Tiptoeing up the stairs, Hyunji repeatedly told Jay to be quiet as they walked down the hallway. She noticed light under Eunji's doorway and after putting Jay in her room went to her cousins room. After softly knocking on the door Hyunji opened it, seeing Eunji sitting at her desk with her laptop open.

"Hey, Ji." Eunji took off her glasses, leaning back in her desk chair. "I'm surprised you came back."

"I can't miss school. I can't go wearing sweatpants and a shitty hoodie either." Hyunji replied.

"Sit down, Ji. I heard your parents arguing and maybe staying at Jungkook's for a few days isn't a terrible idea."

Hyunji frowned. It's so bad Eunji's suggesting she leave her own house?

"I think it'd make things worse. I don't know. . ." Hyunji sat on Eunji's bed.

"You do what you think is best. If you need to go I will take care of Jay. You've had a long night. You should get to bed if you plan on going to school.."

"Ok, thank you."

Eunji stood up and hugged Hyunji tightly.

"You're parents love you more than anything. They think they're doing what's best for you, they just don't know that Jungkook is what's best for you right now. One day sooner or later they will see how much he cares for you and your parents will accept your relationship." Eunji wiped away Hyunji's tears.

"Wait- you just said you think Jungkook's what's best for me?" Hyunji asked, a bright smile on her face.

"Oh c'mon that's all you heard? He loves you more than he loves himself, as long as he keeps that up I can't say anything about him. Don't you dare tell him this, it'll just go to his big head. Don't expect me to start playing nice either."

________________

Hyunji had her head resting in her palm as she tried listening to her teacher. After a long sleepless night her eyes were heavy and her mind finally ready to shut down.

If I pretend to be looking at my notes on my iPad I can close my eyes for a few minutes. . .

"Hyunji," Ryujin bumped Hyunji's elbow.

"Hmm?" Hyunji blinked a few times.

"You're falling asleep again."

The teacher cleared his throat loudly, glaring at the two girls. The pair quickly shifted their focus back on their teacher as Ryujin briefly glanced at Hyunji. Ryujin knew something was wrong with her friend, it was evident she was crying and Hyunji barely spoke a word.

A few minutes later the teacher dismissed them and as Hyunji gathered her things Ryujin was more than persistent. Even if Hyunji didn't want to talk about it Ryujin wasn't going to give up.

"Ji, talk to me." Ryujin said.

"My parents found out about my boyfriend and they were pissed." Hyunji muttered under her breath.

"I'm really sorry. If you need to talk I'm here."

"Thank you. You need to get to class."

They departed and Hyunji walked to study hall, keeping her head low. It felt like a dark cloud was surrounding her. She passed by a group of students trying to slip into the library uninterrupted. When she walked inside Hyunji saw Jaehyun at her table. It was always free, it seemed like everyone had their own usual spot and Jaehyun was in hers. Since he found out about her relationship he hadn't been sitting with her as often.

"Hey, Hyunji." He smiled.

It would be rude as hell if she walked to a different table.

Hyunji sat across from Jaehyung and put her laptop down, muttering a "hello" under her breath.

"Am I bothering you?" Jaehyung asked, he knew something was off.

"No." Hyunji shook her head.

When she looked up he immediately noticed how her eyes were puffy and discolored. Even when Hyunji wasn't having the best day she never looked like that. He searched her eyes for an answer only seeing sadness.

"Is everything okay? You've been crying." He softly said, he hated seeing her in distress.

"Not really." Hyunji chuckled.

She sensed his concern, it was clear on his face. His soft expression made her feel like she could open up.

"If you want to talk to me about it I'm here. When I said I wanted to be friends with you that meant that I would be here for you too, Hyunji." Jaehyung spoke.

"My parents found out about Jungkook. My mom went through my phone and found a picture- a picture of us kissing and read a bunch of our texts." Hyunji told him, changing the fact that her mother saw a very different picture of Hyunji. "Their very strict and my mom was yelling at me last night and we got in a big fight."

"I'm really sorry. I can surely understand where you're coming from. My parents try to be strict with me and my sister, it's hard."

"Yeah. . . "

"You're 18 though."

"Like they give a shit."

"Yeah I know, as long as we're in their house they still act like we're just kids."

"I might end up just staying at Kook's house for a few days. . . I don't even know."

"His parents are ok with that?"

"Jungkook's parents are chill. I wish they were my parents to be honest. . . They're involved but let him make his own decisions."

"That's good. I really hope everything works out for you. In the meantime I'll always listen."

"Thank you."

Jaehyung couldn't just turn off his feelings for Hyunji. Seeing her in such despair only made him want to comfort her, to make everything better. Though he wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything would be okay he knew that would most likely be inappropriate. All he could do was comfort her as a friend trying to keep his feelings in check.

__________________

A few days later. . . . . . . . . . .

Hyunji walked down the stairs, struggling to carry her overflowing basket of laundry. She heard her parents speaking in the kitchen while they enjoyed their coffee. When she walked past them it was as if she was invisible. But she was slowly getting used to it.

Is this the new normal?

Inside Hyunji was torn, she didn't know how long they were going to treat her like this. If they were waiting for her to break up with Jungkook they'd be waiting forever. She knew when she turned 18 there would be conflict between her parents regarding religion, but she didn't expect it to be this bad.

Though Hyunji had been depressed the past few days, anger was becoming more prominent. How could they just turn their backs on her like this?

_______________

Eunji sat on the couch, taking a change of scenery as she caught up on some lectures. The house was quiet, Hyunji had taken Jay for a walk to get out of the house and Seojun was at the office as usual. Even more days had passed and Hyunji's parents still wouldn't look at her, let alone speak. Eunji could see the toll it had taken on her younger cousin and she couldn't take it anymore. She vowed never to be a parent like that.

Haneul walked downstairs and began cleaning the living room. Eunji didn't even want to be in the same proximity with them; it had been eating her up for days. She stood up and was about to leave the room before she heard her aunt sigh loudly.

"So now you're mad at me, huh?" Hanaul spoke.

"I can't stand seeing what you're doing to Ji." Eunji let slip out.

"What I'm doing to her?!" Haneul scoffed. "I understand your parents didn't raise you religiously but that is how we raised Hyunji. She knows right from wrong. If we didn't care that she's throwing her life away making poor choices we would be bad parents."

"She's an adult. She's quite capable of making her own choices, the right choices. You don't even know her boyfriend. You don't care to find out what kind of man she's dating. He would do anything for her, he will care for her down to the end. Whether they're having sex or not doesn't matter!"

"Well in this household it does matter! It's not your place to get involved in this, Eunji. You need to stay out of it!" Haneul firmly said as their argument got more heated.

"It's always been expected of me to be like Ji's older sister and I'm fine with that. But you can't expect me not to get involved when she's being mistreated by her own parents." Eunji crossed her arms.

"Eunji, you have no right to say that to me! You'll understand when you're a parent. I'm just trying to protect her."

"Well I'm just trying to protect her from her own parents. You won't even speak to her, or make eye contact! Do you know how that makes her feel? You're not the one drying her tears at night, oh, right, because you're the one making her cry." Eunji came right back at her before walking out of the living room.

Eunji could feel the anger boiling up inside of her, having one last comment to her aunt.

"When I'm a parent I'm gonna make sure my child feels comfortable telling me what's going on in their life, because they'll know I'll always be there for them and accept the choices they make." Eunji shouted down the hall.

"I know what's best for my daughter and you need to stay out of it!"

Haneul scoffed, shaking her head. How could her niece disrespect Haneul in her own house? Eunji and Haneul were never the closest. Eunji was always too bold and stubborn for Hanuels liking, but Hyunji's closeness to her cousin made Haneul put all feelings aside.

Sitting down Haneul sighed. Was Hyunji really crying every night? Haneuls faith was something she would never lose. . . But maybe she really wasn't handling the situation right. The least she did was tell Seojun not to berate their daughter after Haneul already did. But since then there had been no real interactions with Hyunji.

Haneul condemned her daughter's actions, no doubt. Yet she felt remorseful for the way she acted towards Hyunji.

Maybe it's time to sit down and talk with Hyunji. . . .