world outsiders, nct dream

chapter twenty-six

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
UNWELCOMED RETURN

❝LEAVE, I DON'T WANT TO SEE EITHER OF YOU.❞

━ HYEJI FOCUS ━

After breakfast Hyeji had headed to the media room with Eunha as they waited for their turn to get to class, neither of them in a rush to complete their chores.

They had only been talking amongst one another when Nurse Kim came inside and asked Hyeji to follow her.

She didn't know where she was going or what she was going to do but she followed anyway, not really having much of a choice in the first place.

She found that they were once again in one of the conference rooms, this time going to the one she saw the nurses usually taking their break-in.

It was nicer than the one they had taken her to the second day she arrived but she didn't comment on it. The walls seemed cleaner and there were cabinets lining the walls, each a dark oak color. There were some paintings hung up here and there, taking up extra space.

"You can sit here," Nurse Kim informed Hyeji. She smiled and thanked the older woman, taking a seat where she pointed.

Nurse Kim nodded with a smile of her own. It didn't look like a usual smile, though. There was something about it. It was more of a wry or pitiful smile. Like she was holding back a river of lies that made her want to come clean. But she didn't say anything about it, only leaving the room real quick.

The room was quiet as Hyeji waited for whatever she was brought in for. It seemed like sometimes people forgot that although she was getting older, she was still a teenager and had childlike tendencies. Her fingers lifted from her lap and she began playing on the table, creating her own beat while humming along.

She didn't know how long she was sat in the room, as there weren't any visible clocks, but she was sure it was at least twenty minutes.

Finally, the door to the room was opened and in walked two people who had no business coming.

"Hyeji," her mother and father smile kindly, as if they hadn't just brought mysterious men with them to tranquilize her and then tell her they were sending her to a mental hospital.

A scoff left her lips as she looked at them with no emotion. She wasn't happy or sad, or even mad to see them. She just didn't want to see them.

"What do you want? Come to see me in all my glory, right?" She faked a laugh, slouching in her chair as her parents took their own seats across from her.

Their usual looks of anger and madness that she saw daily back home were gone now. It was like her parents were wearing masks that only showed their sad and upset sides now.

She looked at them with a tilted head and raised an eyebrow, unconvinced with their already horrible performance even though she knew it'd only be getting worse.

"We wanted to come and tell you how much we missed you and wish you'd be able to come home with us." Her mother's sentence trailed off as she spoke in a quiet voice, only looking down at the table.

"Why? So you can both smack me continuously until I'm a bleeding mess on the floor again? No thanks. If anything, I'm safer here than I ever was in your custody."

Her parents raised their heads and looked at her, putting on apologetic faces. "We never meant to do that to you, Hyeji-" her father began.

Hyeji looked at them with an unconvinced face. She didn't believe a word they said. "Really? You didn't mean to move me away from my home and friend to a whole different language-speaking county and then let me leave by myself with no extra precaution? And let me guess, you also didn't mean to fucking tranquilize me before we left either?"

Her parent's faces paled as she spoke.

"Didn't think I'd remember, did you? I also remember the last sentence you said to me before leaving me for dust in a hospital room. Well spoiler, you two lost your roles as parents the day I cried to myself in my bedroom trying to cover up all of my bruises and cuts before leaving for school. You two don't feel bad, you just want to clean your conscience."

"Hyeji-"

"Leave, I don't want to see either of you."

Her parents both stood up and tried to walk towards the girl but were stopped when she looked back up at them without her normal eyes.

"I said, leave." She growled out, thunder clapping down outside. None of them had noticed it was raining or thundering until now.

Nurse Kim ran into the room suddenly, "you two have to leave now. There's an emergency with one of the other kids."

Hyeji's parents looked back at her one last time before getting escorted out. Their daughter paid them no mind and left the room by herself.

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y'all i dyed my hair but i got dye on my favorite sweatpants 😭😭😭