secret tape - penthouse

ii

"unnie, congrats on getting a 100 on the test today," eunbyul said, linking her arm with yebin's before resting her head on her shoulder. "study with me next time? i'll treat u to something sweet!" she asked, looking up at her friend with puppy dog eyes.

yebin nodded, smiling down at eunbyul. she couldn't stop the giggle that left her lips when eunbyul squealed and pulled her closer as they started to walk faster. they were heading over to the community study for some urgent math meeting put on by their new tutor.

last night's study session was catching up with yebin. she was beyond tired, and her eye had started to twitch from how much caffeine she had. by the time she got home for lunch she barely had any energy to change out of her school uniform. she laid on her bed for a measly two minutes before she had to get ready for vocal lessons. not wanting to look sloppy, she decided to throw on a baggy light-blue sweater over a white skirt. she didn't bother changing her tights or jewelry, grateful that they made her look more put together because it meant she would be able to wear sneakers instead of low heels without her dad making any snide comments about her attire.

at the end of the day, the perfect score was worth it. she just hoped that her concealer was
enough to cover up her dark under eyes.

☁︎

by the time eunbyul and yebin arrived, the kids of the hera club were all already there. they sat down next to each other, taking up the last two spots at the large desk. it was clear that everyone in the room was annoyed, it was hard not to be when there was so much going on. with exams and school auditions coming up this was the last thing the group of friends needed. yebin couldn't help but feel like this new math tutor was already making her life harder, and it was only the first day.

"i just don't understand what made them think it would be a good idea to hold anything this week." jeni huffed, arms crossed as she slouched in her seat.

"it's not like they'd be helping us with our exam, it just passed." minhyuk agreed.

"they always start off cocky," seokyung said, twirling her hair "but don't worry, we can handle that."

yebin stayed quiet, too tired to really engage in the conversation. instead she stared at the desk in front of her, playing with the charm bracelet on her wrist. it was a gift jisoo had given her when he won his third term as congressman and yebin rarely ever took it off. it was always accompanied by a blue-string friendship bracelet she got from eunbyul when they both got into cheongah arts middle school. eunbyul had a matching red one and she always smiled whenever she saw that yebin was wearing hers.

the group fell silent when the sound of footsteps could be heard coming towards the room. everyone sat up, and glaring at the door before their new tutor even walked in.

she walked in with a smile, not phased by the group of teens. she was small and pretty, yebin thought, but her clothes was visibly worn and her hair was dyed weirdly. standing at the front of the room she introduced herself to them, "my name is anna lee, and i'll be your math tutor. it's a pleasure to meet you guys."

"why did you suddenly gather us all here? we don't usually have lessons during exam periods." seokhoon rarely hesitated when he had something to say and the annoyance was clear in his voice. none of the kids had eased up on the glaring, all of them analyzing the girl in front of them. though she didn't look all that impressive anna didn't back down.

"i had some time today, so i wanted to do a level test." she answered calmly.

"you're unbelievable," seokyung started, "did you seriously gather everyone here just because it was the right time for you?" she scoffed before getting up, chair scraping against the floor loudly. before seokyung could make it out the door anna stopped her and kept the door closed with just one hand.

"it'll only take ten minutes. you can spare that much time, right?" anna said, looking up at seokyung. "sit down."

though she was just as annoyed about the meeting as everyone else seemed to be, yebin would be lying if she said she didn't find their new math tutor intriguing. it wasn't everyday that someone went up against seokyung, let alone order her around.

seokyung scoffed in disbelief and looked around at the group as if  she were saying 'can u believe her?'

"no. i can't spare even a minute. you just need to teach as much as you're paid. who do you think you are to make us take a test?" she snapped, losing her patience.

"we're not interested, so i'd appreciate it if you stopped wasting our time." seokhoon said, backing her up. anna didn't respond this time and seokyung turned around with a smile on her face. she took off the leather jacket she was wearing to reveal the cream cardigan she was wearing underneath. it matched the one anna was wearing, except now it was painfully obvious that anna's was just a knock-off version of it. everyone seemed to perk up, obviously amused by the events unfolding.

"you're wearing a fake aren't you?" seokyung asked as she inched closer to anna. she didn't break eye contact as she took one of the iron-on patches from anna's cardigan in her hand. "what is this supposed to be? a fly?"

yebin did her best to stop the corners of her mouth from pulling upwards as the rest of the group chuckled. anna stayed silent, her face expressionless as seokyung continued.

"you're here to teach. be a good teacher and try to live an authentic life." she sneered, before turning back to her brother. "oppa, aren't you coming?" seokyung looked down at the tutor one last time before pushing past her and walking out the door.

seokhoon stood up, and for the first time that day, made eye contact with yebin. they held it for a second before he turned and continued out the door. yebin stood up with everyone else, but as she was reaching for her bag, eunbyul held onto her arm to stop her.

jeni and minhyuk said something before leaving, but yebin wasn't paying attention to the kids mocking their new tutor. she was more put off by the fact that eunbyul was trying to stop her.

honestly, she didn't mind taking a placement test. she knew that the rest of the group wouldn't do it; seokyung because she cheated off her brother, and the other two because they simply weren't smart. yebin studied hard to earn the grades that she got and she knew she would do well regardless of what was on the test. but no one ever went up against what the twins said. it was an unspoken rule among them, and it was a rule that was never broken.

eunbyul refused to meet yebin's questioning gaze, simply staring ahead while holding onto her friend's sleeve. yebin glanced up at their new tutor's sad face, then back down at the red blacelet adorning her friend's wrist. just when she was about to sit back down, she thought back to the look that seokhoon had given her before leaving.

with a huff, yebin tugged her arm out of eunbyul's grip and picked up her bag. she didn't spare anna a parting glance, instead mumbling an apology as she rushed out of the room and pulled the door shut behind her.