CHAPTER 13: IN THE BEAST'S NEST

Waking up was very hard the next morning. I hadn’t gotten any sleep before 2am and when the alarm clock went off at 6.30am I felt horrible. The sunlight wasn’t even there for me to see when I opened the curtains of my window. It wasn’t dark anymore, but the sky was covered by dark clouds. Apparently I needed to take my umbrella with me today. That just added to the gloomy mood of this day. I’d go to Bin’s house. I kind of hoped his father would not be at home because I wasn’t completely trusting myself; what if I’d let it show somehow that I knew about his doings and give him a reason to be suspicious. I sighed. And on top of that, I was sure I had upset Minhyuk yesterday on the phone by ditching him completely. I needed to talk to him but now the thought of that just made me feel troubled. I had never seen him upset or angry, I didn’t know if he forgave people easily or if he was long angry. I really needed to think about this apology.

After a quick shower and breakfast, I was standing at the room of my door, dressed up in my school uniform and a loose jacket over it, ready to leave for school. Eunwoo had decided to return to school now, after making sure aunt wouldn’t leave the house or open the door to strangers or any people from work.

As we walked out of the house and hopped on the bus I could see the nervousness and worry on his face. He hadn’t let aunt alone for more than 15 minutes since he had found out about her situation. I patted his shoulder.

“Eunwoo, she’ll be fine”, I said quietly. “She’s safe home.”

My cousin nodded slowly, and tried to flash me a small smile, but the worry was still visible in his eyes. I hoped he’d be able to at least concentrate on lessons – he had been improving his grades so much lately it would be a shame if he suddenly went back down. I almost snorted when I thought about my own grades. I really didn’t afford my grades to get any lower if I wanted to make it into any university. I sighed. After this fiasco was over I’d study like crazy.

The first lesson was just a big mess. Bin wasn’t there and I was almost sure he had forgotten about our plan to go to his house today. Eunwoo clearly couldn’t concentrate as he just stared at his notebook with a blank expression. Youngmi was sleeping because her skating practice had ended at 2am and she had only slept for a couple of hours. Mikyung was clearly pissed off at me, she had probably seen Bin drag me by my wrist the other day, but after the slap I gave her she didn’t seem to be able to actually say anything. And I… I couldn’t get my mind off Minhyuk. I had seen him on the way to the classroom – he had just passed me without greeting me in any way. He had just ignored me. That was something he never did. Never. Even if he felt sad or down in any way, he’d flash a smile and say hello. But not today.

After the long torturing lesson, I just wanted to rush out of the classroom to catch some fresh air, otherwise my head would probably explode. I walked down the hallway and stepped out of the building to the chilly morning air. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The air was never exactly fresh and clear in Seoul, but on rainy days it was at its best.

I opened my eyes and glanced around the yard.

“Are you looking for me?” I heard a familiar voice ask. I sighed and turned around to see Minhyuk. He stood behind me, leaning against the doorframe, looking more serious than normally.

“Not exactly”, I replied. “But I do need to talk to you.”

He snorted and looked down at his shoes. “Talk away.”

“Please don’t be mad at me”, I said carefully, stepping closer to him.

He raised his eyes to me, looking apathetic. “I’m not mad.”

“Stop acting cool”, I sighed. “That doesn’t suit you.”

I caught a quick, embarrassed expression on his face as he coughed a bit and fixed his tie.

“Minhyuk, I’m really sorry”, I said. “I didn’t sound so mean on purpose. Could you please forgive me?”

For a short moment that actually felt hours long, he was silent. Then he looked at me again, this time with a smile on his lips. “I just can’t bare this! How can people be angry at someone for a long time? Even this felt so painfully awkward and embarrassing I thought I’d die!”

I let out a relieved sigh and laughed together with him. “You scared me! I thought you really hated me!”

“How could I hate you?” he asked, still laughing. “But I did feel a bit wronged. Is something I should know of going on?”

My smile withered a little bit. “I really want to tell you everything but I’m not sure if I can. I’ll just say there’s something going on at home. I promise I’ll tell you everything later on.”

After staring into my eyes for a short moment, Minhyuk nodded slowly. “I’ll accept that explanation for now. But are you alright? Taking into consideration you needed my dad’s number… there’s police included?”

I nodded a bit hesitantly. “Yes. But I’m alright, and I will be alright.”

He seemed to accept my explanation and smiled at me. I sighed. I had been super worried for nothing. I had thought he was very angry and I’d need to calm him down with a lot of effort. I felt relieved but also a bit annoyed.

“You little rascal”, I murmured. “You didn’t even greet me in the morning.”

Minhyuk’s expression changed from amused to playful and he smiled at me. “I’m sorry, I have wronged you greatly. Will you accept my apology?”

I snorted and rushed towards him, messing his hair and playfully hitting his chest. He let out a surprised yelp that got mixed with laugh and he tried to pay me back by tickling. As my hands were messing his hair and he was concentrated in tickling my sides our actions naturally led to a hug. I heard him chuckle and as we were close to each other, I couldn’t stop myself from tickling him a little bit to end the playful spar. I patted his back as we were hugging.

“So everything is alright now, right? We’re even?” I made sure one last time while backing away from the hug.

Minhyuk sighed. “Yes, you can relax now.”

I shook my head. “I think the lessons start soon. I think you should be on your way.”

He glanced at the clock and nodded. “You’re right! See you later!”

I looked after him as he rushed back in and disappeared into the hallway. I stretched my arms and took one last breath of the air before following him and going back in. I got back to the classroom and prepared my mind to the next lesson – mathematics really wasn’t my strength. At least I could concentrate now as I got one problem off my mind.

This lesson passed a lot faster and soon it was time for lunch. As me, Eunwoo, Youngmi and Minhyuk headed to the cafeteria, Sanha appeared from somewhere and almost unnoticeably joined us in the line. I didn’t notice him standing behind me until I decided to look around in the cafeteria to see if our table was free. And then my eyes stopped at a familiar figure standing on the cafeteria’s doors. Bin had finally decided to appear. I felt almost relieved since now it was sure he hadn’t forgotten. But more than relieved, I felt flustered as the butterflies in my stomach decided to remind me of yesterday evening in the alley. I looked away quickly, shaking my head. I didn’t want to get distracted.

Today’s lunch break was more silent than usually, at least for us. I just concentrated on eating, Eunwoo seemed so worried he couldn’t speak a word, and even Youngmi was silent because she was so tired. The only ones who were speaking were Sanha and Minhyuk. Apparently they had started to get along quite well.

After eating and getting rid of the food trays, we headed out of the cafeteria. I was just about to follow my friends outside as I felt someone grab my wrist gently. I got surprised and with enlarged eyes turned around just to see Bin. I blinked and glanced after my friends, who didn’t seem to notice me staying behind. I turned to look at Bin again.

“Follow me”, he said with a soft voice and led me under the same staircase we were earlier too.

He let go of my wrist and kept looking at me with his intense eyes. I tilted my head a little bit. Did he have something to say?

“I just wanted to see you”, he said, like he was reading my mind.

I couldn’t stop myself from looking down at my shoes. What was up with these kind of soft words?

“Are you nervous to come to our house?” he asked.

“Not really”, I lied.

“I thought so too”, he said, suddenly with a lower voice. I looked up into his eyes and almost could hear a voice in my head say ‘here we go again’. Before I could even react, he had stepped closer to me and leaned down, not exactly pinning me against the wall, but my natural reflex was to back away until my back was pressing against the wall and as the butterflies started storming around in my stomach again, I could just curse in my head. There was no mind in this. Bin must’ve known how he made me feel with these kind of actions. He gave me his intense stare again, but this time I didn’t turn away. I stared back, not blinking an eye.

“You must feel very comfortable about this whole situation”, he said, smirking at me. “But remember that not all guys are trustworthy… Be careful of who you go around hugging.”

I almost snorted. So he had seen me and Minhyuk hugging earlier. What was this… was he jealous? I felt a small smile linger on my lips. “Minhyuk is my friend. He is definitely trustworthy. I can hug him.”

“But you can’t hug me?” he asked, still with the smirk on his face.

“It’s not like I have something against that – “, I started, trying to get something snarky out of my mouth, but before I could even finish my sentence, he grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the wall, closer to him, into a tight hug. I felt breathless as our bodies pressed together and his arms wrapped around me. My eyes were probably huge from the surprise. Despite my knees were weak and butterflies seemed to have taken the control in my whole body, I managed to slowly and a bit awkwardly wrap my arms around his neck and hug him back. He seemed quite happy about that as his grip on my tightened even more. I felt the heartbeat on his chest and wondered if he could feel mine too. My heart was basically going crazy.

I felt him chuckle. “This is nice. You’re so short.”

He slowly backed away from me and looked into my eyes. This time his stare wasn’t that intense but softer, and I felt my insides melt. “Remember, let’s meet at the gate after school.”

And then he walked away. I felt my knees shaking. He definitely knew how he made me feel. At this rate he would never need to hear me confessing back to him. Sometimes actions speak more than words. I stared after the boy. I guess it was true. I really did like him. Only thinking about him drove me crazy.

After the day’s lessons ended, me, Eunwoo and Youngmi got ouf the classroom together and Youngmi suggested going out to play for a while. I realized I hadn’t told them I’d be going to Bin’s house. After I just burst the fact out, I had to face them staring at me with surprised, somewhat judging faces. Well, Youngmi was more surprised but I could see that Eunwoo was a bit upset.

“Why are you going there?” he asked quietly.

“Are you dating?”

“No”, I replied to Youngmi quickly before turning to look at Eunwoo. “I’ll tell you at home.”

Youngmi snorted. “Are you keeping secrets from me?”

“No”, me and Eunwoo said at the same time.

I exchanged glances with Eunwoo who seemed very doubtful. I flashed him a small, unsure smile before I turned away and rushed to the gates of the school. I felt a bit bad about not being able to explain to Eunwoo, but I just didn’t want to tell Youngmi, at least not yet. I felt like the more people knew, the more dangerous the situation became, so I wanted to keep the secret just between my family and Bin. I must’ve looked very puzzled because when I reached the gates, I saw Bin looking at me with raised eyebrows.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Bin looked a bit hesitant but nodded. “Let’s go, our driver is coming.”

This felt unreal. When a fancy, white Rolls-Royce drove to my field of vision, I almost let my jaw drop. That was probably the most expensive car I had ever seen. Bin opened the door for me and smirked. “Are you ready to enter the beast's nest?”

The ride was shorter than I had thought. The car took us to a residential area that was probably populated only with extremely rich people. There were huge traditional style houses next to each other, and I almost started counting the expensive foreign cars I saw. The car drove us to the yard of a house that was possibly the biggest in the neighbourhood. It was almost thrilling to see. I only understood now that Bin really was a son of a rich family. He didn’t really act like the other rich people I had seen at school. He didn’t brag about his money, he didn’t brag about his parents’ positions or anything like that.

Bin opened the door and led me inside the huge house. I was surprised as the inside didn’t meet my expectations. Everything was modern, white and shiny. It was a huge contrast of the wood-and-stone traditional outer appearance. Bin led me through the hallway as suddenly a very young looking woman stepped into the hallway from an another room and surprised the both of us.

“Oh, Bin! You’re already home”, she said with a quiet voice. “Who is this?”

“This is Ryu Minji”, Bin introduced me as I bowed to the woman. “This is my mother.”

I had to stop my eyes from widening, reminding myself that Bin was adopted. This woman could have never been Bin’s biological mother, she was still probably in her 30’s. I greeted her and as she nodded, Bin told me to follow him and led me to his room.

The room was twice the size of my room, and that was a lot – my room wasn’t exactly small. Unlike the rest of the house, this room had warm colours and personality. One of the walls was made of bricks and it gave the room some edginess. The room actually suited Bin very well.

“Dad is not home yet”, he stated, sitting down on his bed. “Do you want to eat something?”

“Well, if you want to eat…” I replied. “But I’m not hungry.”

Bin nodded. “Alright. Then we won’t eat at least yet.”

I looked around a bit awkwardly. I was just standing there, not even looking around in the room. I was always awkward when I visited my friends’ homes for the first time. This time, anyhow, was even more burdensome as Bin wasn’t exactly my friend and I didn’t know what to expect from the evening.

“Minji, you can sit”, Bin said. He smiled a bit and patted the bed.

I took a few hesitant steps and carefully sat down next to him. He laid down the moment I touched the bed and I got a bit startled form the action. I cursed in my head once again. I really should learn to relax, I thought in my head, he is not going to do anything!

“You were surprised, right?” Bin murmured. “About my mother.”

I turned around on the bed to look at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, she is very young”, he said. “Her name is Woo Sunhee. I don’t think of her as my mother but she’s really important for me. Like an aunt or something.”

I nodded. I understood what he meant. I did live with my aunt, after all. She was the best mother figure I had.

“Did… Did you see the bruises on her arms?” Bin asked quietly after a silence. “On Sunhee’s arms.”

I stared at Bin with large eyes. “No. She’s being beaten up too?”

He nodded. “I told you I hate my dad.”

What kind of person would do this? He was a monster. He seemed to beat up everyone who didn’t do exactly as he wanted. Things had to go his way or he’d start rampaging. I felt cold shivers go down my spine and I flinched. Bin seemed to notice that and while laying down, he reached out his hand to gently rub my back. The touch made me feel a bit tense at first, but as I relaxed I almost closed my eyes. Who could have known this day would come? From our awful terms we had grown to be in a “some” relationship like this. I actually felt comfortable around Bin now. Nervous, yes, but not in such a bad way I used to feel months ago.

At some point I heard a male voice speaking somewhere in the distance. Bin sat up and seemed to listen for a while. As the voice became louder and Sunhee’s voice could also be heard, I knew they were arguing. I glanced at Bin nervously.

“Dad’s home”, he sighed. “From those sounds I know what’s to come.”

Bin got up from the bed and walked to the door. He turned to look at me with somewhat sad expression. “I recommend you stay here.”

And then he walked out of the room. I got up from the bed in my nervousness and started walking in circles. I had always felt uneasy seeing or hearing people arguing, and knowing there was someone very violent with anger issues in this house… I felt very restless. I couldn’t stay in my place, hearing Bin’s voice join the argument. I couldn’t hear any words; they were probably far from the room – the house was indeed very large.

As the voices became louder and louder and changed into shouting, I started feeling scared. It was a bad idea to come here. Mr. Moon probably didn’t know I was in the house. If he found out about me after shouting like this, he’d probably beat me up to make me shut up about it. The shouting continued for a while and I felt like crying.

Suddenly a sequence of sounds made my heart skip a beat. Big thump, screaming, breaking glass, and then finally; door slamming shut. Then everything became silent.