5

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Yeorin's day started so peacefully.

Her parents were still out of town, probably overseas, so she was the only one home, enjoying the momentary silence.

With a heavy sigh she forced herself to get up from the bed and waddled to the bathroom, whipping out the sleep from her baggy eyes.

She looked like a mess. Her usually shiny eyes were dull with despair, her hair was in knots, she barely recognised herself in the mirror's reflection.

She was brushing the knots out of her hair when she heard her phone ringing.

It was her uncle FaceTiming her.

"Uncle Baekie." She fake smiled into the camera.

"How is my favourite niece?" Moon Baek grinned into the camera, oblivious of the swirling emotions inside of Yeorin.

"I'm your only niece." She raised her eyebrow at his goofiness.

"Same thing. So, how are you, moonpie?" Her uncle asked.

"I'm alright." She answered, short and untrue.

She hated lying to her uncle, but he was able to see right through her eyes. He had mastered it over the years, he could read her like an open book. Which sometimes scared Yeorin, mainly because if he knew what she'd going through at school, he would draw blood.

She knew he was violent in some ways, always ready to jump into a fight, and if it was for her safety, he would definitely commit a serious crime. Even if the person is a teenager. He doesn't care about age, if his precious moonpie was endangered, he'd kill somebody in a blink of an eye.

She loved him. She truly loved how he was more of a parent to her than her mother, his younger sister was.

Yeorin's mom and her uncle didn't have the perfect sibling relationship.

She doesn't know much, her mother only told her they had a dark past and her uncle changed for the worse.

Yet Baek always found a way to keep his position as Yeorin's favourite adult.

"I have good news, moonpie. I'm coming to Korea this week. We should go out and eat at our favourite ramen restaurant, don't ya think?" Uncle Baek asked, his tone filled with eagerness as he spoke.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Yeorin was excited to finally have him back at home.

"Where's your mom? I've been trying to reach her but she hasn't answered me." He pouted dramatically.

"I have no idea. Her and dad are on a business trip, at god knows where. They only left a little note and a big stack of cash for food." She said softly, combing through her hair.

"They used the same old trick, huh?" He snickered on the other line.

"So, how's school? Still a nerd?"

Yeorin felt her heart almost stop beating when she heard the words leave his mouth, which didn't go unnoticed. Uncle Baek saw every small bizarre reaction, even though his phone he could see her tense up at the mention of school.

As concerned he started to get, he didn't let it show, he kept his teasing smile on his face, masking his worry for her with the trick he long learned to use.

"School's...... alright. Hard subject and tough PE. But I'll manage." She answered way too quickly for his liking, which proved his suspicions.

"No one's giving you a hard time?" He asked, firm and calculated.

"No, no, definitely not." She couldn't control her voice as it became a tad bit higher.

"You know you can always come to me for help, cupcake?" His voice sounded reassuring and warm but she knew better.

He was asking whether she needed someone dead. And as much as she'd love to see Seongjun suffer like she suffered under him, she was too weak, too cowardly to ask for something like that.

So instead, she let all those horrible things happen to her and slowly destroy her soul in the process.

"I know..... but everything is fine." She replied, the ending way quieter than it should've.

Unfortunately, her eyes flickered to the clock on the wall and saw how late she was.

"Shit, I have to go to school. Love you." She hurriedly said.

"Love you too, moonpie!" Uncle Baek grinned into the camera one last time before she hung up.

It didn't take long for her to get ready. It only took her twenty minutes before she reached the school grounds.

Students were as always, loud and enthusiastic about something while others seemed way too tired to open their eyes so early in the morning.

She was panting when she ran through the halls, fearing to disobey Seongjun's direct message to never be late. He believed it was unacceptable for his partner to be late.

He said something about how disrespectful it was for his girlfriend to show up late at school, he was babbling about how she'd never make a good wife if she couldn't ever arrive on time.

And then nothing happened. It was odd. Seongjun didn't approach her first thing in the morning, he was busy talking to his friends to even see her entering the classroom.

She felt so relieved that she didn't start her day quivering under his glare, but as long as he was occupied with something else than tormenting her, she was glad.

At first, the lessons went by without him cornering her, making the girl think he was finally over his sick idea of a relationship.

Oh how wrong she was.

The minute she was about to walk towards the cafeteria, Seongjun appeared out of literally nowhere and grabbed her hand roughly.

She winced at the tightness of his hands on her wrist, but she kept walking, more like stumbling behind him to keep herself from being punished.

She didn't know where he was dragging her, she just kept her head down as she was told many times.

Soon, they reached an alley beside the school's main building, a perfect place for bullies like Seongjun to beat up others without the teacher noticing it.

Yeorin started panicking the moment they stepped inside, her heart immediately started racing as she remembered how he would take her to a quiet, unapproachable place to assault her, making her panic even more.

She didn't want to live through those traumatic moments again.