𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲 || 𝐤𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐣𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠.

22

it was saturday, the next day, so hongjoong and seonghwa decided to spend all day at the hospital with dahee. she could already leave tomorrow but they wanted to keep her company for today.

they were in the middle of a conversation when the door suddenly opens. all three of them turned their heads to see a young woman, looking right at dahee with a frantic look on her face. "dahee!"

she runs over to stand right next to the girl's bed, pulling the girl in for a hug. "dahee, i'm so sorry." the older-looking girl cries out, voice cracking as she held her tears back. the two boys look at each other, seonghwa asking his best friend who she was through his eyes. hongjoong shrugs his shoulders with an equally confused expression on his face.

dahee immediately wraps her arms around the older's waist, burying her face into her chest as she bursts out crying. the two boys widen their eyes, shocked at her sudden outburst. they respectfully, albeit rather awkwardly, wait for the pair to let go of each other. they even considered leaving the room to give them privacy before dahee lets go of the older and motions them to sit back down.

"mind telling me who these handsome boys are, baby sis?" the older girl nudges her sister, wiggling her eyebrows teasingly. "unnie, stop! these are my friends, hongjoong and seonghwa. guys, meet my sister, sohee." she introduced and the two boys' eyes widen and they get up abruptly, greeting her with a hello before bowing their heads at the older.

sohee chuckles at the boys, waving a hand at them. "tsk, there's no need to be that formal. i'm only five years older than you. don't make me feel old." she jokes and the boys laugh lightly at this. seonghwa offers her the seat he sat at prior to her arrival, going over to stand next to hongjoong on the other side of the bed. sohee smiles gratefully, sitting down on it before facing her sister.

she grabs one of dahee's hand with both of hers, rubbing it gently with her thumb. one of her hands run up dahee's arm, gently tracing over the dark purple bruises all over it, looking at her sister sadly. "dahee, i'm so, so sorry."

dahee tries her best to hold in her tears, looking up at hongjoong and seonghwa. they looked at her understandingly, getting up to actually give them privacy this time. dahee smiles gratefully at the two before they exited the room before looking back at her sister.

"i'm so sorry i wasn't a good sister. i'm sorry i didn't check up on you all this while. i— i thought everything was fine back here since you never said anything. i should've known. i–i'm so sorry for everything." sohee sniffled, burying her face in her hands.

dahee grabs her sister's hand, prompting the older to look at her. "unnie, it's fine. you were earning money for us, working hard for us. you always sound tired whenever you called so i figured you had a lot on your plate. i didn't want to stress you out even more." she tells the older girl who still looks ever so regretful.

"yeah but dahee, you should've told me about this. this is a serious matter. i knew dad hasn't been very nice to you since that incident but i didn't think he'd get this bad. how.. how long did this go on?" she cries out. "s–since you left.." the younger says truthfully. "dahee, it's been almost two years! why didn't you tell me?" the older exclaims, tears welling up in her eyes.

"i–i'm sorry.. i really didn't want to bother you. he didn't even get that physical until you started sending even more money and he used it to buy alcohol. so really, it's only been verbal abuse up until halfway through last year." dahee looks down, fiddling with her hospital gown.

"but you should've told me anyway. that's quite a long time, still. as tired as i could have possibly been, if you had told me all of this was happening, i would've came running back for you, dahee. you know i love you and i'd do anything for you." a single tear dropped from her eyes, followed by many more when her gaze once again fell upon all the bruises on her sister's skin.

dahee reaches out to hug sohee as she, too, started to cry. sohee had been nothing but the best sister ever since that incident. she cared for dahee while their father only treated the younger coldly, firmly believing that everything was his youngest daughter's fault.

even when their mother was still alive, sohee was already sort of a mother figure to dahee, up to the point where dahee considered sohee her second mum. when the woman passed, sohee was all dahee had left, the only person that cared for her.

but having found an amazing job opportunity some place else, dahee was forced to let the older go. it was too great of an offer to reject. and so she let the older go, while she was left alone with her father that didn't want to talk to her, let alone spare a glance in her direction.

but when he got fired from his job and he turned into an alcoholic, those silent insults towards her that was always in his head, turned verbal. screams of harsh insults were thrown towards the girl everyday. and slowly, they turned physical.

"it's fine, unnie. i'm really fine now, really. hwa and joong helped me a lot. if it weren't for those two idiots, i'd probably still be in that hell of a house at this moment." dahee laughs lightly, wiping her tears. "thank goodness for the great friends you have. never let them go, okay?" sohee ruffles dahee's hair, pulling the younger into the millionth hug that day.

"of course i won't. they're important to me." she admits with an endearing grin on her face. "anyways, i'm most probably moving back here. and before you can protest, i've already applied for a similar position here and i'm now waiting for a response. don't worry because even if i don't get the position i want, i can find something else. i've got a lot of savings anyways. it's enough for me to take care of you." sohee tells her younger sister, stroking her hair gently.

"okay, i would love for you to move back here. i miss bothering you." dahee jokes, laughing at the exaggerated offended face sohee made. "well, i missed you more. and you're gonna be fine now, i'm gonna take care of you. i'm not gonna let anything happen to you." dahee buries her face in her sister's chest, hugging her close before the older pulls away, hands both on dahee's arms as she narrows her eyes playfully.

"now tell me, which one of those two boys like you?"