𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲 || 𝐤𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠.

11

tw : strong language, abuse

"who the fuck was that?" dahee flinches at the sound of her father's voice as she enters the house. her eyes widen in panic, backing away when the man comes closer. "n–no one.." she answers quietly but loud enough for him to hear.

"you think i'm stupid? you think i've never seen him send you home before for the past few weeks? who the fuck is he?!" she flinches once again when he raises his voice and grabs the collar of her jacket, staring her down. "j–just that classmate i'm tutoring." she looks down, avoiding his eyes.

"that's it? just a classmate?" his grip on her collar tightens as he pulls her closer, staring the poor girl down with a menacing glare. "yes." dahee holds in her breath, knowing damn well the man is drunk and that he reeks heavily of alcohol and cigarettes.

"you fucking liar!" the man releases her collar, slamming the girl against the wall. dahee groans in pain when she feels her head also hitting the wall.

"boohoo, you poor thing. does that hurt?" her father feigns pity, mocking the girl for being in pain. he rubs her head, as if trying to make it feel better, before grabbing it and throwing her body down onto the floor.

"how about this, then? does this hurt?" the sinister tone in his voice was impossible to miss. he continues to kick and hit the girl while she lies on the floor, crying in pain as she shields her face and head with her arms. it's no wonder her arms are where most of the bruises are. but she'd rather have them on her arms than her face, where everyone can see them.

"p–please, s–stop," she cries out. the man only laughs at her pathetic whimpers at every kick and strike. "maybe this'll teach you not to lie to me, huh bitch?" he continues his assault on her.

minutes go by and finally the man gets tired of beating dahee up so he leaves the house, most probably out to get more drinks. the girls remains on the floor, softly panting, too tired and weak to get up.

and when she did get up, she slowly walks to the direction of her room. she passes by a family picture frame on the side table, that was when she froze. memories came flooding and when that first tear broke free, the rest followed in an unbroken stream.

she grabbed the photo frame, dropping down on the floor, clutching it close to her chest. the picture looked like a normal family picture, a married couple sitting with their two daughters standing behind. they were all smiling at the camera, looking like the perfect family that they were. they were.

she wished everything would go back to how it was a few years ago. when her mother was still alive, when her sister didn't have to work in another country to support the family, when her father wasn't an alcoholic who turned into an abusive father. when everything was perfect.

she stared at the man in the picture, wondering where the loving, hard working, kind man that he once was, had gone. now all she can see isn't the man who would spoil her with toys and books that she wanted, but a monster she fears.

"eomma, i miss you so much." she broke down and sobbed like a child, clutching the picture frame tighter as she silently prays that someone would save her from the hell she's living.

-

she goes to school the next day like any other day, a smile on her face to hide all the pain. the ones painted on her body, as well as the permanent one in her heart. how she wishes she could talk to someone about it but she didn't want to burden anyone.

"dahee!" she turns around only to be met immediately by seonghwa and an excited hongjoong who gives her no time to react before engulfing her in a hug. she bites her lips, wincing in pain at his tight grip on her. her hands slowly make it's way to his back, patting it in response to his hug.

she's thankful that hongjoong couldn't possibly see her expression because she's sure her face is in an obvious grimace. hongjoong finally lets go of her and she secretly sighs in relief. it's not that she hates him hugging her but it's because her body was in too much pain for her to actually enjoy the hugs.

"i know we just saw each other yesterday but i missed you," hongjoong pouts, leaning towards her and resting his head on her shoulder. she flinches at this before quickly smiling at him. thank goodness he doesn't seem to notice anything, only looking at seonghwa as they both face the oldest.

what she didn't know was that seonghwa had been observing her since the two got to her locker. he noticed her slight wince when her boyfriend hugged and he definitely noticed that the way she's acting is a little strange. but it's not like she hadn't always been like this and he also didn't want to assume anything so he kept quiet about it.

"didn't i warn you two not to make me feel like a third wheel?" seonghwa glares at hongjoong, taking a bite out of his chocolate bar. "hwa, can you stop eating for like one second?" dahee teases the older, laughing when he frowns at her statement.

"no way, food is life." he retorted, sticking his tongue out at her as he continues to eat his snack. "how do you even stay in shape with all the junk food you stuff in your face every five seconds?"

"that, my friend," he points at her with the remaining of his chocolate bar. "is a secret i'll never tell." dahee rolls her eyes at this, shaking her head. she stands up straight and hongjoong loses his balance, stumbling before he grabs onto her arm to stable himself.

this time, dahee didn't have enough time to stop herself from letting out a small groan at his grip. both boys turn to look at her in concern. "baby, are you okay? did i hurt you?" hongjoong stutters out in fear of having accidentally hurt his girlfriend. seonghwa frowns at this, suspecting that his assumptions are actually true. but again, he keeps quiet because he knows that if she wanted them to know, she'd have already told them by now.

"n–no, you didn't, joong. i just, i uh– i fell off my bed this morning and hit my arm on the bedside table." she lies, awkwardly scratching her head. "pfsh, you're so clumsy all the time. be careful next time, okay?" he pinches her cheeks.

seonghwa only watches as the girl blatantly lies to her boyfriend. he didn't know how hongjoong could be that stupid to always buy her lies. he didn't know whether or not to tell hongjoong about his observations, considering how hongjoong doesn't seem to ever see anything wrong with dahee.

but again, he knows that if she wanted them to know, she wouldn't have kept this to herself for so long. so for now, he'll just wait. he'll wait until the day she decides to tell him and hongjoong. he hopes that it's anytime soon because it seems that it's already been going on for too long, considering when she had started to cover herself up with a jacket.