25 | TWENTY FIVE — THINGS WE KNOW ❝because i know you ❞
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THERE WAS A TIME where Yu-ri whole heartedly believed that her parents hated her. Her mother, to be specific. It was a horrible thought because why would her own mother hate her? Yet her mother had never done anything to make the girl assume otherwise.
Moon Jang-mi never told her daughter she was proud of her. She never told her that she was doing well in school or volleyball, never wanted to spend time with her, and it was once in a blue moon that she told her daughter that she loved her.
Yu-ri had lived almost her whole life thinking she had done something wrong—that she was simply a mistake that her parents had been burdened with. That's the way she felt because that's the only way her parents ever made her feel.
But the envelope and letter given to her from her own mother changed everything. It was written proof that her parents did love her, as impossible as it was to believe.
However, what was there to do with it now? Both of her parents were dead. They weren't coming to get her and she wouldn't be able to hug them, or tell them she loved them, or even forgive them. Despite everything they'd gone through together, the only thing Yu-ri wanted in that moment was to be with her family, yet it was too late.
A sense of emptiness gripped onto Yu-ri's chest as she tried, but failed, to control her sobs. The others had backed away, all except Cheong-san who held onto the girl tightly and cried along with her.
"I'm sorry, Yu-ri." He whispered.
She couldn't even reply and only whimpered as she dug her head further into his shoulder. Around them, On-jo's father began talking to the other kids but she couldn't hear it. She didn't care. She wished she could sink into the floor and stay there forever.
"Yu-ri, we have to get going." He said. "Do you think you can run?"
Yu-ri shook her head, swallowing her tears. "I don't wanna go."
"Yu-ri-"
"I don't wanna go!" She raised her voice, pushing away from him to stand a distance away. She cried, refusing to look up from the floor. "Leave me here."
Su-hyeok instinctively stepped forward but was stopped by Nam-ra's hand on his arm. She shook her head and blinked at Cheong-san, telling Su-hyeok to let the other boy handle it.
"Yu-ri," Cheong-san started again, more gentle this time. He approached her carefully, placing his hands on the sides of her arms. "Look at me."
