Crossing The Line (Seulrene)

Running Back to the Line

« Go in! » Seulgi gestured to the door leading to the bathroom « I'll get you some pajamas » The storm was going off outside making the lights of the bathroom quiver. Seulgi put the pajamas on the counter while Joohyun was shivering under the blanket a bit in shock « There might be another power outage. Don't be scared okay » Seulgi told her, biting her inner cheek at the sight of Joohyun appearing in a daze, nonetheless the smaller girl managed to nod at her. Seulgi sighed and closed the door as she got out.

Joohyun dropped the blanket, looking at herself in the mirror, her right eyelid shaking the same as her lips. She took it upon herself to strip and got under the shower head, the water dripping on her as her sobs began. She curled up on the floor, sobbing, letting the warm water hug her reassuringly. She couldn't understand why she had done it. She was disgusted by herself. Everything that she stood up for had crashed to the ground. She brought shame to her family. Was there redemption after that? Was there really? The worst was that she couldn't even feel angry at Seulgi about it any more than she was angry toward herself. She remembered all the nice gestures, the nice words she had directed toward her during the day and that feeling inside her stomach came back. She closed her eyes. She wanted it to stop. She just wanted to go home and stay there for the rest of her life.

She came out of the bathroom about an hour later, Seulgi immediately stood up from her desk « Give me your clothes, I'll hang them to dry » She stretched her arms out but Joohyun pushed the wet clothes closer to her chest. Seulgi sighed, watching Joohyun leave the room once again. She followed her downstairs and stood afar watching her spread the clothes on the radiator. She wondered if she knew it wasn't even on. She didn't have the heart to tell her.

Just to get things worse, the power went out again making Joohyun yelped.

« Stay in place » Seulgi told her and Joohyun heard her go around the room, groaning as she bumped into something again. A minute later, two candles were light up. Seulgi put one on the low table in front of the couch and kept one in hand « Let's go back to my room, you'll take my bed for the night »

« I'm not going back up there and certainly not in that filthy bed » Joohyun hissed before taking place on the couch, trying to find a good sleeping position.

Seulgi sighed without a word, knowing it was a lost cause to try to reason her. She went upstairs but came back a minute later, handing Joohyun a pillow which the girl took without looking at her. She put it under her head and Seulgi put a warm blanket over her « Good night, Joohyun »

Joohyun watched her disappear up the stairs, the light of the candle following her and leaving only darkness behind. Joohyun looked at the candle on the table, her only source of light. She raised the blanket to her face smelling the sweet scent on it. Seulgi's smell. She somehow found herself relaxing despite the storm outside. The house became quiet and Joohyun watched the candle flicker for some more time before she felt her eyelids getting heavier. She blew it out softly and found herself in complete darkness, a state that was reflecting her mind. But the warmth of Seulgi's blanket made her feel protected.

« I love you, Kang Seulgi » She unconsciously whispered as she fell asleep.

-

When Joohyun opened her eyes, the weather seemed to have calmed down, yet as she got up and looked outside, she saw there was still a light rain. She heard Seulgi's footsteps upstairs. She hesitated to take her clothes and ran out of the house but when she went to check on her clothes nothing had dried. She grunted in frustration.

« I brought you a fresh pair of clothes »

She jumped, turning around to find Seulgi at the bottom of the stairs. She had dressed up and had put her hair in a familiar bun. Joohyun gulped « I'm gonna leave »