A/N: Don't forget to read the chapter before this. I posted two at the same time.
Chapter 49: The Wounded Bird: Pt. 2
The rain fell harder. Hye Rim's eyes kept drifting from her canvas to the dark window. Woo Bin had come home with some blood on him, and when she had asked what had happened, he had told her about Ji Hoo's fight with Sun Hi's ex-boyfriend. First, Hye Rim had been impressed. She had never in a million years imagined Ji Hoo to throw a punch hard enough to shed someone's blood. Then, she felt worried. Sun Hi seemed so fragile, and there was no doubt she and Ji Hoo would get into an argument. Things would certainly be tense at home for the next couple of days.
Hye Rim was feeling slightly tense as well. Events for her engagement and wedding were approaching, and Woo Bin's mother was so flighty that the colors, venue, and decorations were always changing. At one point, everyone was going to be in pastel pink, which she hated. Woo Bin's family still did not really know her or had attempted to get to know her to know her taste, but she was happy that this home was at least created for her. She was also happy how freely she and he were allowed to spend time in their house, getting familiar with it and truly making it their own.
A shirtless Woo Bin approached her from behind and kissed her bare shoulder. She was only wrapped up in a blanket. "What are you painting?"
Hye Rim grinned and turned her attention back to the canvas. "Something that can go in Jan Di Unnie and Jun Pyo-sshi's nursery for the baby." Those colors and themes she could choose.
"You have babies on your mind already?" he whispered coyly in her ear. "We made love an hour ago. Want to again?"
"Yah!" she laughed. "I'm really trying to paint, Oppa. Twice a week until the wedding, remember?"
Woo Bin groaned. She reminded him that it had been his rule. Instead, he stayed to watch her paint.
The doorbell rang after she placed her first stroke of paint. She and Woo Bin panicked and ran into the master bedroom to dress quickly, both assuming that it would be one of her in-laws. When she arrived downstairs, the maid was staring at the intercom, looking confused. It wasn't someone she recognized.
When Hye Rim saw who it was, she flung open the door.
Lee Sun Hi stood there, drenched. She was shivering and looked ready to collapse. Hye Rim called for the maid, who rushed to the door and brought Sun Hi in safely. Sun Hi began to sob, gasping for air.
"Oppa!" Hye Rim called as the maid helped Sun Hi into the closest chair.
"Go get her a towel!" Hye Rim snapped and called for Woo Bin again. The maid scurried off to get what she asked for.
Woo Bin came down the stairs quickly. When he saw Hye Rim hunched over Sun Hi, he looked thoroughly confused. "What's going on? Sun Hi ah, why are you here?"
Sun Hi looked up into Hye Rim's eyes. Hye Rim had always thought the girl weak and fragile, but the way she looked now, Hye Rim filled with rage. There was only one person who could destroy her like this. "Did Ji Hoo sshi do this to you?"
At the mention of Ji Hoo's name, Sun Hi burst into tears. The maid brought the towel and threw it around her. She waited for the next line of directions.
"Did Ji Hoo ask you to leave?" asked Woo Bin, who was now hovering over her too.
Sun Hi nodded and more tears poured. "I walked here."
Hye Rim turned to the maid. "Get the guest bedroom ready. We need to get her out of these clothes and into a hot shower, and I want you to fix her some soup immediately." The maid lifted Sun Hi to her feet and led her up the stairs without a word. Hye Rim followed, overseeing that her friend was taken care of.
When she came back downstairs, Woo Bin emerged from the kitchen.
"I called Ji Hoo. He won't answer," Woo Bin told her.
"Then drive to his house," Hye Rim demanded.
"Hye Rim-ie, Ji Hoo likes to be alone when he's going through something. If I went over there, he wouldn't let me in. We'll wait until tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is not soon enough. Did you see her? This is how your friends do things?" Hye Rim snapped at him.
"You weren't there," Woo Bin tensed. "It looked suspicious. Maybe she confessed to Ji Hoo about what she was doing and this is the result."
"That girl loves him. She wouldn't do anything like that. How dare he throw her away?"
"She shouldn't have been with that person. I have to support Ji Hoo."
"Sun Hi is my first real friend. That means I have to support her side. Ji Hoo will be fine, but she may not be," she told him, almost feeling like sobbing herself.
"She'll probably just go back to the country. If the relationship is over, that should be her plan eventually, right?"
Woo Bin was not taking this seriously enough. Weren't they all supposed to be this big friendship group who protected on another? How could one person be forgotten so quickly?
"Oppa, she has a history of trying to kill herself," Hye Rim explained.
Woo Bin looked surprised. "How would you know something like that?"
"You've never noticed the scars on her wrists? And how they leave out the reason she was in the hospital when they tell how they met?" Hye Rim pointed out. "She was there for attempted suicide, Oppa. We'll have to watch her and make sure she doesn't try again. Or that blood will be on your dear Ji Hoo's hands."
Woo Bin said nothing. She knew that he wanted to tell her to stay out of their issue, but now that he had more information, he understood that it had become their issue too. When he asked the maid to remain by Sun Hi's bedside, Hye Rim told him she'd do it herself. If he wanted to protect his friends, she would protect hers, especially one that might not be strong enough to sustain such a wound. One deeply cut into her heart.
A/N: I don't know where I was getting 7 chapters from, but at this point in time, there are "3 more chapters" left to this story. Sorry if it seems rushed.
There are a lot of things I'd like to say to you all, but the story getting finished is what's important. So since I only have a few chapters left, please look forward to the story ending within these next two or three weeks. Thank you for sticking with the story for so long. Literally years. Thank you so much.
