shades of yellow » han seojun ff

48. storm

DURING YEONWOO'S ABSENCE, Jugyeong had been chosen as the model for Saebom's promotional posters, after winning the Instagram contest.

The students coalesced in the hall, where on the stage, an embarrassed Jugyeong stood posing awkwardly for the camera. As they all cheered, Yeonwoo couldn't help but notice how on edge Sujin seemed. She kept turning around and picking at the skin of her hands. 

When Yeonwoo peered closer at Sujin's hands, she was startled at how red and raw they were.

During P.E., Sua, Yeonwoo, and Jugyeong were discussing at how buddy-buddy Suho and Seojun were now.

"Did they make amends after being hospitalised together?" Sua wondered, watching the two boys doing sit-ups on the mat together. Seojun caught Yeonwoo's curious eye and winked. "Is it because they shared each other's pain?"

"They fell into a pile of fertiliser together, so it's no wonder that they're friends now," Yeonwoo said, before slapping a hand over her mouth.

She had gone to her grandmother's house to find Suho and Seojun stinking to high heaven, and she had forced them to tell her the whole story—she had nearly split her sides from laughing.

"But you can't tell anyone!" Seojun made her promise.

Too bad she had just broken her promise.

Sujin's phone buzzed, and her face took on a worried note as she read her message. Yeonwoo noticed this, and immediately whispered, "What's wrong?"

Without saying anything, Sujin pulled on her sleeve. Yeonwoo allowed herself to be tugged out of the hall and into the chilly Autumn air. It was getting colder—she could see her breath every time she breathed out.

Sujin started, "I've been getting these messages."

"What kind of messages?" Yeonwoo couldn't help but feel sick when she saw how pale her best friend looked. "From who?"

"Well, I—" She suddenly froze, looking over Yeonwoo's shoulder. The latter turned around to find out what was the object of Sujin's stare.

Coming towards them was a group of intimidating-looking girls. The apparent leader had orange hair cut into a blunt fringe, and a bored yet smirking look on her pretty face.

"Sujin? You didn't receive my messages." The mystery girl held up her phone mockingly. She nodded towards Yeonwoo. "Who's this?"

Through gritted teeth, Sujin growled, "None of your business, Semi."

Semi giggled, clearly pleased to see how agitated Sujin was. "I've been trying to get you alone all morning, but I guess this will have to do. Aren't you going to get me my pictures?"

"Pictures? What pictures?" Yeonwoo repeated. She tried to catch Sujin's eye, but the latter looked away, embarrassed.

"You didn't tell your best friend?" Semi let out another high-pitcher giggle, and her little minions did too. "You didn't know she was being slapped around by her father?"

Yeonwoo's fist clenched. "How did you find out? Who are you exactly?"

Semi nonchalantly examined her nails. "Let's just say I've been following you, Sujin, to find you alone because you didn't finish the entire story." She turned to Yeonwoo. "You see, your best friend let me on a little secret about your other friend."

"It was an accident!" Sujin burst out. "I had no idea what she was talking about, I didn't mean to tell her." She started picking on her hands even more aggressively.

"Sujin, calm down!" Yeonwoo stepped in front of her best friend. "What do you want?"

Semi smiled. "Now we're talking. I need a few things from you: photos of Han Seojun, and the whole story about Lim Jugyeong ... or should I say, Lim Jubal?"

"Look, I have no idea who you're talking about, but you're getting neither of those. Now get out of here or I'll call the police on you for stalking." It was a long shot, but Yeonwoo was feeling desperate, because blood was beginning to appear on Sujin's hands.

Semi archly raised an eyebrow. "Suit yourself. You know what's going to happen if you don't give in to my demands. Everyone—will—know. Are you sure, Kang Sujin?"

Sujin said shakily, "I-I'm sure."

Semi smiled widely, baring her teeth like a hyena. "Fine, suit yourself. Until next time, then. You'll know when. Let's go, girls."

Yeonwoo waited Sujin had calmed down before asking, "Now, are you going to tell me who those girls were?"

Sujin looked up, both guilt and fear in her wide eyes. "Students from Yongpa."

"What are they here for?"

"It's ... not my story to tell." Sujin sat herself properly on the ground, Yeonwoo following suit. "I didn't tell them everything, but my reaction was all the confirmation they needed. They're going to do something, something horrible, but I have no idea what."

"How did this all happen?" Yeonwoo took a deep breath. "If this has something to do with Jugyeong's personal secret, I won't pry. But how did you get yourself into this mess?"

"They followed me after school to ask me about Jugyeong. They showed me an old photo of Jugyeong, and I made the mistake of saying it was her. Only, to them, she was known as Lim Jubal when she was a student at Yongpa. I think they treated her horribly."

"As in bullying?"

"Yeah." Sujin licked her lips.

"And how do they know about ... Mr. Kang?"

"They kept on texting me on Instagram and Facebook, pestering me about Jugyeong. They even managed to find out where we go to tuition, and they saw me getting into my father's car. And you know what happens when my father's angry." Sujin gave her a weak smile. "And now she's blackmailing me with the photos and videos she took."

"And where does Seojun fit into this?"

"He's the victim of a heavily one-sided crush she has on him."

Horror filled Yeonwoo's stomach. "And you didn't give her the photos or confirmation ... "

"So they're going to reveal everything on the school bulletin. That bitch has probably already sent a message to our webmaster, knowing this would happen." Sujin laughed mirthlessly. "That's it. My pathetic life. It's over."

"No, we can do something about this." Yeonwoo stood up and began pacing, trying to formulate a plan. "Look, how about I try texting our school's webmaster? Try to get her to not post anything involving you or Jugyeong."

"It'll be too late by then, the webmaster must get hundreds of messages."

"No worries, no worries." Yeonwoo smiled determinedly. "We'll find out who the webmaster is."

Sujin looked sceptic. "Do we even have enough time?"

"We have to at least try."

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a/n: omg, 73.8k reads??? crazyyy