ROOM OF MIRRORS° h.sj

003

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KANG RESIDENCE
EVENING
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✧──────✦ "girls! downstairs, now."

the twins slowly made their way to the stairs. sujin was worried about that test from last week, and sumin had no clue what to expect. she'd had been the black sheep of the family for a while, and definitely had frequent punishments, but nothing that had branched from something small like a point off on an english quiz. their parents were lucky to have her.

she wondered if they had just given up on her, or if they never expected anything in the first place. it's not that sumin wasn't smart, but rather extremely average when compared to her sister in academics. sumin could never understand how her sister could be doing perfect and her parents would still think she was a disappointment. if sujin was the disappointment then what the hell was she?

their father now stood in front of them. in his hand was a folded paper, and sujin's mouth parted when she realized it was her report card. those weren't supposed to be mailed until next week. he usually called them separately, so just what made tonight different?

TW:: child abuse

as they were thinking through all of the possibilities, sumin received a harsh slap across the cheek. not enough to throw her to the ground, but enough for it to immediately leave a red welt.

the two girls had come up with a system, years and years ago. if something were to happen to one, don't do anything because it might make it worse. they had learned that the hard way in middle school.

sujin faced the ground trying to figure out what was going while sumin was frozen in place. the element of surprise wasn't usually one of their father's habits in this situation.

"what is this?" her father crumpled the paper and threw it into sujin's face. she picked the paper up from the floor and saw a bold '2'. she'd had gotten second in the class, just like always. sujin looked over at sumin who was now facing the ground. it was her report card, so why did he hit her?

their father grasped sumin's hair in his fist and lifted her head up to look at him. her scalp really hurt, but she refused to look at him. she couldn't just give him the satisfaction. before his hand could lift up again, sujin spoke up.

"i apologize, i'll try harder."

another slap, this time to sujin's cheek. "damn right you will." he stalked away, most likely to his office. as he walked away, they could hear incoherent mumbles from him. as soon as the door shut, the twins were already doting on each other.

"is your cheek okay?"

"is yours? yours sounded way louder."

"i asked you first."

the twins silently walked up the stairs on all fours to not make any noise. sujin always kept a small first aid kit under her bed and ice packs in a mini fridge for this. she pulled it out and it clicked open. sumin insisted she take care of sujin first since she was probably kicking herself inside.

"i'm sorry." sujin whispered as she held an ice pack to her cheek.

"why would you apologize? it's not your fault." sumin noticed sujin kept her gaze on her lap. "you're doing great, i want you to just keep up the good work, okay? just think, we only have this year until we can get our own place."

if they were at school, you would think that sujin was the mature one, but at times like these, sumin took on the role.

"okay?"

sumin squished sujin's cheeks together, being careful of the red spot, and made her look up at her. "okay."

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SAEBOM HIGH
MORNING
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✧──────✦ the twins made their way to the bus the next day. sujin was lucky enough to be left with a clear face, but sumin not so much. the welt was still slightly showing in some spots, and there was a scratch extending from the upper cheek bone to just parallel from her nose. neither of them knew that a slap could result in that, but it must've just been his nail.

sujin tapped her bus pass twice on the machine to pay for them both, and they walked through the aisle of business women and men and their classmates. sitting in the middle was jugyeong who was fast asleep against the window.

as they got closer, sumin realized that the man sitting next to jugyeong had his phone situated so it was taking pictures up her skirt. she gently pushed past sujin and harshly grabbed the man's phone.

"what do you think you're doing?" she scrolled through the camera roll to see the attempted inappropriate pictures. the bus came to a stop and the man took the phone and ran off the bus.

sujin ran out after him while jugyeong was now awake and processing the situation.

sumin yelled her sister on as the bus drove next to them, "GO SU GO!" the running girl was slowly catching up to the man, but not fast enough. so she took her school bag off her back and threw it.

jugyeong watched next to sumin as the bag hit the man and temporarily slowed him down long enough for sujin to tackle him to the ground. the entire bus winced as she held the man's face to the pavement.

eventually the police came and shoved the disgusting man into the backseat of the car and drove off to the station. jugyeong hooked her arms through sumin and sujin's.

"thank you so much! i wish i had a boyfriend like you guys," jugyeong pouted.

sumin spoke up, "y'know i can introduce you to someone if you'd like?"

the girl quickly shook her head, "boys scare me too much." the three laughed and met up with sooah at the gate. they walked up the path and naturally moved to the side as the deep purr of a motorbike came into hearing distance.

they stopped and everyone except sumin began to either complain about him or rave over his face and bad boy attitude. another voice that didn't belong to them made their bodies turn.

"move."

"lee suho, you could be nicer sometimes." sumin shook her head but stepped to the side anyways. sujin nodded at her words and moved next to sumin. jugyeong seemed to be like a deer in headlights while looking at him.

"move." the girl still hadn't made any move to get out of the way, so suho just pushed passed her, just barely missing her shoulder.

as suho walked to the steps of the school, seojun disembarked his bike. the two boys stood in front of each other and the school watched the exchange.

sooah cleared her throat, "it's like sweet versus savory right now."

"definitely hot and cold," sumin added on.