Chapter Text
“Cover those up,” Celine’s words echoed in Rumi’s mind. Cover it up. They won’t understand. Rumi was tracing her patterns again, but it was more like digging into her skin. It had been a month after the battle, and everything was going back to normal – Zoey was out doing an advertisement for some drinking brand, Mira was participating in an interview, and Rumi was here alone. Again. She was in their tower, being uncomfortably bare with only her shorts and sports bra. Her purple hair was still done in a braid, but it was messy.
“Cover it up,” She was tracing again – no, not tracing. Scratching . Like she could peel herself clean.
She laughed, but it sounded wrong. “Not a bad idea, actually,” she muttered to no one.
Rumi imagined how much more freed she could be if she was just “clean”. Producing her Saingeom, she looked at them. Her demon-slayer sword had ironically become her scalpel. The reminders that she was still dirty. The amount of showers she took to “wash” them off. Angling her blade to her left forearm, she started to recall the moments when Celine told her to cover it up. Maybe she could drain the color out of her skin, maybe she could be “normal” for once. The blade slid against her skin. She was being forceful enough to cut the skin and to draw blood. Her Saingeom’s tip was covered in red liquid. Maybe she needed to cut harder. Maybe — oh, their white couch got stained. As Rumi watched the blood seep into the couch, she could hear the front door being rattled on. Crap, someone is home, and the couch now has stains that she couldn’t hide, like her mistake of a body . Her body froze for a moment before she started panicking. She could hear the keys rattling outside.
“Shitshitshitshitshit,” Rumi muttered quickly under her breath; she rushed to the kitchen where their first aid was and started to bandage herself fast. She washed her hands as blood soon went down the drain. She quickly put on Mira’s huge sweater.
“I’m home!” Zoey announced her presence. She saw her girlfriend just standing near the kitchen. Zoey was carrying takeout. Crap, what would she think?
“Oh, I didn’t know you were cooking today. Sorry!” Zoey walked over to Rumi as she placed down three takeout orders of bibimbap and some other convenience store snacks. Zoey’s brows furrowed, not out of anger, just confusion.
“Ru, are you okay?” Zoey asked, concerned that her girlfriend was ill. Then, it hits Rumi. If Zoey could tell something was off, then Mira would definitely be able to do the same. God, she forgot that Mira could read her and Zoey like an open book. She looked back at the couch then at Zoey.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine ,” She was glancing between Zoey and the stain on the couch. Zoey followed her girlfriend’s line of sight as now she saw red stains on the sofa.
“What’s going on, Rumi?” Zoey asked softly. Her hands travelled up to Rumi’s forearms where one of the bandages were. She didn’t flinch but didn’t lean-in either.
“Nothing, I promise,” She lied. She promised them that she wasn’t going to hide secrets. Zoey frowned, but she left it be for now.
“You must be hungry though. Mira is coming home soon” Zoey started to open the takeout boxes, then she stopped.
“You promise?” Rumi raised an eyebrow as she pulled out a chair for Zoey.
“Promise what?” Zoey sat down as Rumi went to also pull a chair for when Mira comes home.
“Promise that there won’t be any more secrets between the three of us?”
“I promise,” Rumi gave Zoey her pinky as Zoey returned it. Then, another key rattled against the door. It sounded like they were struggling to open the door.
“I bet you that Mira forgot which key is the one to our tower,” Zoey softly spoke as she started to giggle, but she was not to giggle no more when Mira walked through the door.
Mira walked in with more takeout containers, but she looked at Zoey, then at Rumi.
“Hey, Mira, how was the interview?” Rumi tried to be polite, but Mira shot her a glance.
“Something is wrong,” Mira stated as she glanced on the couch, then back at her purple-haired girlfriend. Rumi was now sweating.
“The blood on the couch – it’s not your period. That was last week. You’re not making eye contact with me. You’re nervous, Rumi,” Mira stated as she is now standing just inches from her face.
“Hey, let’s just eat first, then we can talk after,” Zoey tried to change the topic. Mira stared at Rumi for a few more minutes.
“Fine, but if I find out, you are hurting yourself . We are going to have a talk about your mental health,” Those words stung at Rumi. Dinner was just filled with conversation about Zoey’s advertisement. There were glances between the three of them. Rumi wasn’t talking much as she just listened. Mira was shooting glances at her quiet girlfriend. The air was tense, and Rumi couldn’t escape it. They won’t understand . Celine’s words were repeating in her head again. She was now just staring.
“RuRu?” Zoey was now poking at her girlfriend for a few minutes now. However, Mira slammed the table and stood up.
“I can’t take it anymore. I know something is up, Rumi,” Mira sounded like a crazy lady, but her guts were telling her otherwise.
“MiMi, we are going to talk after dinner-” Zoey tried to calm her down.
“No, we are going to talk now,” Mira stared at Rumi who sat hunched in Mira’s sweater. The food untouched; the container barely opened.
“Calm down, Mi-”
“Calm down? Zoey, something is nagging me that something is wrong with Rumi!”
“Why couldn’t you love all of me?” Rumi was having flashbacks again. Her patterns were acting up again. Glowing against her own will, she covered her face as Zoey tried to calm Mira. It was glowing purple.
“Ru! It’s going to be okay! I promise,” Zoey rushed forward, but she flinched away. She crawled back into a pillar. Mira crouched down beside Rumi.
“I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier. It’s just that something is wrong, and I know you are in pain. Please just let us in,” Mira softly requested.
“No – then you guys would hate me,” That statement caught Zoey and Mira’s breath as a faint yellow color started to fill Rumi’s left eyes.