Chapter Text
----*----
The sound of the door slamming open jolted her awake.
After the night she had with her husband last night, she honestly believed that the seething pain in her neck and her back would override the need for sleep, and she would be able to get up on time, one hour before him, as she was supposed to.
But clearly, the world is not on Jihyo's side this week.
"Why aren't you awake? I have to leave for work in less than an hour Jihyo. Are you trying to make me late?" His voice pierced the air in the room and stopped her heart instantly.
She looked at the time.
8am. She's late.
"I'm so sorry, I've just been really tired lately from-"
"From what? God knows your useless ass isn't doing anything of use around this house other than making my life harder.
Now get downstairs and make me something to take to work, fast. And fix yourself too, you look embarrassing."
And with that he stormed from the room.
Jihyo sighed, straightened up and rubbed at her eyes. Jaemin's not in a good mood today, she needs to be more careful than this. Six years of marriage and she can't even remember his schedule?
She stumbled out of bed and rushed into the bathroom, trying to collect her thoughts and figure out how to deal with Jaemin's mood. There was no room for error today. As long as she can get him out the door as painlessly as possible, she'd be okay. Everything would be okay if she just kept her head down and stayed in line.
She showered, dressed in an outfit that would not show her neck, fluffed up her hair, and put on the realest looking smile she could muster before going downstairs and to the kitchen.
"Ah, good morning, Mrs Kwon. How did you sleep?" One of the many female servants, Nami, came and greeted her, seemingly unaware of the brutal beating she had received last night.
"Obviously far too well, Nami, because now I'm way behind in my schedule."
"Well, I could help you to prepare Mr Kwon's lunch if you want? Are you still tired?"
"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. I just need to focus on this now, okay?"
"OK Ma'am. If you say so." She looked back at Jihyo for another second, sizing up her words before moving to the other side of the kitchen to clean the counters.
She really did need to focus though, because this meal had to be flawless. The rice cannot be too salty, the meat can't be too tasteless. The onions have to be cut at the right angle, the exact right amount of chilli has to be incorporated perfectly, the amount of veggies cannot be too much more or less than the amount of meat, it has to be perfect it has to be perfect it has to be-
"Mrs Kwon, are you okay?" She turns from the stove to look at Nami, who is watching her with concern. "Did you say something?"
Oh. Well that's embarrassing. "No Nami, I'm fine," Jihyo said, " I didn't-"
"Is it your neck? Is it hurting?"
Jihyo looks at her. "No."
"It's okay if you're in pain, ma'am, I can help you." Nami gets some cream from one of the cupboards and comes towards Jihyo with a smile.
Jihyo's throat closes up, memories of last night fresh in her mind and on her skin. "I'm not in pain."
Nami reaches her and opens the cream tub. "I know what Mr Kwon did to you. What he does to you. Please don't be ashamed about it, I can help you."
...
"𝘑𝘪𝘩𝘺𝘰, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶! 𝘊𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶!"
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺? 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺!"
"𝘕𝘰, 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘑𝘪𝘩𝘺𝘰. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺? 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶!"
"𝘕𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘰𝘯-"
...
"Don't touch me!" Jihyo pushed Nami away and tried to breathe through the growing lump in her throat. "Get away from me!
Do you think you can talk to me like that? You have no right! If I needed help I would ask you!"
"Ma'am please, I just want to help you-" Nami's pleading voice is silenced instantly when she notices the man at the door.
Kwon Jaemin.
"What is going on in here? I don't have time for this you-" He begins to speak but stops.
He looks at Jihyo and she can't breathe.
"Kwon Jihyo. Is that my lunch that you've destroyed?"
Jihyo suddenly becomes explicitly aware of everything in the room, including the light burning smell in the air, and the slightly charred, forgotten food in the pan.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry, I'll fix this right now-"
He walked up to her and backhanded her across the face.
Jihyo fell against the counter, too close to the stove, and he grabbed her by her wrist.
"You really are useless then, aren't you. Can't even cook a simple lunch for your husband without fucking something up? What kind of a wife are you? Do you want to embarrass me infront of the President of Korea?" His grip on her wrist tightened, and she winced in pain.
"No, I'm really sorry! I was distracted, and I forgot it-"
"You're damn right you were distracted, look! You put the heat too high!" He shouted as he pushed the pan away and pressed Jihyo's hand onto the hot stove. "Does this feel like a good heat to you, you idiot?"
Jihyo couldn't answer. She couldn't even think. The only thing she could process was the hot waves of searing pain pulsing in her hand. What's wrong with her? Why couldn't she just keep her fucking head down and not mess up?
"Goddamm it bitch," he lifted her hand from the stove and threw her to the ground. "Now I really will be late to work because of you. Now clean up this mess, and don't you dare touch any food in this kitchen today."
He left the room, and Jihyo was alone, crumpled on the floor, cradling her blistered hand in her arms.
Nami came running back into the room with two other servants behind her.
"Mrs Kwon, are you alright?! Did- did he do that to your hand?"
Jihyo gave Nami a dazed look and stumbled to her feet.
"I'm fine, Nami. Everything is fine."
----*----
Golden light streamed in from the tall windows of the ballroom. Jihyo laid in the centre of the room, downing glass after glass of wine to try and fill the gaping, aching hole in her stomach.
She hasn't eaten in three days now.
She looks at the time.
It's 10pm. No sign of Jaemin.
She sighed and laid back down on the floor of the grand room, staring at the crystal chandelier overhead.
Should she feel relieved or on edge that he hasn't shown his face yet? She knows exactly where he is, and exactly which mistress he's with, but just can't bring herself to feel hurt by it anymore.
How can someone who's only 24 already be so resigned from life?
She turns to the window and watches the golden light of the sunset drip away, replaced by darkness.
Yes she is rich now and has all the money she could need because of her husband.
Yes she has an extensive wardrobe of designer clothing, and rare jewellery, and silk pillowcases.
And yes her old life was full of hardship, not knowing when she would eat next and constantly having to juggle school, her job and her then sick grandmother.
But atleast she had freedom.
She could go wherever, do whatever, be whoever she wanted to be and have whoever she wanted to have for a friend.
Now she has no one.
Her grandmother is gone, and Sana betrayed her, and who knows where Tzuyu, Mina, and Nayeon are (God, how she misses those three), and Jeongyeon-
Wait. Jeongyeon is still here. She's still with her. She hasn't left yet.
Jihyo gets off the floor, holding her injured hand in her arms as she staggers to her bedroom to look for her phone.
She just needs her phone. She just needs to call Jeongyeon. Jaemin and his rules be damned. She just needs someone, anyone, who will listen to her.
As she begins to root through Jaemin's side of the closet (a reckless and dangerous thing to do that a sober or less desperate Jihyo wouldn't even think of doing) something catches her eye.
Bright red, four-inch heels with white soles and buckled straps.
Those are the exact shoes that Im Nayeon was wearing the very last time Jihyo ever saw her. She gave them to Nayeon, and she never got a chance to give them back.
Jaemin said that they were exclusive shoes. Only one of their kind in the world.
So what are they doing here, stashed away so deep in Jaemin's side of the closet?
She needs to call Jeongyeon.
-*-------
The sudden sound of her ringtone blaring from her phone snatched her from the comfort of what would have been sleep in five seconds.
She'd had a really terrible day at work today. Having to work as a junior to your best friend's abuser and having to watch him leave with some other woman every other day tends to make most work days unbearable.
But the whole day, all she had been looking forward to was snuggling in her bed and drifting off to dreamland.
Unfortunately, Jeongyeon is not so lucky.
She flopped over onto her side and snatched the phone from its place on the nightstand. When she put it to her ear, she was greeted by the last voice she expected to hear.
"Jeongyeon, is that you? Are you awake?"
Her voice was slightly slurred and too breathy, and she hurried over the words like she was desperate for something.
Suddenly Jeongyeon is wide awake.
"Yeah Jihyo, I'm awake. Why are you calling so late, are you okay?"
It would be a lie to say that Jeongyeon had been any less than terrified for Jihyo's health recently. Every time they meet there seemed to be a new bruise, or mark, or bandaging somewhere on her body, and Jeongyeon was sick of it.
"I've found something weird and I think you should know. I don't know what to do." Her breathing quickened on the other side.
"Okay Jihyo, calm down and you can tell me what it is, okay? First of all, did you remember to tell Jaemin that you're using your phone to call me? I don't want him to hurt you if you forget." Jeongyeon sat up in bed, combing her fingers through her tangled hair.
"It doesn't matter anyways, he's not here. He never came home from work, so I'm assuming he's with that redhead again, right? But that's not important, I found something strange here."
Jeongyeon hesitated to respond, still slightly on edge from Jihyo's blatant drunkenness and disregard for Jaemin's rules, but eventually sighed and gave in. " Okay sure, tell me what it is."
"Well, it's more like I should show you, so I'll send a picture. I know you'll react how I did."
Okay well now Jeongyeon's curious. What could Jihyo have found that has her calling at 10 in the night just to show her?
Fifteen seconds later, a picture came through to Jeongyeon's phone. When she looked at it, her heart stopped instantly.
Bright red, four-inch heels with white soles and buckled straps. The last pair of shoes she ever saw Im Nayeon wearing two years, three months, one week and four days ago.
"What... how do you have those? Those are Nayeon's shoes, she was wearing them when she went missing."
"I know, that's why I had to show them to you. She was wearing them when she went missing, and yet here they are in Jaemin's side of our wardrobe. Don't you know what this could mean?"
"No." Deep down she knew exactly what Jihyo was about to say, and she didn't want to hear it.
Nayeon is gone. Jeongyeon's life was shattered when it happened, and she had no hope of picking up the pieces without her. There was no space for hope, not anymore.
"Nayeon is alive. She has to be! If not, how would her shoes get here? Maybe she left them somewhere and Jaemin found them, or-"
"Jihyo, are you hearing yourself?" Jeongyeon does not need to hear this. It's already been hard enough to try to overcome the grief and get over her feelings, she doesn't need false hope on top of that. "That's fucking absurd. Nayeon is gone, forever. How could she be alive if she just vanished without a trace one day? That's crazy."
"No it's not. It make sense." Jeongyeon could tell that Jihyo was trying just as hard to convince herself as she was to convince her. Jihyo's voice became slightly muffled over the phone, and Jeongyeon could tell that she was pacing. It was a trait that she had picked up only over the last three years under the stress of Jaemin's rules and punishments, and Jeongyeon wished more than anything that he didn't exist to keep him from destroying her friend. "If Nayeon was dead then she would still have the shoes, but since they're here then she must be alive!"
Jihyo stopped pacing. "Don't call me crazy."
"Well maybe you are if you seriously think that Nayeon is alive. If she was, why wouldn't she come back? Why would she just leave me here when she knows she's all I have?" Jeongyeon's hands shook and her eyes watered as she held the phone, and she took a deep breath. "Don't call me if you're just gonna try and fill my head with your delusions."
Jeongyeon put the phone down but did not hang up. Conversations about Nayeon never failed to drain her. Every single time Jeongyeon manages to find some kind of normalcy or contentment in a life without Nayeon (a near impossible feat for her most of the time) she just keeps coming back. If she's going to be gone, can't she just fucking stay that way and let Jeongyeon live?
She was pulled out of her head by Jihyo's mutterings on the other end of the line.
"I'm not crazy. I'm not delusional. Don't call me that, please don't."
Jeongyeon immediately picked the phone back up. "Jihyo are you okay? Please breathe, I'm sorry."
"Only he calls me that. Don't be like him Jeong, for the love of God please don't do that to me-"
"Of course not. I love you Jihyo, and I'm sorry about what I said. Please breathe for me now, okay?"
Jeongyeon took the empty seconds to pull herself together again, synchronising her breaths with Jihyo's before Jihyo spoke again. "I'm sorry too Jeong, I know you don't like to talk about her, but I just... she has to be alive. I need her to be alive. I miss her so much it fucking hurts and I can't live like this anymore.
She was right about everything. She was so right. No matter how much I was struggling I never should have agreed to give up my life for that man."
Jeongyeon put her head in her hands. "You know it's not your fault he treats you like that, right?"
Jihyo said nothing. The two of them sat in silence for a long while, sharing in each other's pain silently over the phone.
Until a small question arose in Jeongyeon's mind.
"Hey Jihyo?"
"Yeah?"
"Remember how you said that you found Nayeon's shoes in Jaemin's side of the closet?"
A pause. "...Yes?"
"Why were they there? Why does he have them? Did he ever know that you and Nayeon were friends?"
"I... I don't know, I never really tried to hide her from him, but... you seriously don't think he would do anything to her, do you?"
Jeongyeon didn't answer. She was trying to organise her turbulent thoughts and calm down, because just the thought of that bastard laying a finger on Nayeon made her want to kill him.
"You know what? I don't think we should talk about this on the phone. He may check the call log tomorrow and listen to what we're saying, and I don't need that this week. How about you come over tomorrow morning, after he goes to work? You're off most Fridays, aren't you?" Jihyo told her. Her voice was suddenly clear and very serious, as if the drunken daze wore off from the topic of conversation.
"Yeah I'm off tomorrow. 11am?"
"Sure. See you then." Jihyo hung up.
Jeongyeon looked at the phone and huffed out a breath. Jesus, that was a difficult conversation.
But now, as Jeongyeon finally snuggles down into her bed and drifts off to dreamland, she feels a little lighter.
Maybe Nayeon is alive. Maybe she will get to tell her everything.
-*-------