The Girl He Never Knew | SVT THE8

10 | take it off

#nowplaying

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🔥🔥🔥

There was a long silence between us. I blinked back, wondering if Myungho was waiting for me to answer... because I had nothing. My mind was blank.

"It's late. Go in," Myungho breathed out and patted my head, "I'll get going now." He didn't wait for me to respond and took off.

Is that it?

I stood there and watched him leave for real. My heart was racing the whole time, even as I watch his back leaving me. I rubbed my palms anxiously, feeling guilty for letting him go like that. I should have said something back then instead of keeping quiet...

"G-Goodnight!" I called out to him in the end. Myungho turned around, with a smile on his face and gave me a gigantic wave with his arms before disappearing into a far corner.

...

The weekend was torture to me. Whenever my painkillers wore off, the injury on my back torment me so much that I couldn't focus on anything else. The worst part is that I live with my parents and I had to pretend I was okay in front of them.

I also tried to catch a glimpse of my injury several times but it was hard because I couldn't turn my head to it. What I learned from the doctor was that I sustained two injuries to my back. One was a big red bruise on my torso because Myungho's father whipped me with a clothes hanger; the other was a 10 cm wound at my shoulder blade which happened when his father threw the shattered bottle pieces my way. I didn't even know that a glass shard sliced me there until the doctor told me.

"Jin-ah, time to eat dinner! Come out!" Mom knocked on my room door while I was changing the bandage. I wish I could get her to help me with it but I decided that they should never find out about this incident.

"Coming!" I yelled at the door, growing frustrated because I couldn't stick my plaster well, and I gave up really quickly. As long as the plaster stuck to my skin, I let it be.

"Jin-ah!" Mom called again from the outside.

"I said I'm coming!" I quickly wore back my shirt plus a cardigan to cover up completely before heading out of the room.

...

Dinner with mom and dad was pleasant and nothing out of the blue until a text dropped in, making my phone vibrate. I left it on the table beside me so my parents could see what it was about when my phone screen lit up.

My eyes went to the pop-up notification, and so did my mom.

Myungho: How are you feeling? Better today? Don't forget to...

Thank god the notification didn't show his full message.

"Who's that?" Mom asked right away.

"Uh... just a classmate," I answered awkwardly. One look and she could tell that I was nervous so her suspicion grew.

"A guy?"

My dad glanced up from the dinner table as soon as he heard her. "What guy?" He added.

I sighed, foreseeing that our dinner time was going to be an interrogation session. "He's just a classmate, mom. I tutor him science because he sucks at it."

So I told them half the truth and they eventually believed.

"But honey, are you feeling unwell?" Mom asked. "You look a bit tired the past two days..."