to die for [jsy + f!reader]

ii : truth

The next day, I didn't show up to class. I just didn't feel well, on every level.

Where Shuhua had choked me against the wall, a red and purple mark had formed in the shape of a line, stretched out all across the front of my neck. My back was sore, which I imagined was from when she had slammed it against that same wall. She was always adamant about me hiding the injuries she gave me.

Shuhua had insisted this was normal, but I couldn't help but begin to question it. At the end of the day, I was just a mere music student with no knowledge of what I really was, or what love really was. knew nothing about love. Who was I to deny that? Shuhua knew that.

I could've kept thinking about it for hours if I wasn't interrupted. A quiet "ding" sounded from my nightstand. I had received a text message. I reached my arm across the bed to pick up my phone, almost falling off in the process.

"Where are you?" The text read. It was from Shuhua.

"I'm not in the main building. I'm back in the dorms." I replied, my fingers dancing across the keyboard with ease.

"Why?" Shuhua replied almost immediately.

"I thought you said that nobody was allowed to see my injuries if you ever gave me any."  I typed, confused. I remembered the first time Shuhua had hit me hard enough to leave a mark. Six months ago, Shuhua had punched me during a disagreement. The blow landed on my shoulder, and left a dark bruise. When I showed up to school the next day, Shuhua was absolutely pissed at me. Not for getting the bruise in the first place, but for letting others see it. She said that I was embarrassing to her and myself, and that I needed to cover it up. I never made that mistake again. I lived to please her.

"I did say that, but there's no way I hit you hard enough for something to come up. I think you're just looking for an excuse to skip classes. Do you not like being with me? Is that it?" I could feel the Shuhua's seething rage through my phonescreen. I sighed, and opened the camera app on my phone. I switched it to the front camera, and snapped a quick photo of the bruise that had appeared on my neck. I attached it to my text message, and sent it to her with a shaky grip.

"This is on my neck. It's too big to cover up."

I saw the little chat bubble appear, indicating Shuhua was typing, and then it disappeared. I sat there, waiting for it to reappear, but it never did.

"Shuhua?" I typed after waiting for a few minutes. The chat bubble reappeared, and with it, came Shuhua's next text message.

"Can't you just wear a scarf or something?" She asked. I wondered why she wanted me to come to school so bad. Usually she'd just accept it and tell all her friends that I was feeling sick. Could there have been a reason? Or was this just one of her instances of changing her attitude quickly?

I knew the possibility was low, but I had a suspicion, deep in the back of my head, as much as I hated to admit it. She told me this was all normal, yet refused to let anyone see the true colors of our relationship. Could it be that this isn't normal at all, and...

Somebody's already suspicious of her? And she's well aware of it?

That would explain why she would want me to come into school instead of stay in. Me staying home the day after a big conflict would look really bad on her to someone who was already on her trail. But our only public fallout happened yesterday in the science wing of the school, and that area was deserted at the time besides us two, so how would they even know in the first place?

If someone knows about the state of our relationship...

How did they find out?