shot clock || na jaemin (the court series #1)

quarter three: minute eight

she wasn't supposed to be here. she had run away from america to escape the horrors of what she had been through. but now she was back. to fucking talk about the horrors that she had experienced. 

everything prior to her arrival to america was a blur, with only strong memories standing out in the three weeks she had moved to america in.

she remembers how when jaemin had approached her about coming to america, sooyoung had cried. she had screamed and cried and wailed and protested. 

"if you loved me, you wouldn't make me go back. you wouldn't make me leave you," she had said. jaemin had turned his face away so that she wouldn't see the tears welling up in his eyes, composing himself enough to say with an impassive face, "if you loved me, you would go."

she had turned to jeno, who wasn't even bothering to pretend as if he weren't crying. jeno had just apologized, over and over again, for not being able to protect her. the sobs wracked through his body, and in that moment, sooyoung caught a glimpse of the scared little seven year old boy who had sent her to america in the first place. he was just doing what he thought was right. 

that's all he ever wanted. 

she didn't bother asking her father for permission, only asking him to sign the documents necessary to pull her out of school and allow her to go with shaun and her stepfather back to america. sooyoung couldn't even recognize her father anymore. dark circles and permanently hungover speech seemed to be the only thing left of her father. after what had happened at the ramen shop, she could barely look him in the eyes, much less treat him as a father. 

at this point, jisoo and jeno felt more like parents to her than coach lee did. beautiful jisoo, who coach lee had cursed out and swore at for days even after the ramen shop before jeno had gotten into a huge fight with him, had packed her bags with her. she had hugged her tightly when jaemin told her that they should go on a break until sooyoung came back to korea. if she ever came back to korea. jisoo was the one who had gone to seoul to bring back jaehyun, yasmine, and mina, all of whom promised to keep in touch and take care of her brother and her father until she came back. if she came back. 

and jisoo was the one who had pressed a kiss to her forehead, eyes swollen from crying, at the airport, before sooyoung, shaun, and her stepfather had had to go through security. jaemin didn't come to see her off. 

he couldn't. now that she thinks about, sooyoung realizes that if he had come to airport, she doesn't think that she could've gotten on the plane. she would've been too consumed by the realization of what exactly she was leaving behind and jaemin wouldn't have been able to let go of what he loved so dearly.

jeno had been at the airport. jeno had arranged everything, just like a father should. he coordinated with her stepfather. he had driven them to the airport. he had hugged her tightly, promising her that jaemin, jisoo, him, their father, and the rest of the dreamies would be waiting and looking forward to the day she came back. if she came back. 

her father didn't come to see her off.

"and then you came here, didn't you, serena. park, was it?" the therapist, isabella tran, says soothingly, writing down something in her clipboard. sooyoung's eyes flare, and for the first time in the six months isabella has been sooyoung's therapist, she sees a hint of the huntress - something sooyoung hadn't become in a very, very long time.