《•Freedom•》//▪Kim SeungminFF▪

10

Haneul woke up to the sound of her ringtone. However, it wasn't the usual alarm. Instead, it was the ringtone for messages.

"Ugh.. who dares disturb my slumber?" Haneul groaned with her eyes barely opening.

Haneul was a light sleeper, so when she heard her ringtone, she immediately got up, thinking it was her mother.

Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she reached for her phone on the nightstand.

It was a text message from an unknown number, so it couldn't have been from her mom. "Could it be from one of those Itzy girls?" She asked herself and opened it.

Unknown
Hey sweetie, you thought you could get away from me?

Haneul froze in her spot, her eyes widening and threatened to pop out of her eyes in an instant. Her mouth fell wide open and her hands started to shake uncontrollably.

Blood rushed to her ears and all she could hear was the sound of her heart beating against her chest.

Haneul gulped, but her throat hurt from the dryness. With a shriek, she threw her phone away to the floor, scared to see anymore of her ex.

She hated him. She hated what he had done to her. Memories started to flood in her head and she started to get dizzy.

"They won't hurt you anymore, love." He sent with an image of her bully's head, detached from the body.

Haneul remembered puking and getting nightmares because of it.

"You're friends were fake. I'll be the only one for you."

One personal secret was all her best friend kept from her and Zach crashed her 'accidentally' with a car.

"The cat hurt you. He wasn't a pet, he was a monster." He held a box with him, a dead cat inside.

Haneul got up from her bed and ran towards the bathroom as she felt a twist in her stomach.

Out came the continents of her dinner last night, falling out of her mouth and into the toilet bowl.

Sweat ran down her back and forehead, and she felt her head was getting lighter.

"How did he.. how..?" She wept against the toilet seat, reaching over to flush it.

She stood up, gripping onto her sink tightly. She looked at her face in the mirror, plae and terrified.

She opened the tap and splashed cold water on her face. "Pills." She said and reached for the medicine cabinet.

She took out an orange container, spilling two to three pills on her palm and swallowing it as she drank the tap water.

(What pills do you use for these? Anxiety?) Am not a doctor, okay yalls.)

Haneul needed to forget about him. She needed a distraction.

For now, all she could think was to dance away her stress. So, to JYPe she went.

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Haneul was covered in layers of sweat as she stood in front of the mirror, both hands on her knees while she panted heavily.

Haneul squeezed her eyes shut, trying to control her breathing. She had been dancing for more than 3 hours, continiously. Still, she couldn't get her mind off of her ex.

Her mind was clouded with thoughts and question such as how Zach had gotten her number. It confused her to the point that her eyes could roll to the back of her head and she'd faint.

"Could he have..? Mom?" Haneul felt sick as she thought of the posiblities that he threatened her mother for her information.

"No, no." She muttered. "My mom is smart enough to know that she should not get Zach close to her."

Haneul took a sharp breath before walking into a bathroom outside the practice room and changed into a fresher set of clothes.

She felt her stomach rumble. Haneul didn't have her breakfast and so she was hungry.

With a swing of her duffle bag, she made her way to the canteen. Unfortunately, her mind still drifted to her ex. Her face blank.

She walked towards, basically no where, but it was obvious she was looking for a table. Chan luckily saw her and called her to their table.

With a faint smile, she walked towards the group who moved their seats to let her sit.

Seungmin rolled his eyes at the sight of the girl. "You're still alive?" He said.

Haneul didn't feel like arguing with anyone at the moment, feeling nothing but emptiness and anxiety inside her. So when Seungmin spat out the words with venom in his voice, Haneul just looked at him blankly, her eyebrows turned up slightly, showing that she was sad.

She released a heavy sigh, placing down her tray on the table.  Instead of taking a seat, she stared at the chair instead.

The boys looked at each other worriedly before their eyes landed on Seungmin as if they he had the answer to her weird behaviour.

"I didn't do anything." He answered as soon as he saw their questioning gaze.

"You okay, Haneul?" Changbin who was the closest to her asked, holding her arm lightly.

Haneul snapped out of her thoughts, and smiled at them fakely. "Oh, y-yeah. No probs."

She was about to sit down, her duffel bag already on the floor, when someone called her. "Hannie?"

Haneul recognized the voice and the nickname. There was only one person who called her that, and it was her so called 'twin'.

Her head snapped back quickly. "Wonpil-ie?" Her pale lips formed a sad smile when she saw a boy standing a few feet behind her.

She felt the tears form in her eyes, the feelings she felt from earlier coming together.

If there was one person she would have opened everything up to, it would be Wonpil.

He had taught her most of the instruments she had learned, and she even met Chan through him. He taught her about boys and what they could do to hurt her, and how to defend herself. He used to braid her hair and sing her songs when she needed them. Basically, she looked up to him like an older brother.

Wonpil smiled warmly, opening his arms and beckoning her for a hug. Haneul's tears fell from eyes as she ran to him, practically jumping on him as she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

The boys watched the sad reunion of the two from behind them. The side of Seungmin's lips twitched and it soon turned into a frown.

He suddenly felt a pang in his heart and his chest tightened. He felt feelings swirl inside of him and he didn't know why.

Was it because Haneul was hugging his bias?

Or was it because his bias was hugging Haneul?