secret tape - penthouse

vii

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how could you do that?

"she's alive." yebin mumbled, finally lifting her head from her dad's chest. "she's alive!" she spoke up, and her parents came to huddle around the phone. the relief that they had felt died down as the gravity of her words hit them, along with more notifications from the kids yebin called friends. the disgust that took up daniel's features didn't go unnoticed by his daughter, and she slowly pulled her phone close to her.

"go to your room," jisoo stood up, stretching his arms as he spoke. "we'll figure out how you're going to apologize later, right now just go to bed." 

yebin nodded, muttering a goodnight as she scurried off. she wasn't expecting her father to be so calm about the situation, and she would be lying if she said that she wan't relieved. she expected him to be livid, to yell at her for being so reckless and for putting his career on the line for something as immature as revenge. there wasn't a doubt in her mind that daniel was arguing with him about it all, he was always more sensitive when it came to things like this, and she would probably be in more trouble in the morning. 

but yebin couldn't seem to care much about what the next morning would bring, her mind too focused on the words that min seola had texted her. 

how could you do that?

how could you do that?

how could you do that?

the last week of school came and went, and the words continued to weigh down her heart. it seemed like she was the only one with a guilty conscience, her friends only bringing up the situation to laugh about it. even eunbyul, who had once spoken so kindly about the girl, made fun of the expression on min seola's face when she was being terrorized. 

it wasn't the first time they had done something like this, but it was the first time it had gone that far and it scared yebin to think of how much worse it could've ended. 

if she were to relive the moment, yebin still wouldn't have known what to do, but she figured that anything would've been better than running away.

☁︎

yebin wasn't sure what she was expecting when she first arrived to bosok village, but it seemed like the plain blue dress she had on wasn't the right choice for keeping attention away from her. somehow, it seemed like a sort of murkiness hung over the area, drawing out any vibrancy or life it had to offer.

the box in yebin's hands got heavier and heavier the closer she got to min seola's apartment. she had tried to type up an apology what felt like a thousand times, but the insincerity of a texted apology stopped her from hitting send. under her father's orders, she took the time to pick out some new shoes and a nice jacket for the upcoming winter. not sure that she would be able to vocally express how sorry she was, yebin opted with writing a letter. she placed everything neatly into a pretty pink box, and michelle helped her with tying a gold bow around it.

yebin felt silly standing outside of the small apartment. she felt like a school girl waiting to confess to their crush, hoping that a carefully thought out letter and a gift would be enough to convey their feelings in a way that would win someone over.

she placed the gift in front of the apartment door, knocking lightly before dashing off down the hallway. this was proved to be pointless when yebin turned the corner, almost bumping into the person she was hoping not to see.

there min seola stood, white dog cradled in her arms and alarm written on her face. "kang yebin?"

"hi." she greeted awkwardly, waving at her as if she wasn't less than two feet away. she could sense the defensiveness radiating off the girl and yebin wasn't entirely sure if she could do anything to fix that.

"what are you doing here?"

"i came to drop something off. for you. from me."

"why? what is it?"

"it's an apology." yebin mumbled, and a look of surprise took over min seola's features. she set her dog down, walking over to instead pick up the box that yebin had brought. she half expected min seola to just hand it back to her, or worse, stomp on it right in front of her face. but instead, min seola held it close and mumbled a thank you in return. yebin was too scared to meet her eyes, choosing instead to focus on the dog that min seola and set down.

despite being so young, it wasn't very energetic and it looked like it was having a rather difficult time walking.

"she's sick." min seola said as she followed yebins gaze towards the dog. yebin's mouth hung open, watching as the tired dog made its way into the small apartment. "we just came back from the vet actually."

"what did they say?"

"i need more money for surgery."

"i'll take care of it." the words left yebins mouth before she could even think, catching both of them off guard. "just don't tell anyone." she quickly added, and min seola nodded, watching with wide eyes as yebin opened her wallet.

☁︎

seokhoon eyed yebin suspiciously, the melancholy air that hung around her for the past week suddenly gone. the hera kids were worried that she might tell her parents about the events that took place, seeing as she had been getting more and more anxious as the days passed by. but it seemed like that was no longer a problem for them.

though she wasn't completely back to normal, she still sat on the couch of the community lounge, quietly reading a book as she sipped on freshly brewed tea. it was the most he's seen of her all week, and if seokhoon didn't know better, he would say that she was actively avoiding them.  she didn't hang out with them much outside of school, and when she did she was mostly silent. she only spoke when spoke to, and she didn't join in on their jokes, the most she really did was let out a forced chuckle. but it could all be summed up to her having something else in mind, the playing with her bracelet paired with her fidgeting gave it all away.

seokhoon would be lying if he said that the min seola situation hadn't shaken him up a little bit. but min seola didn't die and life moved on. in fact, things turned out great for the little hera club. they got their revenge and also learned that they shouldn't light any open fires the next time they decided to mess around with someone.

the past week had made it obvious that yebin didn't think the same way as he did, but he didn't question her about it. he was too scared to ruin the time he was able to spend with her, even if it was a time spent in silence. it felt nice to have a space where he didn't have to worry about other people's expectations of him, and he was happy to be able to share that space with yebin. there wasn't anyone there to nag at them, ask them to do something for them, or even anything to study for. it was just them soaking in each other's presence, and it was the quiet days like these that kept seokhoon coming back to the lounge room. 

☁︎