ii - yuri doesn't eat dinner twice
word count: 2184
tw, violence, some blood

The first encounter with Jihoon was when Yuri caught the flu. At the time, it was one of his first weeks there — etching their timeline several months old; he wasn't afraid of his job at the time, but he was tense, the kind that someone gets when they're waiting for news. He had only gone in to offer her some pillows, as he had been instructed to do, as well as offer other amenities, but of course, Yuri did a lot more than simply reply a yes or no. In fact, she changed the course of his entire day. To say she changed his life was premature, but he thinks of her. He thinks of her.

"So, you're finally home? I made dinner — we ate it all by the way. Your grandparents came, asked for you, and I had to break their hearts and lie to compensate for you. And this is what you have to make up for it?" Mother Soobin concluded her mudslinging with a tight clutch of her hands to her hips. Her emphasis referred to a mean point to Yuri's heavily bandaged nose, reddening gauze contrasting against the purple of her flesh. She had simply walked through the door and switched her sneakers to her slippers.

"Mom, don't you even want to ask if I'm okay?" Yuri suggested.

Soobin sighed, collapsing on the sofa of the living room, and left Park Seo Joon paused on the screen.

"Of course, I do, but my feelings mean nothing to you! This is why it's easier to talk to Chaeyoung. No one can talk to you. It's like trying to speak with a rabid dog." Her mom droned, allowing her final sentence to be Yuri's cue to her room.

Enough of that nonsense.

Taking the hallway to her room, Yuri passed by the only rooms the small duplex offered, since the house was built like a giant chocolate bar, her parents', the laundry room, then one final door before hers: the gate to Hell: otherwise, in this household, known as Cho Chaeyoung.

Just a notch above the wannabe's and people who are afraid of change was her sister.  Chaeyoung was the worst for plenty of reasons.

"Oppa, I'm so glad you're back from work! We can FaceTime each other in the kitchen now, since I'm sure my troll sister is in her room now. It'll just be the two of us," Chaeyoung's exaggerated cutesy voice bled through and even followed into her own room. "No, you are! You are!"

Shutting the door, Yuri all but collapsed into her unmade bed and thrashed around to kick her flimsy slippers off before curling up on the duvet.

The walls were thin, paper thin. The doors even held an inconvenient gap between the bottom and the hardwood floor.

Yuri had lots to study for; weekly exams on chapters that her courses were studying, as well other assignments to do to build her grades, but as easy as it was to go down to the library to study, since she didn't have a computer but Chaeyoung of course had one, it was something that was nearly impossible. That was how the past few weeks have been. She didn't care, bringing home this point by distracting herself constantly to mask the truth that she really did.

As her younger sister's cloying remarks to her boyfriend over the phone continued to go on and on, Yuri thought of calling the nurse from Yongsang, but she scolded herself: she had better things to think about besides the worst species, men.

She presumed that Bora and Jojo were lost within the night, as they always were whenever Yuri wasn't in the picture.

The night died away — Jihoon long forgotten since she had impulsively tossed her phone to the wall, leaving it somewhere underneath her bed — and Yuri did whatever it would take to make the time pass by. She did anything but try and do her homework.

Of course, the weight of all the assignments she had to do was gnawing at her every fiber, manifesting in the nonstop shakiness of her hands. She couldn't stop moving her feet. A part of this was because Yuri also felt the ghost of playing soccer always play with her. As an aggressive attacking midfielder, she played for about six years, but things took a turn when her great "enthusiasm" led her to her first fist fight with an opponent. She was suspended from school and kicked off the team.

As a child, Yuri was kind, most of the time, but she played dirty, dirty in the way that it was impossible to even count anything against her actions.

She had to move on.

. . .

unknown

hey is this the nurse

Hello and I would give an answer
but it depends on who is asking

it's yuri but im going to guess
that you don't know my name
but u gave me ur number

Oh hi Yuri :)

hey

jihoon right? what did u say
u were ? some trpe of murse

Registered Nurse

so like a nurse

hoonurse

Well it's a little complicated but all you
need to know is that when you go to the
doctor I can be just as helpful as them

woah ok guy just call yourself doctor then

Oh I could never. I sound too cocky.

no you dont just relax i was kidding
if i were as smart as u are id brag about it

If I were as cool as you I'd brag about it too

COOL? Yoooooo 😭

Yes, you would be the main
character of a movie!

probably a horror one because why not

Sorry if my messages aren't as articulate
as they should be. I clocked out just
a while ago and now I'm waiting
for a cab

you dont have your license?? lmfao

But I was also wondering if you
would like to meet me for
coffee or something.

No I do not 😁😅 It's
embarrassing, I know.

no i mean i dont have mine either
so if the apocalypse were to come
and cats would still have oil we
would walk everywhere

CARS WTF

you want to see me????

I'm near the area and still
have a while before my apartment
is safe enough for me to return

yo wtf ru being chased or something
danger??? is this like a mafia thing?

Oh no! I should've worded it better.
The apartments are being fumigated
currently. My roommate sent
me a message a while ago.

oh,,,, dont u have any other friends?
or like a clique of hospital friends
or ur actual roommate
i mean im just ur patient ..........

I supposed I could ask them.
I'm sorry if I came off too
strong. I shouldn't have asked.
I know a few were busy but
forgive me if I troubled you.

woah buddy relax i'll go
i do not want to be home

I'll send you the location
of the café then.

cool B) let's see who gets
there the fastest. winner has to buy.

Wouldn't it......be loser?

Are you already on your way?

Let the race begin then.

. . .

Yuri was not clumsy. Reckless, yes. But considering her expertise with her skateboard, with the extra maneuvering to not hit anybody, taking into account the various cafe-goers who don't seem to have a considerate bone in their body, there was no way she should've collided with Jihoon. Stupid nurse.

Even inside the café, she was still grumbling about it. She had tackled him, apologized, but his constant movements over the areas she assumed that had made the nastiest of the fall made her guilt turn her appetite belly up.

"Does it hurt that badly?" She piped up, frown darkening the rest of her ruddy features. Jihoon took notice of the childlike eyes, ones that were incredibly similar to his roommate, Soonyoung. Her hair also barely made it past her chin in waves that bordered unruly considering the way it was cut: a chocolate thin mop of partial waves. The swelling in her nose had gone down and the blue bruising was lifting little by little, which left her skin with a mottled appearance. He knew his roommate, Soonyoung, would gag if he could see it.

His small smile pressed a little deeper into his face with the more he took notice of her fretting yet vexed body language. He wasn't the most observant guy, despite his job relying on observations; he was just a little oblivious.

The evening proceeded with banter — one sided banter since Jihoon often had his words jumbled up and chaotically shuffled together to conjure up a quick, charming response. Yuri was all too focused on trying to finish the tiramisu, at least showing her preference to eating over the conversations that Jihoon sheepishly offered and could barely maintain. He learned a few things about her in the meantime; how could he not be entertained when she multitasked like a boss? Cutting her tiramisu, keeping the conversation flowing, and while also keeping her eye on a certain table in a corner that only she faced.

"You said you have one sister, right?" This earned a slowed but tired eyeroll but when he looked down, her pink mouth curled into a smile just as quickly as she had rolled her eyes with a nod. "Is that the reason you don't want to go home?" Jihoon set his empty can on the surface, after downing his second coke for the night.

"No. I mean, she is the spawn of Satan, but I don't like being home. Maybe it's the way I feel about it. It's not like I have ten thousand friends that keep me from wanting to go. I just would rather be somewhere else," Yuri took her time with assembling her words, considering the way she drawled them out quietly, which wasn't characteristic of her.

"Besides, I'd rather not be listening to my sister talking to her boyfriend all day and night, calling him 'baby' and hold on — "

Jihoon heard the table shake first and a dull crack followed by a crash before he had realized that Yuri had suddenly rose from her seat to strike a man in the face. He had to be in his thirties, taking in the wrinkles and facial hair.

The man curled up, groaning but seemed fine as he clutched onto his nose.

"Fucking bitch... As for you, aren't you going to put your girl in her place?" It took a few breaths for Jihoon to realize that he was speaking to him, turbulent eyes boring into his. Sanguine peaked out from between his fingers.

Yuri simply scoffed, popping her knuckles with a twist, and was ready to continue with the dinner until someone else joined, an unwanted guest, just as this man.

The young nurse blinked and suddenly, he watched in horror dangle by her miniature mop of hair from the fist of presumably a man of the same cohort or ideal that the first man did — all within a few seconds. Ice cold ran through Jihoon's veins, seeing that her feet hung above the floor by almost two feet.

Startled gasps sounded incoherently throughout the café. For someone who rarely showed any sign of pain, a flash of fear touched her aloof features and that was when Jihoon knew he truly had to act now.

"Alright, that's enough!" His nasal voice shook, dropping th weight of his worries on his face — all to look tougher. Anything for the well-being of his patient.

No one moved. The men around them, with pure intentions to hurt, smirked at this, but it vanished as Yuri somehow found the strength to speak.

"I mean, I'm done. Sure, if you little boys aren't done, playing with your food, I'd rather this be over. B...but you know what's not enough? Clearly your upbringing because harassing a girl and failing at trying to silence a witness is disgusting and small. You're all talk to make up for the lack of the man that you are." She almost had them: with their appalled expressions hinting that she was right, but it didn't last long. As the fist in her hair lifted her even higher and the man's other hand connected with her throat, veins expanding to the intensity of the grip, her eyes growing and growing, flesh crimsoning, Jihoon was ready to throw himself, without thinking, until the flash of red and blue lights swam across the walls.

The police arrived, but instead of just the men running, it was also Yuri who took off, as well.

Of course, Jihoon hadn't even thought of that since he had moved to checking on the one who had been getting harassed by the men, but she seemed better. It made the nurse tremble with anger quietly to see that she was just about fifteen or sixteen.

"She's my hero..." The brunette adolescent shyly declared above the minor crowd around her. Jihoon followed her gaze to see Yuri peddling fast on her skateboard, down the street and into the night.

Yeah, Jihoon thought to himself, she's mine, too.