35. befriended

"You win, Han Seojun. You win."

Seojun was never an overthinker. He was not even an average thinker. He did stuff and then thought about it, mostly consequences over precaution and that was what he lived by. His entire 18 years of life was him being rash in his decisions, doing whatever the fuck he wanted to and then looking back at them with a hint of regret.

Like the time when he pretended to be interested in Lim Jugyeong only so he could hurt Lee Suho who was interested in the girl. That backfired pretty fast when he fell for the girl for real and watched her rip his heart into pieces. Or the time when he was so mad at Suho for not being there for their late friend, never really understanding his point of view or his trauma.

Even now, especially now, when a month back he was ready to crush Kang Soojin's esteem, break her completely to make her feel the same pain she infused on Jugyeong. However tables had turn once again, and he felt the same way he did when his other actions had consequences.

Post the very scary statement Soojin said, she had gotten up and left him in the parking lot. He didn't have the courage to follow her or ask her what she meant or simply put, he didn't want to face her after what clearly seemed like she knew everything all along. Seojun was seated on the cold floor for an hour or so, contemplating the what and the why before heading home.

Although the next day in school his overthinking halted when he saw Kang Soojin seated in her usual seat. He would have kept his distance if it wasn't for the black marks on her arms. She hadn't bothered to cover them and he couldn't help but feel rage fill him.

The class hadn't started yet, it was Mr. Han's homeroom class and Seojun sat next to Soojin almost immediately. Kang Soojin didn't bother turning, she was scribbling in her book, possibly solving a math problem or gibberish given Seojun didn't know the difference. But Seojun noticed how her jaw clenched the moment he placed his bag on the bench besides her.

"Who?"

Soojin stopped writing. She held the pen in her hand, gripping it tightly and almost breaking the point of the pen by pressing it on the paper but she didn't bother turning her head.

"Who did it?" Seojun asked again, this time articulating his words carefully and clearly. He was facing her, ignoring how his friends were interested in the duo. "Did your father do this?" He asked, and Soojin's sharp inhaling caught his attention. "Does he hit you? Is that the scar marks?"

Seojun wasn't the softest and his whispers were loud enough for the nearby class to hear too. But thankfully for the chitchat of half the students, and the tardiness of the other, not many were paying attention to them. Suho and Lim Jugyeong sighed at the revelation, Su-ah was too shocked and Soojin glared at Seojun. The other classmates who heard gasped and soon whispers followed.

"Han Seojun," She had the same tone of nonchalance they shared in the beginning. "Shut the fuck up."

Han Seojun scoffed, he was clearly bothered by the fact that Soojin's parents were abusing her and the girl never took a step at that. She'd fight him, she'd fight the school and the world but she couldn't fight her parents?

He held her arm before she could retreat her quest to solve all the math problems in the world and startled the girl. "Let me see," He drew his chair closer, examining her arms and those were imprints of a strong hold. He could see the nail imprints too, dried blood and darker marks.

"Let go," Soojin tried to fight off the hold of the boy who didn't care how the entire class was watching the. "Han Seojun!"

"Wae?" Seojun held her arms, meeting her eyes, "why didn't you tell me?" He was hurt, but she didn't know why.

Was he still roleplaying? Didn't he know that she knew about his cheap plant and that this charade needed to stop? Where was this heading?

"After everything you could have just told me," Seojun had held her cold hands in his warms ones, her miserable dry hands fit perfectly in his soft ones. "Soojin-ah, wae?"

Soojin couldn't believe the audacity of the guy to not only question her why she didn't share her deepest darkest secret but also to continue this act of being interested in her. Maybe he was dumb enough to not understand what she said, if not that, Soojin couldn't think of anything else why Seojun would still speak to her with those soft eyes.

"Wae?" Soojin scoffed, withdrawing her hands from his hold, "seriously? Han Seojun, are you for real?" She shook her head, afraid she'd cry and after everything, she only had her dignity to hold to. "Let's not talk about it here."

Thankfully for her Mr. Han entered the class hurriedly, apologising for being late and asking them to open their books but Seojun grabbed Soojin's arm and stood up with her abruptly. Suho and Jugyeong glanced at each other before watching the duo.

"Can I take Soojin to the nurse's office? She needs medical." Seojun didn't wait for an answer as he pulled Soojin out with him, the latter didn't want to create a scene in the class and considered it best to follow Seojun out of the class.

Lim Jugyeong and Lee Suho followed them, excusing themselves as Su-ah sat back with a worried glance at the door.

_

"What. The. Fuck."

Han Seojun ignored the incessant cursing of the girl as they stood in the corner of the back alley of the ground. He was focused on the fact that Soojin may or may not be a victim of physical abuse by her family and the sheer thought of that was boiling his blood. So many things said between them, shared between them and she didn't tell him anything of that sort.

"Why are we here?"

"You tell me." Seojun took a step closer, intimidating the seething girl but she didn't let it show standing her ground firm. "Whats with these new scars you carry every day with you?"

That shut her up. Kang Soojin gulped, she didn't expect him to be direct at the question, that one thing that was her weakness. She could face every hardship in life, she'd do anything to fight for herself but anything against her father or her parents made her a weakling. She knew that, but she had a plan and everything was supposed to go accordingly.

Why is Han Seojun ruining everything?

"That is not important," Soojin refrained from answering his direct question and avoided eye contact. "The matter at hand is you being nosey when you should not."

She walked past him, hoping to escape without causing anymore drama but Seojun was not in the mood of letting go because he held her arm again, stopping her.

"Its your father isn't it?" Seojun said, meeting her tired eyes, "that bast-"

"Han Seojun!" Lee Suho intervened at the right time because Soojin was about to throw hands. "What is the matter with you," He said, standing in between them, Jugyeong besides Suho, equally worried.

"Let her go."

"We can talk this like sane adults." Jugyeong added, she was one of the few who knew about Soojin's father and the abuse she bore all the years. "Getting riled up about it will not help anyone, Seojunnie."

"I am getting riled up?" Seojun asked, angry and seething, but Soojin's arm still under his hold. "How are you guys not getting mad at this, I'll never know." He was so upset that a friend of his was going through shit and none of her friends knew.

However, the faces of Suho and Jugyeong said otherwise, they were both calm and too okay about the matter so he asked them the question they feared he would.

"Did you two know about this?" Soojin shut her eyes, tugging at her arm but Seojun did not bother leaving her. "Aish, shibal," He cursed, now looking at Soojin, "you told them but not me?" Soojin met his hurt eyes, those puppy eyes held so many emotions that it was impossible for all of them to be a fabricated lie. "After everything we have been through this month?"

"Jinjja?" Soojin was mad now, the audacity of the traitor in front of her was appaling her, "for real? have you told me everything Seojun?"

Suho and Jugyeong sighed, they felt like they were in a middle of a fight they did not belong to. Suho even tried being the peacemaker but neither of the hotheads would take a step down.

"Listen guys, let's not..."

"No I want to hear." Soojin cut Suho off, facing Seojun with her classic cold expressions, "I want to know everything you did not tell me and don't even try denying it anymore Seojun." They looked at the ghostly pale Seojun who was held on gunpoint by the fiesty girl.

"I don't know what you know," Seojun's voice was softer, his grip on her arm had loosened too, "but that is not the entire truth."

"Not the entire truth?" Soojin scoffed, withdrawing her hand from his hold, "you wanted to be friends with me, make me like you and then break my heart rejecting me only because I broke Jugyeong's trust, is that not true?"

Seojun knew this was to come, his jaw clenched at the not so surprising discovery and he only looked at Soojin, not once averting his gaze. Suho and Jugyeong furrowed their eyebrows, confused and out of place.

"What are you even saying?" Jugyeong voiced for her best friend, she knew Seojun would never hurt anyone knowingly. "Soojin, I know you have a thing for breaking others so they don't break you but you need to be careful with the words you use."

This was the first time Jugyeong had spoken directly to Soojin, the girls were now eyeing each other, intensely and ready to take the fight a step ahead.

"Listen, stay out of this." Soojin gritted her teeth, she was so mad at herself for hurting Jugyeong and yet couldn't bring herself to apologise. "You don't have to barge in every thing acting all the more naive than you are." She pounced on Jugyeong but Seojun beat Suho to defending her, pulling Jugyeong behind.

"Why are you angry on her when I'm the one you're supposed to lash out on?" Seojun answered, mad at the girl. "Also, the audacity you have to speak so high and mighty to the girl whom you so easily traumatised. Who gave you the right to bully people and who the fuck are you to speak against Jugyeong?" Seojun took a step closer to the panting girl but Suho pushed Seojun behind, trying to calm one of them.

"It's always Jugyeong isn't it?" Soojin said, the angry voice was replaced by a defeated stance. "Always Lim Jugyeong. Always." She chuckled humorlessly and held her head, running her hand through her hair as she looked at Jugyeong. "What is that you have that I don't? I am good in what I do, I fare well in exams, I look better and I even try harder to keep people around then how do you manage to get all the best things about my life and I get nothing in return..." Soojin was in tears, crying and breaking down as she faced Jugyeong. "You took my best friend, you liked my childhood crush, and you even managed to win the heart of the guy who you don't even know likes you so much..."

Seojun and Suho immediately backed up at that, Jugyeong didn't know that Seojun liked her and this was not the way Seojun wanted her to know. She looked at the duo, startled and shocked whilst Soojin chuckled.

"I hope you know how fucking lucky you are, Lim Jugyeong." Soojin wiped her tears, facing the two boys who were hopelessly in love with the girl she could never be.

"So is that why you bullied me?" Jugyeong faced Soojin, tired of being the nicer one. "Is that why you threw away our friendship, all of those promises, everything only because you were jealous of me? Do you even know how much you made me wanna die by uploading those videos? By betraying me and stabbing me in the back only because the guy you liked didn't like you?" Jugyeong was crying, she always did whenever she was angry and at that point she was pissed. "I cried so much more when I heard it was you who did this, not because those videos were out but because I lost you. You. I loved you so much. So much that you've no idea what I'd give to just have you as my friend."

Soojin was silent. So were the boys. On the other hand Jugyeong was finally speaking her mind, finally facing her fears, getting the closure she needed.

"You were my best friend, Kang Su, you were the girl I looked up to and wanted to be with forever but you threw it all away." Jugyeong wiped her tears with the back of her hand, sobbing and sniffing. "I loved you but you only loved yourself. And I'd give up all the Suhos of my life for you in a heartbeat but you couldn't even give up your petty jealousy for me. And I hate to ever have befriended you, because you'd rather wallow in self pity than take a stand for yourself and others."

_