Snapshots | Twice

out

"I knew it was you." Tzuyu said, her grip on Dahyun's shoulder was firm. Her body trembled and the pen in her hand wavered above Momo's face in the photograph. She looked at Tzuyu's face. She was calm and expressionless like always, but she could see her eyes beginning to water.

"Please stop Dahyun-unnie." She whispered. "Give me the pen."

Dahyun felt Tzuyu let go of her shoulder and watched as she knelt beside her. She reached for the pen, and Dahyun let her take it away. She looked back down at the unmarked photograph. Momo stared right back at her. She was smiling. Her eyes were happy too. How was it that she was able to lie so easily? She hated to look at her smiling face, knowing that on the inside she had been hurting. 

Tears forced their way to her eyes again. She felt her heart speed up unnaturally and her body break out in a cold sweat.

"Did you take your medication last night, Dahyun-unnie?" Tzuyu asked carefully. She capped the pen she had taken from Dahyun and put it carefully into the pocket of her dressing gown. She placed her hand on the older girl's back and rubbed slow circles. Jihyo did this whenever Dahyun was feeling stressed. 

Dahyun felt a wave of nausea come over her. She had been caught. She was the one who had been turning around the photos. And now she had ruined them. What would Tzuyu think of her?

But Tzuyu, no matter how upset she had been at the person who had defaced Momo so many times, could not be angry at Dahyun. She only felt intense sadness as she pulled the small girl into her arms and rocked her back and forth like Jihyo always did to her. 

She would always be woken up at around midnight by the screams. Then Jihyo would barge into the room as if on cue.

"Dahyunie, don't cry." Jihyo said. Tzuyu could hear her walk quickly to the other side of the room where Dahyun's bed lay. She peaked through her covers to see Jihyo climb into be with her and hold her tight, rubbing her back and rocking her from side to side.

"I just can't forget what I did to her." Dahyun said through broken sobs. Jihyo nodded. Tzuyu could see her own eyes start to water in the dim light coming from the hallway. 

"I just want to..." Dahyun started. She breathed hard a few times before continuing. "I just want to forget about her and move on. I want to pretend she never existed. I HATE HER!" Tzuyu felt the words hit her like a tonne of bricks.

"No you don't." She mumbled.

"YES I DO!" Dahyun cried. She looked into Tzuyu's eyes. Her face was drenched in tears. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her hair was unwashed and unbrushed. Her cheeks were sunken in and sallow. She looked crazy. And in that moment, Tzuyu realised something.

"I HATE HER SO MUCH!" Dahyun yelled. Her hands pulled at her own hair and she smashed a fist into the floor. "I WISH I HAD NEVER MET HER! I WANT HER OUT OF MY HEAD. OUT! OUT!"

Dahyun still blamed herself.