Not Available | Daerin

Chapter Seven

*warning mentions of sexual assault*

"Are you Miss Kang Haerin?"

Haerin skids to a halt and almost falls flat on her face as the receptionist stands up from behind her desk at Danielle's apartment building, her eyes wide as Haerin grips the counter to balance herself before she nods furiously.

"Y-yes, that's me!" she pants out, her shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor from the rain that had begun to pour once again as soon as she had jumped on her bike back at the bar.

Danielle hadn't responded to her text, and Haerin's worried. The look in Dani's eyes had been heartbreaking, filled with fear and despair and anguish and every sad or horrified emotion that exists in the dictionary, and Haerin wanted nothing more than to help the smiley girl like she helped Haerin last night. She's scared of what she'll find once she gets up there, and it's even possible that Danielle hasn't come back here, but she has to try.

The receptionist purses her lips and nods once before she steps out from behind the desk and makes her way over to the elevator, Haerin following behind her helplessly as she presses the up button.

"Miss Marsh informed me to let you in if you came around," she says with a smile that immediately sours when she sees Haerin's been tracking water after her, but Haerin can't find it in her to care as she swallows the lump in her throat and nods again.

"Thank you!" she breathes. The girl nods once, and as the elevator doors open, Haerin steps inside and watches the girl press a card to the card reader, which turns green with a loud beep. The girl steps outside of the elevator before the doors shut and doesn't even look back at Haerin as she makes her way back to the receptionist's desk. Haerin lets out a sigh of relief and sinks against the back wall of the elevator, exhaling deeply as she does.

She feels horrible. She has no idea why Dani had some reaction to this Nick guy's name, but she knows it can't be anything good from how out of control of her emotions Danielle had become. In the weeks she's known her, Danielle hasn't once broken her facade, but the pain in her eyes is unlike anything Haerin has ever witnessed...

Whoever this Nick guy was, he ruined her life, Haerin can tell.

The doors swing open, and Haerin immediately steps out, glancing around for any sign of brunette hair-

"Danielle?!" she calls out, her voice echoing slightly in the gigantic glass penthouse. She bites down on her bottom lip hesitantly before making her way around slowly. She makes a beeline for Danielle's bedroom, her heart thundering in her ears at this point, and she can hear the faint sound of what sounds like water...

Water that definitely isn't the harsh rain outside. It's softer...

Shower.

Haerin pushes the door to Dani's bedroom open slowly, her eyes falling onto the bed where she and Danielle had spent hours together, and she swallows thickly before turning right toward the bathroom, where the sound of water gets louder.

"Dani?" she knocks on the door before she twists the doorknob, opening it slowly.

Danielle's curled up naked in the corner of the gigantic shower, loud sobs escaping her as she hugs her knees closer to her chest, and Haerin's heart utterly breaks.

She drops her bag from her back, lets it fall to the ground with a loud thunk that has Dani looking up with wide eyes, and as soon as they land on Haerin, her bottom lip trembles and she buries her head into her arms once more, unable to even look at the feline-eyed bartender.

"Danielle..." Haerin doesn't even bother taking her clothes off, she's already wet from the rain outside. She already had her shoes taken off at the front entrance of her penthouse, however, before stepping into the shower and cautiously making her way over to Dani. The spray from the showerhead hits her, and she shivers from the heat of the water compared to the cold rain outside, goosebumps rising on her skin immediately. She crouches down until she's right beside the brunette haired girl, not a care in the world for the water currently soaking her already wet body as she reaches out to touch Dani's shoulder lightly.