I Hate You, Don't Leave Me

Chapter 22

Chaeyoung descended the staircase to find many pairs of expectant eyes trained on hers. Everyone was standing stone still, and it looked as if they hadn't moved since the moment Chaeyoung had left them. She briefly wondered if they had said anything to Tom and Linda as they made their way out the door. She thought that they probably had not, instead simply waiting for the blonde to emerge from her room. She didn't know what to tell them though, didn't even know how to begin to explain what had happened upstairs, so she wandered into the living room without a word, simply leaning against the doorframe. Now that it was over, the shock of what she had witnessed was starting to hit her hard, and she didn't think that she could speak, even if she wanted to.

"Well?" Bom finally prompted after several seconds had gone by in silence. "Do we need to call the police?"

"No," Chaeyoung answered immediately. "Please don't."

"Honey, if these people are abusing their child, then we need to notify the authorities," Bom argued. "We can't allow her to be sent home to them again if they're going to hurt her."

"They won't. When I went up there, her stepfather was beating her." Chaeyoung closed her eyes against the gasps before continuing. "I caught it on video, and I told him that if I ever caught him near her again, I would call the police. I can assure you that they won't touch her. They're both cowards." Chaeyoung felt tears of anger welling up in her eyes, and she turned back to Bom, trying to explain the situation. "We can't call the police because they'll want to put Lisa into the system, and we can't let that happen. I can't let that happen. She has been through so much already, and she doesn't need that, on top of everything else."

"Okay, Chaeyoung. If you're sure." The blonde was surprised that her mother had ceased her argument, and she knew that she must look pretty upset if Bom had given in so easily. She reached up to wipe her cheeks and was not surprised to find them wet.

"I am." Chaeyoung nodded, trying to sound sure of herself, despite her tear-streaked cheeks.

Jennie stepped forward to get a closer look at the blonde. "Are you okay, Chaeyoung?"

The question came as a surprise. Chaeyoung had been so caught up in thoughts of Lisa that she hadn't even once stopped to think about herself. She knew immediately what the answer was though. She wanted to scream and cry at the same time because she had never wanted for Lisa to be hurt again. She had most certainly never wanted to see it. There was something about watching her roommate being beaten right before her very eyes that made the situation even worse than it had seemed when she was simply hearing about it. She couldn't help the nagging feeling that she had failed Lisa as a girlfriend. She hadn't been able to keep her safe.

Chaeyoung shook her head in answer to Jennie's question, knowing that everyone had already seen the answer streaking from her eyes. "I just need some time to process what I saw," Chaeyoung said. "I'll be okay soon."

Jessica then spoke the question that Chaeyoung was sure was on everybody's mind. "Will Lisa?"

"I don't know."

Once Bom had gotten Chaeyoung calmed down to a considerable degree, she left her daughter downstairs with her friends while she went upstairs to use the restroom. Or rather, that's what she said that she would be doing. Instead, she was searching for Chaeyoung's room, longing to check on the poor girl that was inside. She spotted the room easily because it was the only one with a closed door, and she knocked softly against the wood.

"Go away, Chaeyoung," said a voice from inside.

Bom opened the door anyway, walking in to find Lisa curled up on her bed with a devastated look in her eyes.