22nd➳

"You!" Jiae yelled, pointing at me with her index finger. "You've been lying to me all these times! How dare you!"

"Noona!" Joshua yelled, pulling Jiae away from me but Jiae had already grabbed a bunch of my hair, pulling it towards her direction. "Noona, let go! You're hurting her!"

When Joshua pulled the both of us away from each other, Jiae stared at me with a disgusted face. "You're Kwon Nari. You're that woman's daughter. You're not some millionaire. You wish. Jisoo, why are you even with her? Why did you even hug her?"

Joshua kept quiet as he avoided his noona's eye contact. I only stood in place, fixing my hair that Jiae had messed up. My scalp was hurting and I could conclude that Jiae pulled some of my hair out of my head. I may not be some millionaire, but I didn't need some rich kid harassing me. Sure, she was economically above me but that didn't mean she could treat me like I was some dirt on her shoes. 

I stood there, looking away and staring at the ground. 

"Leave. Kwon Nari, leave! You don't deserve to work here in my father's establishment! Leave! Who told you that you were allowed to work here, huh?!" Jiae asked, her voice raising every octave. I was glad that the convenient store didn't have any customer at this time. 

"Noona! Calm down, she works her, you can't just fire—"

"Mwo?" Jiae looked at Joshua with disbelief. "Are you actually defending this piece of thrash right here? Don't you remember what her mother did to me?"

"That's between you and her mother. What does this have to do with Kwon Nari? She did nothing to you. All she ever was to you was kind," Joshua reasoned out. 

"Yah, Hong Jisoo! Can't you understand that she lied to my face?" Jiae asked him. 

I winced at the reminder. "I-I... I didn't mean to."

Jiae's eyes snapped away from Joshua to me. "What did you say? What an amazement that a piece of thrash like you can talk."

What was I doing? Why was I so afraid right now? Usually, if someone where to talk to me like this, I wouldn't go down without a fight. But why was I so afraid? Why was I cowering? It was as if all those hard walls I've built up came crashing down at this very moment and it made me feel helpless. When no one else was there to help you, trust yourself to save you. 

My head courageously snapped to face her, and before I could say anything, Joshua butted in, "That's because she was afraid, noona. She lied about who she was because she was afraid you'd do something like this right now."

My eyes moved towards Joshua, where he turned away from his noona to face me. He used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that somehow flowed down of my eyes. His fingers felt warm and it made me want to break down even more. 

"That still doesn't change the fact that she's that woman's daughter. Do you have any idea what she did to me, Hong Jisoo? Do you?" Jiae asked him. 

I bit my lower lip and finally stared at Jiae. "Let me repeat Joshua's question. What did I ever do to you, other than lying? I don't care what you'll do to my mom because the fight is between you and her. Why does this involve me? What, just because I'm her daughter? Do you think that's a valid reason to hate me? I want you to think carefully, Hong Jiae." 

"Did you just—" Jiae scoffed. "You're amazing, huh, Kwon Nari? You're just like your mother." Then she grabbed onto Joshua's wrist. "Come on, Jisoo. We're going home. We don't need to associate with some thrash like her."

"Noona! Noona! No— Ah!" Joshua couldn't protest because Jiae had already pulled him away from me, leaving the convenient store.

I stared at the now closed double glass doors before I fell onto the ground, my legs feeling numb all of a sudden. My lips quivered as I looked around the clean floor, my hair falling onto my face as I let the tears fall once again. This time, Joshua wasn't here to wipe them away. It was like old times—I was all alone. 

"Nari-yah! Are you okay?" Sunggyu ran up to my side and held me by the shoulders, lifting me up. He looked back at the convenient store's doors and said, "Jisoo's noona may look pretty and cute but her personality is just as scary as my mom's. Do you think Jisoo will be coming to work tomorrow?"

I shook my head, unsure. I didn't have the willpower to talk at this moment. I sat on the floor properly and pulled my legs closer to my chest, resting my head on top of my knees. 

"Oh, Nari. Don't cry. Um... I really don't know what to do when a girl cries so I'm really sorry if I'm not doing a good job right now," Sunggyu said, rubbing circles on my back. It was comforting and that was all I really needed to feel comforted.  

Why was I crying? I couldn't properly understand. Was it because of fear? I felt like a kid again. When I just couldn't understand why I suddenly cried. I felt unreasonable. 

Sunggyu was quiet the entire time I was crying. It was better that way since I was able to recollect my thoughts and compose myself. 

After I was done with my waterworks, I stood up and swiped the remaining tears with my arms and stood up, telling Sunggyu, "I'm fine now. Sorry for wasting your time comforting me, Sunggyu-sshi. I should be going home."

Before I left the store, Sunggyu told me, "Hey, Nari? Whatever happens... don't leave Jisoo, okay? He talks about you a lot when you're not around and I could tell he really, really likes you. I think it's cute. It's as if he found his princess. So don't leave him, okay?"

I gave him a small smile. I would never leave him. It's the scary thought of Joshua thinking of leaving me that haunted me. In a small, quiet voice, I told him, "I'll try not to, Sunggyu-sshi. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sunggyu's eyes grew smaller as he smiled and waved goodbye to me. "Bye, Nari! Hopefully Jisoo will be with you tomorrow as well!"

I wasn't sure if I wanted to hope on that. Afraid that Sunggyu had just given false hopes, I left the convenient store. Once I was outside, I don't know what I was expecting, but I actually looked around, hoping Jisoo somehow managed to escape from Jiae's grasp and waited for me. I thought he was just hiding so that he could surprise me but to my disappointment, he was nowhere to be found. 

I must have looked like a fool. Looking for something that wasn't even there. Brushing my fingers through my long brown hair, I let out a sigh and walked back to my apartment, tired of today. If only we had been more careful. If only the both of us... hadn't been so careless like that. 

I shook my head and continued walking down the road with my head down. I was so out of it and it felt foreign because I never let all these irrelevant thoughts bothered me until now. I think it was because... all those thoughts before? They were irrelevant. Now? Now it concerned Joshua. Joshua was not irrelevant. He meant something. He meant something to me. 

I accidentally brushed shoulders with someone walking on the same street as me and immediately looked up, ready to apologize. What stopped me was the hair colour and their face. It was... blonde? 

"Ji—"

He looked away, rolling his eyes. 

I slowly clamped my mouth shut, remembering that he wasn't my friend anymore. I nodded and slowly walked away from him but I was stopped when he grabbed onto my wrist, surprising me by the sudden grip. 

"Wait, Nari, I—" Jihoon, I meant Woozi, choked on his words, licking his dry lips. "I'm... uh... I..."

I slowly turned around, raising an eyebrow. "You're... sorry, that's what you're trying to say?"

Woozi slowly nodded his head, his hand still grasping my wrist. He refused to meet my eyes, only looking down the entire time. "I'm sorry."

I weakly smiled and pulled him into a hug. "I totally forgive you, JiJi. Did it really take you one week to apologize to me? I thought I almost lost my friend there."

Woozi smiled back and lifted my chin up, noticing the red tints in my eyes. "Nari, did you cry? Your eyes are red and everything."

I looked away and massaged my sore eyes. "It's nothing, Woozi. I should probably get back home. I need some rest. Detention for a week was not pleasant."

I was about to walk away from him but Woozi held me back again. "Nari, you got detention? I left you for a week and you get into trouble again? Aigoo, what would you do without me, huh?"

I managed to smile weakly for him before I walked away again, only to find Jihoon trailing behind me once again. I wanted to be left alone, couldn't he read the body languages? 

"JiJi, as much as I like having you back, I really want to be alone right now."

Woozi only threw a hand over me, tilting his head to the side. "What's wrong with Kwon Nari today? You're so gloomy. Did something bad happen?"

Something I obviously didn't want to talk about right now. "I'll tell you next time, Jihoon. I want to go home. I'll see you soon?"

Woozi removed his hand around me and stopped in his steps. He gave me a smile and said, "I'm just always running around. You'll see me a lot since I don't stay in one place too often."

A question popped into my mind but I couldn't ask him since I was both physically and mentally tired. I gave him a smile and waved before I walked away from him. I trusted Joshua, so I trusted that he would be making the right decisions right now by negotiating with his sister. 

♥

I stared at my reflection in the mirror the next morning, fixing my school blazer neatly before I looked at my own face. I wore a blank expression and I still felt drained from the day before, eyes still feeling kind of sore, but not too much for me to remember too vividly. 

I fixed my hair by combing out all of the tangles. My backpack was leaning against the full length mirror's leg so I grabbed it and slung it over my shoulder before I left my room. Mom was no where to be found but I only figured that she was actually in her room. If she wasn't, then she hadn't come home and was probably passed out by a bar.

Sometimes I was thankful that I was left with Mom instead of Dad. If Dad was the guardian of mine, he would beat me up. Even without the beer or an alcoholic drink, I knew he would make sure I would have scars or bruises to be shown to people the next day. 

I walked to school with a heavy heart. Questions keep interfering my mind. It clogged the thoughts that gave me energy, the ones that involved childhood stories. I guess I was growing up. Look at me, thinking about thoughts that actually mattered. I should probably give myself a pat on the back for it. 

"You're wearing that face again," Jihoon said, popping out of nowhere once I walked into school grounds. 

"Woozi, you should really stop breaking into the school. People will wonder why someone our age isn't going to this school but keeps coming round here," I told him, still staring at my shoes. 

Woozi smiled and patted the top of my head. "My reason is to visit a friend. Is there something wrong with that reason, Kwon Nari? It's not like I'm going to get expelled or suspended since I don't go to this school."

"You might get arrested for... I don't know, disturbance to students?" I said. 

"I'm not disturbing anyone, Kwon Nari. We're friends, did you forget? I'm your JiJi and you're my NaNa." Woozi smiled again. "The others can just mind their own business."

Sometimes, Woozi could really remind me of myself. The way he still seemed so innocent. The world hasn't destroyed him completely yet. He didn't let anything bother him yet, unlike me. 

"Come on, go now. You're going to be late for class," Woozi told me, tucking his hand into his pocket before he nodded his head towards the school building's entrance. "Go ahead."

I stared at Woozi a little longer before I nodded and rushed into the school's building, heading into my classroom, where Joshua was sitting there, in his seat. I honestly feared talking to him right now. Was everything okay? Were we okay?

I sat down in my seat, unable to mutter a word to him. He didn't greet me good morning like he would usually do and I knew something happened. Whatever Jiae said to him, I hope he didn't take them too seriously. 

"Ji... Jisoo?" I quietly called, glancing at him for a quick second before my eyes fell back on the table. I didn't want to see what expression Joshua had on his face. 

"Huh? Oh, Nari, you're here." Joshua snapped out of his world and gave me a weak smile. "Why do you look like you're afraid of me?"

"What? Me? Afraid of you?" I let out a dry, forced laugh. "I'm not."

"Still as cute as ever," Joshua said, squeezing my cheeks lightly. He grabbed a piece of paper from his bag and wrote something on it before passing it over to me. 

Things aren't looking good with my noona. 

I looked up from the paper and tried to meet Joshua's eyes. Slowly, I asked him, "What's going on with her?"

Joshua looked elsewhere, out the window or staring at the empty whiteboard in front of us. "She kind of found out we're dating and she's telling me to break up with you. I'm holding my ground. There's no way I'm letting you go, Kwon Nari. It was hard enough to confess to you."

I giggled. Didn't Joshua know it was hard for me to accept the fact I liked him? Obviously he didn't, and I wasn't going to tell him that. Never in a million years. "I hope nothing happens. Why is love so hard? This is why I don't like it."

"But you like me, don't you?" Joshua asked teasingly, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows.

I nudged him in the guts, but lightly so I wouldn't hurt him anywhere. "You already know the answer to that. No need to ask, Hong Jisoo."

Joshua only grinned back, unable to hide his feelings. He pulled me into a hug and patted my head. "You're adorable, Kwon Nari."

I scrunched my nose in reply and smiled. 

Hong Jiae 

Jiae clutched her phone in her hand tightly, any tighter and it would have broke the device. She let go of her phone, letting it drop onto the floor in her room. "Kwon Nari... she does not deserve the love of my little brother. She doesn't deserve love from anyone!"

Jiae glared at the window as she thought about Kwon Nari, the daughter of the woman who Jiae got into a fight with. Just like her mother, Jiae thought, she deserves some kind of punishment. Was it possible to penalize her? Give her a fine to pay? I think the fine would be just perfect. Lowlifes don't have money, she won't be able to pay back, I just know it. By then, I could probably make her do anything. 

Jiae smirked and nodded at her decision. The fine was the perfect decision to give Kwon Nari, knowing she wouldn't be able to pay back. Even her own mother was not able to pay back the fine Jiae was able to give her. Nari's mom was given at least three years to pay back that fine. It was impossible for them, Jiae knew. 

"Kwon Nari, just you wait. Now you're enjoying my brother and his money, aren't you? The next thing you know it, you'll be back in the thrash, where you belong. Lowlifes like you never deserve anyone better than them." Jiae picked up her phone and clutched it in her grip again. "How dare she date my brother for his money. Kwon Nari, watch what you're doing. I will end you."

~Author's Notes~

I want to buy SEVENTEEN's repackage album so so so badly. Who already pre-ordered/is about to buy it/planning to buy it? NO F.U.N just hits me up with feels, followed up by Healing and Simple. Ack! 

QOTU: (ooo, we have these again! well, it's a first for this book, i guess? hehe)

What's your favourite song from SEVENTEEN's repackage album? 

AOTU: 

For me, they're mostly the new ones. NO F.U.N, Healing, Simple and AJU NICE! (capitalized them because it's just such a good song) I still love the songs from the first full album LOVE&LETTER but the new ones are like... they won't leave my mind. 

Here's something that will mess your mind up: What if Kwon Nari is Kwon Soonyoung's daughter? ;)))

noooo lmao i was kidding, don't take it too seriously XD

xoxo

Byun Sang Kyung