Her Bully | BBANGSAZ

T W E N T Y T H R E E

M I N J I
—

It's midnight, and I'm out on my balcony reading my favorite book when I receive a text from her.

Haerin is also here, sleeping noisily on the other side of the balcony with a blanket draped over her.

She looks like a cute cat, and I took this opportunity to take a lot of pictures of her.

She's definitely going to get mad at me tomorrow or whenever she finds out.

It seems she was absent today; she caught the flu this morning and didn't like the idea of not 'seeing' me for a day, so she decided to sleep over.

We watched re-runs of Twilight because it's my ultimate favorite movie series and decided to cozy up on my balcony to camp out here instead.

She fell asleep as soon as she dropped the comforter on the ground.

I believe Haerin's still sick, but I didn't bother; she's like a sister to me.

Closing my book and placing my bookmark, I reach over to grab my phone, which is near Haerin's sleeping form, and chuckle lightly.

Hanni:
Can you come over?

Blinking a couple of times, I consider her message.

If she hadn't pressured me earlier about apologizing, I might have considered it since it's kind of expected, but I did ask her to give me some time. I'm trying to figure things out for myself, too.

Another message comes through.

Hanni:
Hopefully, you can, Minji.

I roll my eyes, glaring at my phone, knowing she's trying to play the "use her real name" card to get to me. I can almost hear her laughing right now.

Come to think of it, it was weird walking down the school hallway without receiving glares or bullying.

It's as if they couldn't even see me as I passed by today.

While it did make me happy that nobody—especially Haerin, even though she was absent—would hear about that humiliating story, it also made me sad to think that all the pain I endured could just be forgotten so easily.

Ahyeon has been nothing but sweet to me, too. She noticed me sitting alone at Haerin's and my usual cafeteria table when Haerin didn't show up to eat with me.

She's really sweet, but I have my doubts.

We didn't get to talk much today because of her cheer practice.

Hanni:
If it's a no... I'd like to know.

I chew on my lip, contemplating the consequences if I leave Haerin and go to her.

Opening a new text box on my phone to reply, I type a message and press send. Leaning back against the railings, I close my eyes and ponder my decision.

I'm hopeless.