Arguing
In the Dark
Ayy the only story I ever update anymore..XD
--
Chapter 7: Arguing
It’s quiet for a long while. Daehyun can see how livid Jieun is, and it scares him. She’s been cold to him, she’s been curt, but he’s never seen her this…mad.
Yongguk can tell Jieun is upset, too. But he’s more used to it. He’s seen her blow up, and he has to admit, it’s pretty impressive and just a little bit y. When she’s truly mad goes down.
“Why are you here?” she asks, and her voice is quiet, strained. She takes in the two guys in her living room, her mind reeling. And even though she tries to cut herself off from all affections towards Yongguk, she sees his injuries, and she’s curious.
Daehyun nervously glances at Yongguk, who’s just sort of watching Jieun. “Me? Or that one?” Yongguk finally asks good naturedly, tilting his head towards Daehyun momentarily.
“You. What are you doing here?” Jieun reiterates, jaw clenched. “Why the do you think it’s okay for you to come back?”
“Oh, come on, Eunnie,” Yongguk chuckles lightly. “This was practically my second home.”
“It was. Back then. But that was a long, long time ago. And we’ve both changed, so don’t think anything is the same.”
Daehyun stood in the corner, having closed the bedroom door but staying as far away from the arguing pair as he could. And even though Jieun’s eyes were alive with angry fire and her words were icy cold and cuttingly sharp he can’t help but feel disappointed that she’s paying no mind to him. But he stays shut up and he listens, because he can tell, he knows somehow that this is Yongguk, and he means something to her.
“Yeah, now lookit you, bringing your client’s home,” Yongguk laughs, gesturing towards Daehyun, who looks scared and confused. “And might I mention how much your taste has changed.”
Jieun’s jaw tenses as she sends her vision towards Daehyun. “He’s not a client. He’s just an acquaintance. Ask Jungin and Sungah what he’s doing here.”
“I dunno Jieun, he’s more than just an acquaintance to you,” Yongguk muses, his twisted mind enjoying these games. “You don’t just look at any guy you don’t already know, you treat them as if they’ve wronged you. But this kid, you look like you’re trying to protect him. Nam Jieun, actually caring about a guy. Lookit that.”
Jieun feels frozen, absolutely shocked into silence and immobility. How could Yongguk just come back, spend the night, and then treat her like this? How could he bring up these things- that aren’t true- just to mess with her like this? Was he really this cold before? How did Jieun ever love the man in front of her? “Just leave. I don’t care anymore. I don’t care why you’re here I don’t care what you have to say, just…just get out. And don’t come back.”
Yongguk lets out a slow breath. “You’re treating me like I’m messing with you, but you can trust me on this one. I’m honest sometimes,” he shrugs. But he’s still walking towards the door slowly, picking up his discarded jacket along the way.
“I can never trust you.” And Jieun knows it’s the truth, she really does, but somewhere deep inside her she’s still wound around Yongguk, craving his affection, and she hates it. So she pushes down the urge to ask him what happened, clean the wound that can so easily get infected, and she lets him go. And he almost is gone, just passed her, when he stops, and even though she’s not looking at him she can feel it, and her eyes close in dreading anticipation just moments before she feels that warm breath on her neck again.
“Wanna know why you can trust me on this one?” he asks, his deep voice playing around her ear.
Jieun shudders at the memories it brings back, desperately wanting to pull away but at the time just wanting to lean into him and give in. Finally, she turns towards him, looking right into his deep brown eyes, one bruised and swollen. “I really don’t care,” she responds, stepping away from him. “The door’s that way.”
And he lets out a small laugh, shaking his head, before he finally steps away, leaving the apartment.
“…That was Yongguk, wasn’t it?” Daehyun didn’t even know he still possessed the ability to speak until the question tumbled out of him.
“In all his ing glory,” Jieun murmurs darkly. “Now what the are you doing here? God, you really can’t ing listen, can you?” And Jieun doesn’t quite know why she’s being meaner to Daehyun than she was to Yongguk, but she’s pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that Yongguk is, well, Yongguk, and he’s not gonna change. But Daehyun…Daehyun has so much…potential. She hates to sound like a sappy third grade math teacher but Daehyun is better than this. He’s got something going for him. It wouldn’t do him any good to get tangled in her life now.
“I- I was just with Jungin a-and Sungah and Sungmi. But I got…a little…drunk.” By the last word Daehyun is whispering, and Jieun would have laughed if she wasn’t so goddamn pissed.
“So you decided it would be a good idea to get ing drunk with three strangers and then sleep with them? Daehyun, we’re not the girls you grew up with, we’re the ones you grew up staying away from. So stay. Away.” And the words are only slightly bitter.
“But I don’t want to.”
Jieun snaps her head up at Daehyun’s quiet words, her heart hardening more. “Well then you’re either stupid or ignorant, and probably both. Because you don’t know what it means to get involved with people like us.” The debt, the drugs, the lies, the promises. A million reasons flash through Jieun’s mind as to why Daehyun wouldn’t survive in her world.
Daehyun wants to stay, but he knows it’s not his place. Not when Jieun seems to hate him, not when Jieun seems about ready to burst into tears. It just isn’t the time. So he bows his head and mumbles some meek words about not being as innocent as he looks and hurries out of the apartment, dreading his arrival at home.
Jieun’s finally alone, finally, after a night that never seemed to end but she wished hadn’t happened. All the energy has left her, and she’s about to go to sleep, when her phone beeps. If she had known what was on it, she would have ignored it, but as it is, she groggily lifts the dead weight that is her arm and checks the message from an unknown number.
But the number is unknown to her phone, and not Jieun herself, who instantly recognizes Yongguk’s phone.
I know because you used to look at me like that. Those days are gone, huh?
Jieun can feel her heart clench at the words, every little memory and detail of how, but mostly why, she fell in love with Yongguk tumbling into her mind. She staggers to the couch, feeling weak and confused and tired and just missing so goddamn much when she was happy with Yongguk. When he would keep her safe, and laugh with her, and always, always make her feel better. But that Yongguk is gone, if he ever even existed, and all Jieun is left with now is a half-dead phone and an empty shell of a girl that used to be happy.
A girl who can only cry because everyone’s walking out, a girl who knows it’s her fault because she pushes them away, and a girl who really misses being held when she’s broken like this.
Comments