𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲━𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐧

9

"it's nothing, sinb. i'll be fine." yerin said and smiled, her tears falling harder. sinb was internally battling with herself. she saw the look of pure despair on yerin's face and she wasn't even the one who caused it. sinb sighed and dropped yerin's shirt, peeking out the door to see if the halls cleared. sinb hadn't planned on staying at school for the whole day anyway since it was a monday.

"you know what, fuck this. i'll give us both a break and throw that bullying shit out the window for today. let's ditch this shithole so you can get away from all this." sinb said, offering a smile. yerin wanted nothing more than to go with sinb but the school would call her father and there would be a repetition of history. "come on, i'll take you to my house so you can shower then i'll take you somewhere with me. and don't worry, you won't get in trouble, i promise." sure enough, that promise was all yerin needed to be persuaded.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"hey, mom. i'm home early today and i brought someone, if that's okay." sinb greeted her mom as she entered the living room with yerin trailing behind her shyly, looking around at the neat and cozy looking house. it was much more of a home than her own house was. "oh, really? i'm going to assume you cut class and brought a hostage." sinb's mom joked. "you're very right. anyway, this is yerin and this is my mom. cool? cool." sinb rushed through introductions because she saw how anxious yerin was around her mom. "the third door on the left is the bathroom. towels and washcloths are in the bathroom closet. and i need your clothing sizes." sinb said.

yerin had no reason to be embarrassed about what size she wore as there was absolutely nothing wrong with her size but she couldn't help but listen to her insecurities. "n-no, it's fine. i'll put these back on..." yerin mumbled, turning and rushing to the bathroom. "yerin, you're not wearing those filthy clothes as long as you're in my house. now, you can tell me or i'll find out myself." sinb argued, crossing her arms. but yerin still refused to give sinb her sizes. sinb just shrugged it off and waited until she heard the water run before she entered the bathroom. but when she opened the door, yerin was fully stripped and every mark was on display for sinb to see. sinb couldn't rip her eyes from the gruesome sight of the marks. yerin too was frozen, like a deer caught in headlights.

when sinb saw tears run down yerin's face for the third time that day, she pulled herself out of whatever state she was in and closed the door, but remained inside and turned around. the bathroom was silent aside from the sound of the water swishing around as yerin got into the tub. yerin let out a groan of discomfort as the hot water washed over her body. "you said you were okay." sinb said softly, internally beating herself up for causing more pain in yerin's clearly already painful life. "i am. it's just a few bruises. they usually go away after a few days." yerin said as if it was a normal thing for her. "that's not a few bruises, that's fucking abuse, yerin." sinb said seriously. "what's the problem? you do it. why is it different when someone else does?" yerin asked emotionlessly.

sinb went silent for a quick moment. "i'm sorry, okay? but it doesn't make it right. you shouldn't have to put up with this. you don't deserve this." sinb sighed out, raking her hand through her hair. "well, i do have to put up with it on a daily basis and apologizing over and over isn't going to make me feel any better. really, it makes me feel worse when you victimize me. i'd rather you bully me than treat me like a hurt animal." the calmness in yerin's tone and the tears of anger running down her cheeks, quite honestly, frightened sinb. but of course, sinb didn't leave. instead, without turning around, she approached the tub and sat on the edge of it, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.

"it's not like that, okay? it's genuine concern. probably confusing. let's put it this way. i like fucking with you but when someone else does it, it upsets me. strange, yeah?" sinb said, letting a soft chuckle slip past her lips. oddly, the confession was enough to ease the crashing waves of yerin's anger and even made her blush. "i'm-" "it's okay, ducky. hurry up and wash up. i'll be right back." sinb grabbed the clothes that were sitting on the counter and left the bathroom, shutting the door gently. "since when did you wear thongs? and who is ducky?" eunha asked, laughing at the pair of black thongs in sinb's hand. "no, they're not mine." eunha didn't let her finish because she started laughing even harder. "they're not even yours? so, what, you're sniffing panties now?" eunha asked loudly, drawing the attention of sinb's mom.

"hwang eunbi, i better not find out you're sniffing panties. i'll beat your ass so that you can't walk for weeks if i find out i raised a pervert." sinb's mom deadpanned before going about her business as if she hadn't just threatened her kid. "look what the fuck you did. now my mom thinks i'm a pervert." sinb scolded eunha. "auntie already knows you're a perv, b. next time hide the panties in your pocket or something." eunha said while laughing before walking off.