YOUR EYES • L.HAECHAN

𝟏𝟓 | Secrets

The next morning, Y/N awakes with dark bags under her eyes. She did not sleep at all last night as her mind pondered over and over about what her parents had to say. She tried to be optimistic, but her gut feeling made her think of the worst possible scenarios.

"You nervous?" Donghyuck says, reaching for the girl's hand that rested above her knee.

"Yeah, I have no idea what they're going to say." She lets out a defeated sigh. "What if they say something that makes me regret meeting them again?"

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Y/N." He quickly glances at the nervous woman before putting his focus back on the road ahead. His hand lightly squeezed hers in a comforting manner.

"I hope so." She leans her head on the glass window, dozing off into her thoughts.

As the car came to a stop, Y/N flutters her eyes open. She looks up at her childhood home, dreading going inside.

Mustering up enough courage, she unbuckles her seatbelt and opens the car door.

"I'll pick you up," Donghyuck places a quick peck on her forehead. "Is 6:30 fine?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later," Y/N waves as she closes the car door. To stall her confrontation, she watches him drive away. Once the black car disappears into the distance, she takes slow steps to the front door.

Her knuckles knock on the wooden door, and not long after it opens. Her tight-lipped and awkward smile is in huge contrast to her parent's genuine and happy smiles. They welcome her gratefully, leading her to sit at the old dining table on which lay a white tablecloth and a variety of side dishes.

"I hope you're hungry. I made a little bit of everything," Soo-ah cheers, clasping her hands together as she takes a seat, her husband sitting across her.

"It all looks delicious," Y/N smiles.

"Go ahead, darling," Jihoon says, signaling to her to start eating. The girl is caught off guard by the familiar endearment but does as he says. She grabs the chopsticks and picks out a few side dishes as they watch eagerly.

"So? How is it?" Soo-ah questions, eyes watching her daughter expectantly.

"Good," Y/N answers shortly, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. The food giving her a nostalgic feeling as she recalls her childhood days.

"What a relief! I was scared you wouldn't like my cooking since it has been years," the older woman chuckles.

For the rest of the dinner, Y/N felt uneasy. She noticed the quick glances the older couple gave each other as they munched on their food. It was as if they had something planned or if they, too, were afraid of the truth. They made everything seem like sunshine and smiles, but Y/N knew they were simply preparing her, and themselves, for the real storm.

A deafening silence envelops the three as they sit in the living room. Y/N was impatient, and their silence did not help her restless mind. Her eyes travel from her mother to her father begging with her eyes for them to speak.

It took a couple of more glances between the older couple for them to finally speak up. Jihoon is the first to break the silence.

"Y/N." The woman sat up straight in her seat at the sound of her name. She looks at her father waiting to hear more. "First of all, sorry. We didn't know things would get this far, nor did we want things to come to this."

"Just say it already, please?" Y/N could no longer tolerate how they continued beating around the bush.

Taking a deep breath, Soo-ah reaches for her daughter's trembling hand. "There is a lot of things that you don't know about us. But we did the things we did for a good reason, for you and for Sunwoo," Jihoon continues.

"What did you do?" Y/N urges, unconsciously holding her mother's hand tighter.

"We did horrible things to people and that's how we made a living. We provided for you with the money we got from doing those things," Soo-ah finally confesses. "But of course, our bad decisions lead to even more horrible things."

Y/N knits her brows together as she processes the woman's words. "What kind of bad things?You killed people, is that what you're trying to say?" She looks at her parents, both avoiding her eyes. Their silence being more than enough of an answer. She snatched her hand away from her mother's, glaring at them in disbelief.

"We did it for the two of you, Y/N." Jihoon tries to reason. The girl couldn't argue back, she was robbed of any words and her mind was a complete mess.

"We wanted you to have a good life, a better life than we ever had," Soo-ah says, a few tears escaping her eyes.

"And yet, you still left. Is that the better life you wanted us to have?" Y/N scoffs. "Sunwoo died because of you. He was only sixteen years old. He didn't deserve to be murdered because of his sorry-ass parents that he had no contact with."

"Do you think we don't know that? We think about him all the time and it torments us that our son died because of us. We put you both in danger but we came here to fix everything," the older woman raises her voice.

"What are you going to fix? Or should I rephrase that: who are you going to kill this time?" Y/N's bitter tone is like poison to their ears. 

"Y/N that's enough." The man speaks up.

"No, that is not enough. Do you know what I'm feeling right now? You have no idea the amount of anger that is building up inside of me just by looking at the two of you." She stands up from the couch, looking down at them. "I hated you when you left us and I hate you even more now."

"Y/N, please."

"I never want to see you again."

She forcefully grabs her stuff and walks out. The older couple follows after her. They didn't want to lose their daughter as well although truth be told, they had already lost her 13 years ago when they decided to leave.

Fortunately for Y/N, Donghyuck was already pulling up in front of the house. He noticed her frantic state and her parents following after her. He hasn't even come to a full stop when she opened the door and rushed inside.

"Drive," the girl aggressively wipes her tear-stained cheeks. Noticing as the car stayed still, she looks at the boy whose eyes focused elsewhere. "Hyuck?"

Donghyuck's heart tightens in his chest and his breathing seems to be cut short as he discerns the face of the man in front of him that is all too familiar. "That man...he killed my father."

yo that's crazy 🤭