Prime subs ᝰ nct dream

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ Chapter 64

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Yeoreum blinked through tears as she took in the view of the water in front of her. She had found herself at a convenience store right off the Han River, after who-knows-how-long of driving. Every so often her shoulders would shake with quiet sobs, the collar of her sweater thoroughly soaked with salty tears.

She was glad it was dark out— it meant nobody was around, and if they were, they wouldn't be able to see her break down.

Yeoreum just didn't get it. Why? Why? What had she done to warrant this? Those images had been buried for years. She went through so much in order to get her high school to even make the threat of punishment to anyone who was in ownership of them; let alone actually following through on the threat. She thought they had all been purged.

Was it too much to ask of others to ignore the images taken of her when she was not only a minor but also drugged unconscious? Was there no shame, no guilt, no moral dilemma in viewing them?

And how could she ever come back to streaming, to having any semblance of an online presence after this? With the simple press of a button, some stranger on line had managed to destroy everything Yeoreum had built for herself. For all she knew, they did it for fun. She didn't know if that was better or worse than some sort of cruel revenge.

As she sat by the river, Yeoreum felt a new emotion sweep over her: a deep-seated anger. And the more she sat there, simmering in her emotions, the angrier she became. Her tears had moved on from those of sadness to those of rage. They stung at her cheeks and burned her eyes.

She wanted to scream, to rip her hair out, to smash something. But she couldn't. She couldn't seem to produce any sound, as she sat in choked tears. There was nothing around her to destroy but the grass on the ground she sat. And when tearing at the sod wasn't enough, she balled her hands up into fists in her lap, clenching them as hard as she could while she rocked back and forth. Hard enough to feel her sharp nails bite and cut at the flesh of her palms.

Yeoreum sat like that for what felt like ages, even after her tears had stopped. Staring emptily at the river before her, she didn't hear the sound of hurried footsteps approaching.

She almost jumped out of her skin at the feeling of a hand landing on her shoulder, followed by a loud voice near her sensitive ears.

"Yeomi don't run away like that ever again! I thought you for sure died, not answering your phone or anything!" Chenle cried, dropping to the ground to back-hug her tightly, his cheek squished against her shoulder. Yeoreum placed a hand on his arm in surprise. She couldn't tell if she was imagining the wet sensation seeping through her shirt where his face was or not.