secret tape - penthouse

v

yebin ran her fingers through eunbyul's hair, watching as her pale skin got lost in the soft black strands. after messing up her performance exam eunbyul had rushed out of the test room crying. yebin was quick to console her friend, thankfully having already gone through the exam herself. she took eunbyul home with her where she would rant to yebin about the stress her mother was putting her through, which was somewhat because of a newfound rivalry between her and a girl she barely knew anything about.

now here they were, eunbyul sleeping soundly in yebin's arms as the smell of rain swept through the open window. kang daniel peeked his head into his daughter's room, bringing in two cups of tea and a small cake on a tray. he sighed when he saw eunbyul's sleeping figure, having witnessed the breakdown she was having when he picked the two girls up and taken them home. eunbyul wasn't a stranger to the kang household, seeing as she was always glued to yebin's side, but seeing her cry was something new for daniel. he hadn't dealt with crying teenage girls much so he just let his daughter handle it as he went out and got the cake he knew was eunbyul's favorite, hoping that it would cheer her up even a little bit.

"i called her dad, he should be getting off work soon," daniel said in a hushed tone, setting the dessert tray down on yebin's desk, "is she doing okay?"

yebin nodded, "she's a little stressed out but i think she'll be fine."

"how did your test go?" he sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to wake eunbyul. yebin hadn't been able to tell him about it earlier, having waited for eunbyul before she headed to her father.

"really good, i think it was the best i've done so far." yebin felt a little guilty about the proudness she felt when she thought about the performance exam, even more so about the excitement of waiting for the results, knowing that it was the reason her friend had been crying only thirty minutes ago.

daniel smiled. the gleam in yebin's eyes when she talked about singing never failed to warm his heart. he had never had any interest in classical singing before yebin, making fun of it more than he praised it. one day jisoo dragged him to a show with yebin, an important even for his campaign apparently. since that day neither daniel or jisoo could escape it, yebin becoming absolutely enamored with everything that had to do with it. it had gotten to the point where even daniel had begun to like it, mere exposure effect settling in.

"we can go out to celebrate later with your dad. shopping, a restaurant, anything you want." he said as he patted his daughters head softly.

"we don't even know if i got in." yebin protested despite the smile on her face. daniel tsked, shaking his head as soon as the words left the girl's mouth.

"of course you got in! they'd be dumb if they didn't accept someone as talented and smart as you." the passion in his hushed tone made yebin chuckle, bring the smile back onto her dad's face. daniel already knew her place in the school was secured, her talent was just an added bonus to the relationship her family had with the school's founder. after all, eunbyul and yebin's friendship didn't stem from nothing.

yebin smiled, silently agreeing with her father. he left soon after, urging her to get ready and give eunbyul some cake before stepping out of the room.

☁︎

"eunbyul-ah." yebin sang, gently tapping on the younger girl's shoulder to wake her up. it took a little coaxing but soon enough eunbyul was sitting up and helping yebin choose what to wear as she ate some cake. the performance exam results were announced ten minutes ago, and though eunbyul placed third, she was more than happy to find out that bae rona didn't make it in at all. losing was bad but losing to bae rona would've been way worse.

the first place spot was taken by someone named min seola. someone neither yebin or eunbyul had heard of them before. it was a little unsettling to know that they had more competition besides the people they knew. the entirety of the' little hera club' had made it in , and the whole groupchat was filled with them congratulating each other and bragging about what they were going to do to celebrate.

however, their mood shifted with just a couple of texts from seokyung.

☁︎

little hera club 

joo.seokyung
it turns out our math tutor was the
same age as us?

cheong ah arts high school vocal
department senior min seola.

eunbyulie~♥️
no way! you're lying, right?

jenijeni 👑
woah i'm so pissed right now

i can't believe i've been treating her
as a teacher this whole time. she's a
professional actress.

l.m.h🧑🏻
no wonder i found it so hard to like
her from the start

jenijeni👑
are we just going to forgive her?
what should we do?

joo.seokyung
we have to make her pay for making
us look foolish.

☁︎

"unnie." eunbyul's voice was laced with concern, holding her phone up for yebin to see. yebin turned away from the mirror and squinted as she read the messages being shown to her.

"oh my god." she mumbled, her face mirroring the concerned expression eunbyul had. it seemed like their plans were going to have to wait.

☁︎

tysm for 1k reads !!!!!!! i'm srsly looking forward to the sharing upcoming chapters with u guys ;p