Strawberry Kisses

PART 9

Seulgi hurriedly went to the address Chaeyoung sent her. With the years they spent together, the younger girl rarely ask for help.

She saw Chaeyoung sitting outside the cafe as she parks her car. The younger girl greeted her with a weak smile. Seulgi knows that the younger is just forcing the smile she gave her. She also sensed that Chaeyoung cried before she got here. She then slightly mess Chaeyoung's hair.

"Let's go inside." Seulgi said and the younger girl followed her inside.

They were greeted by the strong smell of coffee that surrounds the cafe. Chaeyoung inhaled it as it somehow gave her comfort. The older girl commanded Chaeyoung to find a seat and she obeyed her.

The younger girl saw Seulgi carrying a tray with drinks and cakes on it.

"Here." The older one smiled as she hand a strawberry cake to Chaeyoung.

Chaeyoung looked at the cake as if it's the best thing the people invented. "Strawberry."

"I knew you'd like it." Seulgi said, satisfied with the younger girl's reaction.

They ate their food in silence. Seulgi wants to ask Chaeyoung what happened but on the other hand, she wants the younger to open up about it.

"Unnie." Chaeyoung mumbled as she play the staw on her drink to avoid looking to the girl in front of her. "I skipped my last subject."

Seulgi knows and just nod to response.

"Please don't tell Irene-unnie." Chaeyoung then looked outside the cafe. "I don't want her to get worried."

"I won't." Seulgi assured. "This will be our little secret."

"There's this girl.." Chaeyoung started. She then proceeds to telling what Mina did to her almost 2 years ago.

After hearing what happened. Seulgi placed her clenching hands under their table. She doesn't want Chaeyoung to see how mad she is.

She's mad about the fact that Chaeyoung endured all of it for the past 2 years and they don't have any idea about it.

Irene and Seulgi suspected that Chaeyoung likes girls so she's not really surprised in Chaeyoung's story.

"And now we share some subjects together." Chaeyoung continued. "Whenever she gets the chance to bring back what happened, she would."

"I'm not embarrassed by who I am.." Chaeyoung said. "I am happy to be me, and I don't thinks there's anything wrong with loving or liking who you love or like."

Chaeyoung stopped for a moment to look looked at Seulgi. "But everytime Mina say something connected to that day, I feel small. I can't breathe. I see people around me looking down at me."

Seulgi is trying hard not to show her emotions, even though she wants to cry and hug the younger girl. She doesn't know Chaeyoung is feeling that way. Seulgi knows showing her true emotions won't help. So she just let Chaeyoung talk.

" Sometimes I don't know if they're really looking at me or I'm just reliving that day." Chaeyoung chucked. "I hate it, unnie.. I hate when people look at me like that. I already got that when I was young. When m-- when mom died. I saw how everyone looked at me with pity. I hate it."

Mina is like a trigger, a trigger that when pulled, would bring Chaeyoung back to the feeling she had when her mom died. All the looks she gets whenever Mina would mess up with her, feels like the same looks she got when she was a kid.

"I didn't like what she did to me. That's.. Messed up."Chaeyoung said as she looked outside once again."and unfair. I didn't do anything to her to deserve that treatment and I, I hate her for that."

Seulgi haven't met Mina yet but she hates her already for what she have put Chaeyoung through.

"I'm proud of you, Chaeng." Seulgi held the younger girl's hand. "I could only imagine how you felt when you were forced to out yourself. You're not ready yet but you embraced who you are, bravely."

"I know it hurts a lot, you can't even tell to anyone. Not even to us or your friends. But you know what? Just be good to those who are around you now.. When you meet new people later, treat them sincerely too. With those kinds of people (Mina), there's no need to take their words to heart and worry about it. I know it's easier said than done."

"It is" Chaeyoung chuckled.

"You know what's the difference now and when-- when your mom died?" Seulgi asked.

The younger girl focused on Seulgi.

"Difference is, now you have your friends.. You have us.. You have me." Seulgi smiled.

Chaeyoung realized what Seulgi said. It's true. Sometimes she just forgot how her friends always got her back.

"I know you sometimes you hesitate to tell us what bothers you." Seulgi continued. "Do you think you're a burden to us?"

Chaeyoung was shocked to hear Seulgi asked that question. "Am I not?"

"You're annoying. What do you think?" Seulgi joked.

"Ehhh. Unniiieee" Chaeyoung whined.

"Chaeyoung. You're not." Seulgi assured. "Ever since you moved in with us, we felt complete. Please don't ever feel that you'll bother us. You're annoying, yes. But you're our family. Irene, Me and you. We're family, Chaeng."

Chaeyoung can't help but cry when she heard what Seulgi said. The older girl really treated her as family ever since.

Seulgi immediately stand up and hugged the younger girl. Chaeyoung felt comfort and stayed into Seulgi's embrace for a while.

"Please don't tell Irene-unnie." Chaeyoung asked as she broke the hug.

"Promise." Seulgi pinky promised. "She'll definitely kill someone if she knew."

"True." the younger girl responded. "Unnie? Thank you."

Chaeyoung felt relieved. She feels like something heavy was lifted from her chest.

I have my friends. I have my family. They always got my back.

Chaeyoung repeated in her mind. She have decided that from now on, she won't keep her thoughts to herself and she'll just try to ignore everything and focus on what she have now.

Her friends and her family.