Ninth (1/1)

“Marie, what the hell is this?!” Jeesu yelled. I looked at him like I didn’t know what he was talking about.“Oh, you know me, I’m so terribly clumsy” I smiled like an idiot. DongLim kneeled in front of me and looked at my arm. His eyes were the size of a plate.“Ay, that looks pretty painful” he said, grazing his fingers over the bruises. Inati moved from his armchair and sat next to me.“Seriously, what is this?” he asked, looking really worried. I covered my arm and smiled convincingly.“I told you, I’m a terrible klutz.” Daniel cleared his throat.“Marie, I think you should tell them. It’s okay.” I looked back at him and he nodded. I took a deep breath and explained everything all over again.∼When I was done with my story, Simon huffed.“Wow, that’s… tough” he said, rubbing his forehead. I shrugged.“It’s fine. You’ll get used to it” I mumbled whilst playing with the hem of my shirt.“I’m not sure it’s something you should get used to” Inati said. DongLim looked really sad.“DongLim-oppa, what’s wrong?” I asked him gently. He crawled up to me from his seat on the floor and threw himself into my lap.“It’s not fair. You shouldn’t go through something like this” he mumbled. I am sure that heard a sob escape his lips. I stroked his hair.“Sweetie, it’s fine. I’m okay. I got you now, right?” I smiled, realizing that my eyes were getting wet too. DongLim nodded. Inati wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. Jeesu, Simon and Daniel added themselves into our weird yet comforting hug. I peeked out from the awkward pile of people and looked at the clock. I realized it was already almost 12 PM.“Guys, I should go. It’s kinda late” I chirped. Jeesu hugged me even tighter and yelled:“NO! I will not let you return to the Devils house!” I laughed at him and pushed everyone off me.“I’ll be fine, I promise. I won’t be fine, however, if they find that I’m here” I said as I got up and walked to the door and slipped my shoes on. Daniel followed me.“You know you can come here anytime, right?” he asked me.“Yeah, sure. Thanks” I gave him a smile and a hug. I bid goodbyes to the rest of the boys and started making my way back home.∼A few days later, I was in my room, reading a book as usual, when my dad climbed up the firescape behind my window. He started to install something to the window.“Dad, what are you doing?” I asked him.“We figured out that it would be easy for you to escape from this window, so I’m going to lock it from here” he explained to me. Oh God. After my dad was gone, I figured I should let the boys know. I decided to text Inati.From: MarieOppa, my dad locked my window so it looks like we won’t seeing each other for the whole summer. From: InatiWell, I can help you with that.From: Marie? Inati didn’t reply to me for three hours. Suddenly, my mom called me from downstairs with her ‘Worlds best mom’-voice. I ran downstairs to see her talking to someone who was at the door. I walked to her, and my eyes widened in shock as I saw who she was talking to. It was Inati, dressed in an awkward suit, carrying a suitcase. His hair was slicked back with a ton of hair gel and he was wearing a pair of huge glasses.“Sweetie, your student counselor, Mr. Jang here, would like you to attend some lessons during the summer” mom said smiling to me. I just stared at Inati. Mom nudged me.“Marie, it is not polite to stare” she scolded me.“Right, I’m sorry” I bowed to Inati who smiled at me.“It’s okay. Marie-shhi, I wish that you could attend lessons every weekday and every other weekend” he told me with an unusually deep voice.“That can be arranged, right honey? I’m glad you came to us, Mr. Jang. We were a bit shocked about Marie’s exam scores” mom told him. Was she really buying this?“Well, we expect Marie to do well in school. We hope that summer lessons help and that she will not disappoint of us again” Inati said. I knew that he was joking, but my mom thought he wasn’t.“Exactly. Thank you, Mr. Jang” mom bowed to him. Inati bowed back.“Anytime. Marie, we will be expecting you tomorrow at 9 AM in the library” he turned to me. I nodded.“Yes, Mr. Jang” I bowed. He then left and we closed the door. What the hell just happened?“Well, I’m glad you can attend lessons. Maybe, with a lot of help, you will be something one day” mom told me with a fake smile and left me standing speechless in front of the door.∼So, the next day I made my way to the library. When I was almost there, I received a text message from Inati.From: InatiHey, I decided to move the “lessons” from the library to our place, okay?I sighed, but texted him a response.From: MarieOkay^^I turned around and made my way to the boys’ apartment. Their door was open, so I just stepped in.“Hello∼” I cooed as I slipped my shoes off. I saw Inati and Jeesu in the living room; Daniel, Simon and DongLim were in the kitchen.“Hi guys. Mr. Jang” I smirked. Inati smiled.“That was pretty smart, don’t you think?” he asked.“Totally” I nodded and took a seat in the empty armchair.“So, do we have any special plans for today?” I asked Inati. He shrugged.“Well, we were thinking of going to an amusement park but I suppose…”“Yes!” I screamed in excitement. Inati cocked his eyebrow.“I’m sorry, oppa. It’s just been ages since I last went to an amusement park and I’d really love to go.” Inati smiled. Daniel appeared from the kitchen.“That’s settled, then. Shall we get ready to go?” he asked, ushering us to the front door.∼Third person POV:After a wonderful day in the park, Marie and the boys were heading home. It was already almost 9 PM, and Marie was exhausted. She sat in the backseat next to Daniel, as her eyes became heavy. Slowly, she fell asleep. Daniel guided her head to his shoulder. Simon looked at them through the mirror.“Fell asleep, huh?” he asked Daniel, who smiled in response.“I wish there was a way to help her” Simon sighed.“Hyung, we are helping her” Daniel said, covering Marie with his jacket.“I know, but still… Look at her… So tired from all the fighting and the beating and… Ugh, I hate her parents!” Simon huffed, frustrated. Daniel nodded as he kept on watching Marie.“Me too. We’ll get her out of this.” SORRY GUISE, I'VE BEEN GONE FOR A WHILE. HERE'S KIND OF A HASTILY DONE CHAPTER, BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE IT! PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT TELLING ME IF YOU LIKED IT.