'God will forgive you.'- that's what they told them. 'God doesn't exist.'- that's what Seulgi believed. But nobody cared what Seulgi believed in. She was the sinner- so she had to obey. That were the principles her school followed.
The Lakeland Girl...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
7 days before
Irene's POV:
"Enjoy your meal", Ryujin said happily and took the first bite. Irene looked at her food disgustedly. She didn't feel like eating at all. Her stomach told her a clear no, and after she had ignored it and ate breakfast, she almost had to vomit.
Irene felt sick. Both mentally and physically. An immense angst she hadn't felt for years had taken control over her body. She feared this invitation she had just received yesterday. Neither Mina nor Dami had noticed what was going on, to her luckiness. She refused to tell anybody about her situation.
Although she knew that she probably needed to talk to one specific person...
"Aren't you hungry, Joohyun?", Mina said silently without making eye contact. Irene assumed that she needed to proceed yesterday's events.
"No, I'm not, thank you", she answered monotonal and fixed her dish. Caramelized onions with rice. Her stomach tightened.
"Oh Joohyun, you need to eat!", Ryujin blurted out loudly and grabbed her fork. Mina gave her a lowkey glare. "I apologize", the girl whispered and smiled awkwardly. "But you still need energy for the day", she added.
"Thank you for worrying about me, Ryujin", Irene replied as friendly as she could. But even this ended in pure sadness. Why was she even trying to hide her mood? She was at least the one who would get slapped her soul out of her body today. She was the one who got elected for the 'merciful' additional Healing process.
"I know, they call me Jesus", Ryujin laughed and took a sip of her water. Mina sighed and slightly shook her head. A second later, Ryujin's usual "I apologize" followed.
The whole lunchtime was more like a penalty than a pleasure. Thoughts over thoughts jumped around in her mind like an energetic bouncy. She had glanced for over ten times to the empty seat next to Rosé, always hoping that Seulgi would pop up.
But the girl wasn't coming. In the end, it didn't matter. Irene needed to accept that it was over. In reality, she was just ebbing away.
The situation didn't become better as the substitute principal entered the refectorium, followed by two Nuns. And Seulgi. For a short moment, everybody's eyes laid on the said girl, as if the air had just frozen.
Irene was shocked.
No.
Disturbed.
Seulgi didn't look sick. She looked psychotic. Her hair was messy and greasy, like she hadn't washed it for days. Her eyelids were half-closed, tiredness written all over her face. Everything that destroyed the impression was the huge infected wound over her eyebrows.
And her smile.
Irene forced herself to look away. She couldn't endure this view. For a moment, she just fixed the big window behind Mina, hearing only her pulse and the blood pumping through her veins. Was this the definition of a 'broken heart'? Or was it just empathy what she felt?
