𝐖𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇 || ᵇ.ᵏᵃᵗˢᵘᵏⁱ

XXXIV

🗡️🗡️🗡️

"How are you feeling?" Bakugou asked as soon as he was allowed in the room. Mina, Jungwon and Kirishima followed after him, almost getting stuck in the doorway when they all tried to go through at the same time.

"Like I've just been stabbed," Aeri replied shortly, her arms crossed over her chest as she sat propped up on the bed. Recovery Girl had refused her request to get up and get changed out of her now ruined hero costume so she had to sit in the ripped and bloody leather, her swords and daggers on the floor beside her.

"I can't believe you kept fighting after, I would've willingly failed the exam at that point." Mina huffed, her eyes wide as she observed the 2-inch-long wound on Aeri's exposed stomach. It had been stitched up by now and Recovery Girl had saved her at least 2 weeks of bed rest with her quirk. She had refused a bandage, not wanting to have to go through the agony of pulling off the adhesive that night to clean it.

"Very manly." Kirishima nodded along. Aeri smiled at them politely, not really wanting to talk right now but appreciating that they came to see her.

"I'm sorry Aeri... I'm so sorry for everything." Jungwon whispered, tears brimming his eyes and threatening to spill over. "I'm sorry for keeping secrets, I'm sorry for being jealous and I'm sorry for being mean to you."

"It's okay," Aeri replied. "I understand why you did it." She patted the bed next to her and shuffled to the side with a wince so he could join her. He complied happily, settling down. "By any chance did you know that Dohwan was exiled?"

"Dohwan was exiled?" Jungwon practically shouted. Recovery Girl shushed him and pointed to the sleeping student on the other side of the room.

"I'll take that as a no... you can't tell anyone that you know because then they'll all know that I was listening to their conversation."

"Stop talking in Korean, I want to know the gossip too!" Mina whined, and Bakugou rolled his eyes at her.

"It's not gossip, it was a family secret," Jungwon told her. Bakugou suddenly understood what Aeri had told him to get such a reaction.

"Which family secret?" Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at Jungwon as he walked into the room, catching the dregs of their conversation. Jungwon flinched.

"Not the one you're thinking about," Jungwon replied, looking at Aeri guiltily. She did her best to look annoyed as if she didn't eavesdrop earlier.

"Why do you guys have so many family secrets?" Kirishima asked lightheartedly.

"I would also like to know the answer to that," Aeri added, giving Hyunjin a pointed look.

"There are too many of you in here!" Recovery Girl frowned. "Shoo! All of you. If you don't have an injury, you need to leave."

"Can I go too?" Aeri asked. Recovery girl reluctantly agreed but made her put on the godforsaken bandage to cover her wound.

🗡️🗡️🗡️

They had no more school for two weeks. A whole two weeks of chill time. No villains, no exams, no unsolicited stabbings. Just two weeks of Aeri doing absolutely nothing but things she wanted to do.

The family had been fussing over her for the past two days, not letting her train, carry anything by herself, do any of her chores or do any strenuous activities, claiming they didn't want her to rip her stitches but Aeri sensed it ran deeper than that.

Jinyoung had been sending her boatloads of expensive gifts since the incident—a pair of Louboutins, a Dior ballgown from the latest collection, pearls and gold jewellery, a Valentino minidress... it was endless. It got to the point where Aeri felt bad for accepting the gifts without forgiving him, so she did. And told him to stop sending her so much stuff—though it definitely was up to standards with her expensive taste.