Scars {G-Idle}

Chapter 9

"My sweetheart..." Soyeon shuddered as she stood at the window of Minnie's room. Bandages criss-crossed her chest and completely covered her legs. A breathing mask covered her face and she seemed almost lifeless.

"Oh!" Shuhua turned away shakily.

"It's so hard to look at..." She gulped. "Maybe... we should go see Yuqi or Jihyo?"

"Not Yuqi... she needs rest," Soojin pointed out. "How's Jihyo been?"

Miyeon sighed. "It's been bad for her as far as I know. She's been having a lot of pain in her chest, obviously due to the excruciating depth of the words carved in her. It's also been hard for her to breathe." Her brow furrowed. "Wait, why do you seem so averse to seeing Yuqi?"

Soojin looked down timidly. "I... I heard something about her condition."

"What is it?"

"The sepsis... she might end up losing her leg. The infection is spreading and if she can't fight it, they'll be forced to cut it off to prevent it spreading any further. But if she can fight it, she'll heal well."

"Oh my god..." Miyeon gulped. "Poor Yuqi..."

"At least Yuqi is psychologically sound. Little Minnie doesn't look good and she could die."

"My baby!" Soyeon shrieked, pressing her face against the window.

"Mommy..." Minnie weakly reached out toward her, eyes opening just slightly. "Mommy, come here..."

"Oh god, baby..." The G-Idle leader had no words as she pushed the door open and knelt at Minnie's side. "My sweetheart, why?"

"I-I had to... no one cares..." she croaked weakly, coughing into the mask. "I-I wanna die... god, it hurt so much and I wish they had killed me..."

"Baby, why?" Soyeon's breath caught in her throat. "You mean everything to me and I couldn't bear to see you die just because some cowardly men managed to overpower you."

"They didn't just overpower me... they took everything," Minnie mewled. "They h-hurt every hole in my body... they filled me with their... with their..."

Soyeon gulped. "Baby, they didn't!"

"They did..."

"Oh, sweetie, suicide? Why?" She held her hand. "Why did you think this was the answer?"

"B-because..." She sniffed. "You just... you wouldn't understand..."

"Babe, please talk to me. You know I'd do anything for you and I'll understand all of it."

"I-I just can't..." Minnie shook her head. "Why did you bring me here? This place won't heal me; nothing can."

"Honey, how do you think I'd feel if you died?"

Minnie was silent.

"I'd be very unhappy and probably never recover. I could never be happy without you and the group would never be happy either. Shuhua and Yuqi would probably burn themselves to death while singing 'Hwaa.'"

"N-no!" Minnie paled and started to cry. "I'd rather burn myself!"

"Oh, babygirl..." Soyeon hugged her gently. "Can you tell me more? I can't stand to see you in this much pain."

"N-no..." She shook her head again, the mask on her face wiggling.

"What will make you do it, honey? Anything, anything."

"Anything...?"

"Anything, my love."

"Will you promise not to tell the other girls about anything I say?"

"Um..." Soyeon bit her lip. "Why? They're really worried about you and want to help you heal."

"Promise you won't tell them or I won't tell you!"

"I promise, love." The leader swallowed and reached behind her for her phone. I'm sorry, Min-Min.

"Oh god... it was horrible. I couldn't breathe most of the time and I-I was terrified. After they hurt me, I started becoming more deprived of food and water and they even once talked about taking me away for good."

"Minnie, why would the men target Jihyo to get to you?"

"Because... they'd known her a long time and knew she had connections to me."

"What about Jeongyeon? Did she know anything?"

"No... because they hurt her badly to make sure she didn't tell her group. She has scars... ones she refuses to show..."

"Love, can Miyeon stay with you for a moment? I'd like to go see Jeongyeon."

"Fine..."

Soyeon shut off the recording as she left the room and headed to where a doctor directed her to find Jeongyeon.

And it was as bad as Minnie, if not worse.

Momo was holding Jeongyeon on the bed, the older's short blond hair quivering as she laid her head on her shoulder. Jeongyeon was crying, an IV in her arm and a breathing tube in her nose, and looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Jeongyeon?" Soyeon slowly entered the room. "Hey... I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Wait." Momo put out a hand. "Don't come too close. She's really tender and is still getting used to being close to me."

"Oh dear..." Her face paled. "Tell me she wasn't..."

"Yeah, she was." She narrowed her eyes. "So don't touch her. She's more prone to flashbacks than Minnie, I'll bet, and she's wanted to hurt herself so much. Look at this." Momo lifted the hospital gown and gestured to a scar on Jeongyeon's chest. "She nearly got her heart the night she was hurt and... well, let's just say that it was a hard road to save her."

"You poor thing..." Soyeon took a single step closer. "Has it been hard to get her to talk?"

"It's been a year and she's not been recovering well." Momo shook her head. "She's been begging to be put down and... even the way she says it is sad, like she's an animal."

"Nothing you do will make me say anything," Jeongyeon muttered.

Eerily, Soyeon remembered the encounter with Minnie just moments before. "Honey, do you ever realize that your fellow members could be harming themselves right this instant?"

"What?!" Jeongyeon's head snapped up. "N-no!"

"Think about it. If you don't tell them what happened, they'll abuse themselves worrying and you need to help them out."

"Was that necessary?" Momo hissed. "Now she'll have a breakdown!"

Jeongyeon started to tremble and Soyeon winced. "I'm sorry about that. Would you like me to bring Minnie in here?"

"Sure." Momo nodded.

Soyeon returned to Minnie's room, only to find her curled up in the corner, gasping for air.

"Whoa, whoa, Minnie baby, what's wrong?" She knelt beside her. "What happened?"

"Th-they were outside the window... the men who hurt me." Minnie swallowed. "And I... I lied before."

"What do you mean?"

"The night I was hurt, Jeongyeon was there too. She was there... and she didn't know it was me... when I was forced to assault her too."