UNDERGROUND | JJK (Being Rewritten)

C H A P T E R 7

1 0   Y E A R S   A G O

"Do you want to leave here, young Miss?"

Mirae kept on contemplating how she had been adamant on refusing Mr. Lee but the more time passed, the more the idea grew on her. Even when she closed the door on him and slid against it, feeling the enthralling palpitation of her heart. The thought of escaping has never rang in her head through the years of emotional neglect and abuse. From being screamed at to almost being hit, she had never thought of running away. Through the years of living in constant fear and being compared to her sister every second, to be called a burden and disappointment, Mirae had never imagined herself escaping. Until the thought was spoken out loud to her.

She tossed and turned in her bed even the next night, hearing people slowly bidding goodbyes and the party coming to an end. Mirae had escaped being introduced at the party, courtesy of her sister, who wanted the night to be about her and Junwoo's relationship being publicly declared. Mirae could never understand what she saw in him. Junwoo was kind and sweet to everyone but he wasn't Mina's type. Mirae knew Mina fantasised about bad boys and their rendezvous, so why she would settle for Junwoo was beyond Mirae. But she could never voice out her thoughts, that would be death wish.

Her eyes remained closed, should anyone come up she could keep up the facade of sleep. The doors were to be always kept unlocked although she could never really understand why. Her mother sometimes came in late at night to check if Mirae was duly sleeping and finally she understood what her mother feared; the paranoia that Mirae would escape.

The soft creek of the door opening made her shut her eyes close as naturally as she could, shuffling closer to the sheets. There was another creek and the door quietly shut. Mirae kept up the facade until she heard the lock click, simultaneously her mother's loud laughter floated to her ears from downstairs. A cold shiver ran down her spine as footsteps so subtle padded towards her padded. It wasn't her mother and nobody else cared enough to check up on her that too with a locked door. Her stomach tumultuously swirled and throat dried up. She couldn't call for help without letting the world know of her existence and if she did that without her father's consent, there would be no need for escaping – she'll be kicked out anyway. She couldn't defend herself either, she wasn't a fighter.

So when she first felt a soft weight on her feet, she clenched her jaw tight enough to grind her teeth. It was a hand, slowly moving the sheets from where they covered her legs, exposing the skin of her legs that her shorts obviously did not cover. The warmed skin lined with goosebumps at the caress of the cold air of the room as the sheets continue to move up. Mirae clenched her fists, nails digging into her palm to stop the scream of terror that threatened to escape her lips. She was careful to control her expressions, keeping it as neutral as humanly possible but the creeping hand made it difficult.

The sheets were pulled from her body till her stomach and the hand, specifically a finger brushed against the skin of her legs. Delicately skimming off the trail of goosebumps on her leg, the finger was now drawing circles on her thigh. Tears burned her close eyes and she prayed to whatever she had faith in that not even a whimper should escape her lips.

"I know you're awake."

Her eyes remained closed even as her body violently jerked at the familiarity of the voice. The finger circling her thigh was thrown off with the movement but it returned to grip the flesh of her thigh just below her ass.

"Open you eyes, Mirae. No need to be afraid."

Mirae couldn't stop the small cry that escaped her as her eyes met Junwoo's dark ones. The room was dark but that small, unsuspecting smile Mirae could recognise anywhere.