The foster family that Jinri and Jinah are placed with are very kind. It’s a man and his wife who could never have children of their own, and they have a quaint little house not far from Jinri’s school. They are soft-spoken and kind, but Jinri doesn’t trust them. She’s got trust issues anyway, and she knows that at some point someone is going to try to take Jinah away from her. She’s not sure how she’ll survive if and when that happens.

School is even harder than usual. The foster family and the social workers ensure that Jinri goes to school every single day – even if someone has to drive her, they make sure that she doesn’t neglect her classes any more.

On top of that, it seems that everyone knows about Jinri’s family issues within a day or two of her and Jinah going to live with their foster family. Jinri is used to people talking about her – she’s put up with it most of her life, after all – but this is entirely different. She’s not used to people looking at her with pity. She doesn’t want anybody’s pity.

Even her teachers begin to treat her differently. Their grading suddenly gets more lenient so that she can pull a passing grade even if she writes the wrong answer on nine out of ten questions. She’s not really grateful for it. She just wants everyone to pretend like everything is normal even if it’s not. That’s all she really wants.

“How are you holding up?”

It’s Yongguk, who somehow finds her during lunch even though she’s hiding out in one of the unused corridors on the third floor. She isn’t eating – she hasn’t had much of an appetite lately – but she’s reveling in the quiet that she can’t seem to find anywhere else.

She shrugs as Yongguk sits down beside her, close enough that they’re touching but not too much contact. She’s grateful for that. She’s been hugged so many times in the past few days that the last thing she wants is human contact unless it’s from her sister. Jinah is about the only person she can never get tired of.

“Yeah, I sort of figured,” he admits, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

They’re quiet for a while, both lost in their thoughts.

It’s Yongguk who breaks it. “Let’s get out of here,” he suggests, his voice abnormally loud in the quiet, deserted hallway.

Jinri gives a little shake of her head. “No thanks. I’m not really in the mood to get laid right now.”

“Aren’t you always in the mood?” Yongguk cracks, but the smile in his voice lets her know that he’s joking. “Anyway, I didn’t mean that anyway. I was thinking bubble tea. My treat.”

She gives him a sidelong look. “Why?” she demands. “You’ve never wanted to hang out with me before if it didn’t end with you getting laid.”

Yongguk simply shrugs. “I just do. So let’s go.”

Jinri shakes her head again. “I can’t ditch. The social worker and my foster parents have been watching me like hawks. They don’t want me to fall behind in school or anything.”

“They won’t know,” Yongguk assures her. “I’ll have you back before the final bell. You can just pretend you were sick and went to the infirmary.”

Jinri hesitates only a second longer. “As long as you’re buying,” she says, getting to her feet. “I don’t have any money.”

“I offered, didn’t I?” he grumbles, but he’s sort of smiling as he says it. “Let’s go. I’m parked in the lot out back.”

Even though Jinri has been sleeping with Yongguk off and on for about five months now, this is the first time she’s ever been in his car. It’s nice – though not as nice as Himchan’s – and it’s a bit of a mess, but it smells like the zesty cologne he favors and Jinri likes it – though she’ll forever deny it. She settles back against the seat, feeling the heat washing over her toes, and closes her eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Yongguk asks softly as he drives, directing them to a nearby bubble tea shop that Jinri has visited before with Youngjae and Junhong.

Jinri shrugs again. “I don’t know,” she finally says. “I don’t know what there is to say. I don’t even know what I’m feeling.”

Yongguk hums thoughtfully. “Well, I know that I’m not you and that I’ve never been in a situation like this before, but I would probably feel relieved, if I were you. Relieved that I’m not getting ed over anymore. Relieved that my sister isn’t going to have to grow up like that.”

Jinri opens to interject, but Yongguk plows on.

“But I think I would also feel a little guilty. Everyone needs a mother and father, whether they pretend that they don’t or not, and you don’t want to be the one responsible for keeping that from your sister. Also, I assume that once your parents go to court, you and your sister will more than likely be separated. I would probably be feeling pretty guilty about that, not to mention devastated. You must really think of Jinah as your daughter if you let everyone go on thinking that for so long.”

Jinri closes . He’s pretty spot on, actually.

They’re silent for a moment, Yongguk waiting for Jinri to say something in response but Jinri steadfastly keeping tight-lipped. Just when Yongguk is about to speak again, however, Jinri falters. “I just don’t know what I would do without her,” she says, and she hates the way her voice cracks. “I know it’s selfish. It’s horribly selfish of me, and I’m probably a terrible person for even thinking it. It would be better for Jinah if she could just start all over. She’s young enough that she’d be able to do so pretty easily, and she would forget whatever terrible memories she’s got. By the time she’s my age, she probably won’t remember anything. But I…I wouldn’t survive. Jinah is the only person in the entire world who has always loved me unconditionally, who will always be there for me no matter what.”

“That’s not true,” Yongguk said softly. “You know that Himchan has cared for you unconditionally since the first time he met you, even after he found out all the rumors that were floating around school about you. And the rest of us will be there, too. Daehyun and Youngjae and, you know, me.”

Jinri snorted. “Please. You hate me. You’ve hated me since the first time you met me. The only reason you put up with me is because I’m giving you free .”

“That’s not true,” Yongguk repeats again. “I mean, I did hate you at first.” He took a deep breath. “I haven’t told many people this, not even Himchan and the others, but I had a really ty mom growing up. To say I had a mom is stretching it, to be honest. She was an , and my father was one of her clients. I never met him; I doubt she even knows who he was.”

Jinri is suitably shocked. “Yongguk, I-”

He cut her off with a brusque shake of his head. “I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. That’s not why I told you. I just want you to understand why I hated you so much at the beginning.”

For the first time, Jinri felt guilty about her promiscuous ways. “You didn’t want Jinah to end up like you.”

He nodded. He had pulled his car into the lot across from the bubble tea shop, but neither made a move to get out. “My mom never wanted a kid, you know. I’m surprised she didn’t get an abortion or put me up for adoption, but she didn’t. She probably should have. She was never home, always off. When I was really young, I tried to convince myself that she was doing it so she could provide for me, but that wasn’t the case. When I got a little older, I realized that she did it because she liked it, and even know I can’t understand how someone can put something like before their own children.” He shook his head. The engine was still idling even though they had parked. “When I saw how much you cared about Jinah, I figured that you couldn’t be as bad as my mom. Sure you slept around, but at least you really cared about her. That’s more than I can say for my mom.”

“Yongguk,” she began.

But he shook his head as if shaking off the entire conversation. He turned the car off. “This is depressing. I didn’t mean for it to get that way.” He forced a little smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. It was obvious that his childhood had affected him in a big way. “Let’s go get some bubble tea.”

Jinri just nodded and followed him into the store. 

Yongguk bought their treats for them and they retreated to a little table at the back to drink it.

“Is that why you offered to start sleeping with me?” Jinri asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. “Because you didn’t want Jinah to grow up the same way? Because you didn’t want me to sleep around with different guys?”

Yongguk nodded glumly. “A pretty brash decision, I’ll give you that, but it made me so mad to see the way you were acting.”

Jinri looked down at the scratched tabletop. “You don’t have to do it anymore,” she said softly. “I’m not going to sleep around anymore. I’m done with that part of my life, I think.”

“Shut up,” Yongguk said shortly, a faint pink dusting his cheeks. 

Ta dah! I'm back! I bet you guys thought I had disappeared forever OTL Sorry that I went on a mini unannounced hiatus. I had eye surgery, so I wasn't able to look at my computer for a while. I'm really sorry!

I'm also really sorry that, when I finally do update, it's short like this! I'm really sorry!

Also, when did this become so angsty? TBH, when I first started planning this story, it was supposed to be a comedy! And look what it's turned into now! OTL