[SJFF] Real Face - Chapter 23
Title: Real Face
Characters: Donghae, Heechul, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Type: Novel
Summary: She finally managed to escape from the one place that she hates the most in order to begin a new life in Seoul, but is still unable to get over the hatred for the male species. Would her heart be softened eventually?
~ * ~
23
Through half-lidded eyes, he found himself glancing at his friends who were seated next to him in the taxi, trying hard to ignore the pang of jealousy that kept on bubbling up in his chest. However, no matter what he did, he just could not turn a blind eye towards their position, especially at how her head was resting on the other boy's shoulder instead of his own, and how her arm was clinging tightly onto Donghae's.
It didn't take Heechul much to guess that the girl had finally come to terms with her own feelings for her classmate, or that Sanghee's relationship with Donghae had progressed so much to the extent that she was visibly depending on the younger boy for comfort. All that was lacking was probably the official acknowledgement from both sides. It wasn't a secret that Donghae liked Sanghee a lot, even in the earlier days. He was just oblivious to his own feelings.
Although Heechul felt that it was slightly unfair for him that Sanghee merely looked up at him as a brotherly figure - especially after all that he had done for her sake, even to the extent of ignoring his father's orders - instead of a potential love interest, he couldn't begrudge it. He knew that being her classmate - and now, housemate - Donghae held the significant advantage of winning her feelings over him.
Heaving yet another sigh, Heechul turned to admire the scenery moving past slowly outside the vehicle. He decided that the sleep wasn't going to claim him any further, despite the fact that he had woke up extremely early as compared to the normal days. The group of three had went according to Heechul's plan from the previous day, adjourning to Donghae's apartment for the night before taking the earliest flight out to Suncheon - the place where Sanghee didn't want to set foot in for the rest of her life if she had the choice, but had to do so in order to finally get her psychotic father and family off her back.
The high school senior had noticed how uneasy she was the moment she alighted from the flight, fiddling nervously with her fingers even though she was still groggy from the sleep. It was more than enough proof of the massive psychological trauma which she had received throughout her life in Suncheon; no one was supposed to be so afraid of a particular place, after all. While Heechul had a rough idea of how much Sanghee had suffered in the confines of her own home through her words, he believed that no one could truly understand what she had gone through. Not Donghae, and certainly not him either.
That was the downside of being a spectator rather than being the person in the situation itself. No matter how much they tried to put themselves into Sanghee's shoes, there was just no way that they could imagine her feelings about the entire plight.
He shook his head in dismay as the vehicle they were in drove past the Nagan Castle, lamenting about how such a horrible incident could have happened in a city so beautiful. Although certain structures were ancient, it exudes a nostalgic feel. Needless to say, Heechul felt really sorry for having to resort to dragging Sanghee back to this city. The memories which she had been trying to discard behind her were probably unearthed by just returning to the vicinity.
Then there was another problem. When Sanghee mentioned that her father still possessed the incriminating videos of him violating her, they had immediately jumped into the decision of heading to Suncheon to grab these recordings. But now that Heechul thought about it, they didn't really have a solid plan on how to get them. Surely they weren't going to just blatantly walk into her house and storm into her parents' room… were they?
His attention was drawn back to the person seated in the middle when she stirred in her sleep, and he shifted a little in his position so that he was leaning against the door of the car. "Good morning, sunshine," he quipped softly when he noticed that Donghae was still fast asleep, flashing a smile at Sanghee when she sleepily cracked an eye open at him.
"Good morning, Chullie oppa…" she mumbled with an equally sleepy smile on her face. Heechul was actually surprised by the title that she had used on him. Sanghee would hardly call him 'oppa', not even if he pestered her to. She would either drop the honorific, or resort to labelling him as 'sunbae' instead. Needless to say, he was overjoyed by it.
"Where are we right now…?" her voice interrupted his gloating, returning him to reality.
"We've just passed by Nagan Castle. Is your place anywhere near?" Heechul informed her, moving to caress her cheek with his thumb. She merely smiled shyly at his actions, but did not push his hand away. He noticed how her eyes wandered off to Donghae's sleeping face first, which led to another smile that brightened up her face, before Sanghee focused on the road ahead of them.
She squinted at the scene outside the taxi, trying hard to identify where they were at. It has, after all, been a long while since she had returned to this accursed place, and the surroundings was slightly different from how she had remembered it to be. Nonetheless, Sanghee stiffened when they arrived at a familiar street, though she managed to ask the taxi driver to turn around the corner just in the nick of time.
Donghae, who was now awake as a result of Sanghee's panicked request, had his arm wrapped snugly around her waist in an effort to calm her down. Heechul noticed it, and the jealousy surged within him again. Yet all of those thoughts were lost when they slowly rolled into the compound of a double-storey bungalow painted in a faint shade of lavender. By this time, the fear in Sanghee's eyes was amplified, and she started to fidget with the hem of her blouse again.
"Is this the place?" Heechul scooted closer to her and whispered softly in her ear, giving the hand that was gripping the material of her jeans a gentle squeeze. His heart nearly shattered when Sanghee turned back to flash a tight smile at him; it was a mixture of extreme worry and fear.
"It's going to be okay, Sanghee. Your father doesn't know that you're here-" Or so I hope. "- and you have us here with you as well. We'll be here to protect you no matter what it takes," Donghae said reassuringly as he reached for his wallet to pay for their fare. She nodded hesitantly, reaching her hand out to link it with Heechul's, whom had offered it to her to help her out of the vehicle in the mean time.
For a short moment, Sanghee clung onto her senior as she stared at the building which she had not seen or been within for the past year, wondering whether anything drastic had been done to it. She mentally berated herself when she could feel her legs wobbling beneath her, thinking that she was being too weak-hearted for her own good. Heechul managed to sense her worries, however, and gave her hand another reassuring squeeze.
"Like Donghae said, nothing's going to happen to you. If you feel uncomfortable with walking into the house, then you can just wait here for us. We'll go in and get those tapes on your behalf," Heechul said, quirking an eyebrow at her in surprise when Sanghee firmly shook her head.
"No," she replied decisively, taking in a huge gulp to calm herself down. "I'm not going to stay out of something that is a part of my responsibility. I'm not going to run away anymore," she spelled out the words steadfastly and confidently, dispelling the last of her fears from her mind. If there was anyone who could most effectively land her father in jail, it was her.
"Don't force yourself into doing this if you don't want to, Sanghee," Donghae commented in a warning intonation, looking downwards when Sanghee laced her fingers with his. He also noticed how she was smiling warmly at him, the last of her hesitation gone without a trace. She had really made up her mind to do this.
"I've never been surer of anything, Hae. You're right; I have the both of you here with me, so there's nothing that I should be afraid of. Besides, I'm the one who knows about the layout of this place the best. How are you going to navigate around the place when you don't even know about the exact location of the rooms? You're going to risk getting thrown out of the house if you were caught wandering around," Sanghee laughed, attempting to lighten up the mood slightly. She knew that her efforts were not in vain when the ghost of a smile appeared on both Donghae and Heechul's faces at her comment.
"Well, if you have no qualms about this, then I think we should get moving," Heechul quipped, though his expressions turned grim a short moment later. "We can't be entirely sure that your father hasn't caught up on our intentions yet."
Sanghee paled slightly at his words, realising the truth behind them. Heechul was right; there was no saying whether her father knew what they intend to do, and they better act quick and be safe rather than sorry. Taking yet another deep breath, she strode towards the main entrance of her own house, hesitating a little before sounding the doorbell.
* * * * *
She sat on the edge of the bed for a short moment, before instinctively jumping away from it a split second later when she remembered about what had happened on it in the past. Needless to say, she was completely disgusted by the memory of it. Rather, she had already felt extremely uneasy just by being in the room itself. Too many unhappy and unwanted things had happened in there for her to think properly.
Sanghee, Donghae and Heechul were in her parents' room at that particular moment, rummaging through the many places which they felt that her father might be keeping the tapes in. They had previously gone through the shelves and the drawers in the study, but their efforts drew blanks. Sanghee could only be thankful that her housekeepers loved her enough to listen to her, since she made them promise not to get in their way nor contact her other family members about her return. She was nearly smothered to death by her personal housemaid, however; the woman was too easily excited for her own good sometimes.
"Are you alright?" Donghae's voice cut in through her thoughts, bringing her attention to his smiling face. She flashed a smile of her own as a response.
"Yeah, don't worry about me," she said, then sighed as she turned her attention back onto the room, trying to figure out which corner of the room could be converted into a possible hiding spot. "This can't be happening. There's no way that we can't find the tape," she exclaimed in dismay, looking around the room again. The organisation of the furniture was exactly the same in her memories, but the recordings were missing from the drawer right beneath the television set.
"Are you sure this is the right place? I mean, is there a possibility that your father changed the storage location of the tapes?"Heechul commented as he painstakingly raked through each item on the bookshelf in search of the object. He smiled when Sanghee walked up to him and helped him out with the lower sections.
"I'm not sure; but that might have happened," she replied with yet another sigh, prodding the side of her head in an effort to guess her father's actions. He was a pretty predictable person, but Sanghee had to get rid of the hatred and loathing that was clouding her thoughts in order to recall his quirks and habits.
However, in the midst of her recollection, Donghae's excited voice cut through her thoughts. "Sanghee, is this the one?" he asked, running towards Sanghee and Heechul to show her the black object in his hand. She inspected the label on the video for a moment, before paling and letting go of it immediately. Her seatmate managed to catch the object in time before it ended up on the floor.
"I… I think this is it…" Sanghee muttered quietly, forcing a smile when Heechul wrapped his arm around her. "But I can't be sure either…"
"There's only one way to find out, but I'd rather not do it," Heechul interrupted, and his two friends looked at him wearily. Donghae's expression was unreadable, but the older boy knew that he caught on to his intentions, and wasn't quite showing his approval for it. Heechul also knew how much it would affect Sanghee if they watched the tape; he just couldn't risk coming into this house only go grab the wrong object. This was their only chance of doing so.
Sanghee exhaled loudly after several moments of silence, as though releasing the breath that she had been holding all this while. "Go; watch it so that we can be sure. I don't want to waste this trip here," she said, though she avoided their gaze. Her arms were also wrapped tightly around herself.
"Are you sure about this? We really don't have to do it," Heechul prompted, though the girl gave a firm shake of her head, a silent response that she was giving her consent to do as they deem fit. The high school senior took one last look at Sanghee, who was now in Donghae's arms, as he popped the tape into the video player.
The moment the footage started to play, Heechul noted that Sanghee's hand had flown up to cover her ears, obviously not wanting to hear the contents of it. He and Donghae glanced worriedly at the girl then back at the footage, which was showing how her father had stumbled into her bedroom, seemingly drunk as he was unable to stand properly.
"You're really here."
Just as the image in the footage arrived at the scene where her father pinned her on the bed, a new voice came from the entrance of the room, causing all three heads to turn towards the direction of the voice in surprise. Heechul, on the other hand, quickly ejected the tape and kept it behind him. Sanghee blanched when she realised who it was.
"Wow, you're not too slow huh old man," the oldest of the trio commented, shooting a smug smile at the person whom had just joined them in the room. The man's expressions immediately turned into a scowl upon hearing his words.
"I have tolerated enough of you and your nonsense yesterday, boy. Now that you're in my territory, you better learn how to keep your mouth shut. You wouldn't want to test my patience," he snapped back, narrowing his eyes at Heechul. The boy seemed to have wanted to cook up a retort, but clamped his mouth shut when the girl next to him tugged lightly on the sleeve of his shirt and shot him a look that pleaded him not to do anything brash.
The two boys in the room stiffened when Sanghee suddenly released her grasp on the both of them, and took a bold step towards the middle-aged man who was still observing their actions closely. "You wanted to have me back in the confines of these walls. Now that you have your wish granted, I only hope that you would let the both of them go without harming them in any way," she announced, clenching her fists by her side. Sanghee turned to look over her shoulder when she felt a soft touch on her arm from behind, only to be met with Donghae's disapproving looks. She merely shot a soft smile at him before turning to face her father again.
"It's about time you finally listened to my words again, Aeyoung. I would very much prefer it if my daughter acted like the docile lamb I have groomed her to be," he smirked, and was about to walk towards the girl when a low growl escaped both Donghae and Heechul's lips. He paused mid-action, head snapping up to look at the boys maliciously.
"Even if she allows herself to be taken in so easily, we won't back down, old man," Heechul warned, pulling Sanghee behind him so that he could prevent her from doing anything stupid. He then exchanged a short look with Donghae, whom nodded ever so slightly in response in a silent understanding over something. Sanghee, whom had failed to notice their actions, began to protest against his actions, only to be silenced by her seatmate instead.
"Are you really sure you want to do this, Heechul-sshi? Your father will not approve of your actions," Sanghee's father scoffed again, subtly reminding Heechul about the incident that had happened at the latter's residence barely a day ago. It was now the boy's turn to frown.
"Hitting below the belt now, are you? Well, I should've expected that you would use lowly tactics to get what you want. It's not the first time after all," he rolled his eyes, indirectly hinting at Sanghee's father that he knew what the older man had did to his own daughter. The mere thought of it caused Heechul to feel revolted; what kind of father would subject their own flesh and blood to such treatment to begin with?
"What did you say…?" Sanghee's father started cautiously, casting a dark look in Heechul's direction before transferring the gaze onto his daughter. The latter immediately fidgeted in her position, not relishing the fact that she was being scrutinised to that extent by the disgusting being she had to unfortunately call as her 'father'.
"Nothing; I was just asking Donghae whether he's confident with his basketball skills. I myself haven't been playing the sport for a long time. Hopefully my skills have not rusted yet," Heechul replied in an abstract manner, causing both Sanghee and her father to look at him, confused by his words.
The string of incidents that had occurred after that went by in a blur. After Heechul had made his statement, he suddenly handed the tape over to Donghae before grabbing Sanghee's hand and dragged her out of the room with him. When he safely skirted around Sanghee's father and pushed her as far away from the man as possible, Heechul reached up and caught the tape which Donghae had managed to toss over to him without missing a beat.
Sanghee's father recovered just in time to see his daughter being pulled down the stairs of the second floor of the building by Heechul, and found his path blocked by none other than Donghae. "Boy, if you're intelligent enough, you would obediently step out of my way right now," the man hissed, only to receive a humourless chuckle from the other party.
"Correction: if I'm intelligent enough, I would do my best to prevent Aeyoung from falling into your disgusting hands again," he retorted. "You want to have Aeyoung? Over. My. Dead. Body."
"Do you think that you'll be able to escape from these walls that easily?" Sanghee's father laughed. "You're seriously naïve, boy. I'm not going to let the three of you get back to Seoul in one piece."
However, before he knew it, Donghae's extremely pissed off face came into full view, and that was the final thing that the older man remembered, before passing out from the extreme pain as a result of a punch to the side of his face.
Characters: Donghae, Heechul, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Type: Novel
Summary: She finally managed to escape from the one place that she hates the most in order to begin a new life in Seoul, but is still unable to get over the hatred for the male species. Would her heart be softened eventually?
~ * ~
23
Through half-lidded eyes, he found himself glancing at his friends who were seated next to him in the taxi, trying hard to ignore the pang of jealousy that kept on bubbling up in his chest. However, no matter what he did, he just could not turn a blind eye towards their position, especially at how her head was resting on the other boy's shoulder instead of his own, and how her arm was clinging tightly onto Donghae's.
It didn't take Heechul much to guess that the girl had finally come to terms with her own feelings for her classmate, or that Sanghee's relationship with Donghae had progressed so much to the extent that she was visibly depending on the younger boy for comfort. All that was lacking was probably the official acknowledgement from both sides. It wasn't a secret that Donghae liked Sanghee a lot, even in the earlier days. He was just oblivious to his own feelings.
Although Heechul felt that it was slightly unfair for him that Sanghee merely looked up at him as a brotherly figure - especially after all that he had done for her sake, even to the extent of ignoring his father's orders - instead of a potential love interest, he couldn't begrudge it. He knew that being her classmate - and now, housemate - Donghae held the significant advantage of winning her feelings over him.
Heaving yet another sigh, Heechul turned to admire the scenery moving past slowly outside the vehicle. He decided that the sleep wasn't going to claim him any further, despite the fact that he had woke up extremely early as compared to the normal days. The group of three had went according to Heechul's plan from the previous day, adjourning to Donghae's apartment for the night before taking the earliest flight out to Suncheon - the place where Sanghee didn't want to set foot in for the rest of her life if she had the choice, but had to do so in order to finally get her psychotic father and family off her back.
The high school senior had noticed how uneasy she was the moment she alighted from the flight, fiddling nervously with her fingers even though she was still groggy from the sleep. It was more than enough proof of the massive psychological trauma which she had received throughout her life in Suncheon; no one was supposed to be so afraid of a particular place, after all. While Heechul had a rough idea of how much Sanghee had suffered in the confines of her own home through her words, he believed that no one could truly understand what she had gone through. Not Donghae, and certainly not him either.
That was the downside of being a spectator rather than being the person in the situation itself. No matter how much they tried to put themselves into Sanghee's shoes, there was just no way that they could imagine her feelings about the entire plight.
He shook his head in dismay as the vehicle they were in drove past the Nagan Castle, lamenting about how such a horrible incident could have happened in a city so beautiful. Although certain structures were ancient, it exudes a nostalgic feel. Needless to say, Heechul felt really sorry for having to resort to dragging Sanghee back to this city. The memories which she had been trying to discard behind her were probably unearthed by just returning to the vicinity.
Then there was another problem. When Sanghee mentioned that her father still possessed the incriminating videos of him violating her, they had immediately jumped into the decision of heading to Suncheon to grab these recordings. But now that Heechul thought about it, they didn't really have a solid plan on how to get them. Surely they weren't going to just blatantly walk into her house and storm into her parents' room… were they?
His attention was drawn back to the person seated in the middle when she stirred in her sleep, and he shifted a little in his position so that he was leaning against the door of the car. "Good morning, sunshine," he quipped softly when he noticed that Donghae was still fast asleep, flashing a smile at Sanghee when she sleepily cracked an eye open at him.
"Good morning, Chullie oppa…" she mumbled with an equally sleepy smile on her face. Heechul was actually surprised by the title that she had used on him. Sanghee would hardly call him 'oppa', not even if he pestered her to. She would either drop the honorific, or resort to labelling him as 'sunbae' instead. Needless to say, he was overjoyed by it.
"Where are we right now…?" her voice interrupted his gloating, returning him to reality.
"We've just passed by Nagan Castle. Is your place anywhere near?" Heechul informed her, moving to caress her cheek with his thumb. She merely smiled shyly at his actions, but did not push his hand away. He noticed how her eyes wandered off to Donghae's sleeping face first, which led to another smile that brightened up her face, before Sanghee focused on the road ahead of them.
She squinted at the scene outside the taxi, trying hard to identify where they were at. It has, after all, been a long while since she had returned to this accursed place, and the surroundings was slightly different from how she had remembered it to be. Nonetheless, Sanghee stiffened when they arrived at a familiar street, though she managed to ask the taxi driver to turn around the corner just in the nick of time.
Donghae, who was now awake as a result of Sanghee's panicked request, had his arm wrapped snugly around her waist in an effort to calm her down. Heechul noticed it, and the jealousy surged within him again. Yet all of those thoughts were lost when they slowly rolled into the compound of a double-storey bungalow painted in a faint shade of lavender. By this time, the fear in Sanghee's eyes was amplified, and she started to fidget with the hem of her blouse again.
"Is this the place?" Heechul scooted closer to her and whispered softly in her ear, giving the hand that was gripping the material of her jeans a gentle squeeze. His heart nearly shattered when Sanghee turned back to flash a tight smile at him; it was a mixture of extreme worry and fear.
"It's going to be okay, Sanghee. Your father doesn't know that you're here-" Or so I hope. "- and you have us here with you as well. We'll be here to protect you no matter what it takes," Donghae said reassuringly as he reached for his wallet to pay for their fare. She nodded hesitantly, reaching her hand out to link it with Heechul's, whom had offered it to her to help her out of the vehicle in the mean time.
For a short moment, Sanghee clung onto her senior as she stared at the building which she had not seen or been within for the past year, wondering whether anything drastic had been done to it. She mentally berated herself when she could feel her legs wobbling beneath her, thinking that she was being too weak-hearted for her own good. Heechul managed to sense her worries, however, and gave her hand another reassuring squeeze.
"Like Donghae said, nothing's going to happen to you. If you feel uncomfortable with walking into the house, then you can just wait here for us. We'll go in and get those tapes on your behalf," Heechul said, quirking an eyebrow at her in surprise when Sanghee firmly shook her head.
"No," she replied decisively, taking in a huge gulp to calm herself down. "I'm not going to stay out of something that is a part of my responsibility. I'm not going to run away anymore," she spelled out the words steadfastly and confidently, dispelling the last of her fears from her mind. If there was anyone who could most effectively land her father in jail, it was her.
"Don't force yourself into doing this if you don't want to, Sanghee," Donghae commented in a warning intonation, looking downwards when Sanghee laced her fingers with his. He also noticed how she was smiling warmly at him, the last of her hesitation gone without a trace. She had really made up her mind to do this.
"I've never been surer of anything, Hae. You're right; I have the both of you here with me, so there's nothing that I should be afraid of. Besides, I'm the one who knows about the layout of this place the best. How are you going to navigate around the place when you don't even know about the exact location of the rooms? You're going to risk getting thrown out of the house if you were caught wandering around," Sanghee laughed, attempting to lighten up the mood slightly. She knew that her efforts were not in vain when the ghost of a smile appeared on both Donghae and Heechul's faces at her comment.
"Well, if you have no qualms about this, then I think we should get moving," Heechul quipped, though his expressions turned grim a short moment later. "We can't be entirely sure that your father hasn't caught up on our intentions yet."
Sanghee paled slightly at his words, realising the truth behind them. Heechul was right; there was no saying whether her father knew what they intend to do, and they better act quick and be safe rather than sorry. Taking yet another deep breath, she strode towards the main entrance of her own house, hesitating a little before sounding the doorbell.
* * * * *
She sat on the edge of the bed for a short moment, before instinctively jumping away from it a split second later when she remembered about what had happened on it in the past. Needless to say, she was completely disgusted by the memory of it. Rather, she had already felt extremely uneasy just by being in the room itself. Too many unhappy and unwanted things had happened in there for her to think properly.
Sanghee, Donghae and Heechul were in her parents' room at that particular moment, rummaging through the many places which they felt that her father might be keeping the tapes in. They had previously gone through the shelves and the drawers in the study, but their efforts drew blanks. Sanghee could only be thankful that her housekeepers loved her enough to listen to her, since she made them promise not to get in their way nor contact her other family members about her return. She was nearly smothered to death by her personal housemaid, however; the woman was too easily excited for her own good sometimes.
"Are you alright?" Donghae's voice cut in through her thoughts, bringing her attention to his smiling face. She flashed a smile of her own as a response.
"Yeah, don't worry about me," she said, then sighed as she turned her attention back onto the room, trying to figure out which corner of the room could be converted into a possible hiding spot. "This can't be happening. There's no way that we can't find the tape," she exclaimed in dismay, looking around the room again. The organisation of the furniture was exactly the same in her memories, but the recordings were missing from the drawer right beneath the television set.
"Are you sure this is the right place? I mean, is there a possibility that your father changed the storage location of the tapes?"Heechul commented as he painstakingly raked through each item on the bookshelf in search of the object. He smiled when Sanghee walked up to him and helped him out with the lower sections.
"I'm not sure; but that might have happened," she replied with yet another sigh, prodding the side of her head in an effort to guess her father's actions. He was a pretty predictable person, but Sanghee had to get rid of the hatred and loathing that was clouding her thoughts in order to recall his quirks and habits.
However, in the midst of her recollection, Donghae's excited voice cut through her thoughts. "Sanghee, is this the one?" he asked, running towards Sanghee and Heechul to show her the black object in his hand. She inspected the label on the video for a moment, before paling and letting go of it immediately. Her seatmate managed to catch the object in time before it ended up on the floor.
"I… I think this is it…" Sanghee muttered quietly, forcing a smile when Heechul wrapped his arm around her. "But I can't be sure either…"
"There's only one way to find out, but I'd rather not do it," Heechul interrupted, and his two friends looked at him wearily. Donghae's expression was unreadable, but the older boy knew that he caught on to his intentions, and wasn't quite showing his approval for it. Heechul also knew how much it would affect Sanghee if they watched the tape; he just couldn't risk coming into this house only go grab the wrong object. This was their only chance of doing so.
Sanghee exhaled loudly after several moments of silence, as though releasing the breath that she had been holding all this while. "Go; watch it so that we can be sure. I don't want to waste this trip here," she said, though she avoided their gaze. Her arms were also wrapped tightly around herself.
"Are you sure about this? We really don't have to do it," Heechul prompted, though the girl gave a firm shake of her head, a silent response that she was giving her consent to do as they deem fit. The high school senior took one last look at Sanghee, who was now in Donghae's arms, as he popped the tape into the video player.
The moment the footage started to play, Heechul noted that Sanghee's hand had flown up to cover her ears, obviously not wanting to hear the contents of it. He and Donghae glanced worriedly at the girl then back at the footage, which was showing how her father had stumbled into her bedroom, seemingly drunk as he was unable to stand properly.
"You're really here."
Just as the image in the footage arrived at the scene where her father pinned her on the bed, a new voice came from the entrance of the room, causing all three heads to turn towards the direction of the voice in surprise. Heechul, on the other hand, quickly ejected the tape and kept it behind him. Sanghee blanched when she realised who it was.
"Wow, you're not too slow huh old man," the oldest of the trio commented, shooting a smug smile at the person whom had just joined them in the room. The man's expressions immediately turned into a scowl upon hearing his words.
"I have tolerated enough of you and your nonsense yesterday, boy. Now that you're in my territory, you better learn how to keep your mouth shut. You wouldn't want to test my patience," he snapped back, narrowing his eyes at Heechul. The boy seemed to have wanted to cook up a retort, but clamped his mouth shut when the girl next to him tugged lightly on the sleeve of his shirt and shot him a look that pleaded him not to do anything brash.
The two boys in the room stiffened when Sanghee suddenly released her grasp on the both of them, and took a bold step towards the middle-aged man who was still observing their actions closely. "You wanted to have me back in the confines of these walls. Now that you have your wish granted, I only hope that you would let the both of them go without harming them in any way," she announced, clenching her fists by her side. Sanghee turned to look over her shoulder when she felt a soft touch on her arm from behind, only to be met with Donghae's disapproving looks. She merely shot a soft smile at him before turning to face her father again.
"It's about time you finally listened to my words again, Aeyoung. I would very much prefer it if my daughter acted like the docile lamb I have groomed her to be," he smirked, and was about to walk towards the girl when a low growl escaped both Donghae and Heechul's lips. He paused mid-action, head snapping up to look at the boys maliciously.
"Even if she allows herself to be taken in so easily, we won't back down, old man," Heechul warned, pulling Sanghee behind him so that he could prevent her from doing anything stupid. He then exchanged a short look with Donghae, whom nodded ever so slightly in response in a silent understanding over something. Sanghee, whom had failed to notice their actions, began to protest against his actions, only to be silenced by her seatmate instead.
"Are you really sure you want to do this, Heechul-sshi? Your father will not approve of your actions," Sanghee's father scoffed again, subtly reminding Heechul about the incident that had happened at the latter's residence barely a day ago. It was now the boy's turn to frown.
"Hitting below the belt now, are you? Well, I should've expected that you would use lowly tactics to get what you want. It's not the first time after all," he rolled his eyes, indirectly hinting at Sanghee's father that he knew what the older man had did to his own daughter. The mere thought of it caused Heechul to feel revolted; what kind of father would subject their own flesh and blood to such treatment to begin with?
"What did you say…?" Sanghee's father started cautiously, casting a dark look in Heechul's direction before transferring the gaze onto his daughter. The latter immediately fidgeted in her position, not relishing the fact that she was being scrutinised to that extent by the disgusting being she had to unfortunately call as her 'father'.
"Nothing; I was just asking Donghae whether he's confident with his basketball skills. I myself haven't been playing the sport for a long time. Hopefully my skills have not rusted yet," Heechul replied in an abstract manner, causing both Sanghee and her father to look at him, confused by his words.
The string of incidents that had occurred after that went by in a blur. After Heechul had made his statement, he suddenly handed the tape over to Donghae before grabbing Sanghee's hand and dragged her out of the room with him. When he safely skirted around Sanghee's father and pushed her as far away from the man as possible, Heechul reached up and caught the tape which Donghae had managed to toss over to him without missing a beat.
Sanghee's father recovered just in time to see his daughter being pulled down the stairs of the second floor of the building by Heechul, and found his path blocked by none other than Donghae. "Boy, if you're intelligent enough, you would obediently step out of my way right now," the man hissed, only to receive a humourless chuckle from the other party.
"Correction: if I'm intelligent enough, I would do my best to prevent Aeyoung from falling into your disgusting hands again," he retorted. "You want to have Aeyoung? Over. My. Dead. Body."
"Do you think that you'll be able to escape from these walls that easily?" Sanghee's father laughed. "You're seriously naïve, boy. I'm not going to let the three of you get back to Seoul in one piece."
However, before he knew it, Donghae's extremely pissed off face came into full view, and that was the final thing that the older man remembered, before passing out from the extreme pain as a result of a punch to the side of his face.