After some time Jieun was slowly becoming more accustomed to having the group over at her house. Over time she bought various board games and card games that she kept hidden in her room so that the group could play together. While playing in her room Bae Joohyun suddenly came in with a look of panic on her face and fear in her voice. Her voice trembled as she spoke.

 

“Miss Jieun,” she says shakily, “Your parents.”

 

Jieun immediately stiffens at the mention of her parents. The atmosphere around her suddenly became dense and suffocating, as if the air were ripped right out from her lungs.

 

“They’re back.” She informs her with fear in her eyes.

 

Jieun turns visibly pale and she desperately tries to hide the panic that floods her mind as her eyes go wide and her forehead becomes slick with sweat. As she and the group head down the stairs to greet her parents Yuki notices how tense Jieun has become. She leans forward to whisper in her ear with a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her before facing her parents.

 

“Jieun unnie it’s going to be alright we’re all here for you no matter what might happen.” She says softly in an attempt to calm her down, completely oblivious to the situation between Jieun and her parents.

 

All Jieun does is nod in response as she takes a deep breath before coming face to face with her parents.

 

“Eomma…Appa…Welcome back.”

 

Jieun’s voice is calm and collected yet her mind is racing.

 

“Who are these people? You know you're not allowed to have anyone over.” Her father states with an annoyed yet demanding tone in his voice.

 

“They're my friends from school. I met them when we all got detention toge-” She starts but is soon cut off by her mother.

 

“Detention? Detention for what? What did you do?!?!” Her mother asks her with anger steadily rising in her voice.

 

Jieun fliches at her mothers sharp tone as she looks down and wrings her hands together not knowing what to say. After a brief moment she speaks.

 

“I-I didn’t do anything-I s-swear it was nothing I did…” She begins to stutter and she shrinks with her growing fear.

 

“Whoever these “friends” of yours are, they're clearly a bad influence on you!!! From now on you will not be permitted to see them!” Her father states the annoyance in his voice is completely replaced by pure anger.

 

Jieun snaps her head towards her father. The panic clear as day on her face and the fear ever growing in her eyes.

 

“What?! No! You can’t do that! Please you can’t do this to me!”

 

“I can and I just did! I want them out of the house right now and I’m going to call your teachers to ensure you can’t see them anymore!” He says with his voice as cold as ice.

 

As the group continues to watch, all but one member of the friend group is shocked. Eunseong simply and calmly steps forward and soon enough, she tears into Jieun’s parents. Calling them out for their unfair treatment of their only daughter who has tried for many years to get their attention only for her efforts to be overlooked and ignored everytime.

 

“Are you guys actually serious right now? You guys are tearing into her for having us as friends when you won’t even hear her side of the story? What is wrong with you two? She’s your only daughter, you guys are barely home from what we’ve seen, Joohyun unnie and Hyun-Woo treat her more like family then you ever will and now for the first time in a very long time your daughter is finally happy and you want to take it away from her? Your literal first reaction is to take away the people that make her happy. After years upon years of being alone so she can focus on trying to get your attention, of trying to make you two proud of her, of her just trying to get you guys to simply see her, you want to rip the happiness she finally found away.” Eunseong struggles to keep her cool while talking but it's obvious she’s about to begin yelling.

 

Jieun looks on at Eunseong, agape and shock written on her face as she watches her friend defy her parents. Something she only wishes she had the courage to do.

 

“How dare you speak to us like that. Do yo-” much like how she cut off Jieun, Eunseong cuts off her mother before she can finish speaking.

 

“Shut. Up. Did I say I was finished?” Eunseong’s voice cut through words of Jieun’s mother. Calm yet sharp and cold like the blade of a katana, her icy glare stares daggers at Jieun’s parents.

 

“You guys have never cared about Jieun. Hell you guys don’t even see her as a human. She’s basically a trophy daughter to you guys so you can brag. Well I won’t stand for it. None of us will. If there’s one thing I hate it’s parents who mistreat their kids. This won’t stop Jieun from trying to see us and it sure as hell won’t stop us from trying to save her from the likes of you.” As she continues to speak the tone of her voice continues to get louder until she’s full on yelling.

 

“YOU GUYS NEED TO OPEN YOUR EYES!!! JIEUN HAS ONLY EVER DONE WHAT YOU GUYS WANTED FROM HER!!! YOU CAN’T EVEN GIVE HER THE TIME OF DAY TO EVEN SAY HELLO TO HER! YOU WANNA KNOW SOMETHING JIEUN HAS BEEN BULLIED EVER SINCE SHE STARTED HIGHSCHOOL AND THE ONE WHO ALWAYS GET IN TROUBLE IS HER BECAUSE YOU BASTARDS NEVER DO ANYTHING TO HELP HER. OUR FRIEND SUJIN GOT IN TROUBLE FOR TRYING TO HELP HER AND LOOK WHERE THAT LANDED THEM BOTH!!! YOU BAS-tards d-don’t even care about her s-saf-safety…s-she just w-wa-wants your love.”

 

Suddenly Eunseong starts to breathe quicker. Much quicker than normal and as quickly as rage poured out panic settled in. Soon enough she’s on the floor. She’s curled up into a ball and is struggling to breathe. Goeun is the first to break out of the sudden shock of her panic attack and is by her side in an instant. She immediately starts guiding her in slow breaths attempting to calm her down.

 

“Eunseong! Eunseong look at me!” Goeun’s voice is calm yet urgent.

 

“I-I can’t b-breathe, I f-feel like I’m s-suffocating…” Eunseong stutters out as she tries to fight the now inevitable full blown panic attack.

 

“Eunseong look at me and follow my breaths. Take a deep breath in.” Goeun commands her softly.

 

Eunseong mimics Goeun finding comfort in her voice and breathing as Goeun continues to aid her in calming down.

 

“Good there you go. Just a few more times. You're doing great.”

 

Seeing Eunseong’s current state it was now Jieun’s turn to stand up to her parents. For the first time in her life Jieun didn’t care what they thought or said. For the first time in her life Jieun spoke back to her parents not only for how they’ve treated her over the past 18 years of her life but because now…now she has friends. Friends who she loves and Friends that she want’s to protect and will do anything to keep them safe. Friends that have stuck by her and chose to befriend her for she is and not what she can offer them. They stood up for her and now she will stand up for them.

 

“You know what you guys…Eunseong is right…for the last 18 years I’ve fought to try and get your attention. I’ve spent so much time just trying…to get your love.”

 

She chuckles a humorless laugh before continuing to speak.

 

“I’m at the top of my class…the top of the entire school…and it's not enough. It’ll never be enough. And now…now that I finally have friends…now that for once in the miserable life you’ve created for me. I’m happy…and you want to take it away. Well guess what? I’m not going to let you. I’m not gonna let you take away the one thing in my life that genuinely makes me happy. This group is my chosen family and you will not take that away from me. Not this time. And If you try? Well you can deal with the consequences.”

 

Her parents look at her with slight confusion at her words. Not knowing what she’s implying, they try to scare her into forgetting whatever plan she’s beginning to formulate in her head.

 

“Whatever you're planning, forget it! Your father and I are firm on our decision! They are to leave the house and you are not to speak to them ever again!” Her mothers tone is angry but underneath the anger there was a small hint of fear in her voice.

 

“That’s how you want to be? Fine they’ll leave…but I’m going with them. I already told you, they’re my chosen family. If they leave then so do I” Jieun states. Every ounce of fear in her voice and demeanor is completely gone, replaced with a scarily calm version of Jieun that no one has ever seen before.

 

“You won’t be going anywhere and we’ll make sure the maid doesn’t let you leave!”

 

“NO SCREW YOU GUYS!!! SCREW! YOU! I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY I EVEN KEEP TRYING TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!!! YOU NEVER PAYED ATTENTION. NO MATTER WHAT I DID OR WHAT I ACHIEVED YOU NEVER CARED. NOW THAT I FINALLY HAVE FRIENDS YOU SUDDENLY CARE?!?! AND IT’S NOT IN A GOOD WAY THAT YOU CARE EITHER! I’M DONE WITH THIS. I’M DONE WITH YOU GUYS!!! IF THEY GO THEN SO DO I. YOU CAN’T STOP ME!!! IT WOULDN’T MATTER ANYWAYS!!! JOOHYUN UNNIE AND HYUN-WOO HAVE BEEN MORE LIKE MY FAMILY THEN TWO WILL EVER BE!!! I BET THAT IF I WERE TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW YOU PROBABLY WOULDN’T EVEN NOTICE ME MISSING THE NEXT DAY!!! Do you have any idea how much it hurts? Do you know how much I’ve been through the last 3 years? I am bullied every day. THE ONE DAY I DECIDED TO TRY AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, WHICH FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I WAS ENCOURGED TO DO BY SUJIN WHO IS MY FRIEND, WE BOTH GET WRONGFULLY ASSIGNED TO DETENTION! YOU WANNA KNOW WHY??? IT’S BECAUSE THE ING SCHOOL IS SCARED OF THE BULLIES PARENTS!!! I KNOW YOU GUYS HAVE MORE POWER THAN THEIR PARENTS AND THE BULLIES KNOW IT!!! THAT'S WHY THEIR CAREFUL WHENEVER THEY DO BULLY ME!!! BUT HEY IT DOESN’T MATTER BECAUSE EVEN IF YOU ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN THEIR PARENTS IT’S NOT LIKE YOU’LL DO ANYTHING FOR ME BECAUSE YOU GUYS JUST DON’T CARE!!!”

 

While Jieun attempts to recompose herself her parents stare at her with wide eyes. All of Jieun’s pent up anger, frustration, sadness and pain had just been revealed. All the years of hidden emotion spilled out…and it hit her parents like a truck.

 

“J-Jieun…” her father begins but doesn’t continue.

 

“I-We didn’t know…” much like her father, her mother can’t continue.

 

Their voices are filled with remorse at the pain they’ve caused to their daughter.

 

Jieun scoffs at her parents.

 

“ Of course you didn’t know. You never cared about me. It was my mistake thinking you ever would.” Her voice is strained and shaky.

 

“N-no…t-tha-thats not true…” Her fathers voice is now filled with desperation.

 

“Don’t. Even. Try it. I’m gonna grab a couple bags of mine and I’m leaving. I’m going with friends. I'll find my own way to school and a place to stay for a bit.”

 

Jieun leaves for her room to pack her school supplies and some clothes. As she closes the door behind her she leans against the door and slides down to the floor. She buries her face in her arms and quietly whispers to herself trying to calm down after what just happened. Her emotions continue rampaging and she slowly continues to get more and more overwhelmed until she’s in a full blown anxiety attack.

 

Jieun is trying her best to calm down. She slowly talks to her trying to breathe calmly.

 

“It’s ok Jieun. It’s ok. Just calm down. I-its going to be ok. J-Just breathe. In and out. I-its going to be fine.”

 

She keeps trying for a couple more minutes before she begins to sweat.

 

“ C-calm down. ing hell…I can’t s-stop shaking…s-someone please come help me…”

 

After some time Yuki decides to go check on Jieun as she’s been in her room far longer than she would need to pack her bags and leave. She knocks on her before speaking to Jieun through it.

 

“Hey are you ok? We’re all waiting for you downstairs and Eunseong has finally calmed down enough for us to leave. Are you almost ready or do you need some help?” Yuki asks Jieun hoping her friend is ok after the chaos that just happened.

 

“Y-Yuki?! Um, I-I'll be ready in a minute. I just need a little more time to get everything together. Y-You can wait for me downstairs by the door.” She tries to answer Yuki as calmly as possible to keep her from becoming too worried.

 

“Jieun unnie?! It sounds like you’ve been crying! What's wrong? You know you can talk to me…” Yuki states with sadness in her voice at the current pain both Jieun and Eunseong are dealing with.

 

Jieun then opens the door enough for Yuki to see her.

 

“I’m fine Yuki…I-I’ll be down in just a minute…”

 

Yuki can clearly see through Jieun’s lie.

 

“Ok that's a load of bull you're clearly not fine. I won’t force you to talk if you don’t want to. I understand. It was intense down there for a while.”

 

“Thank you Yuki…I’m so sorry you all had to see that…” She collapses to the floor in tears once more.

 

Yuki gets down to her level and pulls her into a soft yet firm hug.

 

“You have nothing to be sorry for Jieun…all this is because of your parents, not you. None of this is your fault and we’d never blame you for it.” She whispers to Jieun in a soft and sympathetic tone.

 

Jieun, shocked at first, returns the hug.

 

“Thank you Yuki…I really needed that.” She says shakily as she buries her head into Yuki’s shoulder.

 

“Any time Jieun unnie. Now finish getting your stuff together and let's get out of here. We’re all going to Goeun’s house for the rest of the night.” She says cheerfully while flicking her nose before returning down stairs to let Jieun finish getting her stuff.