?????? ???
??say my name and everything
just stops. i don't want you
like a best friend?
?? ????? they argue like it's a full-time job
and swear they're just friends but can't eve...
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❝ ─── chapter twenty nine FRAGMENTED ANSWERS. ❞
SELL SOMEONE DOWN A RIVER meant; to betray someone for personal gain; to sacrifice someone who trusted you.
There are things people say in anger that sting, and then there are things people say with cold calculation meant to belittle, to demean and to cut at the core of who you are. When Seongje called her a "good leverage," Ye Seul felt the latter.
The words weren't just cruel or transactional. Like her presence, her dignity or her existence because it all boiled down to usefulness in a deal between monsters.
And in that moment, Ye Seul realized just how far she'd fallen in someone else's game. She became a pawn and used as a bargaining chip.
A slow burn of betrayal spread through her chest, not the kind that made you scream but the kind that made you silent. The kind that made your lips press together and your eyes stay dry not because there were no tears left, but because even your pain refused to be witnessed by those who caused it.
So when Seongje left the warehouse with his usual carelessness, the air he left behind was thick with a new discomfort. Not the kind of discomfort that comes from awkwardness but the kind that blooms in the silence between people who once had memories and now only have ruins.
Ye Seul sat still. The only sound was her thumb rubbing anxiously against the pad of her index finger. She kept her head low, eyes fixed on her lap, the silence growing unbearable.
She felt Baek Jin's gaze before she saw it, his stare was heavy as if it carried the weight of a thousand unsaid things. She peeked, just once, and caught it. He was already staring. And in that fleeting moment, she hated that she was the one who flinched.
Hated that she cared. Hated that her chest still ached at the thought of who he used to be.
She cleared her throat quietly. Pride caught the words on her tongue. It always did, her pride would never let her apologize. Or ask or even explain. It was a wall that kept her dignity intact, even if her heart was bleeding behind it.
"Ye Seul-ah. . ." Baek Jin said her name in a low and cautious tone.
She hadn't heard him say it in years. It was too soft and too familiar. The syllables felt foreign in his mouth now, but they still echoed down the halls of their childhood. There was a time when that voice asked if she wanted grape-flavored milk or chocolate. When it trembled behind her and Hu Min, hiding from older bullies or when it laughed.
But not anymore.
Ye Seul slowly turned to him, and their eyes met but they weren't kids anymore. Now, they were just strangers with shared memories.
