ROOM OF MIRRORS° h.sj

016

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SAEBOM HIGH
NOON
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✧──────✦ "rip up my report card when mom gets home!" jugyeong found herself sitting on her favorite bench in the garden while calling her dad. she laughed at something he said and hung up as sujin slowly walked up towards her. "bye, love you!"

sujin now sat next to her and leaned back against the bench, "why would you rip up your report card?"

jugyeong thought back to her mother having heart eyes for suho's father and shivered. "she got lee joohun's autograph on it. on the front of it too."

"i can understand why you're mad," sujin laughed while patting her friend on the back.

"my dad is the only one in my family who cares about me," jugyeong pouted as she picked at her nail beds.

"is it because he makes you food? i'm jealous, sumin and i aren't close to either of our parents."

"you're jealous even when my dad's unemployed? even though he cost us our house?" jugyeong complained like it was the worst thing in the world.

sujin's expression soured. she hated how jugyeong spoke. suho had shown interest in her, a loving family, she was near perfection. she stood up so quickly, it scared the girl sitting beside her, and walked back to the classroom.

half an hour later, the twins found themselves in the teachers lounge along with their father and their homeroom teacher, mr. han. as their guardian went over the grades, mr. han spewed inspirational quotes that only elementary schoolers would take seriously.

his hands slightly crumpled their report cards and set them down, oddly calm. "thank you for having me here today." he held out his right hand for a handshake and the trio left the room.

they walked with their chin up and shoulders back, as the kang family is expected to. sujin opened the back seat to the car and slid in and sumin put a hand on the door to slide in after her.

she had to quickly move her fingers out of the way as her father pushed the door shut with a slam. her hip hurt where the door had scraped against her. he parked at a back alley that no one ever went to, and she clenched her teeth.

sumin was glad she decided to, because if she didn't, her tongue would've been cut after the slap was delivered to her cheek.

"i thought i told you to do better in school," he scolded.

"i went up two places since last time, i am doing better."

"i should've known you were worthless when your mother told me so. the second one is always pathetic." he opened the passenger door and told the driver to leave.

sumin watched as the black car drove off with all of her essentials. she'd have to walk home since they'd taken her wallet along with her phone. she rubbed her cheek in defeat.

"sumin!" her ears perked up at the familiar voice and turned to face a jogging seojun. the girl moved her hair to cover the red welt on her cheek.

"what are you doing back here?"

"i saw you leaving with your dad and sister so i thought you forgot we had plans after school." he furrowed his eyebrows at the odd placement of hair. he knew sumin always had her hair tucked behind her left ear, but instead it was messily placed over her cheekbone.

she regretted accepting his plans for dinner earlier, but there was nothing she could do now. "i was just going to find you. i told my dad and sujin to go home first." sumin waved her hand in the direction of the exit to make her argument a little more believable.

seojun spoke before thinking, "what's up with the hair? it's usually tucked behind your ear."

"does it look bad?" she turned to walk away to pat her hair down and run her fingers through the ends. sumin turned around and asked, "well, what are you waiting for?"

he was still confused at her switching moods and momentarily wondered if he needed to take her to the hospital. seojun put a friendly arm over her shoulder and pulled her towards his motorcycle. he didn't want to dampen the mood despite seeing the red welt she was desperately trying to hide.

sumin wondered where he was taking them after he passed their usual restaurant and arcade. a few minutes later, the motorcycle came to a sputter and stopped. she unhooked her arms from seojun's waist and hopped off the bike.

the neighborhood swing set was the last place she'd expect him to take her.

"what made you bring us here?" sumin asked as she climbed over the bush surrounding the playground, too lazy to walk around to the opening.

"to reminisce." he couldn't tell her that it was an accident and how he came here more often than not, it was muscle memory at this point. he'd done more than enough reminiscing for the both of them.

they sat in their unofficial assigned swings and the chains creaked with rust more than it had years ago.

"what's up with your face?" seojun pushed her shoulder as she swung to the side from the force.

"why, is it too pretty for you?" she pulled on a coy smile and put her hands up to frame her face.

he stood up and walked so he stood in front of her swing. as he reached his hand down, sumin leaned a little more back, keeping a tight grip on the swings.

her fingers turned sweaty way too quick for her liking, they slipped off the chain and she fell backwards. seojun reached for her hand when she slipped, but ended up getting kicked in the shin by her legs and fell forwards with her.

sumin blinked as seojun's arms caged her head in while he held himself from falling on top of her. unlike the incident at school with the disciplinary director, seojun made no move to get off.

while she was too busy looking at him, the back of his hand carefully pushed the hair behind her ear.

"this isn't from a fight, is it?"

if sumin ever wanted to tell him about her parents, she wouldn't want it to happen at a place that held only happy memories for her. it wasn't going to happen now.

seojun sat next to her while she sat up and rubbed any sand or dirt off. her heartbeat was irregular and her stomach lurched like she'd drank expired milk.

'i'm not stupid,' is what he wanted to say. but in reality she'd given him hundreds of hints implying what was happening, but he'd never paid attention enough to put the pieces together.

so what ended up coming out was "i'm sorry."

seojun was just full of surprises today. she hated surprises.

"what for? it's not like it's your fault." she desperately tried to lighten the mood and laughed at him. sumin would rather kick the bucket than be looked at like a charity case, and that was exactly what seojun was doing.

she was shrinking under his gaze until she stood up and simply walked away, luckily her house was only two blocks down. seojun called for her, but all she could hear was the constant ringing in her ears.

once sumin got home, she walked in on her father mid conversation with her sister. she debated just punching him now and running away, but then she'd be selfish to leave her dear twin alone. so instead, her hands fished out her phone from the backpack on the couch and went up the stairs to her room. she couldn't care less about the screaming going on.

there were a few texts from seojun, who she now put on 'do not disturb.' and another incoming from gowoon, asking if she wanted to go to hangout tomorrow.

sumin texted back, 'is your brother gonna be there?'

gowoon responded a quick, 'no,' and sumin confirmed she'd show up.