Operation Skinny ✔️

CHAPTER 8: HELP

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I hadn't expected Ji-ho to be that observant. But, I was wrong. In that moment, when he had held me in his arms and told me that he knew of my secret, I felt completely shattered. I felt like the glass castle that he had promised my mother he'd protect, had been burned down.

"You— what?" I muttered, unable to move as he took a step back to look at me. We stood on the first floor in the lobby, in the public view of everyone that passed by. A chubby girl with frizzy brown hair being hugged by a handsome Korean man who knew too much about her.

"I had my suspicions about it before, but now I'm certain." Ji-ho said. "You've never eaten a single thing in front of me and now you won't eat anything even after the day we've had. This isn't good for you, it's been almost four months! I'm worried!" He furrowed his brows and placed both his hands on my shoulders, acquiescing me to look at him.

"Is this the only reason you invited me on this trip? To observe me?!" I glowered, squinting my eyes as I glared at him.

"What!?" He gasped, "no! Of course not! I invited you so we can hang out more. I like spending time with you Phoebes." He said, but his words did nothing to take away the anger I felt.

"You..." I was at a loss for words as I pursed my lips and bit the insides of my cheeks. The light in here was way too bright and it made me really mad. I pulled away from Ji-ho without another word and rushed up the four flights of stairs. My vision grew blurrier by the second and it wasn't because I was crying. The lightheaded ness was back and I tried to block out this feeling— a feeling that I'd become all too familiar with.

"Phoebe!" Ji-ho's mom said as I entered the cabin. His mother, with her thin-framed glory, approached me with concern on her clear, uncreased skin. She didn't look a day over thirty and I couldn't stand how perfect she looked. How perfect they all looked! "Are you okay, did Ji-ho do anything to you?!" She asked.

I wondered why she'd automatically assume her son was to blame.

"No, I'm just tried." I responded, holding my hand over my head as the pain throbbed.

"Then, get some rest, it's almost time for dinner, but I can save you some." She followed behind me, concern in her eyes and I was embarrassed that I hadn't thought this trip through. Of course he would've known eventually. How could I have been so stupid!?

"No, that's okay. I'm not hungry." I responded and turned to face her, "thank you. I'm just tired, I'll head off to sleep now." I forced a smile and entered the room. Seok wasn't in there, she had probably left to get dinner and I was thankful for the privacy.

I lay on the bed that I was supposed to be sharing with Ji-ho— if my mother could see me now, she'd probably have the strong urge to kill me— and shut my eyes. I wasn't asleep, but it was peaceful as the headache slowly went away. My stomach felt completely empty and thin. I was happy with it, but I knew that how I felt was definitely not how I looked. If I were to stand up and look in a mirror, I'd probably want to hurl looking at my reflection.

I opened my eyes again, looking at the faded red 'no' on my left wrist. It was almost invisible now, blending in with the veins. I hadn't brought a pen to rewrite it.

It wasn't a word anymore, it was a motto.

A couple minutes turned into hours and I couldn't remember when I had dozed off until the light turned on in the bedroom and a body weighed the bed down beside me. I opened my eyes slowly, feeling exhausted and wanting to go back to sleep. I was tired all the time now. The room felt colder than it had a few hours ago, but I figured it was due to the snow outside and that the sun had set.