Chapter 7 : Fractures
It had been four days since the hospital. Three days since Yeri had come back. And every day, Soojin felt the walls closing in. They seemed tighter and colder.
Not the cold that chills your skin. The kind that wraps around your chest from the inside.
She used to find comfort in this house. It had quiet elegance, predictability, and routine. Now? Everything echoed.
Especially the silence coming from Yeri's room.
Soojin stood outside the door. She had come here twice before, but left both times. No knock. No word.
But today, her hands trembled. Her nails dug faint red crescents into her palm. She didn't even know what she wanted to say.
Except that she needed to say something.
She knocked, barely a tap.
Nothing.
Then, the door opened partway. Yeri stood there, one hand in a sling, the other gripping the knob. Her face was calm—too calm.
Soojin's mouth felt dry. "Hi."
Yeri said nothing. Her eyes were quiet, unreadable.
Soojin looked down at the floor. "Can I come in?"
A long pause.
Then Yeri stepped aside.
The room was warm and lived-in. Not like Soojin's, which felt like a museum exhibit no one could touch.
Yeri sat on the edge of the bed, leaving a chair across from her. An invitation—or just a place to sit?
Soojin took the seat.
For a while, neither of them spoke. The ticking clock on the wall filled the space between them.
Then Soojin drew a breath, shaky and unsure. "I've spent the last four nights trying to find the right words. And every time I do, they sound too small. Too late."
Yeri looked at her, eyes still guarded. "Then don't rehearse. Just talk."
That stunned her a little.
Soojin blinked. "Okay." She exhaled. "I hurt you."
Yeri didn't move.
"I hurt you, and I meant to. I was angry and cruel. I let that be enough of a reason." Her voice cracked. "And I told myself I didn't care."
"But you do now?" Yeri asked softly. Not accusing. Not forgiving. Just asking.
"Yes," Soojin whispered. "I do."
She clasped her hands in her lap. Her fingers wouldn't stop moving.
"You didn't deserve what I did. I was just angry. At you, at Yunjun, at everything I couldn't control. I took it out on you because it was easy."
Yeri's gaze was steady, as if she wanted to look away but wouldn't let herself. "It wasn't easy for me."
Soojin flinched. "I know." Tears slipped down her cheeks before she could stop them. "I know."
The silence that followed felt like glass under bare feet.
"I keep thinking," Soojin said quietly, "about how scared you must have been that night. How you couldn't stop falling. How much it must have hurt when you hit the ground." Her hands shook. "I keep wishing I could go back and stop myself before I even said your name."
Yeri's voice was a whisper. "But you didn't."
"I didn't," Soojin echoed.
Another silence. This one felt less sharp.
"I'm not asking for forgiveness," she added. "I know I don't deserve it. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. And that I was wrong. Really, truly wrong."
Yeri looked down at her hands, her thumb brushing the edge of her sling.
"I used to think…" she murmured, "that you hated me because I was weak."
"I thought that too," Soojin admitted quietly. "But now I think I hated you because you weren't."
That surprised Yeri. She looked up.
"You survived things I didn't even know how to name," Soojin said. "You didn't scream or fight back the way I would have. But you still kept going. That scared me. Because I've spent years pretending I was strong. And you just were."
Yeri swallowed hard.
Soojin's voice dropped lower. "I don't expect anything from you. I just didn't want you to think I felt nothing. I've felt everything. Every bruise I left on you, I see it every time I close my eyes. And I deserve that."
The room was very quiet after that. Even the clock seemed to hush.
Then, slowly, Yeri spoke.
"I don't forgive you."
Soojin nodded. She didn't expect to. It still stung, but she understood.
"I don't know if I ever will," Yeri added gently. "But I think I believe you're sorry."
Soojin looked at her then. "Thank you."
They sat there for a while longer. Two women with broken pieces neither knew how to hold.
Eventually, Soojin stood. "I'll leave you alone."
She turned to go but paused.
"If there's ever anything you need—space, time, even just silence—I'll give it."
Yeri nodded. "Okay."
Soojin hesitated a moment longer, then stepped out.
She didn't look back.
That night, Yeri stared out her window for a long time.
She thought about stairs, silence, and what it meant to say "I believe you," even when you didn't want to.
In the dark, something inside her exhaled.
Not forgiveness. Not yet.
But maybe the first breath toward it.
In her own room, Soojin sat on the edge of her bed, still in the clothes she had worn all day. Her reflection in the mirror looked older somehow. More tired. But also… quieter.
She didn't feel light. Just a little less hollow.
Sometimes guilt doesn't let go.
But sometimes—if you're lucky—it lets you start.
To be continued.
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