novellhall Chapter 84 The Thorns on the Photo Wall
Chapter 84 The Thorns on the Photo Wall
Chapter 84 Thorns on the Photo Wall (Please Subscribe!)
The winter nights in Seoul are really, really cold.
Red Velvet's vans shuttle through the city.
Bae Joo-hyun leaned against the car window, her head swaying gently with the car's movements.
Kim Ye-rin was next to her, her head resting on her shoulder, already asleep.
The maknae's breathing was very light, and her eyelashes fluttered occasionally, as if she were dreaming.
Park Soo-young was sitting in the front row, wiping her lips with lipstick in front of a small mirror. She stopped halfway through, looked at herself in the mirror for two seconds, and then took out a lip balm and applied a layer.
"Aren't you tired?" Kang Seulgi asked lazily, her eyes slightly closed beside her.
"I'm tired." After applying the lipstick, Park Soo-young closed the tube and tossed it into her bag. "But if I don't apply it today, my lips will be so dry tomorrow."
Son Seung-wan didn't say anything, wearing headphones and huddled in the last row, looking at his phone, the screen still lit up.
Bae Joo-fa stared blankly at the street scene outside the car window.
After two more turns, we'll reach the dormitory.
She took her phone out of her down jacket pocket, and when she opened it, the screen was still showing the message that Jin Qiutian had sent her.
Bae Joo-hyun's finger hovered above the screen before falling and zooming in on the photo.
In the very center is a photo of Liu Zimu and Choi Sulli. The two are standing in a coffee shop, with Choi Sulli tilting her head slightly towards Liu Zimu and smiling sweetly.
Liu Zimu's expression was fairly natural, though somewhat awkward and impatient.
Next to their photo is a photo of the two of them together in the autumn of the year.
Then there are photos of Goo Hara and IU taken today, taken from a distance.
She stared intently at the way Li Zhi'en looked at Liu Zimu; Li Zhi'en's eyes were filled with an excessive curiosity.
She shook her head, staring at the group photo in the very center, her fingers slowly tightening.
Sulli's smile is the smile of a winner.
She looked at it for a few seconds, then turned off her phone screen.
"Unnie, are you still studying the Chinese 'Thirty-Six Stratagems'? Do you even understand it?" Park Soo-young suddenly turned around and asked her.
Bae Joo-hyun paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "I've learned one move."
Park Soo-young shook her head, while Kang Seul-gi glanced at Bae Joo-beom.
Bae Joo-fa continued to look out the window.
Her face was faintly reflected in the car window, not very clearly, but she looked unwell, and the dark circles under her eyes were even more noticeable under the streetlights.
She stuck out the tip of her tongue and licked her lips; it tasted salty.
The car stopped in the underground parking lot, and the driver turned off the engine.
Kim Ye-rin was jolted awake, and groggily raised her head: "Have we arrived?"
"We're here." Kang Seulgi turned around, patted her face, opened the car door, and got out first.
A cold front rushed in, making people shiver.
Park Soo-young zipped her down jacket all the way up, hunched her shoulders, and followed Kang Seul-gi out of the car.
Bae Joo-fa remained motionless.
She sat there, holding her phone, looking at the back of the seat in front of her.
"Unnie?" Kim Ye-rim stood by the car door, bending down and peering back. "Aren't you getting out?"
"Go ahead, you guys go up first, I'll make a phone call."
Kim Ye-rin glanced at her, pursed her lips, and didn't ask any more questions. She turned around and caught up with Park Soo-young ahead of her.
The sound of footsteps faded into the distance, then the elevator doors closed with a beep, and then it was quiet.
Bae Joo-beom then got out of the car and said goodbye to Kim Eun-jin.
After the car drove away, she didn't immediately enter the elevator, but instead went to the stairwell.
She turned her phone back on and looked at the photo again.
Choi Sulli was smiling, standing next to him, smiling.
The photo was like a thorn stuck in her eye, impossible to remove.
She wanted to zoom in on the photo to see Liu Zimu's expression again, so she tapped the screen twice with her finger and then released it.
So what if it's magnified?
Can zooming in pull him away from Choi Sulli?
He sighed deeply.
Choi Sulli moved in with him.
She knew about this; someone had told her.
Jin Qiutian had told him that Liu Zimu had moved, but he hadn't mentioned that Cui Xueli had moved there as well.
But she knew.
She always knew that.
But even though she knew it, and even though she had thought about giving up, she just couldn't convince herself.
Originally, I just wanted to vent my anger, because I was angry that Choi Sulli was showing off to her, and I was angry that Choi Sulli was sending her messages to provoke her.
She just wanted to seduce this jerk and then dump him.
But... I've fallen for it first.
Bae Joo-hyun closed her eyes, and a movie started playing in her mind, with Liu Zimu and herself as the main characters.
tomorrow.
He's coming to the event tomorrow to cheer us on.
He had promised her; he said it himself when she called him last night, deliberately crying miserably.
Bae Joo-hyun opened her eyes, and the corners of her mouth slowly turned up.
Finally, it tilted higher and higher, and its whole face was smiling.
She switched the phone to her left hand, stretched out her right hand in front of her, her five fingers spread out, as if looking at something that didn't belong to her.
These hands touched his face, tugged at his collar, and lingered on the spot of the scar on his lip.
Will I have a chance to touch his face again tomorrow?
Also, I need to control myself. I must control myself this time and not scare him again.
She stepped into the elevator, and when it reached her floor, she got out of the car. The motion-activated lights in the corridor flickered on, casting a dim, yellowish glow.
She stood at the dormitory entrance for a while, but instead of immediately entering the password, she leaned against the wall and looked up at the ceiling.
The lights in the hallway turned off because they couldn't sense any movement.
That year, she became incredibly popular; she was a rising star.
Back then, there was no Liu Zimu, no Cui Xueli, and none of this messy stuff.
Life is very simple, so simple that it's boring; I feel like a dead person.
But Choi Sulli, that woman, blocked her at the company entrance that day, and she saw the hostility and wariness in her eyes.
Now that woman has changed; she's become someone I admire.
She was very curious about what had changed her.
It's all because of that man.
And then...and then I got what I wanted.
Even though that bastard is standing next to another woman, I can still snatch her away.
She put her hand into her coat pocket and felt a small object.
She took it out and saw that it was a strawberry-flavored gummy that Kim Ye-rin had casually given her in the backstage waiting room earlier that day, which she hadn't eaten at the time.
She stared at the gummy candy for two seconds, tore off the wrapper, and popped it into her mouth. It was sickeningly sweet.
She smiled with satisfaction and reached out to press the combination lock.
Go, Bae Joo-hyun!
After opening the door, turn on the entryway light.
She changed her shoes, didn't turn on the living room light, and walked into her room in the dark.
Unbeknownst to her, she had been alone outside for a very, very long time.
Kim Ye-rin had already finished washing up and fallen asleep, her breathing was very even, like a baby's.
Bae Joo-hyun stood by the bed and looked at her for two seconds, then bent down and pulled the blanket up to cover her exposed shoulders.
Then she sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Kim Ye-rin's blurry outline in the darkness.
"Ye-rin," she called softly.
Kim Ye-rin did not respond.
She called out again, her voice even lower, so low it was as if she were talking to herself.
Do you think he'll really come tomorrow?
No one answered her in the darkness.
Bae Joo-beom, of course, did not expect Kim Ye-rin to answer her.
She just wanted to talk; once she said it, she felt less panicked.
She lay down, turned to her side, and faced Kim Ye-rim.
The maknae has very long eyelashes.
"He said he would come," Bae Joo-hyun said softly but firmly. "He promised me."
She turned over and lay on her back.
Liu Zimu.
The name lingered in her mind like a piece of candy that hadn't completely disappeared from her mouth.
She reached out and covered her chest; her heart was pounding.
tomorrow.
I'll be able to see him tomorrow.
She closed her eyes.
Suddenly, Choi Sulli's face popped into her mind again, and she was holding his arm, saying to him: This man is mine.
Bae Joo-hyun's lips twitched, as if she were smiling, or perhaps gritting her teeth.
So what if it's yours? It's mine too.
And are you two married? If not, I can still snatch it away.
"Bae Joo-hyun, are you crazy?"
Yeah, that's insane.
But... let him be crazy if he wants to.
He will come, he will definitely come.
She stood up and went out to wash up.
"Unnie, you seem very happy!" Kang Seulgi came out to get a drink of water and saw Bae Joo-hyun walking out of the bedroom and into the living room with a happy face.
Bae Joo-hyun stepped forward and patted her face: "Yeah! I'm very happy."
""
Kang Seulgi watched her walk into the bathroom, looking at her helplessly.
This unnie's condition seems to be getting more and more serious, sigh!
But compared to before, she seems more energetic in private, and her fighting spirit is now incredibly strong.