EXTRICATE * lee jeno

『chapter』 『²⁰』

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heloise had woken up in a bad way. sweat dampened on her forehead and her stomach felt like a boat violently rocking back and forth.

"great, that's just great."
she observed the stains on her bed and sniffed. she really really really hated thursdays.

sniffing first, the girl removed the sheets from her bed - putting them in the wash and retrieving a new set. after she had finished, she went to go get changed into her school uniform.

"maths, biology, drama and... shite, iont remember anything after lunch."
heloise recited her timetable to herself as she walk down the stairs. she was about to go back upstairs to retrieve the booklet in which all her lessons were written when she was stopped in her tracks.

"youngbyul?"
"yes mum?"
"come to the kitchen please."
she walked around the sofas in the sitting room and gasped upon entering the kitchen. there were five policemen in uniform and one man in a nondescript black suit.

her mother made a clicking noise with her tongue. "i don't know what kind of trouble you've gotten into this time, sohn youngbyul but officers, please be certain to lock her up in jail if it turns out she has done something wrong. i wouldn't mind at all, i'm giving you permission."
"that'll be all, ma'am." one of the officers dismissed her and she half bowed at them before leaving the room.

why were there policemen in her house? of course, being a 'criminal', she had encountered many before, but not close enough for them to know her name or even still be alive afterwards.

"take a seat."
one of the policemen gestured to the pulled out chair next to them. heloise went to sit down.

"youngbyul? is that your name?"
she nodded slowly. she wouldn't tell them that her name was actually heloise until she was sure it wouldn't come back to bite her.

"youngbyul, you're not in trouble, we just want to know some things."
she was almost definitely in trouble.

"where have you been over the course of the past three days? start with monday."
"on monday... i started going to a new school, and then i came back home when the school day was over on the bus with my brother."
"that's it?"

she couldn't tell them about the underground. not only would that sabotage her whole life, but everyone else's. and as much as she hated a lot of people there, the underground was the only thing most of them had left in the universe.

"yep, that's it."
"okay and how about tuesday? and the day after?"
"the same, i went to school then left with my brother."
"so you've not been in contact with anyone outside of school?"
"not really, no."

"what if we said we have reason to believe that you're lying to us. would you tell us the truth then?"
"i am telling you the truth-"
"so you're absolutely certain that you haven't come across anyone? lee jeno, perhaps?"

the girl wasn't the best liar: she wasn't bad at it either. she just hadn't expected the officer to be so... upfront, about it.

"who?"
"you can't act as if you don't know who he is when his pictures are all over your brother's room."
"why the fuck where you in my brother's room?"
heloise stood up harshly from the chair.

the officer glared straight at her, "just to see what we could find out. it seems as though someone in this house has quite the obsession with lee jeno. and what's more is you saw him on the day he went missing. maybe we should interview your brother as well, he might tell us more."

heloise panicked a little. she didn't want her brother to have to worry about anything, certainly not about his idol 'going missing'.

"okay, alright, i'll tell you what i know but you can't involve my brother in anyway. this doesn't have anything to do with him."

☎️

good morninggg~ im pretty sure when i wrote this i was feeling pissy bcs it was probably that time of month, but rn im just pissy bcs school starts in a few days grrr