FOR HIM | Lee Suho

Chapter 41 - Rumors

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Rumors

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"Why is everyone looking at us like that," Areum whispered to Suho as they walked through the hallways with all the students eyeing them and whispering. Suho looked around before bending down and replying, "No, they're looking at you. But I'm not sure why." 

Areum furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before moving closer in attempt to hide behind him, not liking the way the students were looking at her. 

Suho wrapped an arm around her as they kept walking, but soon he got annoyed with all the stares and glares aimed at his girlfriend. 

"Can we help you?" He exclaimed loudly, referring to all the students in the hallway. The students startled at the man's outburst considering the fact that had a reputation for staying calm, silent, and cold. 

A nearby girl scoffed at his words, "you're actually as if we're the ones that did something wrong." her friend next to her nodded as well before students could be heard whispering and gossiping again. 

"What did we even do?" Areum asked Suho who was equally as confused. 

"CHECK THE SCHOOL GOSSIP BOARD," A male student exclaimed holding up his phone at an article the couple couldn't even see since they were so far from him. 

Areum quickly pulled out her phone in the middle of the hallway wanting to know what this was all about. She had never even bothered to check the account since she knew that it was mostly just gossip and false claims. Opening her social media she was met with more harassment online due to the fact that whatever she had 'done' had spread outside of school and onto the internet. 

CHA AREUM BETRAYS KANG SOO-JIN 

Cha Areum, everyone knows her as the schools goddess, angel, star, whatever spills the beans about her 'best friend' Kang Soo-jin. Soo-jin's secret of her abusive father is revealed, you can thank Areum for that, and an anonymous student claims that she is only friends with Soo-jin to make herself feel better about her deceased mother. Does Soo-jin having an abusive father and a stand-by mother help you feel better Areum? What do you guys think? 

"What the fuck," Areum whispered in shock after reading the post that blew up on the account. She clicked to see the comments but her phone was quickly snatched away by Suho who didn't want her to read them, knowing the words would be nothing but hurtful. 

He placed her phone into his bag before looking up at the crowd of students who were whispering and pointing at Areum, who was still frozen in shock over the accusations. She had been friends with Soo-jin long before her father became abusive, she knew that Soo-jin wouldn't believe the claims but somehow the rest of the school apparently did. But most importantly, she wanted to find out who posted it and how they found out. 

"Poor Soo-jin, I can't believe she trusted someone like her," A student whispered as Suho turned to her with his back facing the students to cover her up from them. 

Areum started to feel quite overwhelm with the words the students began to say and shout at her. Feeling her lungs tighten, she clutched her chest begging for air. Suho immediately notice her state and quickly took her hand dragging her away from the crowd. 

"Breathe, we'll figure this out together," Suho said pulling her down to sit on the bench beside him after leading her outside of school for fresh air. 

"But that was Soo-jin's secret, I promised not to tell," Areum said standing up pacing back and forth ignoring the fact that it was getting hard for her to breathe and she fanned herself. 

"And you did keep your promise." Soo-jin interrupted as she walked up to them after her talk with Seo-jun about the claims. She had admitted that the claims about her father was true, but the ones about Areum were not. She knew they weren't true, Areum had always offered her support and home whenever the abusive got too much. It wouldn't make sense for Areum to only be friends with her for the accused reasons. 

"Soo-jin I'm sorry, I didn't tell anyone," Areum said panting as she clasped her hands together in forgiveness while Soo-jin placed both hands on her shoulders. 

"I know you didn't. Now calm down before you get yourself sent to the hospital," Soo-jin replied forcing Areum to sit after noticing her uneven breathing. 

However, as soon as she sat down on the bench Suho immediately pulled her into his lap so that he could prevent her from getting up again. 

Rubbing her back to keep her breathe easier, he looked up at Soo-jin, "so what are we going to do?"

"We're going to find who did it and make them apologize," Soo-jin replied, already having suspicions on the culprit. 

"What about your father?" Areum asked looking up at Soo-jin who only smiled back down at her. "I already worked it out with Suho, I'm staying at his house until it's safe enough to go back."

"I know who you're thinking of, Jugyeong, but how are we going to make her admit it?" Suho asked keeping both arms wrapped around Areum's torso as Soo-jin took a seat on the bench next to them. 

"I think I have an idea." A soft calm voice spoke out from behind them making them turn around to find a short girl. 

Soo-jin stood back up shocked that someone had overheard their conversation, "Who are you?"

"I'm new here," the girl said as she walked closer to us. 

"My name's Joo Hye-min. I'm a transfer from Jugyeong's old school." She said sticking a hand out for them to shake. 

Soo-jin nodded in realization after remembering seeing the quiet girl around. She had always found it weird how Jugyeong was constantly running away from her even though Hye-min was always kept to herself and never said anything to those around. 

"So what's your idea?" Suho asked while Hye-min took out her cell phone. 

"Blackmail." 

Soo-jin knew what she was referring to and instantly high fives her. "I like the way you think." 

Hye-min unlocked her phone and showed them the pictures that were taken at her old school. Areum shook her head once she saw those pictures. 

"No. That's too cruel we can't," she said while shaking her head, "doing stuff like that could result in mental problems for the girl."

"She's already mental over the fact that she's obsessed with Suho," Soo-jin pointed out smiling over at her new made friend. 

"But still we can't-" Areum started to say but stopped once she stood up and untangled her hair from her necklace, but her necklace got unhooked and fell to the floor. The others around her gasped seeing the necklace that broke due to the force that it had hit the concrete floor. 

"Oh my god," Areum gasped kneeling down while Suho furrowed his eyebrows. 

"You should've been more careful with that, how did it even unhook?" Soo-jin asked frowning knowing how important that necklace was to the two of them. 

"The problem isn't that it unhooked, diamonds don't break this easy." Areum replied standing up and the Soo-jin's eyes widen seeing a small listening bug on the inside. 

"How did they even get a copy of your necklace," Suho asked appalled knowing that their matching jewelries were custom made. 

"I do not know, but I would also like to find out where the original is." Areum said now feeling the emptiness on her neck.