Array
(
[text] =>
— Ah, fucker, you know I let you win, right? — Hyeori laughed at her boyfriend’s words, squeezing his hand while he hung his jacket on his shoulder and looked at Sieun.
The group had finished playing, now it was late and Hyeori had told Sooho that it was time to leave the place, mostly because she knew that Sieun was already very tired of being there, although she was not as introverted as him, she knew what it was like to be in an environment that was not pleasant for you for so long, and she knew that, if he didn’t show it, Sooho was capable of staying in the place until they closed.
— No.
— Ah, you are so miserable. — Sooho murmured, before shaking his head, squeezing his girlfriend’s hand next to him. — It doesn’t matter. Let’s have some beers. — The boy asked, looking at his girlfriend and Bumseok.
— I have to go. You guys go. — Sieun said, making Sooho sigh again, in annoyance. The boy really played hard to get.
—Why? Come on, I’ll treat you.
—My schedule was ruined thanks to you. — Hyeori cleared her throat before pulling her boyfriend a little, looking at Sieun. Understanding how upset he must be feeling at that moment.
— Well, Sieun, take care of yourself then. Study hard, okay? —The girl told him with a soft smile before putting her other arm around Bumseok’s shoulders, nodding towards the shorter one so that he could leave without problems.
— You were lucky today. Next time I won’t let you win. — Sooho said out loud when his girlfriend dragged him right to Bumseok, away from Sieun who only watched the trio walk while they teased each other.
—Hey, do you like beers, Bumseok? Or are you like Hyeori and drink lemonades? — The girl hit the taller’s stomach in complaint, he grimaced and laughed at his own joke, hugging the girl around her waist while he murmured an apology in her ear.
—How long have they been in a relationship? You look pretty close. — Bumseok asked, grabbing the straps of his backpack tightly, somehow, both intimidated him a little.
Hyeori smiled at him. — Four years.
—What can you tell me about yourself, dude? Any girls? Hyeo is good at pairing. — Sooho said, putting his arm around his shoulder while putting the other one around his girlfriend’s. — Before we started dating, she tried to get me to go out with a girl.
—You did it?
— Of course not, I took her on a date instead. —This one pointed out, bringing Hyeori closer to his side. — But look at us now, now that I think about it, maybe I am Cupid… Ah, I deserve a seaweed soup.
…
Hyeori was writing down some notes with Sieun for the final test of the period, listening to how Sooho and Bumseok were playing something on their cell phones. The girl looked up to ask Sieun something when a presence next to her caught her attention.
Yeonbing was standing in front of Sieun’s table and where Hyeori was currently studying. — Yeon Sieun. — Both, Sooho and Bumseok’s heads, and Hyeori and Sieun’s, moved to pay attention to the boy. — Do you have a minute?
—I do not have anything to talk to you. — He told him seriously, Hyeori looked at Sooho, who had frowned at Yeonbing’s question.
—Hey… What do you want? — Yeonbing didn’t pay attention, looking at Sieun once again.
— Will be fast.
Hyeori’s eyes met Sieun’s, who looked at her for a second, perhaps asking for help, so the girl looked at Yeonbing seriously. — Good. But he won’t go alone.
…
And that’s how the group ended up in a empty classroom, Sooho and Hyeori were sitting at one of the large tables in the art room while Bumseok was standing behind Sieun, who was talking to Yeonbing.
Sooho and Hyeori looked at each other bored when they heard the boy’s words, he looked like those victims that were featured on the advocacy shows that Sooho’s grandma watched. — And I thought Sooho was a terrible actor — The girl pointed to Yeonbing, who was kneeling on the floor in front of Sieun, the boy complained at that, grimacing before looking back, disgusted, at the boy kneeling. —For me, let him go to a reform school.
— I’m with my girl in this. — Sooho supported, pointing to the boy on the ground. — Look at him, he’s so bad at faking tears… Oh, your mom should pay you some good acting classes.
— Sieun, should we just give a testimony? It is not so difficult. — Sieun’s eyes fell on the couple after Bumseok said those words. Both stared at him, not saying a single word, but the thought they both had could be heard.
Do not do it.
…
He did it.
Sooho asked Hyeori to accompany them, the girl had intensive classes that day, however, she couldn’t say no to her boyfriend’s sad puppy eyes, so she agreed to go. Hugging him around the waist, her head rested on his shoulder. Both were riding the older’s motorcycle, who refused to leave it at school.
Hyeori got off with the help of her boyfriend when they reached the destination before taking his hand and walking with him towards the other boys.
Even though Hyeori had told him that they had nothing to do with that problem, the boy did not want to let them go alone, so the group was now going down the stairs towards the basement of a large building. — Yeonbing. — The girl caught his attention. — Normally the lawyers’ rooms are inside the building, on the upper floors.
—My lawyer told me to meet him here.
Hyeori heard that and started to get suspicious, she really had a bad feeling about that situation and she let her boyfriend know. — Sooho, let’s go. — The girl whispered to him, while she squeezed his hand, to make him stop.
— Something happens? You feel bad?
—This gives me a bad feeling, why would a lawyer want to meet us in a parking lot? — The girl pointed out the obvious, pointing to the boy who was walking in front of them. — Yeonbing is planning something and I wouldn’t be surprised if his idiot friends are in that place waiting for us with bats or something…
Sooho looked at Yeonbing, thinking that he couldn’t be that idiotic to do something like that again, not when he could easily be blamed for using drugs as a minor. —Everything will be fine, okay? We’ll go, Sieun and Bumseok will talk and then you and I will eat something delicious at Mrs. Shin’s restaurant. — He said, holding her hand tighter, leaving a kiss on her forehead to reassure her before pulling her to walk with him again.
Still, that feeling that something wasn’t right settled in her chest.
—What will we have for dinner later? — The boy asked, he had not had breakfast except what Hyeori had cooked for him in the morning and now he was starving.
— I have intensive classes in the afternoon.
— Ah… Can you stop sounding like a loser? We’re going to eat jjajangmyeon later… And we’re going to watch a movie or go to an arcade, or play pool…
—Don’t you have work today? — Bumseok asked Sooho, who was making plans without thinking.
— Ah…. It’s true… — He murmured, caressing the back of his girl’s hand while murmuring something that neither of them could understand.
Sooho stopped when he felt his girlfriend stop, looking at her before following her fixed gaze, the girl was watching as a bunch of people, including the one Yeonbing had hired to beat up Sieun, were in the place, surrounding a black van, where a man got off, quite informal and with a cocky and evil aura for a lawyer.
Sooho sighed, again, Hyeori had been right. — And again… — The trio of boys look at her when she murmured, noticing how she did not take her eyes off the man who was walking towards them. — I saw it coming. I warned you, it was better to send him to the correctional.
— Oh, guys, nice to meet you and-Oh, lady, nice to meet you. — Hyeori hid a little more behind Sooho when the man’s eyes landed on her. He had quite large and deep eyes, so much that they made him look like a crazy person and, therefore, it was a little scary, and in addition, Sooho hadn’t liked the malice that he put on that look to that he gave to the girl, not at all, the boy noticed it and took a protective position in front of her, looking at the group of boys and the man seriously.
— Seokdae, they are the ones who hit you, right?
— Yes. — Hyeori raised an eyebrow when she remembered how the boy had left her boyfriend’s face, wanting to laugh at his role as a victim.
— As you know, thanks to you, Seokdae is very hurt. How can you hit someone that doesn’t have insurance so hard?
— Are you sure it was us? — Hyeori blurted out, looking at the boy’s casted arm.
— Excuse me, are you suggesting that I hit him?
— Hey, I never named names, if you feel guilty it’s not my problem…— The girl shrugged her shoulders, blinking slowly, making the man look at her with a grimace, he didn’t like the position she was taking.
— What do you want? — Sooho said, noticing how the man approached his girlfriend with threat, he loved when the girl got defensive, but not in situations like these.
He didn’t like her crossing the line.
— I’ll give you three days to bring me fifteen thousand dollars, okay?
Sooho laughed funnyly, looking at the man. — Stop saying stupid things. Hey, are your bones that weak? I don’t remember hitting your arms.
—You broke his wrist! — The man pointed to the boy’s arm, the tone he used made Hyeori upset, she didn’t like being talked to like that, much less to her boyfriend.
— Are you his father? — The man looked at her, without responding. —Uncle, brother, lawyer? — The girl laughed at the last part. — Sorry, if he doesn’t have insurance, much less a lawyer… — The girl stood next to Sooho. —You, if you want to claim damages, let your guardian come, not your friend who gives you drugs. — Sooho quickly positioned himself in front of his girlfriend when he heard her last words.
— Damn n-
— But… — Sooho looked at Sieun, who made the man stop from hitting Hyeori when he spoke. — La Do you have proof that we did it?
The man looked at Sieun before looking at Hyeori and laughing, scratching his forehead looking back at them with a smug smile. —You kids are driving me crazy. Look… — The boy walked towards Sieun and Hyeori, well, Sooho, who looked at the man seriously, warning him not to touch his girlfriend. — I kill people for money, I left some disabled too.
— Is this something an adult should brag about? Woah. — Sooho said sarcastically, making the man take a penknife out of his pocket and bring it to the boy’s neck.
— Ah, idiot. — Hyeori looked at that, pulling her boyfriend towards her a little, wanting him to get away from the blade on his neck. —Do you think this is a joke? I will give you three days, if you don’t give me the money in that time, you will need to lend me money.
Hyeori frowned when she saw him laugh, understanding everything that was happening, making her laugh because of it, the man looked at her and the girl collided her eyes with his, he, after cutting Sooho’s arm, pushed him and thanks to the distraction from the cut, he bumped into Bumseok.
The older man approached the girl quickly, who simply smiled at him in amusement and raised a hand to her boyfriend to stop him from getting involved. — Did I tell a joke, pretty?
— Actually, since you showed me that paper, everything about you sounded like a bad joke. — Hyeori could see the fury in the man’s eyes, seeing how the edge of the penknife approached her face.
— Do you think it would hurt me to ruin that pretty face of yours? —The man said. — I have killed children, a girl like you… I wouldn’t mind adding you to my list.
— We talk about things that bother us now… Do you know what bothers me? — Hyeori was grateful that Sooho forced her to take martial art classes with him a while ago, with a quick movement, the knife that the man had in his hands was in Hyeori’s, and without wasting a second, made a cut, in the same place where he had cut her boyfriend, making him move away from the sudden pain.
—Ah, fucker! You don’t know who you’re messing with, girl m-
— No, and you don’t know who you’re messing with either, so get out of here before I shove this down your fucking throat so you can stop talking nonsense. — The girl said seriously, noticing him looking at her almost with amusement, but that touch of surprise in his eyes was still there.
The man walked away, pointing at the group. — You have three days. —He said before turning around, ordering everyone to follow him.
Hyeori walked close to her boyfriend, putting the penknife away before locking eyes with the boy in the cast and the same girl she had seen that day in the alley where Sieun was being beating, she threw the weapon at her, watching seriously as everyone left the place. Once the cars moved away, the girl left that aura that had surprised the three boys before running to Sooho, who looked at her almost in shock— Oh… Honey, I’m sorry. —She said while she took out the handkerchief, that she always carried with her, to clean the blood from his wound.
— You saw that? Shit, I’ve never seen anything so hot in my life… “I’ll shove this down your throat and-” ah!
Hyeori laughed as she passed one of the alcohol wipes that Bumseok had given her so she could disinfect the wound on the boy’s arm, making him pause. —You don’t need a hospital, right?
— No, but… Yes, a nurse to take care of this incapable boy… — Sooho said with a pout, looking at his girlfriend with puppy eyes, Hyeori smiled and nodded, caressing her boyfriend’s face before taking his hand and start walking towards the exit of the place, she was feeling very claustrophobic in that place. The couple walked, leaving two boys behind.
Bumseok, who was looking at the couple with a strange expression in his eyes and Sieun, who was simply looking at them seriously, both boys surprised by the way they were acting, Sooho didn’t think for a second when the man approached his girlfriend and she didn’t think for a second about making the man pay for what he did to the boy.
Neither of them thought about the consequences that this could bring, they simply thought about the other.
As they always did.
…
— I’m sorry, but you have to stop moving.
Sooho and Hyeori were at the girl’s house, she was healing the big cut on her boyfriend’s arm, he had to go to work soon and the girl didn’t want him to go with that open wound, so she took him home.
— Hyeo… — The girl made a sound in her throat as she opened the envelope of the bandage that she was going to put on the boy’s arm. — You were incredible there, but I don’t want you to do it again.
The girl looked up at that, meeting her boyfriend’s serious gaze, which made her stop her movements, tilting her head. — He hurt you.
— I know love, but what would have happened if… — Sooho shook his head, looking down before sighing — I don’t want you to do it again, okay? Not for me… Don’t cross the line for me, okay?
—Soo…
— Promise me you won’t cross the line, Hyeori. — The boy cupped her face, staring into her pretty eyes. — No matter how I feel, you are not going to cross the line, not if it endangers you and your future… Promise me.
Hyeori looked at him for a second, thinking about whether it was worth bothering him with her sincere answer, so, taking his hand from her face, she placed a kiss on his knuckles. — I promise not to cross the line, Soo.
[text_hash] => 1268ade7
)