the movie back on the bedside table, not fully convinced. “Okay, you don’t have anything to explain to me,” she said coldly before leaving the room and heads downstairs to the kitchen to wash the plate and mug that she had used.

Why is she getting so worked up when it’s up to Chaewon to do whatever she likes anyway?

***

“Kids, come down now and eat!”

Ms. Kim hollered from downstairs and at the mention of eat, Hyewon runs out immediately while gripping Minjoo’s wrist. They settle around the dining table in a second and Hyewon’s eyes glimmer at the sight of the delicious-looking food. Ms. Kim always has a talent not only in making the food taste good but also visually appealing to everyone’s appetite.

Chaewon appears a minute later and sits across Minjoo timidly. While eating, she can’t help herself but glances up and meets Minjoo’s gaze. She doesn’t know why but she feels obliged to feel guilty and apologize to the younger girl for keeping something so indecent in her room. She keeps glancing to the point that it sends a chill to Minjoo’s spine and causes her to feel uncomfortable.

“Chaewon?”

The red-haired girl finally shifts her gaze away from Minjoo and glances up at her step father who had called her. “Yes?”

“Are you- it’s nothing. I just want to check if you’re ready for tomorrow.”

“What kind of question is that?” Hyewon rolls her eyes.

Chaewon chuckles before setting a warm smile across her face to assure the older man. “I’ll be fine, father. Mom will keep me company anyway.”

Mr. Kang nods his head and eats his food. “If you say so, then I’m more than happy for you.”

He gives off such a warm and loving father vibe for the girl. Once again Minjoo feels envious of Chaewon because she never got to feel like that around him before.

Once the dinner is done, all of them leaves to their respective rooms with Minjoo following behind Hyewon like always. Their parents will probably watch a rerun of a movie from the tv in their room while Minjoo never learns what Chaewon usually will do before going to sleep.

Hyewon and Minjoo talk about their evening activities with the former sharing how the survey for a good college was going hard for her but the date she had with Sakura at the same time made it so much better. Minjoo told her older sister nothing was really happening for her except about how much the self-introduction she had written made her felt bored and her supposed date with Yujin after school was cancelled at the last minute. She also included about going home with Chaewon and borrowing her shirt after a bath, but leaves out the part when she was almost in front of the red-haired.

Around half after 11 to midnight, Minjoo is about to close her eyes and drives off to slumber when someone knocks the door.

Chaewon’s head pokes out and she’s displaying a really innocent expression on her face as she looks at Minjoo who sits up upon her surprise visit.

“What are you doing here?”

Chaewon blinks and looks around the room. “Where’s Hyewon unnie?”

“She goes to the bathroom for a while. Is there something wrong?”

“I can- it’s nothing. I’ll just go back to my room now.”

“W-Wait!” Minjoo half-shouted and forces Chaewon to stay. “Just wait for a couple of minutes, she’ll be back soon!”

Not longer than a minute of waiting, Hyewon emerges in the doorway and Chaewon is glad to see her older step sister’s face.

“What’s wrong Chaewonnie?” Hyewon asked and she’s wearing the softest smile she can display on her face while staring into the younger’s eyes.

“I-I…”

A brief silence.

A creak sound.

Then Chaewon’s voice starts to speak again.

“I can’t sleep.”

Hyewon’s face falls and cups her palm under Chaewon’s chin. “Did you take your medicine?”

Minjoo’s eyes widen upon hearing that.

“I did,” Chaewon replied slowly.

“How many did you take tonight?”

“Just two.”

Hyewon nods and smiles proudly.

“But you still can’t sleep?”

Chaewon shakes her head. “I can’t.”

Hyewon soon offers her bed so her younger step-sibling can feel more comfortable to lie down in the room. “You can take the bed and sleep next to Minjoo tonight. I’ll sleep beside you and will hold your hand overnight, okay?”

Chaewon’s eyes lighten up and nods aggressively.

“Good, now lie down!”

The eldest sister opens the door before turning around. “I’ll just take water from the kitchen for a while. You can close your eyes first while waiting for me!”

Minjoo watches as Hyewon leaves, is agape apart in disbelief of the event happening before her eyes. Chaewon has covered herself with Hyewon’s blanket and Minjoo can only stare down helplessly.

The way Chaewon is acting around Hyewon now is suspicious for some reason.

“You’re like a baby.” Minjoo stated, deadpan.

Chaewon opens her eyes briefly and breathes calmly. She’s facing the other way from Minjoo where she’ll see Hyewon’s face while sleeping for tonight. “Let me be her baby, just for tonight.”

Minjoo’s eyebrows knitted together as she tries her best to understand Chaewon right now. Somehow her slow voice pleading about Hyewon sounds like a pleasure in her ears.

“Sure,” Minjoo gives in.

And she sleeps peacefully that night while having Chaewon sleeping next to her in the bed.

***

Minjoo wakes up the next morning finding Hyewon next to her instead of the red-haired. She checks the time in the clock and sees it’s already 10.00 am. Her stomach starts to make grumbling sound in hunger. She yawns and rubs her eyes before waking her sister up.

The two sisters walk downstairs after brushing their teeth. Minjoo wonders where’s everyone else in the house going since it seems so empty. Even Chaewon disappears without a trace.

“Where’s everyone?” Minjoo wonders.

Hyewon eats the fried egg with rice that Chaewon’s mom had saved for them on the table. “Dad is likely gone for works while mom and Chaewon are out for her dad’s memorial service.”

Minjoo is stunned. “Memorial service?”

“It’s his death anniversary, so they’re going to Chaewon’s grandmother’s place.”

“...oh.”

Minjoo becomes silent. When this fact first dropped the bomb on her, she realizes she has a lot to learn about Chaewon that she never cared about before.

Like Chaewon’s dose of sleeping pills for example. Minjoo thought the girl took it secretly but it turns out Hyewon knows about it, which means the entire family is most likely to know too.

“I see.”

But she doesn’t pressure her older sister further although it costs her curiosity.

***

She spends the day shopping with her sister and hanging out together with the older girl’s friends like Sakura, Eunbi, Chaeyeon and Yena. Surprisingly, they all make a great company and Minjoo has a good day thanks to them.

They eat early dinner at a dalkgalbi restaurant, Eunbi’s treat. She has helped her father at the convenience store that he runs and saves money thanks to that.

By the time Hyewon and Minjoo come home, it’s already 8 pm and the both of them fall into a slumber tiredly.

Then Minjoo wakes up again and reads the clock. It’s already 1 am. Suddenly feeling thirsty, Minjoo gets up from the bed lazily and heads downstairs.

She sees the living room’s light on, and the lonely figure of Hyewon’s step mother on the couch. Minjoo decides to drink some cold water from the fridge in the kitchen first before approaching the lady of the house.

After drinking, she starts to take slow steps back into the living room for the woman. “Auntie- oh my God, you’re crying!”

She hastily grabs the tissue from the coffee table and offers Ms. Kim before she realizes that the woman already uses a heap of tissues before she came.

“Thanks,” the woman chuckles.

“Is there something wrong?”

Ms. Kim shakes her head in denial. “Nothing is wrong, really. I’m just being a sensitive old woman.”

Minjoo spots the photo album in the woman’s lap and sees a photo of a very young girl. “Is this Chaewon...unnie?”

“Yes, this is my Chaewon. Cute isn’t she?” Ms. Kim’s eyes lighten up as Minjoo becomes interested with the photos of young Chaewon.

“She hasn’t changed that much, huh? She looked good with exposed forehead too.”

Then she suddenly hears the woman sobs and Minjoo becomes panicked once again. Is this woman sensitive about Chaewon growing up? She wishes her own mother can feel the same way too.

Ms. Kim suddenly holds her hand. Minjoo feels how cold it is.

“Do you mind if I tell you a story? I need someone to let my feelings out now.”

Minjoo nods her head without hesitance if it can help the woman feels better.

“Chaewon, my daughter might seem normal in her appearance, but inside she’s just a kid that bears a lot of scars and pain with her.”

Her heart starts to beat faster. She never thought the time she’d discover Chaewon’s past will come this soon.

“Chaewon was a child that cried a lot of tears when she’s lost among the crowd. She was scared of fireworks, can’t see blood, can’t get a proper sleep without depending on her medicine. I feel like I failed as a mother because I can’t provide the best comfort to my own daughter.”

“What are you talking about auntie?” Minjoo shakes her head. “You’re the best mom someone could ever ask for. I wish my mom is at least a little as good as you.”

She the back of Ms. Kim’s hand. “If you don’t mind to share with me, may I know what happened to Chaewon...unnie when she was 15?”

Ms. Kim chuckles bitterly. “Just like the night of the new year, I lost Chaewon among the sea of people when we were about to celebrate new year with Hyewon and her father. I was really careless and was panicking before the countdown even began.”

 

They were at Yeoido Hangang Park to watch fireworks together. Ms. Kim was holding onto Chaewon’s hand tightly before they met the Kang family in half an hour. At that time, Ms. Kim and Mr. Kang had just started seeing each other officially.

The place was known to be really crowded. Ms. Kim was against the idea with the choice of place at first but eventually gave in with Mr. Kang’s persistence and Hyewon’s request.

Chaewon and her mother stopped their tracks for a while as the older woman texted his new boyfriend on her phone.

“Chaewon, please stay here and don’t move anywhere without my permission! I’m going to the toilet for a while, so please, stay!”

Chaewon was left alone by the far side of the road in hope she wouldn’t block other people’s way. Unfortunately, there were too many people there that they were pushing and pulling one another. The firework was about to go off.

Chaewon, being small physically, was hit and pushed easily by the strong human wave to the point that she lost her original spot and ended up somewhere she didn’t know.

She started to breathe unsteadily as the panic attack of losing her mother slowly took the toll on her. Someone came in her way when she was about to move and knocked her down on the ground, falling on her .

She cried, calling for no one but her mom. Everyone was staring down at her strangely, but nobody was offering a hand to help her up.

The firework blew off; the loud explosive sound and the fire in the air scared her terribly that she cried louder.

“MOM!!! MOM!!! MOM!!!”

She was like a little child that was wailing because she didn’t get what she wished for, but everyone ignored her.

Chaewon’s eyes searched for the silhouette of her mother among the crowd but to no avail. Her mother was nowhere in her sight.

She screamed at the top of her lung.

“MOM!!! MOM!!! EOMMA!!!”

And her angel came in time as Chaewon lost her energy. She looked up and found young Hyewon knelt down before her and embraced her, before she was taken to the other side where she was away from the heartless humans.

 

“It was Hyewon who first found her, like always.”

Minjoo’s eyes are burning with her welling tears. The story of 15 year old Chaewon is heart-wrenching.

“H-How did...Chaewon end up become so

v-vulnerable like that? I-Is that why she was h-held back a year from school?” Minjoo stuttered as the tears in her eyes are pouring down non-stop and her nose starts to get watery.

Ms. Kim wipes her tears with the back of her hand and blows her nose on the tissue. “My daughter...my poor daughter...she was only 12 and was with her father coming back from the amusement park when...w-when they got into an accident and the car was upside down. Her father lost a lot of blood but managed to get out with his remaining energy, while my little daughter was stuck alone.

There were other people who volunteered to help, but my late husband insisted to get his daughter out of the car by himself. It took a lot of time and energy, but crying Chaewon was giving him the superhero strength that none of us knew he had it in him. He broke the door at last, but Chaewon’s stuck leg was the problem. He was very careful about her leg, until he successfully got her out and the people there took her from his arms, a little far away from the scene. Chaewon’s father collapsed, and my daughter was crying for him.”

 

“Dad!!! Dad!!! Dad!!!”

Mr. Kim slightly opened his eyes upon his daughter’s call. It was his last ounce of energy. He couldn’t move anymore.

He met his precious daughter’s eyes and he smiled.

Then the car blew off before someone could move him away.

“APPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

 

***

Minjoo walks up the stairs, step by step. Her mind is drifted elsewhere, still thinking about Chaewon’s tragic past that the girl’s mother had told her about.

It haunts her, greatly. She becomes too emotional listening to the tale that she never heard of, and crying as equally hard as Chaewon’s mother. How can such an innocent little girl be suffering so much?

Then Chaewon appears in front of her, probably having a sleepless night once again. The incident involved her late father had become the reason of her insomnia. Imagine how fearful it was to be in her place.

Minjoo tears up as she looks at Chaewon’s face. This girl was so innocent and so pure, and she’s so small and vulnerable. How is someone so vulnerable able to bear so much pain and burden on her shoulders?

It’s so unfair, very unfair. The world is too cruel for her.

Minjoo becomes an emotional wreck in front of Chaewon. The tears in her eyes never stop falling, and the more she looks at Chaewon’s face and staring into her eyes, the more she thinks about the pain the girl was put through at such a young age.

Minjoo takes baby steps, slowly moving forward.

Chaewon just stands there, freezes on her spot.

Minjoo is only a feet away now. She rises her shaking arms slowly, and her hands cup Chaewon’s tiny face, holding gently as if she’s the most fragile thing in the world.

The droplets in her eyes fall again. Chaewon’s face feels too cold against her palms.

Chaewon was so innocent, so pure. Her mind can’t stop chanting that words.

Her joyful childhood days were stolen when her father died in that terrible accident, before her eyes.

Minjoo can only imagine it, but the one who actually bears with the rough childhood must have felt worse.

“Chaewon-ah…” Minjoo cries her name, imagining how much Chaewon had cried while calling her dead father, how much she had cried while calling her lost mother.

“...I’m sorry…” she sobs and touches Chaewon’s skin gently.

She’s too fragile.

Chaewon stares into Minjoo’s eyes, somehow knows that the younger must have finally found the light about her past.

She likes the way Minjoo touches her, it sends her the warmth that she’s been seeking for.

“Can you...hug me…”

Chaewon is begging; she doesn’t want Minjoo to let go.

“Can you hug me, please?”

If that’s her wish, then Minjoo is more than glad to fulfill it.

Minjoo wraps her arms around Chaewon’s small body, resting one hand on her back and another on her nape. Her eyes are still spilling more tears.

Chaewon feels the warmth of Minjoo’s embrace, and she’s melting against Minjoo’s chest. She wraps her arms around the younger’s waist and buries her face on her neck.

Her tears start to fall too.

---

***I was emotional when I wrote this chapter, especially at the flashback. My eyes brimmed with tears, but I still managed to finish this one well. I hope you all are full with the 2kim moments in this chapter. You'll see the fluff and sweet 2kim moments in the next update hehe :)) I hope you all can kindly share your feedbacks for this chapter in the comment section ^^