𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙵𝙴𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝙽 [𝙴𝙽- 𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙴𝙼]

Chapter 9

"You're absolutely useless. Why can't you do anything right? You're just like your father."

I stood there silently. Arguing back or defending myself will not end well. I sometimes really envy those teens in the US who can slam the doors of their bedroom on their parent's faces. My mother did not say anything for a few seconds. I turned back to go to my room.

"I'm speaking to you and you have no manners going away like that." She spat again.

I turned back to face her and mumbled a 'sorry'. She scolded me for a few more minutes and then fell silent again. I gave it a few more seconds to be safe then ran back to my room.

"Don't think of putting in your earphones. I'll throw them away immediately." She shouted from the living room.

I sat on my bed. Door wide open because, duh. Normally, tears would be streaming down my face at this point. Because however regular this was, it never stopped hurting I would've been staring at the ceiling trying to remember something funny. Or imagining any new story. Because my mother seeing my tears would be even worse.

But today my eyes were dry. Because I still couldn't process anything. Niki almost getting into an accident with the bus, finding him in front of the store, trying so hard to bottle up my feelings till he was safe. None of it. And heeseung holding my hand? Everything felt like a story I would imagine. A long-forgotten fanfiction. Or one that was complete, but too bad in writing, that I couldn't finish it. I turned to my side, rolling all the memories of today in my mind. Holding onto their faces, smiling down at me.

"I'll see you again, Noona"

I feel myself blush and bury my head in the pillow. While thinking about today, I notice that my parents had gone to bed. I jump up from my bed and grab my earphones turning on Criminal Love on my phone. A smile evident on my face the whole time as I fall asleep to Jungwon and Heeseung's duet in the bridge.

"...Noona"

......................................................................................................

The past few days went by a blur. My college time had extended well in the morning. It was now 8 AM to 7 30 PM. And I was too exhausted to do anything. Exams were approaching and I had to study well this time. I scored a 38 out of 50 the last time but I needed to go above 40, no matter how hard the paper turned out to be.

I sit at the desk and motivate myself to study. Imagining a really good articleship in the Big 4 firm. A proud smile on my parent's face when they attend a social gathering. I start with Tax and memorize the TDS laws, writing them down for quick revision and sticking them up on the wall near my study table.

When tax became exhausting, I plugged in my earphones to my binaural beats and started Accounts. While I was stuck between throwing my books away and banging my head on the wall because of how difficult the problem was, I heard a notification go off. I looked at the time, 10:30 PM. Scoffing how Tanmai must've remembered to send me the notes of costing, I open my phone, armed with all the curse words I was about to give her. But turns out, Tanmai didn't remember yet. Because it was an unknown number.

Unknown
Hey Leah.

Me
Hello. Who's this?

Unknown
Guess

Me
I don't want to. Who's this?

Unknown
You know me. I'm not sure how long you've known me. But I'm hoping it to be 3 years.

By 3 years, I immediately thought of that obsessive boy from my past. Oh hell no.

Me
If you want to play the guessing game, play with someone else.