Park Jihoon || Slowmotion

54. At the end of this road

Minji POV

The next day, I didn't go to school. Instead, I went to the company to do the right thing. Our manager was shocked about it, she even cried and hugged me because she felt bad that we experienced something like that at our age.

She said she will immediately take care of it so our Coach will be fired and sued as soon as possible. I was astonished when I discovered that Heekyung already told our Manager about the pictures she got from Jimin. She said she was about to talk to me after school, it breaks my heart that the person whom I thought is my friend betrayed me.

Right after I got home, I received a call from Heekyung. She's crying and screaming at me. I didn't say much because of how depress and mad I am.

"Heekyung. You're one of my closest friends. You defended and comforted me many times, we shared almost three years of our life. How could you just throw them away?" I asked while crying.

"This wouldn't happen if you didn't report us."

"No, this wouldn't happen if you just believe in yourself and us. I realize that all these times, while you're doubting yourself, you're already betraying us because of your greed and insecurities." I disagreed.

"You reported me before I told our Manager about you in the first place. You're the one who betrayed between us." I added.

"I-I'm sorry. I just feel like you already reported us that's why I want to get rid of you first." At this point, I don't know if she feels sorry or justifying her action.

"I guess our three years of friendship doesn't mean anything to you. You even think I'm betraying you. I'm disappointed." I said and hung up.

~~~~~

I decided to get some air, so I dressed warmly and went out of the house. I just got out our gate when my phone rang, it was Mom. I guess our manager already told my Mom already. I turned off my phone and continued walking.

What should I do with my life now? I'm no longer a trainee anymore. Should I just quit art school too? I think that's too much. I can't really think much other than the question "what should I do next?".

My feet dragged me at the Han river, I guess it was because of Jihoon. It became a habit of mine to go here. I sat on our usual spot as I watched the people around me. I decided to turned on my phone and there were a lot of miss calls and texts from Mom. They were all about asking me what happened and why.

I dialled Jisung's number but oddly, he didn't pick up. That's the first time, I guess he's busy, now that he's going to debut soon. I texted him instead and told him that I got fired. Suddenly, I felt something behind me. I looked at my back and it was a can of soft drink. I grabbed it and saw a boy wearing a SOPA Uniform, rushing towards me.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry. I dropped it, thank you." He said as I handed him the can.

"It's okay." I said. He bowed down and smiled big at me. I think I saw him somewhere.

"Wait, you look familiar." I stopped him from walking.

"What?" He asked out of confusion.

"Are you Bang Yedam?" I asked as I pointed at him.

"Ahh, yes." He answered timidly while rubbing his name.

"Hi, I'm a fan. Also, I'm a friend of Jihoon." I greeted him as I bowed at him.

"No, don't bow. If you're a friend of Jihoon Hyung, that means you're older than me." He said while smiling.

"Why are you here anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, my hyungs said that we will meet here so I bought them some sodas. Yet they're not here yet." He answered while looking around.

"Yedam!" Someone yelled his name.

I looked behind Yedam, two men were slightly taller than me, coming in our direction. They're both handsome, maybe they're trainees too.

"Hyung, you're late." Yedam said.

"Traffic. Anyway, who's this?" He asked.

"We just met today. She's Jihoon hyung's friend." Yedam mentioned and suddenly, I felt shy.

"Hi, my name is Yang Min Ji." I greeted them.

"Oh, hi. I'm Kim Seunghun." He said. He have that puppy smile.

"I'm Park Serim. Nice to meet you." The other one said.

"Excuse us, but we need to go." Seunghun stated.

"It's okay." I'm flustered.

"We'll tell Jihoon that we met you." Serim said and they started walking.

After they left, I sat back on the bench and continued to overthink again. Minutes later, I looked at the time and it was already time for me to go to the studio.

~~~~~
Song recommendation: K.Will - Beautiful

I arrived at the company and went straight to the manager's office. As I went in, Heekyung was already there. Her eyes were so swollen. I want to hug her but at the same time, I don't. I guess this is where it ends.

"Coach Choi is already fired and got sued by the company. Soon, we will talk to your parents if they also want to file a suit." She announced.

After that, we went out to go to the studio. We entered our studio and they were shocked to see us. I can't believe I'm standing right here as she announced my departure. After the announcement, manager left us to say goodbye to our team.

"Eonnie!" Nayun rushed towards me while crying.

I hugged her tight as I began crying too. They all went to us and hugged us while crying.

"Yah, Minji. What happened to you guys?" Hyejin asked while crying. "You guys deserved to be here. Tell us what happened huh?" Hyejin said.

"We can't. I think you need to know that from our manager." I answered, trying to resist my tears.

We all stayed like that for the whole five minutes before our manager came back to get us. We cleaned up our lockers, Heekyung and I stayed silent the whole time. Our manager walked us to the entrance as she started crying too. We said our goodbyes and forever left the building.

"Minji." Heekyung suddenly stopped walking and turned around to face me.

"I'm sorry." She apologized while she's looking at the ground and I didn't answer for a couple of seconds as I felt like I'm about to cry again.

"Honestly, I want to forgive you but... I can't find the space in my heart to do that. You completely broke my heart, you destroyed our friendship as well our dreams." I said as I kept on trying to hold my tears.

"Minji, please forgive me. Please." She begged as she fell to her knees and hugged my legs.

"I'm sorry, Heekyung. This is too much." I said as tears finally escaped from my eyes. "Take care." And I released myself from her hug and walked past her.

After walking at the same path for a great amount of time, we surprisingly reached the end of the road. However, we have to take different roads from now on. Roads that have no return.