cliff • kpop au

nine.

After a few minutes of pedaling (or at least trying to pedal with my injured leg), I made it to my house, walking my bike up the driveway and to the back of the house.

As I led my bike to the bike stand, I noticed that an unfamiliar car was parked next to my Dad's.

That's weird...is it a friend of his? I asked myself as I locked my bike up, walking up the back steps and whipping out my keys, unlocking the door and stepping inside.

"Dad?" I called out, closing the door behind me.

"Ah, Rosie! Come here, someone's here to see you!" I heard him say from what seemed like the living room.

"Alright!" I called out in response, still a bit uncertain as to who it could be.

He doesn't have friends over much...could it be a relative? Or....oh no.....a possible girlfriend..? It can't be...

My eyes widened at the thought, and I felt my feet carry the rest of my body faster towards my destination in fevered curiosity.

"D-dad..." I called out as I reached the corner and turned into the room. "If this is what I think it is I don't-" My words were cut short as my eyes fully digested the scene in front of me, and I stood there frozen like an deer caught in headlights.

My Dad looked up at me and smiled, while an unfamiliar man next to him also did the same. And to the right of that man, was the person I despised more than anything else on this planet.

Her wicked smile formed slowly on her hellish face as she laid her eyes upon me, and when she called out my name with a tone dripping with honey and stood to make her way over to me, I remained stuck in place, even when I felt her arms wrap around me in a tight hug.

Reality finally caught up to me after she started releasing me from the hug, and I felt my limbs move once again when I slightly pushed her away from me.

I could tell everyone saw my sudden reaction, and I cleared my throat and wiped my palms on my shirt, embarrassment slowly creeping in.

"I, uhm....D-Dad, what is she doing here..?" I watched my Mom as her smile faltered a bit, and soon she made her way back to where she was sitting not too long ago. I looked back at my Dad, who had a questioning look on his face.

"Honey, we've talked about this! You know your Mom is getting remarried soon, so I invited her and her husband over for lunch. You know, so you can catch up with your Mother and get to know Martin better."

The guy who I assumed was Martin smiled at me and waved, and I scoffed internally.

"Yeah I guess but...you could've at least called and told me about this Dad. I don't exactly like when uninvited people pop up in my living room..." I mumbled, crossing my arms across my chest.

"What..?" I heard my Dad ask, and I scoffed out loud this time, looking down to the ground.

"Chaeyoung, where are your manners? Your Mother and her fiancé are not "uninvited people". As far as I'm concerned, your Mother has done nothing but take care of you for your entire life, the least you could do is show her some respect?"

I felt a pang in my chest when I heard my Dad call me by my actual name instead of what he usually calls me, and when I looked up at him and saw his stern expression, I felt tears of frustration well up in my eye sockets.

How can he say that?! He doesn't know the hell I've been through with her....

I hated that he was sticking up for the woman that ruined my life. While she slapped me around upstairs in my room, he was downstairs making dinner. While she degraded me in the bathroom, he was folding my freshly washed clothes just two rooms away. Somehow, every single time when I wanted him to be there, to just walk in on her monstrosities and finally rescue me from her, he didn't.