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HANA
"Hana, are you sick? Why are you wearing a face mask?" Jake asked his cousin as soon as he picked her up from their family home.
Jake was one of the closest thing she has to an older brother figure and he's the one person she can lean on whenever she's troubled. On normal days she would call Heeseung but that day, she knew it was a bad idea to ask him to show up in front of their family house.
She looked away to hide her face from her cousin. "I-I'm fine, just cold." She makes an excuse but he knew her better than anyone else.
"What happened?" He asked in a calmer tone this time. "Something must've happened because if there wasn't, you surely would've asked Heeseung to pick you up instead of me."
She removed her mask and faced him to show him the redness of her left cheek. She went home for the day because her father had summoned her to their family house. He never summons her which already gave her the impression that it wasn't going to be a pretty visit. As soon as she arrived, he scolded her for not doing good enough in her exams. She thought she had done well but apparently in the eyes of her father, she would always remain the worthless daughter.
He blamed her lack of hard work and effort which Hana didn't try to deny but when he decided to blame Heeseung too, she defended him but he only took it as a sign of disrespect and letting his anger get the best of him, his palm made in contact with his daughter's cheeks.
As expected, the outcome wasn't the prettiest.
"He hit you?! Hana why are you letting uncle treat you like this?!" Jake argues but she shook her head.
"He's my father. He's the only parent I have left and if I don't do what he wants, he'll be tougher with Haneul. I can't let that happen." She explains. "I also don't want Hee to show up near him. It's fortunate enough he didn't force me to break up with him, I'm afraid Hee's presence would only aggravate dad more than he already is."
He looked at her with a worried expression. "Hana, you're going to explode one day if you continue on doing this."
Little did Jake know she was already on the verge of exploding and if it weren't for the people like him in her life, the bomb would've set off before her father could say his sorry.
Arriving at her apartment, she dragged her feet to her refrigerator to grab a pack of ice. She placed it on her cheek and sat on her couch quietly as she gazed at nowhere. There were moments like this where she would sit in silence as her mind made the loudest noises. It was her own way of coping with everything and sorting out the chaos happening in her head.
