nine || fore

The continuous sound of a ticking clock stopped a few minutes after midnight.

That night, Lee Ji Hoon found himself having a hard time to breathe as he suddenly jolted up from a terrible nightmare where he saw his sister slowly being swallowed by darkness. “Sister.” Ji Hoon felt a sharp pain on his head, making him wince in pain.

Mina, who was sleeping beside his bed, woke up from his cries. “Ji Hoon! Ji Hoon! Are you okay?” Mina hysterically held onto Ji Hoon. “Mother! Mother! Ji Hoon is---”

“Ah!!! Don’t touch me!” He shouted and unintentionally repelled Mina, making her instantly back away from him. She didn’t know what to do. She just looked at him in both concern and confusion.

Ji Hoon felt like he was continuously being hit by lightning. “It hurts! It hurts!”

Their mother, Kim Jung Eun, heard her son’s loud screech and immediately got up from the bed and ran over to Ji Hoon then hugged him, slowly caressing the back of his head up and down. “Shh. It’s alright, it’s alright.” She whispered in his head.

Mina worriedly watched them from the side.

Not long after, his screams ceased.

Ji Hoon’s headache gradually decreased and it didn’t hurt as much. His breathing slowly returned to normal and his cries stopped.

 After a while, Ji Hoon finally fell asleep.

But just before falling into his dreams, even though it was just barely audible, Mina heard his brother speak.

“Sister, I miss you.”

Mina notice a tear slide down his cheeks. ‘He must really be in pain.’ she felt sorry for his brother. ‘Sohye, when are you coming back?’

“Why is the door broken?”

For the second time, Sohye was faced with the same situation as earlier; her knees on the ground and her head shamefully bent down, not wanting to face Heechul.

“It wasn’t me, I swear it wasn’t!” Sohye’s slammed her palms on the floor along with her head. “I really didn’t do it.”

Heechul sighed. “Pack your things.”

Her heart rate sped up as she heard this statement. With a perplexed look on her face, she raised her head up and looked at Heechul. “A-Are you kicking me out?” she said worriedly.

‘What will happen to me then?’

‘I don’t have any money.’

‘I don’t even know how to go back.’

His eyes instantly glared at her, making her avert her gaze and pretend he wasn’t there. ‘He’s mad at me. He’s really, really mad.’

And when he was about to open his mouth, Sohye felt the need to close her eyes to not see his infuriated face. ‘Here it comes.’

“No numbskull, we’re moving to another room.” He said as he walked past Sohye and went outside. This scenario left her hanging.

‘What in the world just happened?’

Sohye thought her heart was going to burst the moment he spoke. She thought for sure that Heechul was going to shout at her again. Thankfully he didn’t.

It was odd, but yeah, it really doesn’t matter anymore since she was off the hook already.

Sohye raised her head and drew a long breath as she slumped down the wooden floor. She placed her hand on her heavily beating heart and closed her eyes when Heechul suddenly shouted from outside. “Faster!” getting her up to quickly pack her things before following him out.

Sohye walked behind Heechul with her head down, only taking glances at his direction from time to time. Their new room was upstairs. It was pretty much the same with the one they had. Only that it was a bit bigger and more spacious.

The both of them sat around the room in awkward silence. Heechul was back to his paperwork while Sohye returned to her idle state, stealing occasional glimpses at Heechul.

‘I wonder what he’s doing.’

At the corner of his eyes, he notices Sohye stare at him from time to time, making him chuckle inside. Actually, he already knew what happened.

How could he not? He was, after all, the one who told the imperial army the whereabouts of that whippersnapper of a prince.

And of course, he had many reasons to do that.

Firstly, it is ridiculous to attend a coming-of-age ceremony without the person who is coming-of-age at all.

Secondly, if everything gets delayed, all his plans would be ruined.

Thirdly, his attitude irks him.

And lastly, he obviously likes Sohye and Heechul doesn’t need any of his crap.

“I already told you to stop looking at me” With those words, the never ending silence was broken. “I know I’m good looking.”

Sohye snapped out of her trance and scoffed at his overconfidence. “Yeah right”

“It’s already late, why aren’t you sleeping?” he said as he continued to do what he was doing, not even looking at her.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Then pretend to sleep.”

She looked at him in disbelief. “And what’s the point of that?”

“To get you to stop making noises while I’m working, it’s really irritating.”

“I’m not even making any noise.”

“Yes you are, you’ve been sighing and tapping the floor for the past hour.”

Sohye felt annoyed. “Tch!”

‘He’s such a jerk.’

“Fine then!” she said as she angrily stood up and walked past him to open the door to a room when suddenly, he put down his pen and stood up.

“I’ll be out for a while.”

Sohye looked back to see Heechul’s already leaving figure. And before she can even say anything, Heechul was already gone.

“What?”

‘He’s acting really strange.’

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