a friend...

...looked around for Precious and when she couldn't find her assumed she must have gone back to bed and decided not to worry her one bit.

_

The house was quiet, all too quiet. Tale looked up from the system she was so fixated on for the past....Five hours?!! She couldn't believe she could go that long without her glasses and not feel pain.

She was reading about Chinese culture, and more about the best places to visit at this time of the year.

But that wasn't the point. The house was awfully quiet and her thoughts went to Precious and what she might be doing. She now felt a lot of guilt for leaving her to herself even if Precious had requested it.

Tale rubbed her head and stood up to go look for her best friend when the ringing sound came through. It was a video call, coming through Su Yan's computer...

"What do I do, what do I do?" She asked herself while fidgeting a bit.

She decided it wasn't a big deal and could just leave it to run its course and everyone will be happy. Like it heard her pleas, the ringing stopped but started up again as quickly as it had stopped.

Tale took a deep breathe and answered.

"Hello," Tale greeted.

The face that greeted her was a spitting image of Su Yan, Tale knew immediately that it was his twin sister.

Same cold eyes, same bone structure, she wore her hair in a layered bob cut flattering her face even more. She was beautiful Tale acknowledged.

"Who are you and where is my brother?" Ziyi asked not smiling or happy to see Tale.

"He went out, to work," Tale answered in a soft tone.

"And who are you?" the question came with a lot of irritation riding on it.

"A friend," Tale answered without blinking. She didn't think she could say the truth right now, she was going to leave that to Su Yan to handle. "I'm a friend that is borrowing his computer for a project I'm working on," she lied.

"My brother don't have friends," Ziyi looked annoyed.

"He don't, I do agree with you on that." Tale replied, she agreed well on that. "But here I am," she opened her hands to give her words more life. It didn't seem to work as Ziyi looked unimpressed and cold.

"Tell him I called and have him call me back," Ziyi said finally and with that she was gone.

Tale decided there while staring at the computer screen that she liked Angel better. But she didn't have the time to ponder on which sister was her favorite, she needed to find her best friend and ensure she was safe.

Tale panicked when she didn't get any response moments later. She ran upstairs to find it empty and came back down with a good amount of wild thoughts running through her mind. Hoping Precious hadn't gone ahead to do something stupid.

She walked to the kitchen finally and that's where she found her. Sleeping quietly close to an empty bottle of wine and one that was on its way to be forgotten.

"You scared me, Precious!" Tale shook her to be sure she was responsive.

"Precious?" Tale sat on the cold tiled floor thinking of ways to make the situation better.

"I think you should leave me alone" Precious warned drunk out of her mind.

"That is exactly what I plan to do but not like this," Tale tried her best to pull her up to a sitting position.

"I need you to pull your weight so we can climb up the stairs together."

Tale got little to no response. This wasn't going to be easy so she changed the plan and decided to use Woo Jin's room instead. All her friend needed was a really cold bath to wake her up, the rest would sort itself out after.

When she had successfully dragged Precious to the bathroom in Woo Jin's room, she rushed upstairs to bring fresh clothes and a clean towel along with a toothbrush.

Precious wasn't a drinker, she wasn't a fan of it. Seeing her this way broke Tales heart. With the school bringing up the case, Precious was going to be forced to relive it all again and Tale had no clue on how she could make it all go away.

"What are you trying to pull," Precious asked when Tale tried to take her clothes off. Because she was drunk and tired, she couldn't fight Tale off making it easy.

"Why don't you relax and find out." Tale managed to get her out of the dress she wore that now reeked of alcohol.

"I'm gonna throw up." Precious announced running to the sink to do so.

"Well, we are getting somewhere for sure." Tale said patting her back in a bid to deliver comfort. "Time for a bath," She announced.

Precious nodded, she was more awake now and didn't like the state she was in. She didn't like that she felt so defeated and angry with everything and everyone. So much pain and loss had already been delivered, she just wanted to move on. Her soul longed for it to all be over completely.

She climbed into the tub obediently while Tale filled it with cold water.

"It's cold."

"It's what you need, it will help I promise."

Tale tucked Precious into Woo Jin's bed after making a small bowl of oatmeal for her to keep her tummy warm a little before dinner. She laid at the foot of the bed to keep watch and soon dozed off. She needed rest and hadn't done that at all that day.

Su Yan and Woo Jin came home a few moments later. Su Yan was tired but still had a lot of energy to do a few paper work that evening. Woo Jin looked upset. He was hungry. Food was on its way from the restaurant but that didn't make him any happier.

Woo Jin dashed into his room without knocking and stopped in his tracks when he saw Precious sleeping and Tale doing same at the foot of the bed.

Certainly there was an explanation for this, and he couldn't wait to hear it...