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"Taeyeon..."

"Is she okay?"

"What happened?"

I heard several faint voices mumble in concern. Talking amongst each other, I couldn't comphrend the rest of the conversation.

I suddenly feel myself being lifted, the warmth still close. I hold tighter. Don't leave.

I try to force my eyes open but sleep tugs me back to an unconscious state.

"We will look out for her..."

"Did you call him...?"

"Thank you."

Once sleep slips away releasing it's hold on me. The reality floods back. My eyes flutter open to an familiar room. The walls are crisp white. The curtains that are pink cover the partial frosted window. The sunlight manages to shine through spreading across the room. It's the old dorm we used to live in before we all moved out.

The memories flood back. I remember when Jessica and Tiffany argued over the color of those curtains. It was a senseless controversy between the two but what it meant was more. We were young and naive. Sometimes I missed those days.

"She is awake." I heard a voice near me announce.

I look over at the source. It's Jessica and she's in the doorway of the living room dressed in sleepwear. I notice the other members laying asleep on the floor by the couch I was sleeping in.

"Taeyeon..." They notice me awake and scramble up from their blankets and surround me.

"How do you feel?" Yoona holds my hand, her voice slightly frantic.

"I'm fine..." I blinked a few times. My confusion outweighing the dull pain I felt.

"Why am I here? The last thing I remember was..." Baekhyun. I was with him in the practice room.

"Baekhyun. He called us. Well, Jessica." Tiffany explains, looking over at the other girls. They nod along with what she is saying.

"We all showed up as soon as we could when he called us." Sooyoung softly smiled.

"He said he found you in the practice room..." Tiffany seemed unsure of what to say. "And you were crying. You suddenly fell unconscious on him. He was worried and called us." Why didn't he call Minjae?

"We decided to bring you here. Baekhyun stayed for a while after until he had to leave back to his dorm." He stayed for that long.

The air was filled with silence.

"Unnie..." Seohyun started, her voice wavered. "What happened?" The others all have looks of concern swirling in each pair of eyes. I look away first.

My throat dries up and I swallow my saliva to rid of the dryness but it won't go away. Too much has happened. I don't know where to start, what to say because even I'm lost.

I see someone hold my open left hand then another one hold my right. I slowly look up at them.

I let out a heavy breath. The tears that were gathering in my eyes begin to stream down. My sobs got caught in my throat.

I didn't want this. It's shameful. I married a man who hurts me. I don't know him.

"If you aren't ready you don't have to tell us anything." I look up at each one of them. They have on soft yet tired smiles and faint dark circles are forming under their eyes. They were worried about me.

"What are you thinking, Tae?"

"Can I...can I stay here with you guys?"

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Thanks for reading this update. The Love and The Hate has officially reached 1K views and over 100 votes! Thank you to everyone that has given this story a chance! It brings me great joy to my heart to know people read my stories and like what I'm creating so thank you guys to the moon and beyond for supporting this story and it's entire concept. This is project was about rising awareness about domestic violence and 1k feels that I've achieved that.

In reference to this chapter, this wasn't the direction I was going for but I'm going to make it come full circle. Why do you think Baekhyun didn't call Minjae first? Did he see something or hear anything? What do you make of the figments of conversation Taeyeon overheard in her sleep?

Have a good day or night my readers!

😘

-Jiselle🌸