secret tape - penthouse

xi

mentions of suicide + fires. 

yebin busied herself by doodling the empty teacup in front of her, tongue sticking out between her soft pink lips as she focused on the intricate design of the delicate handle. she was sandwiched between jeni and seokyung, both of them quietly scrolling on their phones as they hopped from social media app to social media app in order to keep them entertained. the loudest sound in the room came from seokhoon, his darts game providing a soft thump every few seconds. even minhyuk was quiet as he toyed with the telescope, mouthing the words to whatever rap song was playing on his expensive headphones. 

normally when the group hung out in the community lounge like this, eunbyul would be rested against yebin on the couch, watching as her best friend doodled whatever it was that caught her attention this time. but today she sat alone, leaned forward in her seat as she chipped away at her soft pink nail polish. she had a rather troubled expression on her face and her leg bounced along in its own fast paced rhythm, her anxiousness from the night before not yet worn off. 

"hey, did u see this? look!" jeni broke the silence that hung over the group, pushing her phone towards yebin and seokyung. "ins't this min seola? 'the arsonist of bosok village was a middle school student suffering from depression'  they found a suicide note blaming the world" 

"'i hope everyone dies?' she's really no joke. how could she be so dramatic? how creepy." seokyung exclaimed, reading from the article that was being shown. yebin stayed silent, listening as her friends ridiculed the young girl. 

news of min seola's death had broken out that morning, and no matter how much yebin didn't want to think about it, it followed her wherever she went. the news settled into the pit of her stomach, a ball of discomfort that brought tears to her eyes and caused pain in her heart, something that she kept hidden from everyone except her parents, both of whom had held the girl in their arms as they listened to the loud wails that left her lips without her permission. 

now that she wasn't home all she could do is keep a straight face and act like the ball in her throat didn't exist. 

"well, then our incident will be buried naturally. right? " minhyuk spoke in a singsong voice, smile on his face as he cleaned off the telescope and jeni made a happy noise of agreement. 

"right. who would mourn for the death of a sociopath like her?" seokhoon added, meeting yebin's eyes as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. his heavy gaze fell on her slumped shoulders, weighing her down and making it hard to keep her emotions at bay. but to their surprise, eunbyul was the one who snapped.

"be quiet! stop talking about a dead person," eunbyul cried and she covered her ears with both her hands, as she rocked back and forth, squeezed eyes opening wide as soon as she realized what had just happened. the whole group looked at eunbyul in surprise, yebin's mouth falling open in a small o shape. eunbyul hurriedly tried to cover up her reaction, straightening her back and lowering her arms as she looked around, "she has nothing to do with us now, let's just make plans for our trip." 

seokyung leaned forward in her seat, hovering over eunbyul menacingly. "why are u so edgy since last night? did u kill min seola?" 

"what? no! why would i do that?" eunbyul stood up, both girls now going head to head. seokyung wore a smile on her face, pleased by eunbyul's outburst. 

"then why are u overreacting? there's no way u could've killed her. she killed herself." seokhoon chimed in, his words leaving his lips in a harsh tone. 

"can u guys please not fight right now. let's just talk about something else." yebin spoke up, her soft tone providing a contrast to the intensity of the situation. 

thankfully, jeni didn't allow for any awkwardness to take over, jumping straight into something else. "right, let's stop talking about that swindler. another ticking bomb worse than min seola will come soon."

"what do u mean?" seokhoon asked, now joining the group and sitting across from the couch. yebin made it a point not to look at him this time, choosing instead to give her full attention to jeni.

"the girl who got accepted thanks to seola's death. she's an obnoxious brat and i hate her." 

"why do u hate her so much? are u jealous?"

"are u crazy? why would i ever be jealous of her?" the pout that was previously on jeni's lips faded, her obvious nervousness making seokyung and minhyuk smile. "u'll see what i mean when u meet her. she's so cocky when she seriously has nothing. i hate her more than min seola! she's one of those annoying types that just gets on my nerves."

"really? sounds exciting. right, seokhoon?" 

☁︎