King of hearts • d.sc

30

(tw: mentions of rape.)

🥂
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"What are you doing here?" Haneul asked with a smile, standing up from her seat as she gave her friend a hug.

"I have a business dinner." Seori answered, her usual elegant demeanor and lilac perfume oozed, receiving a stare from Haneul's date. "Ah this must be your soulmate." She said, turning to the younger guy, who couldn't decide between a questioning look and a toothy grin.

"Oh, so you've heard?" Haneul asked, wondering how far the information had reached. She doesn't need people knowing who her soulmate is, but she's not to worried about telling Seori, seeing as she trusted her more than her own family.

"Yes I have, but don't worry no one else really knows besides..." Her eyes trailed to a figure at the reception, receiving ogling eyes as people didn't hide their gawking looks as he entered the room. Haneul's face fell at the sight, her stomach swirling as she fought the sick feeling his signature grin brought her. "He was the one who told me."

"I'm sorry for not letting you know." Haneul looked down, not being able to meet the eyes of her friend. Haneul had thought that it was odd for Seori to not be jumping on the spot at the news, but seeing as she heard it from Ryu and not her, she could see why.

"It's okay, I understand." Seori smiled, though Haneul could tell she didn't mean it. "I'm glad to see that you're happy though."

"I am." Haneul said with a slight sense of relief. "By any chance can you help me by making sure Ryu doesn't notice I'm here?"

"Oh he's actually here with me so don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't see you."

"He's here with you?" Haneul blinked, taking a small step back.

"Yeah- like I said, it's a business thing." Seori said. "You're not upset about that right?" Her friend looked at her sympathetically, holding both of Haneul's hands in hers. Haneul had known Seori for as long as she can remember, she had helped Haneul through a lot of things and supported her no matter what. Haneul would do anything for her. But that wasn't enough for the psychology student to notice the emotional manipulation hidden beneath her words.

"Sure." Haneul pursed her lips.

"It's just a collaboration thing- I'm not trying to befriend him, I hate him as much as you do-"

"If you did you wouldn't have agreed." Haneul sighed, coming off harsher than she intended. "It's your business, you can do whatever you want. I may not support that but it doesn't really matter."

"You're right, I don't have to worry about you." She repeated, making Haneul furrow her brows. "You never cared about us when you left."

"I emailed you and Seongbin every week, I missed you guys more than anyone else." Haneul had felt bad for leaving her friends behind, but neither had showed any concern about that and simply wanted her to live her life, something she will be forever grateful for. "I'll support you through anything, just not anything related to him."

"He never did anything bad to me."

Haneul didn't feel bad anymore, the sound of those words caused the feeling to wash away, being replaced with a knife to her chest.

"Did you really just say that?" Haneul choked out, her hands shaking behind her as she took another step back.

"But it's true." She almost couldn't recognize her friend, her words weren't matching the Seori that Haneul had grown up with.