Ye Eun could barely hold in her excitement by the time she got to her room. She reached for her phone and excitedly pressed on Junseo's number. Seconds later, he picked up.
"They're finally removing the security cameras! Although Dohyun's gonna keep an eye on me, but I'm still so happy!" She gushed.
She could hear Junseo's excitement from the other side of the call. "Really?! I'm so glad!"
"I know! We can finally see each other. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too." He sighed, causing Ye Eun to blush.
"Yeah..."
"When are your parents going back overseas?"
Ye Eun glanced at her calendar. "Hm.. let's see... they should be back in two days. But they're rarely home so I won't even see them again until they're on another business trip."
"Why?"
"My step-father always gambles with other rich people. Meanwhile mom usually spends time with her friends or busy doing photoshoots. They're both really busy so not even Dohyun sees them as much." She admitted.
The other end of the line went silent. "Oh... I see. Have they always neglected you that much?"
Ye Eun stared ahead, making eye contact with her picture frame. She slowly nodded. "As long as I can remember."
She heard him sigh. "That's terrible. I can't believe there are parents like that who exist in this world."
"It's okay, Junseo, like I said, I'm used to it. I don't want you to worry for me. Soon, we'll be able to be together without anyone getting in the way." Ye Eun smiled.
"Really?" Junseo whispered, and she pictured his brightened look, "Do you really mean it?"
"Of course I do." She whispered.
"... you make me happy, Ye Eun. I love you so much and I will never stop loving you."
Ye Eun became flustered. She chuckled and pressed the phone closer to her ear. "That's really cliché."
"Haha, sorry. It just came out."
Upon hearing footsteps approach the door she awkwardly cleared her throat. "I should go, it's getting pretty late. Sleep well."
"Okay! Goodnight. I love you." He cooed.
"I love you more."
Ye Eun woke up at five in the morning, feeling extremely nauseous. She fled to the bathroom and immediately threw up all over the toilet.
Panic began to flow around her. Ye Eun wasn't sure if she had ate something that expired or perhaps she just had a funny stomach. She quietly tiptoed to the kitchen and hurriedly stole pills from the cabinet before filling up a glass of water and gulping it down.
After that, Ye Eun went back to sleep, but the time grew worse and worser. Her stomach began to hurt like crazy and she kept tossing around in bed.
A sudden thought occurred to her; maybe she was pregnant. Ye Eun didn't want to imagine it, but she couldn't help but think that that was one of the possibilities for her nausea problems.
When the pain went so bad she had to go to the bathroom to throw up again, Ye Eun went to her parents bedroom, softly knocking on the door. She hated to wake them up but she couldn't find any other alternative.
"Mom? Dad?"
No response. As always. Ye Eun sighed and she reached over to slowly open the door. Her eyebrows furrowed in suspicion when she didn't see any of them in bed.
"Guys? Where are you?" She tiptoed to the bathroom and peeked in, confused. Her parents were nowhere to be found.
Ye Eun began to think that they most have left overseas, when she spotted the suitcases they usually used for their business trips. They were still in the room, untouched.
"Mom?" She called out, running to the kitchen.
They really weren't home. Ye Eun nervously looked around. She ran back upstairs and grabbed her phone, calling her brother.
"Dohyun?" She asked once the call was picked up. "Our parents aren't home, and their suitcases are here. Do you know where they went?"
It went silent for a few seconds before Dohyun groaned. "This is what you called me for? Go back to sleep. I have a test tomorrow. Night."
"No wait, I'm being serious!" She yelled but the call ended. Ye Eun stared back at her phone and sighed, dropping it back on her bed.
Dohyun was right. Maybe Ye Eun was overreacting. After all, her parents are almost never home, so why should she worry?
"Haha... you're so silly Ye Eun." She mumbled to herself. "They don't even care about you."
Ye Eun glanced at herself in the mirror, and slowly lifted her pajama shirt. Her belly fat immediately sprung out, and she grimaced.
"Maybe I should start exercising." She grumbled.
Her nausea affects stopped, but Ye Eun still felt pretty dizzy. She shrugged it off and went to bed, forcing sleep to come.
The next morning, Ye Eun had woken up again, only this time she felt much better than before. She still felt concerned at she had never experienced that in her life, so during the way to school, Ye Eun stopped by the pharmacy and bought three pregnancy tests.
Upon exiting the pharmacy, she ran into In Yeop, who looked as surprised as she was.
"Oh. Hey. Why are you here? You rarely step foot in this pharmacy." He said.
Ye Eun shrugged it off, holding the bag closer to herself. "Just buying a drink."
"A drink? They're really expensive there... are you sure that's what you bought?"
"Mind your own business." She snapped, and In Yeop remained silent, "Why are you so curious all of a sudden? Why the heck do you constantly get into my life like nothing? It's really annoying!"
"You want to know why?" In Yeop frowned, and Ye Eun crossed her arms, cocking her eyebrow up.
"Why?"
"Because..." he paused, and looked away. "Nevermind."
"What was that? I couldn't hear you." Ye Eun tried to shove her ear in his face before In Yeop backed away.
"I said nevermind!"
She rolled her eyes and began to walk past him before another person harshly bumped against her, causing her to land face-first on the ground.
"Are you okay?" In Yeop reached down to help her. His eyes fell to the pregnancy tests and he froze.
Ye Eun sat up, patting the dust off of her uniform. She looked up and made eye contact with In Yeop, who didn't look happy. That's when she noticed the pregnancy tests had dropped out of the bag.
Her entire face went red into humiliation. She shoved the pregnancy tests back inside the shopping bag before zipping open her bookbag and throwing it in. Ye Eun stood up and ran away.
Only this time, he didn't stop her.