Obsession | NCT MAFIA SERIES #2

IX

The apartment was empty.

No matter how much she hated her father, tonight she had wished she would not be alone. Even though her father was almost always passed out on the couch in the lounge, his presence still comforted her a little.

Jisoo quickly shut the door behind her and bolt it shut. She did not care that her father would for sure be upset when he came home to find the door locked or she might get another beating. All that mattered was that she could feel safe, the locked doors and windows provided little comfort but it was still better than nothing.

She speed-walked to her room, the eerie silence inside the apartment spooking her out. The area she lived in wasn't the best, it was infested with lowly criminals and gangsters but she had been living here for a while now and had assumed she wasn't bothered by her unsafe neighbourhood but tonight came as a reality check.

To think she had thought this day to be perfect...

She was supposed to go out with Jinyoung and they were supposed to have fun but nothing ever worked out in her favour. She ought to be used to by now but it still hurt nonetheless.

Jisoo threw her bag at the foot of the bed and plopped on it. Not caring about cleaning the house or making her bed like she usually did.

Even though it wasn't that late - she usually didn't sleep until it was past midnight - she still felt so sleepy. She had come home early today courtesy of her CEO. After all that drama at the hospital he had insisted on personally dropping her home. Under normal conditions Jisoo would have refused his help. She knew how fast news travelled at the hospital and she already had a lot on her plate at the moment but she was so tired, she ended up agreeing to his offer.

The idea of not walking home didn't seem so bad after all.

She couldn't see Jinyoung anywhere, she had told him to wait outside the hospital but it had taken her a while to deal with Dr. Baek. She wouldn't be surprised if he left. Jisoo sighed, she had tried his number multiple times but it was turned off.

She would have to apologise in person to him tomorrow. Again.

Jisoo rubbed her face in frustration and fell back on the bed. She streched her hands toward the ceiling and stared up in thought.

When did it all start? Her life was getting better, she had thought this year would be different. She was in her second year of residency. Quite young compared to her other co-workers but that was because she had skipped a grade in school. She was academically a year ahead of her peers in college and so her professor had advised she skipped a year. She had been very proud and a bit relieved. That meant one year less money she would have to spend. Even though she was on scholarship, she did have other expenses that she had to take care of.

She had two more years to go and then she could become an acting emergency physician. The worst days were behind her or so she thought. She cursed herself for going to that party that night. If only she had refused! She was clearly out of her comfort zone, going to that wretched club had been the biggest mistake of her life.

This growing paranoia and guilt about keeping her mouth shut was eating at her insides. She wasn't like this, she never stood for injustice yet she was too afraid to go testify. She was the sole survivor of that eventful night, that much she knew.

No one had left that club alive that night... except for her.

Wasn't it her duty to speak up? But then she remembered his face, the silent promise behind his eyes. He would kill her if she did anything against him but this wasn't living either. She was living in constant fear, the paranoia getting to her. She couldn't sleep at nights maybe just maybe clearing her consciousness would help...?