Chapter Text
What were they thinking?! Rumi's head is swimming with thoughts and she is barely treading water to not completely spiral about what Mira and Zoey admitted to her. Her shoes thud on the ground as she runs down her usual park trail. She can't run away from the incoming spiral no matter how hard she tries.
She knows Zoey had a crush on Celine since she was a teen, she was there for the HR meeting of Celine scolding Zoey for sending raunchy drunk texts to her work phone, she had scolded Zoey for being inappropriate towards their mentor— her adoptive mother! And then for—they just—Zoey and Mira?! They went behind her back and fucked her foster eomma?! They fucked her mom! And took blackmail photos about it? What the everliving fuck is wrong with them to think any of that was even remotely a good idea?!
Well clearly they didn't think any of this through; if they did, they wouldn't have done any of that to begin with! They know better, they know better! Celine knows better! Gosh this all is an absolute HR and PR nightmare if any of this breaks containment. Celine is an expert at damage control but clearly she is not equipped to deal with the damage of her own proteges coming on to her.
She needs answers.
She needs more than answers.
The rage simmers tight in Rumi's chest as she finishes her usual run route. It's not enough. She can't return home as high-strung as this. So she runs more. Takes a new route.
Rumi must have ran a marathon length from the park and back to Huntrix tower, with how the air punches through her lungs and her calves ache from how much longer her run went than usual.
When Rumi gets back to the Huntrix Tower from her run, she doesn't go straight back to the penthouse. First she heads to the home gym and takes advantage of the shower in that floor's bathroom. To wash the sweat of exertion off. A cold shower, to clear her thoughts so that maybe she can work through this without throwing gasoline on the fire to make it worse.
Instead of heading back to the penthouse, she heads to Celine's office, knowing her schedule she must be at work that day. Luckily, her hunch was right and Celine is indeed in her office when she knocks. A soft voice warbles out come in from inside the office as Rumi turns the doorknob.
Rumi shoves her way through the door, jaw clenched as she looks around to find Celine sitting on the floor beside her liquor cabinet, liquor bottles strewn about her as she empties the cabinet of its contents. Her hands are clutched around an empty bottle of booze.
They saw the shadow of a figure in the night
Something unhuman fleeing from the scene of the crime
Those little flashes just wreak havoc on the mind
"Celine. Explain yourself."
Rumi's voice has an tri-tone edge to it as the rage she's been trying to run from all comes crashing back to the front of her mind. But the rage is not the only emotion that bubbles forth when she gazes down at Celine. She doesn't look well. Her hands are trembling. A cold sweat clings to her brow. Eyes glassy and unfocused, even as she gazes unblinkingly at the cityscape through the window. She looks… sickly.
When Celine finally turns to look up at Rumi with her tearful eyes, Rumi is struck by how frail she looks. She doesn't look like the strong stoic mentor she grew up knowing; she looks fragile, and undeniably human in her limitations. The way her clothes hang around her body so loosely, the way the muscles she had are now withered away around her bony arms. The way the bags under Celine's eyes look like bruises. The way her hair limply hangs around her face, un-styled and frazzled as it is. Celine always took great care in doing her hair, making sure it always fell around her face just so. Now it mostly hangs over her face like a curtain trying to hide something shameful behind it.
Rumi clears her throat to try again when Celine doesn't answer.
"Celine. Please tell me what happened. Is it true? Are you— did you really… sleep with Mira and Zoey? With my best friends? My band-mates?"
There's a long stretch of silence as Celine musters the wherewithal to answer. Her shoulders are tense, her jaw set, her eyes clouding with regret as her voice cracks from dehydration.
"I… I was, yes."
"Why?!"
Why. Why. Why. That's the only question ringing in Rumi's mind. She thinks of that night she ran from the live performance of Golden, the day her voice started having problems. The way she ran all the way back to Huntrix tower to sulk on the roof and ask why to an open sky that couldn't answer.
"It felt nice to be desired, at first, as strange as the circumstances were. That your fellow hunters would even deign to look me in the eye after how badly I failed you. That I could still be useful, be wanted."
Her voice cracks again on the last word, a choked up thing desperately trying to keep the dam from breaking, to keep her tears from falling. Throughout it all, her hands trembled around the empty liquor bottle. Did she just empty the bottle by drinking it herself? Or did she drink it earlier? Or did she pour it out? Rumi can't tell. Well she doesn't smell booze on her breath even from this distance, so it's possible she poured it out instead of drinking it. Then why is she trembling so much…?
The swallow that bobs down Celine's throat is audible as she fidgets with the liquor bottle. It was her favorite expensive bourbon brand. And now it was all gone. A wry, humorless grin pulls at her lips, as if even Celine is in disbelief of what happened.
"I thought it only fitting that the people I failed most punish me for my shortcomings. That I… deserved it, I guess. The way they treated me, touched me, had me… do things. I didn't ask for it, any of it. But I didn't tell them to stop. I didn't say no. I… I was foolish. I let it happen, let them take it out on me."
The rage simmering in Rumi's chest began to morph into something different. Panic. Confusion. Fear. This interaction wasn't going in the way she had expected at all. She had expected to come storming in to chew Celine out within an inch of her life for being with her best friends like that. but now… she feels pity for the haggard woman sitting on the floor in front of her. Pity, and dread, and fear.
Even as unsteady and frail as she looks, Celine manages to push herself to her feet and shuffle to her desk. She has boxes set out on her desk that she starts sorting through, files and folders and papers that she deliberately pulls out to peer at. Because looking Rumi in the eye after what happened… she can't bring herself to do it.
"Drinking again… was inappropriate of me, and so was letting them have their way with me. Wanting it, even, as they punished me for my indiscretions. I needed it as badly as I need to drink. It was proof that I could still be wanted and gave me a reason to stay alive."
Rumi shakes her head in disbelief of what she was hearing. What is Celine implying with all this?!
"You... what? No, stop, no. What do you mean a reason to stay alive? Celine, are you… are you suicidal?"
The last word croaks out as a whisper, laced with the weight the word inherently carries.
Fear. Fear rattled through her chest. She hadn't spoken to Celine in too long if she had missed this. She never wanted Celine to die. Celine couldn't die, Rumi still needed her. They were supposed to fix things when Rumi was ready.
Celine sags into her office chair as she sorts through a stack of papers atop her desk. Her lips press into a thin line, a subtle shake of her head as she skims through the words on the page held in her hands. "I can't do it anymore. I can't... I've become a monster to let it get this far. I'm so sorry, Rumi."
Celine flinches and shrinks down in her chair as Rumi hesitantly steps around the desk to stand beside her and reaches out to clutch her shoulder.
"Celine. Please, whatever you're thinking about doing right now, don't do this. We can fix things. It hurts to see you like this—"
"I'm going to step down from Sunlight Entertainment. Leave South Korea entirely. Everything will be in your name and my staff can help you learn anything you want while the interim CEO keeps things steady."
The images of Celine, naked and vulnerable and crying flashed through Rumi's mind. The things written on her skin in the blackmail photo she saw. The things Zoey and Mira must have been telling Celine to make her feel like she was the monster. Bitterness and bile rose in her throat.
"Don't." Rumi pressed closer and her heart broke from how Celine trembled in her grip. Bowed her head as if she expected to be struck. Rumi reached down to grip the chair and swivel it towards her, so she could look Celine in the eye and press her palms on Celine's forearms. Her skin is clammy and cold and trembling at the touch.
Even with the cocktail of horrible emotions and images swirling in her mind, Rumi forced a reassuring smile onto her face.
"You told me we could still fix things at the tree that night."
Her thumbs brushed against the soft fabric of Celine's sleeves in as soothing a way she could manage. She needed to keep her rage locked up tight for now or she would scare Celine further. "I'm going to fix this. Please let me fix this, Celine. I want you here. I've got this."
Celine's breath stuttered as she tried in vain to swallow down a sob, and tears slid down her cheeks. She was so quiet as she cried. Subdued, trembling in pitiful effort to hold back the despair that fills her.
How long, Rumi's thoughts gnawed anxiously at her mind, how long had Celine cried because of this? That couldn't be allowed. She is the closest thing she has to a mother. Zoey and Mira couldn't chase her away because they had some weird misconception about any tensions Rumi had in her relationship with her.
Celine's labored breaths turned ragged as she inhaled too fast, and dread filled Rumi's stomach as she watched her edge closer to an anxiety attack.
"Hey, hey, breathe with me, okay? I'm not here to hurt you. I won't let them hurt you again."
She slid her palms up Celine's sleeves to caress her shoulders, cautious and afraid that a hug might distress her further.
"You're okay. You're not being punished. I love you."
A devastating look flashed across Celine's face as Rumi said that. So she kept murmuring it. That she loved her. That she's okay.
She loved Celine. She would remind her as much as she needed to after all of this. As Celine's breathing began to even out, she eased into Rumi's hold, and let herself be pulled into a hug. The tension was still etched into her shoulders, but it lessened just enough. Rumi hugged her tightly, afraid of what would happen if she let go. Afraid she might disappear.
Is that how Celine felt, that night at the tree? Seeing Rumi disappear in front of her eyes while her entire world unraveled around her… that must have been worse than even her worst nightmares. She hadn't found out Rumi was alive until the next morning when news got out about the incident at Namsan Tower. Did Celine assume before the news broke… that she had gone to kill herself? Is that why Celine feels low enough to consider doing that to herself, now of all times? Seeing her with that dead eyed stare, the ghostly resignation. It haunted Rumi.
The rage simmering in Rumi's chest morphed into a strange sympathy. It was drive to fix things, to write the wrongs done to her and by her. This all feels like her fault. She should have paid better attention. She should have communicated better with her friends. They should have communicated better with her. No more lies, they agreed to that, they promised!
Seems they all have their fair share of broken promises to make up for.
They got the search party looking for the ghost of the child
But what if he grew up? He never died
In these old haunts, you get the eerie little feeling
Like you're under dead eyes, yeah
Despite Celine's protests, Rumi insisted she take the rest of the day off, and ushered her back to her apartment to sort things out. She called Bobby as they left Celine's office, told him something came up with Celine, and that she's taking care of it. Taking care of what? She didn't specify.
It's time for an intervention.