Chap 74 : The Velvet Noose (Pt 1) Where it all Began.
Yuna had never been so humiliated.
So humiliated that she wanted to burn the whole world to ashes and dance on its remains. The sting of her father's hand on her cheek was still fresh, still burning, still echoing in her ears like a thunderclap that refused to fade. In front of everyone. In front of that strange girl with her mismatched socks and her annoying confidence. In front of her parents who looked at her with pity—pity, as if she was something broken they didn't know what to do with.
She would make them all pay.
Yuna reached into her bag, her fingers brushing past the usual clutter—expired lip gloss, crumpled receipts, a half-empty bottle of water—until she found it.
The wrapper. The size of a candy.
It had been sitting in her bag for weeks now, burning bright and beautiful. Something she had never seen before. It was wrapped in pearlescent paper that shimmered with colours no ordinary foil should possess. Whenever the streetlight caught it, the colours shifted—not rainbow colours, but shades she couldn't quite name. Shades that made her eyes hurt if she looked too long. The ribbon holding it closed looked like silver thread, impossibly fine, almost as if it had been woven from moonlight itself.
She remembered the man who gave it to her. The man her mother had brought her to meet. He had pressed it into her palm with long, pale fingers and said, "Only if needed, little one. Only if you truly wish it."
She had not understood what he meant then.
She understood now.
It was a night Yuna would never forget.
Yuna had quarreled with her father sometime back. For he had missed her birthday party. Again. She always thought he would remember—she always hoped, foolishly—and yet he never did. It was always the ever-changing nannies who celebrated with her, their faces blurring together like watercolours in the rain.
Her mother? Well, she just splashed cash at the nannies and out she went to who knows where. But she always said the right things, delivered in that sweet, convincing voice Yuna thought was love. Her mother's smile never quite reached her eyes, but Yuna had learned not to notice that. "Go take it and go out and get something. My treat." She would press money into her hands, her smile bright and empty, and Yuna would pretend that was enough.
Her father, however, would grunt and lose his temper when her results came out. "This is not enough," he would say, pushing the paper back at her like it was something distasteful. "You can do better. You should do better. You will do better."
Nothing she did was ever enough.
She tried everything. She studied until her eyes burned. She took extra classes. She joined every club that might impress him. She brought home certificates and awards and achievements that would have made any other parent weep with pride.
Her father would look at them, grunt, and say, "Is that all?"
And she would feel smaller.
Smaller and smaller until she felt like she didn't exist at all.
She craved his validation the way a starving creature craves food. She needed him to see her. To acknowledge her. To tell her, just once, that she was enough.
But he never did.
And she grew tired of being invisible.
Not until one day.
Yuna was in the library, hiding in a corner with a book she wasn't reading, when she bumped into him.
Jaehyun.
They were in their first year. He was tall, with kind eyes and a smile that made the world feel less cold. When Yuna saw him, it was like the light of the world was brighter. He smiled and asked whether she was alright. He was kind—genuinely kind—and said hello whenever she walked past him. Not the forced politeness of someone who wanted something. Just... kindness.
There was one time he even said she looked nice. She was wearing an anklet jewellery she had just gotten from Tiffany's—a delicate chain with a tiny charm that caught the light. It was the total opposite of her father that morning, who had looked at her with disgust and told her she looked like a prostitute wearing that.
Jaehyun had smiled and said, "That's pretty. It suits you."
Yuna decided then that she would get into Jaehyun's heart.
From that moment, she made sure she would be everything he wanted. She laughed at his jokes—even the ones that weren't funny. She said things at the right time, always agreeing, always supporting. She asked him out whenever she saw the opportunity, making sure she was always there, always present, always the one he would think of.
She had the whole future planned out. After university, they would get an apartment together. He would work, and she would be home every day, cooking and looking after their children. It would be so picture-perfect—a life away from that cold, loveless house. She would build her own family, her own love, her own happiness.
And then that girl with the loudest laugh and the stupidly loud voice had to come between them.
Sera.
Yuna tried everything to get her off Jaehyun. Intimidation. Threats. Pulling her aside when they were alone, with her friends gathered around, and slapping her across the face. Making her feel small and worthless and utterly useless.
It stopped for a while.
But then that day came.
Yuna was looking for Jaehyun, hoping he would come hang out with her so she wouldn't have to endure another dinner with her parents. And that's when she saw him.
Talking to Sera at the school gate.
When did she come back? Yuna thought. The whole jump on her in the dark room was perfect. She would have stayed away like she used to.
And to her shock, Jaehyun actually smiled at her.
A real smile. The kind of smile he had never shown Yuna.
"Well, what are you looking at?"
A voice came beside her. Yuna turned to find a tall boy with a face that didn't give a damn about anyone's judgment. His name was Minjae.
"Nothing," Yuna said hurriedly.
Minjae looked at her with that infuriating expression people wore when they thought they were morally superior. Except... it wasn't quite that. It was something else. Something Yuna couldn't quite name.
"I know what happened to Sera," he said quietly. "I know what you've been doing."
Yuna stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm not here to argue." He paused. "I'm just telling you this because someone should."
Another pause. His eyes were flat, unreadable.
"Keep going if you want. Just don't say nobody warned you."
Then he walked away.
No lecture. No hero speech. No threats.
Just a warning.
Yuna watched him go, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She didn't reply. She stormed past him, but in her heart, she kept repeating the same words over and over.
You will regret this, Sera Lee.
You will regret ever coming between me and Jaehyun.
I will make you pay.