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━━━ " 📂  " ‍..⃗. ༉

𝘾 𝙍 𝙔   𝘽 𝘼 𝘽 𝙔

! chapter sixteen ─── ʚĭɞ

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"I'm sorry." Yeori stood up as Seojun left the room, hardly two minutes after she had. Mihyang wouldn't have heard any of his excuses to try and stay, and would certainly have sent him quickly off. It was late and a school night, and such, she had come to wait outside the door, something in her willing her to stay, something entirely related to the look on Seojun's face when she walked in.

"I didn't know you would be here." She continued, as he began walking down the corridor.

"Yeah, well, she's my mom." Seojun shrugged. "I didn't know you still visited."

"Every other weekend, more if I can." Yeori replied softly, as they walked slowly from the door. "She's been so... so wonderful to me, and it would be horrible if I didn't repay her in any way that I could. I didn't know if she would've told you or not."

"No, she didn't." He said. "I'm not... I don't... I'm not upset by it. I just... I didn't know." He shrugged. "Caught me unaware, I guess."

"I'm sorry." She repeated, and she genuinely meant it.

They certainly were not on the best of terms, and it could not have been a more difficult situation to present itself. Should she have known he was there, sat before his mother whom had been so sick before her transplant that he had become an idol and after the trauma and pain caused by Seyeon's death and the evident mistreatment in the company, he had been forced to leave school in order to make initial payments. His dad wasn't in the picture, and the jobs expected of the father fell on his shoulder. Yeori had always understood that even a small part of their breakup sat solely in the stress of his mom's illness, and for that she would never question.

And certainly, before his mother, there would not be any of the typical behaviour; to stress her out would be to reverse much of her improvement, and to be amicable was... difficult. The pain of if all still sat somewhere in her heart and most days she could not ignore it, but in front of Mihyang she would try. And she knew Seojun would too.

To that measure, she knew she needed to apologise. She had infringed on the little time he could spend with her now that he had returned to school and it had never been her intention to disrupt that.

"You don't need to apologise." Seojun told her, almost awkwardly as he dug his hands into his pockets. "She loves you, told me that I should tell you not to worry about me, because she enjoyed seeing me and that I could... I could behave." He smiled, in that almost depreciating fashion.

Yeori shared that grin. "She is your mom."

"I know. I should expect that. It's good." He nodded slowly. "Good that she can tell me off and order me about again. It's good that..."

He trailed off, eyes landing on the hubbub of excitement ahead. And when Yeori saw what he was looking at, it felt as though her heart, all filled with pain, slowly stopped beating.

She hadn't seen him since, and now he was just... stood there, taking pictures with these people as he made another public appearance at one of those places he donated and... he was just stood there. Just stood there.

Lee Joohun. Suho's father. That man.

And hatred replaced pain, and blood roared in her ears as her heart pounded back to life. But she couldn't move, didn't dare move, didn't even know if she could move, and she was just staring at him.

Mr Lee. The CEO. That man who had caused so much pain and suffering and yet stood there as though nothing had even happened. As if he wasn't complicit in a man - a boy's death. Seyeon was just a boy. He had a family, he had friends and he had an onslaught of undeserving hate and now everything just reminded Yeori of that immense pain of losing him.

And Mr Lee could just stand there, without an inch of guilt upon him, whilst a boy had died and his friends were left to pick up the pieces.

She didn't say anything, didn't seem to be able to move, even when the scene had disappeared in front of them. Seojun had that glare on his face, and in a moment he decided to take her hand and pull her forward, out of the ward, out of the hospital, away from where he was.

In the cold air, blowing flush against their warm, angered cheeks, he let go of her hand and turned from her, shoulders rising slowly in all defiance of his anger and pain, and as Yeori gathered herself, reaching for her phone to message her father to let him know she was to return, he turned back.

"How did you get here?" Seojun asked, quite suddenly, with that edge on his voice she was more than familiar with. "Did your dad drop you off?"

"No, bus." Yeori replied.

"Idiot." He said, almost affectionately. Seojun shook his head, hair flicking out of his eyes. "Come on." He continued, beckoning her forward, towards where she could see the car park, and a motorcycle she recognised easily.

"There's a bus in fifteen minutes." She replied, defiantly.

"It's dark and it takes half an hour on the bus." Seojun replied with a sigh. "Just let me drive you home, Yeori. I even have a spare helmet for you."

"You don't have to, Seojun. I don't know what your mom told you but-"

"My mom didn't say anything." He insisted. "Come on, I'll take you home."

She stood there, staring at him, almost a stranger to the sight before her. It was odd. In a time before, she would take the offer without a moment of doubt but now, the kindness and the recognition of the old reminiscent feelings, it was far beyond what she had expected, given the niceties he had displayed not half an hour before.

"Yeori." Seojun said quietly, averting his gaze from the floor up to her. "Come on." He beckoned her forward, with just a short jerk of his head towards the car park and without even thinking about it, Yeori took another step forward. "Geez." He hummed, and closed the gap once more to take her hand, pulling her along to the motorcycle.

She watched as he unlocked the motorbike, pulling up the seat so as to remove the strap of the helmet, and held it out to her. "I don't have another." He said.

"Then you wear it, idiot."

"I can't convince you." It wasn't a question, and he shook his head. She was too stubborn for that, he knew that very well. "Fine. But you have to hold on tight."

"I remember, bastard." She scoffed. "And you have to drive carefully and slowly, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded. "Just get on."

And she took her seat behind him, swinging a leg over the side and getting comfortable in the seat. He settled in front of her, and there was a pause as he felt a whisper of a touch on his sides, before Yeori recognised her fate and her arms wrapped around his middle.

He didn't say anything, even though the familiar action made something in his throat tightened, and he pushed forward, into the night.