Just College

⁴⁶

Seungcheol stared at the girl in his office. His silence was really giving her a hard time. "I won't say you did well", he started and Dayeon looked up from the floor. "You didn't. Getting violent did more harm than good. I am not saying you should put up with rude remarks thrown at you, but you hurt that girl badly"

"I am sorry", Dayeon whispered.

"It's alright but you should take a little break from work", he said and Dayeon nodded, accepting her fate. "I will pay you for the day but your check will be cut"

That hit home.

Seungcheol smiled, "That's the best discipline, right?"

"Y-yeah. Can you please not tell my mom when she comes tomorrow to make the delivery?", Dayeon pleaded with sad eyes.

"I won't", Seungcheol promised, pulling out her already half pay check. He stretched it forward and she took it. The sudden cut in weight breaking her already broken heart. "You can leave early. It's just two hours left"

Dayeon nodded again. She bowed her head. "Thank you and I am really sorry", Seungcheol gave her a really fatherly nod and she left his office, staring at the envelope numbly as she walked to the changing room. She was surprised to see Jisoo there already in her home clothes.

Jisoo got up from the sofa, smiling at her, "I clocked out early. Are you okay?"

"I am", she replied, putting her envelope behind her. "Unnie, I.. I will pay you somehow. In installation, till I clear the debt"

Jisoo placed her hands into her skirt's pockets, "Who said you are in debt?", Dayeon looked at her and she laughed. "It's alright, Dayeon. It's totally fine"

Her eyes gathered with tears. "T-thank you, unnie"

"Get dressed. I will leave with you", and Dayeon nodded, still not believing that the elder girl just cleared her of a 2 million won debt, like it was nothing.

Her gratitude was immense.

_♡33_

Jisoo had her hands folded across her chest as they walked down the roads. They walked from Mary's diner and she wasn't complaining but the girl beside her looked so down and lost, it was something rare to see. "How long are we going to walk for?. Till we reach home?", they still had a long way to go and have gone a long way.

"Ah", Dayeon mumbled, finally remembering the girl walking with her. "Unnie, I'm sorry. I will stop a cab for_"

"It's okay. It's okay", Jisoo repeated in a comforting, soothing motherly tone. "We can walk to the very end of the district, if that will make you better"

Dayeon smiled a little, looking away from her. She stared ahead as they resumed walking. She was lost. She was scared. The things those girls said to her was making sense the more she thought about it. How else will she explain her sister having so much money. So much gifts. Clothes, shoes, good stuff. Things that her mother couldn't afford. She blamed the set of tears gathering in her eyes on the gusty wind of the night.

"What did those girls say to you?", Jisoo asked, her hair flying in the young night. She didn't look at the girl, just staring ahead. "It must have been something really sensitive for you to react that way", she looked at her.

Dayeon felt the tears returning. They called her a pauper. Her, a pauper. Girls in her age grade. She scoffed. "They just talked about my unnie in a degrading way", she shrugged.