As soon as my dad left for work, I kissed my mom goodbye and went straight to ChaeMin's house. I don't really like leaving my mom alone at the house, but I'll be back before he gets home.

 

I'm laying down on ChaeMin's bed as she fixes her make-up in the bathroom. I don't know why she is. We're not going anywhere, I think.

 

"Done!" I hear her shout from her bathroom. I sit myself up and watch her walk back into the room.

 

"Why'd you put on make-up?" I ask her.

 

"I just felt like it. I don't know really." She says, sitting down on her chair near her desk. She scooted her chair closer to the bed and looks straight at me.

 

"What?" I ask.

 

"Yesterday, you said that that TaeHyung guy saw you at the park and wanted to walk you home after your dad incident. Did you tell him about your dad?"

 

"No! I'm not stupid. I wouldn't tell a complete stranger what's going on with my family." I shout quite loudly at her.

 

"Sorry." I add.

 

"It's okay. I just wanted to make sure you didn't."

 

"Why?"

 

"Well, I didn't want you to fall for a cute face you know. Since he's friends with the jerk I thought he'd try to flirt it out of you or something." She tells me. I laugh.

 

"No. He didn't force anything out of me. The only thing he forced was walking me home. Don't worry! I didn't show him my house. He doesn't know where I live exactly." I tell her.

 

"You said he wanted to be your friend?" She asks me. I nod my head.

 

"Don't you find that a bit weird?" She adds.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"That he wants to be your friend out of nowhere?"

 

I shrugged.

 

"I mean he told me that I was interesting and that I seemed cool to hang out with. I don't know, he seemed very serious about it too. And if he wasn't then he's very good at acting. He should do the school play." I tell her. She kind of chuckles, but it's more of a scoff.

 

"Just be careful around him. This seems weird. He seems too friendly with you." She tells me, and I just nod my head in agreement and then chuckle.

 

"Yeah, but if you were me you'd probably flirt with him." I tell her.

 

"Yeah, okay maybe I would but I'd be smart about it."

 

"So you'd basically play with him?"

 

"You can say that." We both laugh.

 

 

 

ChaeMin's experimenting with my hair when I realize that my dad will be home from work soon.

 

"Just let me finish this side! I'll do it quickly!" She says.

 

"ChaeMin...please I don't want my-"

 

"JaeEun don't worry! I don't want you to get in trouble with your father either. Just trust me. I'll do it fast!" She says, cutting me off. I sigh and just let her finish the other side of my hair.

 

She was straightening it out. My hair is a bit of a natural wave. ChaeMin at first thought I curl my hair the night before and wake up and just comb it out, but no, it's my natural hair style.

 

A few quick minutes later she finished straightening out all of my hair.

 

"Wow. You look good with any hair style." She says, combing my hair with her fingers.

 

"Thanks ChaeMin. But I really have to go now." I say, quickly getting up and grabbing my phone.

 

"Right. Right. Right. Be safe?" She says, pulling me into a hug. I nod and pull back, walking straight out of her room. I didn't want my dad to beat me home.

 

"JaeEun are you leaving now?" I hear ChaeMin's dad ask. I guess he saw me speed-walk towards the door.

 

"Yes! Sorry Mr. Yoo! It's a bit of an emergency!" I yell back, opening the front door.

 

"Oh alright! Next time stay for dinner?"

 

"I will. Thank you!" And I leave the house.

 

She lives about 10 minutes away from me, but it seems like a longer time since I feel like my dad's already home. He hates it when I leave the house without him knowing. But, whenever I tell him I want to go out, he just gets mad at me and starts lecturing me about how are your friends going to help your future? How are they going to give you money?

 

I finally reach my house and I'm sweating. My neck feels nasty with sweat and I can feel a little part of my shirt being stuck to my back. I'll take a shower when I get inside.

 

"JaeEun?" I hear someone call my name. I quickly turn around and saw TaeHyung with MinKyu. Really? What is this? Why are they coming more into my life? It was way more peaceful when they weren't in my life.

 

He catches me looking at him and he smiles and waves, walking towards me. MinKyu follows behind with the face of I don't want to be here anymore.

 

"Ah, so this is your house?" TaeHyung asks. He almost reaches me but he stops walking as soon as my front door opened. . . Nice. It's my dad.

 

"JaeEun?" I hear him shout. I look at him and I see his head is looking at TaeHyung and MinKyu.

 

"Who are they?" He asks me.

 

"Nobody. They're nobody Dad." I say, walking towards the door as fast as I can. I can't have him yell at me in front of them. I rather have him yell at me in the house.

 

"Who are you guys?" He asks, blocking the door so I can't walk inside.

 

"Dad! Really! They're no one! They're just people who are in the same class as me!" I shout at him.

 

"I'm Kim TaeHyung. This is Choi MinKyu. We're just in her class and we forgot we had homework over the weekend so we came by to ask her what it was." TaeHyung lies. Wow, he really can be a good actor.

 

MinKyu is just standing besides TaeHyung, silent.

 

"JaeEun, get in the house." My dad sternly says.

 

"Dad, leave them alone."

 

"I am. Just get in the house!"

 

I froze for a second and looked at TaeHyung. My eyes got watery and I wanted to burst out and cry right there. I wanted to yell at TaeHyung right there that it's his fault that my dad is going to yell at me and probably even hurt me.

 

As I looked at him, my eyes becoming watery, I can see some type of fear in his facial expression. He probably noticed my eyes getting watery. He just kept staring at me and it felt like he was saying sorry with just his face. I glanced over at MinKyu and his facial expression just showed some kind of boredom and confusion.

 

"JaeEun!" My dad shouts. I almost yelled from being scared but it came out as a silent whimpering.

 

I turned my face away from TaeHyung and walked into the house. As soon as I walked in, I heard my dad close the door. I booked it towards the stairs but my dad was too fast.

 

"Where's Mom?" I shout as he grabbed my wrist.

 

"She's grocery shopping." He says in a slightly calmed voice. But that's the only sentence he said calmly.

 

"What did I tell you about hanging out with boys? Or leaving the house without my permission? Especially with the grades you have right now young lady?" He shouts at me. He threw my wrist down to the floor, making me fall as well.

 

"I wasn't hanging out with them! They were just walking on the sidewalk! I didn't know they were here!" I shouted. "Mom said I could leave the house!"

 

I regretted that. Now my mom is going to get in trouble.

 

"Are you two doing things behind my back now? I am a part of this family, you guys do know that right?" He shouts.

 

I'm just crying loudly, not even able to answer his rhetorical question. I quickly picked myself up and tried for the stairs again. As soon as I reached what I think was the third step, I felt a whip on my right arm that made me fall on the steps from shock. He's using his belt.

 

"Get up." He says in a serious tone. I just stay on the steps, curling myself into a ball and defending my face. I'm crying and yelling leave me alone.

 

"I said get up!" He whips me with his belt again. I yell in pain louder. My mom walks in the house. I don't know whether to say good timing or bad timing. It can be good, because she can try and stop it. But, it can also be bad, because she would probably get hurt as well.

 

Through even my loud tears, I can hear my mother gasp.

 

"Are you letting her hang out with friends and guys without letting me know?" He yells at her.

 

It's silent for a few seconds until my mom speaks.

 

"No. I didn't know she was hanging out with guys. I just shooshed them away right now. They were waiting in front of the house. Why?" She tells him.

 

Of course. Thanks Mom. You're such a great support. You really love to see your daughter not in pain or suffering. You totally show me that very well.

 

He hits me with the belt again. I yell louder in pain and he keeps whipping me, telling me to shut up. I couldn't take it anymore so when he whipped me again, I grabbed his belt and yanked it out of his hand.

 

I quickly got up and slapped his face with the belt. I thought I was being brave for fighting back, but it only hurt me more. He slapped me hard, making me go against the railing and then falling back on the steps. I hear my mom yelling behind him.

 

He warps his arm around my stomach and lifts me up. He carries me upstairs and into my room. He goes to my closet and throws me in there, closing the door and locking it from the outside. There's no knob inside. I can't get out.

 

I keep banging on the door, begging him to let me go. I kept shouting for him to let me leave the closet. I hear my mom and dad in front of my room whisper arguing.

 

Mom: "Honey just lock her in her room. The closet is too harsh."

 

Dad: [slaps my mom] "What did I say about her leaving the house? You see her grades don't you?" [yelling]

 

I keep banging on the closet door. No one's coming to my rescue.

 

 

 

It's been who knows how long and I'm curled up in the corner. My room is dark, it's night time. I hear footsteps coming my way and my heart starts beating fast. I push myself more into the corner, afraid.

 

The closet door quietly opens and my mom pulls me out as quick as she can. She grabs my wrist and quietly drags me downstairs. I see two suitcases next to the front door.

 

"Mom. No Mom. Please don't let him kick me out!" I cry quietly, whispering it to her. I grab her arm begging her not to kick me out.

 

"Shhh! He's not kicking you out! He still thinks you're locked in your closet. Hurry. ChaeMin's mom is waiting outside in the car. I called her when your dad was downstairs watching TV. I told her that your dad and I need some time alone because we're having problems and she agreed to let you stay as long as I need you to stay." She whispers to me, choking on the words.

 

"But Mom, he'll hurt you!" I cry. She shakes her head and pushes me out the door. She hands me the suitcases and closes the door, locking it.

 

I try to open the door again and had an urge to bang on it. But I heard my father yell and I became afraid. I quickly grabbed my suitcases and ran towards the car.

 

ChaeMin's mom didn't ask me anything. She just drove me to her home and ChaeMin took me into her room. I told ChaeMin everything. I told her how it started, what happened, and why I'm here with her.

 

I was crying and ChaeMin was hugging me. It was like that for a good long 5 minutes, until her mother came in and told us something surprising.

 

"JaeEun. There's a friend that's here to see you."

 

Both ChaeMin and I looked at her weird. It can't be JiHye. She would've told us it was her and not "a friend". She steps aside from the doorway and TaeHyung reveals himself. I don't know what ChaeMin's expression was, but I was confused. His expression, still had the fear from when he was in front of my house.

 

"He honestly told me that he followed us here." ChaeMin's mom says. She lets him walk in the room and she walks downstairs herself, closing the door before.

 

He looks at the door close and I get off the bed and walk up to him.

 

"You made this happen!" I cried. I didn't even care with the fact he followed me here. I weakly hit his chest. I kept hitting him. I kept yelling at him, saying that he made everything worse. I kept pushing him. I kept hurting him weakly, until I fell weak to my knees, and fainted.