I LOVE YOU SO
Chapter Twenty-one
❛ Buying more days of sorrow. ❜

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN. A symbol of great wealth, when many think of this, they think of money, great big stashes of them. If one was to look at them for the first time, they'd think it's pointless. But the thin, papery piece of rectangular paper, is worth more than life itself. Money could practically be named as a disease, it eats at people's rational conscience, possessing them with a greed they cannot control.

The five corpses, that were strung up tightly by the wrists, dangled sickeningly from the ceiling. They were blinded by the glory of money- costing their lives. From where they were swinging from, it almost seemed like the were chained to a washing line, making the situation even more inhuman. Nothing in the facility was human anyways.

Every single second, spent in the vile facility, was barbarous.

If trauma had hands, it tore at their souls, leaving them with nothing but an endless void in their chests.

"Players," the head supervisor announced, adding to the racing thoughts within Aera's mind. "What you witness before you are the remains of those who broke the rules for their own benefit. They tainted the pure and fair ideology that everything here has been built upon. Each and every one of you is considered an equal. Within these walls of this facility, you must be guaranteed the same opportunities without being disadvantaged, or face any kind of discrimination."

Almost tripping over the step she was on, bile threatened to escape from her lips as the rim of her eyes moistened with tears. Her tears swam within her enlarged eyes, reflected on to them were the five innocent people. They were probably trying to escape the horrid facility- thus resulting in their lives being taken away abruptly.

With her head pounding, every inch of her muscles froze as her eyes glued on to the strung up corpses, surely tainting her mind forever. Wrinkling her nose and wiping the end of her sleeve against her nose, the foul stench from the rotting remains began to spread across the air, making Aera have a desperate need to inhale fresh oxygen.

"We truly apologise for allowing such an unacceptable incident to occur," the head supervisor finalised.

Covering her nose with the corner of her elbow, Aera inhaled and exhale largely, trying to maintain a calm composure, but her eyes wondered over towards a crimson splattered corpse in particular. Limping backwards, with a thin layer of saliva coating her tongue, a rumble of sick dared to fly out of Aera's mouth.

With a dry throat, her muffled screams became incoherent as she trained her eyes on the corpse that was clad in green. Shaking her head slowly as her hand grasped tightly on to the side of the staircase, she remembered the doctor's compassion and his kind offer on stitching the wound on her leg.

"Hey look at me," lowering her chin, Sae-byeok dropped a comforting palm on Aera's shoulder, causing her to jerk, being startled, Aera blinked several times as her pool of tears caused her vision to become hazy. "Aera."

Aera stammered, her breathing was uneven, glancing back and forth at both Sae-byeok's sincere pupils, "okay . . . okay," she watched as they grew softer. Inclining her head hastily, Aera felt herself being dragged carefully up the stairs by Sae-byeok's arm, one that was slung around her shoulders lightly.

Glancing behind his shoulder with a frown that gradually formed on his face, Gi-hun took in how the ordeal deeply affected Aera, the quiet hiccups that fell from her lips, caused his ears to ring.

From the way her skin grew ashen, and how jittery she was being, Gi-hun tried his best to get something else on her mind, rather than the traumatic images, "I'll tell you what Aera, my Omma knows an old man that makes the finest of bubble teas. I used to get them for my daughter every weekend. Once we're out of here, I'll recommend them to you, if you'd like?" The sight of Aera nodding eagerly made his cheeks brighten as he chuckled delightfully, "yeah? Okay, okay," Gi-hun patted her shoulder with a more content grin.

"Let's just keep going," nudging at Aera's shoulder with a tense expression, Sae-byeok tightened her grip, softly, around Aera's shoulder, her fingers drummed against Aera's shoulder blade, making it tingle at the slightest.

Tilting his head towards the side, with a finger, Gi-hun poked the edge of Sae-byeok shoulder with a widened grin, earning himself an agitated eye roll. "Hey pickpocket, you too. I owe you a smoothie, since I knocked your last one out of your hands by accident, you remember when-"

"Yeah I remember," cutting his sentence short, Sae-byeok had a tight-lipped smile as she tried speeding up their steps to enter the shadowless room, overtaking Gi-hun who clicked his tongue, the blindingly bright walls greeted them as they walked inside.

"Did you pickpocket Gi-hun?"

From her peripherals, Sae-byeok could feel Aera's burning gaze, followed by a fiery sensation on her cheek as she felt Aera drag a few strands of her hair away from her face. Sucking in a breath, she bit on the inside of her mouth, Sae-byeok tried to keep her pretty mouth from plastering a single peck on every line that decorated the surface Aera's pink lips.

Blinking slowly, Sae-byeok remained unbothered, she was skilled at concealing her emotions, yet the fierce shade of rosy red tinted her cheeks, making it a flaw in her skill. "He ran into me, his money fell into my hands," she shrugged with an easy grin.

"Mhm," leaning backwards with Sae-byeok's arm behind the middle of her back, Aera felt her gentle fingers tap rhythmically against it, "sure it did," finding a weak yet amused chuckle escape from her lips, the tears within Aera's eyes began to evaporate into the air. Though, feeling how Sae-byeok's hands grew cold and trembled slightly, concern melted into Aera's warm pupils as she tugged on Sae-byeok's palm, "what's on your mind Sae?"

"It's not like I enjoy it. It's a constant reminder of the money I can never own. I hate doing what I do," darting her eyes everywhere but Aera, "the fact that money is the bane of our existence- it's fucked up."

They say happiness can't buy happiness. But, if we have to pay to live, does that mean we're buying more days of sorrow?

From the way Sae-byeok avoided Aera's perturbed eyes with a faraway gaze and hardened eyes, how she pursed her lips together, you could almost see through Sae-byeok's eyes and see the trouble on her mind. "Let's just talk about something else,"

"Of course Sae," Aera hummed, knowing it was best to leave the topic alone, tucking her bottom lip under her top teeth, she squinted, she wanted to talk about so many things, that it made it hard to choose. It would take some time for Sae-byeok to open up some more, but Aera was willing to be patient for her.

"Tell me about your classes in NYU, what did you do there, tell me all the times that made you laugh," dragging her vermillion coloured lips to the side, "or cry," Sae-byeok raised her neatly arched eyebrows upwards, ready to listen intently at Aera's upcoming ramblings. "But I don't want to hear that assholes made you cry, or I will go to New York myself and make them choke on their own spit."

"I appreciate that Sae, but I can handle them myself," chuckling softly and pushing her arm into Sae-byeok's side lightly, Aera shook her head tinily, "the only assholes were the assignments I had." A twinkle glimmered across Aera's pupils as they dilated, "there was this one time though . . ."

"Who?" Sternly tilting her head to the side with a spark preparing to fester within Sae-byeok's eyes, the inner muscles within her arms became rigid.

"No, no, not like that," waving her hands in front of her, a gentle grin flittered on to Aera's lips, her bright features were contagious for Aera could see the relief fill Sae-byeok's tense eyes. "I took photography classes," hopping on the balls of her feet with an uncontrollable amount of pink flooding on to her cheeks, Aera could almost here faint seagulls within the back of her mind, "and for one of the educational trips we got to go to Jeju Island."

Stumbling away with her pulse hastening, Sae-byeok's ears rang as an overwhelming warmth filled her chest. "No way- Jeju Island? Was it beautiful like in the brochures? Like on the advertisements? You lucky idiot . . ." Blinking back a few soft tears, some trickled freely down her cheeks, in which she roughly rubbed them away, "I'm so happy for you."

There was a shimmer within Sae-byeok's eyes, a light that almost matched the glow she had when they were younger. Aera felt her shoulders shake, a bashful smile illustrated on her lips as she nodded eagerly, "it's more than beautiful . . . It's almost like, like a paradise or heaven, or- or better!"

During those starlit nights by the river in Seoul, where the two young girls would rest on top of a tattered old scarf on the grass, with their bulky picnic basket full of goods next to them, the dots of silver in the sky would glow its heavenly light onto the bright girl's faces.

At times, when it was the season where lemons would ripen on its skeletal branches, they'd share small pastel green drinks with drops of sliced lemon within it- making it matcha lemonade. Where did they get the lemons from? Well, as they cycled back from school, they would make a stop by the lemon tree and pluck some fresh lemons off the branches, ready to be mixed in with their cold beverage. A great drink to wash down the sugary snacks they had within their picnic basket.

For the majority of the serene nights, when the stars had a reason to shine, the girls would listen to the calm river in front of them- and pretend they were in Jeju island.

Sae-byeok remembered when they used to visit the train station, just so they could take some maps and look at them at the park. They'd scan them with wild thoughts, ones going from hiking on the Palgongsan mountains to going to every single arcade in South Korea. The last one being Aera's idea, since she always wanted to win an adorable looking plushie from the claw machines.

One time, Sae-byeok picked out a brochure of Jeju Island.

Within a span of fifteen minutes, Sae-byeok's radiant eyes were filled with such wonder, every segment of her heart was filled with such astonishment. "Aera, Aera, Aera, Aera-" Young Sae-byeok's thrilled voice, startled her closest companion as she waved the brochure repeatedly in front of Aera's face, her eyes shimmered with avidly.

"Sae, Sae, Sae, Sae," only seeing a blurry page, Aera threw her head back and chuckled, snatching the brochure gently from Sae-byeok's fingers, "woah, this looks like a movie place," she gasped in awe at the mind-boggling images of the exquisite island. "What's this world called?" Aera rushed as she flapped her arms about, her hands gripping loosely on Sae-byeok's wrists as a lively smile painted on her pink lips.

"Jeju Island," flipping the pages hurriedly, Sae-byeok had the the tip of her tongue sticking out of her mouth in concentration, "and look," tapping a finger heartily on the smooth page, "it's exactly 224 miles from here," Sae-byeok gripped her bottom lip with her front teeth with rosy cheeks.

Running her eyes over the many lines of intriguing words on the brochure, Aera hummed softly as the pit of her stomach played somersaults at the sight of the gorgeous land and the vivid skies. "We have to save up for this."

"Uh huh!" Sae-byeok started to dance around the dandelion dotted fields, the lilac flowers brushed against her knees as her two ponytails, that had her short hair tied up, bounced and fluttered against the late night Seoul breeze.

"But Sae . . ." Aera's features drooped at the price marked on the bottom of the brochure in a small font, "it's takes ₩100,000 to get to there, what about the hotel and activities? It's a lot of money."

Stopping in her tracks with her arms falling to her side, a more determined gaze than a despondent expression fell on Sae-byeok's face, "screw money," extending an arm for Aera to take, at that moment Sae-byeok was ecstatic to find a place to think of on the daily.

"Yeah, screw money," arising from the ground, Aera took Sae-byeok's warm hands and they began to jump around their picnic rug, the river beside them as the imaginary sea and the grass being Jeju's land, both their faces lit up with soft smiles as they twirled around.

Snapping out of her daze, Sae-byeok peered over towards the open space below them, the white room was squeaky clean, there were no traces of dirt or grime, every corner smelt strongly of detergent, making it impossible to trace any evidence of DNA- you couldn't even detect it under high-tech devices. They reached the bottom of the staircase, Sae-byeok flickered eyes towards the wall, where the two of them found the broken butterfly. Her eyes only met a clean space, the butterfly was completely demolished and out of sight.

She could see Aera sway slightly with dejected eyes.

Sae-byeok was glad that at least one out of the two got to visit Jeju Islands, grasping on to Aera's shoulders, a delighted grin pulled at her lips, "you better tell me all about it Aera, every single detail."

"I won't have to," Aera turned on her heels to face Sae-byeok, "because you're coming with me to Jeju Island after this, to go to that heavenly place and away from this hell."

"But," tilting her head with a faltering smile, Sae-byeok's shoulders sunk, "the money," perking up slightly, "I know I hate pickpocketing," slowing with a long exhale, "but I'll continue it, for us," thinking hard, Sae-byeok finished with an unsure grin, "but wait, when we're out of hell that means we've won the money-"

"Have you forgotten Sae?" Finding a fond smile manoeuvre on her lips, Aera grinned softly with her hands placed on Sae-byeok's forearms.

"Forgotten what?" Sae-byeok stopped short with knitted eyebrows.

"Screw money."

"Oh yeah," taking in those words, Sae-byeok stood up straighter, nodding quickly, "screw money."

( 2519 words )

DEAR ALL,

I don't know if anyone will answer this but could you say what you think might happen during the marble game and afterwards?

Anyways goodnight I'm so tired have a good one everyone🍋💕

WITH LOVE, SYLVIA