The countryside (Part 3)

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Y/N's POV

Time fractured around me as the instant ramyeon scattered across the floor. My body recognized her presence before my mind could process it - muscle memory from hundreds of mornings making me want to turn, to check if she'd eaten, to ask about her schedule.

But I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't do anything but stand frozen as her footsteps approached.

"Hi," she'd said. Such a small word to shatter an entire year of carefully maintained distance.

"Karina-" I managed, my voice barely a whisper. Too afraid to turn around, to see what a year had done to our leader's face.

"Look at me."

The steel in her voice was new. Or maybe I'd just forgotten how commanding she could be when protecting her family. When I didn't move, she circled around until I had no choice but to see her.

She looked different. Thinner maybe, with shadows under her eyes that makeup couldn't quite hide. But it was the barely contained fury in her expression that hit hardest - an anger I'd never seen directed at me before.

"A year," she said quietly, dangerously. "A whole fucking year without a word."

"I-"

"No." She cut me off sharply. "You don't get to talk yet. You don't get to explain or apologize or whatever speech you've prepared in your head. You're going to stand there and listen for once in your life."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Chaewon quietly usher the few customers out, flipping the store's sign to 'Closed.' Smart. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Do you have any idea," Karina's voice shook with suppressed emotion, "what it did to us when you disappeared? When all we got was that cold hospital discharge notice saying you'd gone to recover 'somewhere quiet'?"

Each word felt like a physical blow. "I was trying to protect-"

"Protect us?" She laughed, the sound holding no humor. "By abandoning us when we needed you most? When that monster Choi was-" She cut herself off, pressing her palms against her eyes.

"Karina, please..."

"Ningning cried herself sick for weeks." The words came faster now, like she couldn't hold them back anymore. "Winter stopped carrying her camera, or taking photos of anything because it hurt too much to make memories. And Giselle..." Her voice cracked. "Do you know what it's like watching someone you love fade a little more each day, knowing they'll never be quite whole again because someone they trusted just... left?"

The ramyeon crunched under her feet as she stepped closer. "We needed you. When Choi started his 'discipline' sessions. When the company used your leaving as excuse to crack down harder. When everything we'd built together started crumbling because the one person who always protected us just disappeared."

"I saw the headlines," I whispered, my own voice rough with unshed tears. "The photos, the scandal. I thought... I thought leaving would give you space to heal. To rebuild without my mistakes haunting you."

"Your mistakes?" Her eyes flashed. "You mean loving us? Protecting us? Being the only staff member who ever saw us as human beings instead of company assets?"

"The company-"

"Fuck the company!" The force of her words made me flinch. "We were family. Real family. And you just... left. No goodbye, no explanation. Just empty space where you used to be."

She was crying now, tears falling freely as years of practiced composure finally cracked. "Do you know what Choi did to us? The 'training' methods he used? Twelve-hour practices without breaks. No water until we got formations perfect. Making Giselle dance on an injured wrist until she-"

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