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DOWNTOWN. chapter forty | midnight lies.
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"Why aren't you leaving tonight?" Dad asked me as I poured the hot water into my cup. I ignored him for my own sake, but seeing him staring, I sighed. "Did something change between you and Donghyuck? Did something happen with Chaewon? You know, you always go out every night, and I still don't know why. So, that's why I'm asking–"
"Dad," I interrupted, lifting my head to exchange a glare. "Can't I just stay home for one night?"
"No!" He exclaimed in response, checking the time. "Because I have to work overtime this whole week, and since you have friends, we both should be leaving. Hey, on top of that, you didn't even tell me why you came back early from Busan."
Oh god. I took a sip of my very hot tea, the scalding burns on my tongue not hot enough to save me from this confrontation. "I met them."
"Who?" I didn't reply, but Dad caught on pretty quickly. "Those bastards?! They found you!? What did they do to my poor daughter? I'll go over to Busan right now, chase them down, and ki–!"
"Dad!" I laughed, shaking my head. "Calm down, okay? I took my revenge. They're done trying to chase me down. I made sure of it. Besides, I'm still alive now, right? At the time, I was pretty upset, and after I met them, I visited Hyerin's grave–and that's kind of when my whole world collapsed. Donghyuck took me back here, apparently, and I didn't even know."
"Yeah, he did. When he called me, he was rather frantic in his speech–I almost couldn't understand him," My throat got dry, maybe because of the tea or the explanation of that night. "It sounded like he was crying. I'm thankful you met him, you know? Donghyuck really, really loves you–and I know that he's someone who would do anything for you."
"What... makes you say that?"
"Don't act foolish, Jiayi," He crossed his arms, car keys hung on his fingers. "Who would drive four hours here and back? Who would come forward to someone's father and claim that he'd protect his daughter? I'm sure there are even actions I don't know of that you take notice of. Don't lie to yourself."
