Strings & Stitches

Chapter 23

The drive back home after the dinner at Minji's was tense. And quiet. Siyeon kept driving without saying anything much, Bora sitting next to her while Gahyun was in the back, staring outside the window.

All three of them knew that there was a long talk coming up, although it seemed that nobody was ready for it.

Bora reached for the volume button and turned up the music a little, wishing it would be at least a little louder than her thoughts, but it didn't work. She knew this day would come, but god she wasn't ready for it. And now, glancing at Gahyun from the mirror, seeing her all thoughtful and silent, she knew she kind of messed up by all the secrets.

At the same time, maybe it would be good to get this out of her system. All the lying and hiding was starting to really gnaw at her. Besides, Bora's decision to do this kind of job had a good reason.

Now the hardest part was to figure out how the hell she should actually go about telling her.

When Siyeon parked the car, Bora was the first one to speak up. "Thank you for driving us, I will... text later" Her voice sounded exhausted, and she let out a long sigh when Gahyun only said a small 'thanks' to the blonde woman and got out, walking towards the building without waiting for her sister. The brunette stared at Siyeon, who emphasized with her the most at that moment.

"Good luck."

The walk up to their apartment felt like a heavy one, the silence only making it worse. All because Bora knew what was coming. As soon as they stepped inside their apartment and the door was closed, her sister would immediately get to interrogating her.

And she was right. As soon as the door behind them closed, both of them standing still in the dark living room, Gahyun sat down on the couch and crossed her arms, expecting for her sister to do the same. Once Bora turned on the lights and was now sitting in front of the younger girl, Gahyun threw her first question. "Are you hiding something from me?"

That should have been obvious from how things had gone down earlier, but her sister did deserve an actual spoken response to that question. "I have not been telling you the whole truth."

Gahyun scoffed, "Yeah, well, I noticed" was said in a frown, and then she shook her head, loosening her shoulders and leaning forward, staring at her sister's expressions for any genuine changes. "You don't work in a bar? That's the case?" Before this, Gahyun had the information that her sister was working as a bartender in this one chill bar, along with Handong. But now, she started to have all these doubts. Was Bora a part of something else? Something illegal? Gahyun couldn't stop the thoughts.

Like always, her sister was quite the detective, hitting the nail right on the head. It would have been nice to have a little more time for a build-up. "I do work in a bar... just not as a bartender." The nerves in Bora's system made her voice crack.

At that, Gahyun narrowed her eyes, her stare piercing through Bora as if she would be able to find the answer in her head only by the intense look. But it seemed that her sister was not so easy to break down. "Then?" She questioned, honestly feeling fear to hear the answer. She wasn't a drug dealer, was she? And, why did Siyeon know about it but not her? It didn't make sense.

Finally, a little time to frame this 'issue'. "You see, we needed quite a bit of money in a short time, and a job as a bartender wouldn't keep us afloat" the older sister started, playing with her hands to keep herself from dying inside. "So I asked Handong if she knew a job I could earn a good sum of money with, whilst also staying within my comfort zone. And one where I couldn't get into trouble" With their situation, trouble was the last thing Bora needed, especially legal trouble.

Gahyun gave her a slow nod, trying to think of what the answer could be. She still had a bit of difficulty, though. "Just tell me, what is it? And why have you been hiding it from me all this time? How does Siyeon know about it?" All the questions in her head started to hurt her brain and she breathed in to get her composure back. "And... Are you okay?" She couldn't see any other reason why Bora wouldn't share her job if it didn't, at least, give a little bit of damage.