save me | jungkook

14,

2 WEEKS LATER:
(so many time skips, flora. chill XD. i'm not even tracking what month it is)

     Areum was slowly getting better by the day. It was hard for her to adjust to her meals at first, but she got used to it and was now eating full meals. She was always showered with compliments by Jungkook, which made her feel more confident about her body. Jungkook made her feel safe and secure – something that she never felt before.

     In general, she was getting better.

     However, a small piece of her was scarred forever. Just like how the nurse had told her. That piece of her would now hold the memories of the pain – the cuts, the crying, and most of all, the burden that held her down. She knew that these would be the consequences of her demanding actions and she would have to deal with them until the end.

    Areum was slowly gaining weight. She was 105 pounds at the moment and would soon be considered a healthy weight. Although there were obvious stretch marks on her skin, she held it as a symbol for her survival – her push to keep going and to never stop living the way she should.

     Thank you so much, Jungkook.

—

     Areum packed her papers into her backpack. Everyone was silently watching her; their eyes held guilt, regret, and fear of what they had done to her. Her bony body scared everyone. They never knew their words could hurt someone this bad and even cause someone to attempt suicide. They kept murmuring that it was all just a joke in their mind, but the memories continued to replay in their mind.

     Their faces were covered with sweat and their fists were clenched in pain. We didn't do it, they thought, she was the one who tried to kill her self. It wasn't us. We didn't touch her unlike Yuna.

     The guilt still stirred in the classroom except for this one girl. Yuna, the girl who ordered the group of girls to assault Areum. Yuna stood up, heading to the isolated seat in the corner of the room, next to the window.

Areum looked up with bored eyes, just like Jungkook had ordered her to. It would provoke Yuna even more, which Areum agreed to. Yuna scowled and said, "do you really think you'll gain regret from me just because you slit your wrists? Sucks for you, then." The class snapped their heads to face her. Their faces were covered with disgust. Even if they had also harassed Areum in the past, they regretted their actions yet Yuna continued on.

"First of all, I just lost a piece of myself and yet you continue to be rude. Actually, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be expecting you to be guilty because you were always rude to everyone, even to your little gang. You're such a great leader, burning the god damn f*cking hands of other students. You need to learn self-control," Areum stared into Yuna's eyes intensely, "unlike you, I actually know when to stop. And second of all, I never verbally asked you to feel regret. You think it's funny to joke around about someone slitting their wrists? How would you feel if this whole class was laughing at you because you slit your wrists?"

Yuna hesitantly scoffed, "don't think I'm letting you go for this." She crossed her arms, her defenses up.

"I already expected your response anyways. You should've known that one day I'll stand up to a bully like you," Areum rolled her eyes and swung her backpack over her shoulder, walking out of the classroom.

     She headed down the hall and looked for the music room. She smoothed down her rough hair and her skirt. The door of the room was open and soft background music was playing. She peeked through the doorway and saw Jungkook holding a microphone. He sang passionately and softly, making Areum smile brightly. The song shot goosebumps through her body. His voice and tone fit wonderfully with the music.

[A/N: for a moment, i almost wrote about yoongi lmao XD]

     Soon, the song was over. Areum clapped vigorously and ran over to Jungkook. He smiled at her and ruffled her hair. Areum frowned jokingly and smoothed her hair down again. "Is that your own song? I never heard those lyrics and beats before," Areum wondered.

     "Yeah, it's a song I'm working on. Do you like it?" Jungkook asked curiously. Areum nodded her head joyfully.

"It's lovely."

"I'm glad you like it. Let me pack up my stuff and we'll get going," Jungkook said.

"Okay."

—

     They both stood at the doorways of their houses. Areum waved goodbye to Jungkook and opened the door of the house. But something caused her to fall backwards before she could even step a foot inside the house.

     Jungkook stood there in shock. He jumped over the fence and ran over the flower bed of daisies. He helped Areum up gently. Her right cheek was red and a handprint was obvious on her face. He flinched at the color of her cheek and turned his head to the left to see who the perpetrator was.

     Her mother.

     Areum's sister was standing beside her mother and was smirking at the scene occurring. Her smirk faded once she saw Jungkook and her mouth suddenly turned into a fake concerned frown. She pushed her mother aside and ran out the door to help out Areum. "You're okay, right?" Areum's sister asked while peeking at Jungkook.

     Areum got up and rolled her eyes, yanking her arm from her sister's grip.

     "What's wrong? I was only trying to help you," her sister continued to stare at Jungkook. However, Jungkook continued to look at Areum. He was not oblivious to the sister's look and Areum didn't miss it either. Her fist clenched in jealousy.

     "What's wrong?" Areum mimicked, "well, let me tell you what's wrong. You both are sick to the mind and toss away what you have. You have everything yet you ask for more instead of treasuring what you have. You discriminate me as if I wasn't your child. You pushed your child away. You may feed me food, but you never gave me a single piece of your love. This whole time I've grown up without a real mother – a mother who actually cares about me. And for you, "sister," you are such a fake person. You criticized me for how I look, but all of a sudden, you're so desperate to smother up on Jungkook by acting kind."

     "I'm done with this family," Areum continued.

     She barged into the house and went to her room. She got out a suitcase that she bought in case of this situation. She stuffed all her clothes and belongings inside. Areum walked down the stairs and approached her sister one last time.

     She leaned to her ear and said, "in case you didn't know, Jungkook is my man. Fix yourself up."

     Areum walked out of the house with the suitcase and Jungkook kissed her forehead before wrapping his arm around her waist.

     I'm finally free.

~

Another chapter yay. I really like this one because Areum stands up to them and becomes stronger. I think this book might have at least 20 chapters. I really hope it does because a lot of my books end up at 15 instead lmao.

From your author,
Flora Lee