I LOVE YOU SO
Chapter Seventeen
❛ It's in Her Nature to Care. ❜

AERA DIDN'T GIVE a dime about many things.

She used care, a lot. She cared so much that it caused her heart to grow voluminous, making it way too large for the body she had. It often got turned into a fatal flaw, people used her kind heart for their greedy needs. But often, it wasn't something or someone that messed with her heart- it was really life that tainted her heart.

But sometimes, it just hurts to care, it hurts to scatter each piece of your heart on to everything. Usually you'll end up disappointed, pained, for that something or someone would leave that piece of your heart destroyed. Ripped apart with their own bloodied hands. You'll end up with nothing, your heart gone because you've scattered each piece on to everything you saw.

Aera wished she knew the kind of things she'd meddle into when she stepped into the cruel facility, a home to monstrous people with inhuman games. It messed her head up, hard. Just when her first game commenced, it was almost like a wake up call for Aera, it reminded her of how much she cared. She felt so much pain when those people that died from those supervisor's bullets- and Aera didn't even know those people.

Aera entered the facility with a full heart. After staying there for a couple of days, Aera felt as though her heart was benumbed. Yet, she didn't even place a piece of her heart onto anything, the facility still seemed to grasp on to it, damaging each tissue bit by bit every day.

After that Tug-of-War game, Aera believed that it was best to not give a dime about anything. But of course, she's Hwang Aera, it's more than impossible to get rid of the extremely large heart that she owned. It's in her nature to care.

Glumly biting on the corn that was on the cob, the taste sat blandly on Aera's tongue, the useless words that Mi-nyeo was spewing went through one ear and out of the other. Turning the yellow vegetable thoughtlessly, a deep frown creased at Aera's lips from the conversation her ears were picking up.

The sound of Ali's voice faded in and drowned out Aera's thoughts for the time being, "Matrix."

"Hmm," leaning over with both palms propped up on her hips, Mi-nyeon began to ridicule Ali, who did nothing but answer Mi-nyeo's foolish prattles, "hey when you arrived in Korea, was watching movies all you did?"

Almost getting up abruptly, a defensive expression loomed over Aera's tired one. But with her heavily bandaged leg, the bandage being mainly bedsheets that were tossed aside, it wasn't even easy to shuffle over the slightest bit, so it was arduous to get up. They all looked at Aera with puzzled eyes from her unexpected movement, averting her eyes sheepishly, her eyes landed on Ali as she tried changing the spotlight.

"Ali, I've watched some of the Matrix, it's actually really good! I think the popcorn I ate was more great than the movie, but mainly the movie." Lowering her sweetcorn with a bright nod, even though the nod made her vision pixelate for a few seconds due to how fast she did it, she rubbed at her eyes before giving Ali another grin. In an instant, Ali perked up and sat on the edge of his seat and matched Aera's cheerful grin.

Mumbling with the tip of the sweetcorn against her lips, "emphasis on the 'some of it'," an unsteady frown plastered on Sae-byeok's lips as she tried to fight the tiny smile that threatened to reveal itself.

"We don't talk about that Sae."

When Aera still lived in Seoul, she used to go to the cinema with Sae-byeok all the time- Hwang In-ho's treat. The best days for business were weekends that were filled with warmth. When the sunny sunbeams shone their celestial light on to the city, making everyone eager to eat something cold. On those sweltering days, the pathway would be busied with queues of people lining up for ice cream in In-ho's ice-cream van.

After a few minutes, almost every scoop was eaten from the ice-cream van, making In-ho's pockets be full of cash, which was more than enough to survive a few weeks. Normally, matcha ice-cream wasn't a popular option, which honestly surprised Aera to the fullest, it tasted scrumptious, and Sae-byeok always added that she loved how it melted perfectly on her tongue.

In-ho would gouge out several scoops on settle the matcha ice-cream on top of a fish shaped cone. The two gleeful girls would savor every moment, sometimes it took them hours to finish due to how reluctant they were with finishing it. Thus leaving their hands sticky with some drops of melted matcha ice-cream- causing In-ho to shake his head with a low chuckle.

With the well earned money, he'd take them to small fairs with colourful lights and a vividly painted ferris wheel, or he'd take them to the cinema to watch whatever played on the big screens that day. Of course, good things never last so long. A few months after that, the two girls discovered a disastrous piece of news, the tires of the ice-cream truck had been slashed by some culprits, people they never found, and the surface of the van had been spray painted messily.

Aera had never seen her brother so torn and with a different level of rage written upon his face. In-ho was just irritated that he couldn't earn a source of income anymore; they weren't financially stable to repair the entirety of the van. He always used the money wholeheartedly for Aera, so that he could spend some time with his little sister. It was difficult to find a free day at times, for In-ho had to look after their Ma too. Sometimes Aera had to look after their Ma, but he thought that she was too young to do that, she should be living out her childhood, not look after her parent for hours on end.

So quite rapidly, those day trips to the cinema drew to a hasty end in just under two months.

"Some?" Tilting his head towards the side with parted lips, Ali furrowed his eyebrows, baffled, "how could someone only watch some of it? It was so good my jaw nearly broke from it widening so much," Ali bit a section of sweet corn off the cob with a shocked expression illustrated on his face, he tried glancing towards Sae-byeok for an answer, but she only maneuvered her eyes away when he did.

Answering him swiftly, "it's because of the scary bits," Aera flung her arms around to accentuate her point, "you know when Trinity swung away from the explosion?" At this, Ali nodded enthusiastically, his eyes twinkling as if he was rewatching the very scene within his mind. "That was the scariest thing I've ever witnessed. I thought Trinity was going to die!" Swinging her arm towards the side and dragging out her last words, Aera placed a palm over her mouth with a quiet gasp.

"That's true, all she did was hide behind my back like a loser." Hiding the hushed chuckle that flew out of Sae-byeok's lips, she almost choked on a piece of shiny yellow corn as it got caught in her throat. Readjusting her posture, she flicked her hair to the side and replaced the small smile she had with a forced scowl. Though, it was tough when her mind kept reminding her of the time she watched the Matrix in the cinema with Aera and In-ho.

This earned her a gentle punch on the arm, "Sae you're not supposed to tell anyone!" Aera mumbled with her bottom lip sticking out.

At every dramatic or climatic scene, Sae-byeok would always see Aera cowering away with a squeal from the corner of her eye. Sae-byeok would turn around to face Aera with a soft cackle as Aera constantly covered her eyes with the sleeves of her jumper, being apprehensive over what could happen next in the movie.

Readjusting the position he was in on his seat, Ali shook his head at Aera's words as the whites around his pupils increased in size, "exactly! Exactly- I have to say, that was scary!"

"You see?" Practically yelling at that point with a broadened smile, Aera nearly tossed her sweetcorn to the side, in which Sae-byeok ducked under her arm hastily with an unbothered expression, all she did was continue on nibbling on a piece of corn attached to the cob.

"I guess I do see, yeah," shrugging lightly, Sae-byeok snickered behind her sweetcorn that covered her tiny smile.

"And when the glass rippled like water," Ali drummed his fingers against the air as he brought his hand in front of him, like he was recreating the scene but with hand gestures, "I was very amazed-"

"Mhm!" Approving loudly as she tried to chew the large amount of sweetcorn within her mouth quickly, she used her pointer finger, to point it next to her stuffed cheeks, and rotated it as if it would speed up the process. "- Right? Me too! It looked so real it feel like I was swinging from building to building with that harness too!"

"When Neo wrapped the wire around his arm thinking he could hold the helicopter too," slanting her body towards Aera and peeking through her fringe to look at Aera, Sae-byeok mumbled next to her with a tight-lipped smile.

Both Ali and Aera shared a small smile at Sae-byeok's comment to the conversation, tapping her foot in an extremely light manner, Sae-byeok shuffled around within her seat as she could see Ali and Aera exchange a look over her words.

Clapping his palms together exuberantly, Ali's eyes glimmered eagerly as a soft grin painted onto his face, "I thought I was the only one who felt that way too!" Clicking his tongue to himself, "I'm so glad that you two watched it, I've been wanting to talk about it with someone for a long time. My wife didn't watch it much because she said it was too violent," Ali almost slouched at those last words.

Humming to herself, Aera placed her finished corn on the cob aside, it rolled slightly, making her place a palm before it to stop it from falling on to the floor. Leaning forwards with her chin against her palm that rested on her knee, "well Ali Abdul, after we get out of this hellhole, we'll have pal days out. First I'll show you the kimchi in that café and then we can watch all the matrix movies!"

Throwing his arms into the air, delight filled Ali's voice, "I'll be looking forward to it Hwang Aera," he then nodded towards Sae-byeok with a jolly smile, one that was equally as genuine to the one he sent Aera, "you too," Ali faced the front again, his mind racing with the idea of having fun days out with his friendly companions.

". . . 'Everybody, three steps up when I signal.' Oh! My God, I can't believe how cool that was," breaking the wholesome interaction between Ali and Aera, Mi-nyeo's over dramatic and fake delightful tone pierced everyone's ears. "How did you come up with it under all that pressure?"

Aera knitted eyebrows together whilst wiping her sweetcorn smelling hands on to the sides of her trousers. In need of some water to refresh her throat and from how sore it was getting, from forcing her voice out of her bruised throat, she rubbed a hand across her neck. Grimacing as she placed her elbow onto the side, where there was a bed frame, Aera leant her head against the middle of her palm and flickered her eyes over towards Mi-nyeo.

It was blatantly obvious that Sang-woo was fed-up, an unamused line drew itself across his lips. he flickered his eyes towards Aera when he heard a tiny chuckle. Aera mouthed, "wow I'm Sang-woo and I am so cool, wow, wow, look at me!"

"I'll kill you," Sang-woo mouthed back with a half scoff and tiny grin, one that wobbled with his tight-lipped smile.

Returning his glare sharply on to his sweetcorn, Sang-woo bit a chunk off in a half vexed manner, he was mostly irritated over Mi-nyeo, who only praised him to make Deok-su envious, but also Aera's childish mannerisms.

"Earlier, you were the one who said no," Ali piped into the conversation with a fierce blaze burning within him, he saw the chance to humiliate Mi-nyeo and he took it sincerely.

"Oh yeah?" Nearly dropping the laidback and troublesome act she was upholding, Mi-nyeo almost drove daggers through Ali's soul with the sharp glare she gave him, "what was it that I said?"

"You cried and said," imitating the entertaining expression Mi-nyeo held when they were fighting for their life, his eyebrows arched upwards with his mouth pulled down in a comedic manner, "'but that's the edge. There's no way I'll go."

Earning a noisy snort from Aera, one that almost tore at her throat, she hovered a hand above her lips, her skin heated up from how humorous it all was. Even the side of her stomach began to ache from the strength needed to let out her laughter, she even had to clutch Sae-byeok's shoulder for assistance.

Tensing up over the contact, Sae-byeok's heart nearly plummeted before it returned to its normal state, but at the same time it pulsed a few beats quicker than normal. With the corner of her mouth tugged to the side from chewing on a piece of sweetcorn, she froze, Sae-byeok slowly peered over her shoulder, with her skin prickling with heat, some colour bloomed on to her freckled cheeks.

The hand that grasped tightly on to the corn on the cob, began to tremble only the slightest from how fast her pulse was beating. Trying to get it together by looking away, Sae-byeok could feel shoulder being weighed down as Aera's forehead rested against it. Aera's melodic chuckles rang through her ears.

"That," slapping her knee, but instantly regretting it as she winced slightly, Aera pointed towards Ali with a teetered grin as she tried to keep in her laughter, "that was a perfect impression Ali."

Catching Aera's infectious chuckles, Ali nodded quickly with a chortle, "it's true!" Flicking his head back on to a now sternly looking Mi-nyeo, his voice began to drag away into a quiet tone, he felt belittled all of a sudden as his shoulders drooped downwards, fear coated his eyes, " . . . you were like that . . ." He gulped.

"Hey, you. You got a visa?" Mi-nyeo stepped forwards with a disrespectful tone, "I bet you don't. You're an illegal alien-"

"Shut the fuck up Mi-nyeo," picking up her finished corn on the cob, Aera lifted it up and threw it at Mi-nyeo's arm, it didn't do much as it skidded down her shoulder and thudded against the cold floor. Sinking her shoulders over how anti-climatic it was, "this is why that brute's team over there kicked you out. You're offensive and you don't respect people's boundaries-"

"Hwang Aera," Mi-nyeo added with a sickly sweet voice, no matter how hard she tried to seem kind, it was obvious that her tone dripped heavily with a bitter tone, "I always thought you were some scrawny girl with nothing but an annoying voice!"

Guffawing with a palm above her open lips, Mi-nyeo returned her gaze on to a peeved Aera. "That Tug-of-War game changed my mind for a few moments. You were actually useful! 'I think we should stop tugging on the rope!'" Mi-nyeo mocked Aera. "When you said that I thought you were downright stupid! But then we won and I was beginning to think you're alright," stepping forwards with a taunting glare, "you were beginning to redeem yourself, but of course your extremely large mouth got in the way. It's always saying absolute junk."

Lifting her head away from Sae-byeok's shoulder, which felt oddly light, a strange loss of warmth could be felt within Sae-byeok's chest, Aera scoffed, "I don't even sound like that you idiot," murmuring against her palm, she gave Mi-nyeo a large eyeroll with an aggravated huff.

Feeling a soft kick on the middle of her back, Aera turned around to face Ji-yeong who mouthed discreetly with a palm covering her top lip, "I'm getting a headache from this woman." Thus, they both chorused a suppressed chuckle, their minds agreeing on the same idea.

When Mi-nyeo shot Ji-yeong a sharp look, Ji-yeong almost snorted and turned away with an amused glance. As she did so, she landed her eyes on Aera who covered her mouth with a hand, noticing her quivering shoulders, it was obvious that Aera was trying to conceal her laughter.

Mi-nyeo ignored the girls with an extensive sigh. "You know what boys, how about it? Why keep the strange foreigner when we could just ditch him- and why keep this idiot girl who never keeps her mouth shut, when everything would be easier without her? Our team's more secure that way, huh? Guess I'd better do some major restructuring while I'm here."

"I can't do this anymore," covering her head with her soft blanket, Aera flopped her face repetitively against her lap with her hands clamped on to the sides of her head, "this woman is actually mad," screaming into her lap, making it slightly inaudible, she groaned aloud when Mi-nyeo continued to talk.

"Very, very mad," Ji-yeong answered Aera quietly. Tilting her head to the side, Ji-yeong licked her hand from the amount of sweetcorn that stuck to it.

Lifting her head away from her lap with her chin elevated highly, Aera rolled her eyes towards the ceiling with an emphasised sigh. From the corner of her eye she could see Sae-byeok pick a piece of sweetcorn from her hair delicately, as it was embedded beneath Aera's messy strands of hair.

"There's no captain. We're all equal here," Sang-woo affirmed with a strong voice. Glancing towards his left, Sang-woo tried to redeem himself as he tried to get Aera to listen to him.

After the Tug-of-War game, guilt seeped into his veins for he felt that he was being a bit too mean to her before the game commenced. No one would've listened to him if it weren't for her back up. Lingering his eyes on Aera's irritated figure once more, he sighed heavily when Sae-byeok sent him a harsh and intimidating stare back, so he tore his eyes away and focused on Mi-nyeo.

"Ah! That's great," stepping backwards and almost tripping over the Aera's discarded corn on the cob, Mi-nyeo steadied herself by placing a palm on her hip, licking the sides of her teeth, Mi-nyeo wriggled her sweetcorn as she replied, "building an egalitarian society!"

Widening her mouth and letting a yawn tumble from her lips, Aera patted her mouth as she did so before moving towards the bed next to her, "I'm sleeping early," she didn't care that some players were staring at her questionably. The blanket reeked slightly from body odor, though other than that, her natural lemon scent overtook it slightly which made it bearable to sleep in.

"Is she alright?" She could hear Ali faintly ask Sae-byeok as her ears zoned in and out- fatigue took over her rested body.

Another voice added to the query with a concerned tone, "yeah, how's her leg? Did I wrap the bedsheets around the wound tight enough?" A small smile warmed onto Aera's face when she realised that the voice belonged to Gi-hun.

"Don't worry," because Ji-yeong was closer towards the rickety bed that Aera was in, her voice was louder and clearer than the others, who had a muffled voice, "she's Hwang Aera, she'll live."

Sae-byeok opened her lips to answer, but because Ji-yeong stole the words from her mouth, she closed it with a firm expression. Momentarily, her fingers curled into tight fists, she shoved them into her pockets, making them hidden away from plain sight. A glower ignited within her pupils as she trained her eyes on Ji-yeong, then at Aera. Sighing deeply, Sae-byeok shrugged it off, knowing that she made a good decision in giving Aera another chance and that she didn't make a bad choice.

There were times where Aera didn't give a dime about many things.

She thought that caring would be harder to do, but after a few moments of thinking to herself, as she played with the cold locket that was between her fingers, Aera began to believe that not caring at all would leave even more damage on her mind. If Aera stopped caring, it wouldn't seem like her at all.

With people caring about her, it encouraged Aera to do the same.

Aera started to place each piece of her heart onto the people she tolerated, in her team, she began to feel a whole lot more gleeful.

She cared for each and every one of them, because it's in Aera's nature to care.

( 340 words )

DEAR ALL,

I've been putting off writing this story because I'm drawing to an end and I'm too attached help-

love you all please stay safe🥰❤️‍🔥

WITH LOVE, SYLVIA