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The house looked empty, abandoned. It wasn’t because the house was ugly, it just looked so bare. Every time Yuri came home, she couldn’t believe that she lived in that empty building. She still tried to get use to living with her father again. They lived apart for so long because of her dad’s misdeeds. During the years of imprisonment, Yuri managed to stay with Taecyeon’s family, who were formally good friends with her deceased mom when she was still living. They always made her feel so warm and comfortable. But with her father, this atmosphere was far from the same.

   After leaving Nichkhun, in the hands of Victoria, Yuri walked home all by herself. After all, it would be imperative to disturb their bonding. Getting to the front door, she hesitated before twisting the doorknob. She gathered a huge amount of courage to face her obnoxious dad once more. When entering the house, a mysterious and swift shadow flew past her. In the dark, a pair of hands sent Yuri falling inside. That was when she recognized him.

   “Appa! What are you doing? And why on earth are the lights off?” she wondered in perplexity. He covered with his hands on which rapped leather gloves.

   “Relax, I was just going out,” he explained with a hidden smirk.

   “Out? What are you up to?” she questioned with much suspicion. Her father smiled wider. Yuri never liked it when he put that expression so proudly on his face.

   "Some friends of mine found a good location to work on tonight. So I’ll be gone for the night.”

   “Wait, do you mean for another robbing session? APPA! You just got out of jail.”

   “But this location offers a lot of rewards. We’ll gain so much out of it if I go.” Mr. Kwon tapped his daughter’s cheek and frowned pitifully. “You know that I’m doing this for us. I’m working hard for you Yuri-ah. I’m getting old, and this is all I can do now.” Yuri always fell for her dad’s words, whether they were true or not. After a few seconds of silence, he nodded and slowly backed away. Instead of stopping him, Yuri watched him trickle by. Her father was important to her, and somehow, she just couldn’t keep him from going.

   Yuri hit herself and went back inside the empty house. There was definitively nobody there for her anymore. She felt alone.

   Then came the thought of Nichkhun: His soft face, his bizarre eyes, his perfect body, and his rare crystal heart. Somehow, remembering them holding hands at the restaurant restored a feeling of joy. At least now, she didn’t regret everything in her life. Then, she erased those thoughts almost immediately after they were processed in her mind. It wasn’t right for Victoria. Besides, there were better things to worry about at the moment. No time for boys.

   Yuri went to her room and jumped on her bed that didn’t really belong to her in reality. Her father had gotten it who knows where. She dug her face into the pillow and shouted:

   “Why doesn’t someone just kill me already?”

   Yuri was in a complete overwhelmed state. Her father was acting like a stubborn child who refused to listen. It was as if he were looking for trouble, as if getting free stuff from other people was his own drug. That was all she could think of at school. At this point, it was already the end of the day, meaning she would have to go home again.

   Argh!

   More trouble. She was stuck in deep thought while strolling down the school hallways. Her stare was blank. Nothing could be read clearly. Suddenly, Yuri heard a drop that let her escape from being imprisoned in her own mind. She lifted her head to find Nichkhun juggling books on front of his locker. His notebooks fell again, as he attempted to spread his hands to find them. He sighed, seemingly having a horrible mood at them moment. Yuri approached the boy without rush and bend down to stop his agitated hands. They were soft and warm in comparison to hers. She pulled his away from struggling any more.

   “I’ll do it,” she insisted with a bossy yet soft voice. He could easily recognize who was speaking. She picked him up from the floor and dusted off the dirt from his pants. Nichkhun felt embarrassed. When people did that to him, he felt like a vulnerable child. His sister Yoona was enough all by herself. She had already scolded him last night for coming home late, with a girl the she didn’t know! What could you expect from an overprotective sister? The entire night was filled with her bickering and annoying lectures. Nichkhun just couldn’t stand having people being so overprotective for no reason. Just because he was blind, it didn’t mean that he was incapable of accomplishing tasks on his own. His anger made him jerk away from the grip. Yuri’s approach towards him was driving him insane. But there was something else bothering him. 

   “Let go. I don’t want your help,” he yelled coldly. Yuri froze in surprise. The kind and quiet Khun she met weeks ago was different today. For some reason, he seemed angry, frustrated and infuriated. Yuri couldn’t understand why his mood was so dark.

   He yanked the books out of her hand and stuffed them back into his open locker. Yuri tried to read him thoroughly.

   “Nichkhun-sshi. What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?” He slammed the locker door, making the impact resonate throughout the entire hallway. His aggressively gave her the need to back up.

   “It doesn’t concern you. Quit bothering me and STOP HELPING ME. I don’t need it.” This mystified Yuri. She wondered what could possibly make Nichkhun act this way. What could make Nichkhun so cold hearted? Even without his functioning eyes, she could feel something strong behind them, something not right.

   “If you need help, just...”

   “No!” he blurted out in rage. Yuri was held aback. What on earth happened to the real Nichkhun? “I’m tired of all you people who think that I’m hopeless. I hate it!”

   There was a deep silence and Yuri couldn’t stop feeling odd. All she wanted to do is help, so why react so seriously?

   The tight atmosphere was broken by a deep and husky voice. Both turned their attention towards its owner; none other than Doojoon. Yuri glared at him from head to toe with a look of disgust. Her eyes rolled away while making a strange face.

   “I see the infamous couple having an argument. Well, so much for that relationship, right Yuri-ah? I knew that it wasn’t going to work out, especially not with a girl as pesky and hard-headed as you,” commented Doojoon with much confidence. Yuri let it slide. “Even a blind person doesn’t have to see to be able to know how much of a piece of trash you are.” Surprisingly, the young lady kept her cool and didn’t retaliate.

   Instead, Nichkhun took the lead.

   “Who on earth are you to have the right to judge her in that way?” shot Nichkhun with wrath. Yuri was confused. Two seconds ago, he was moody and different, where-as now, he was defending her cause.

   “Yah! Worthless! Just because you won last time, it doesn’t mean that I have any mercy left for you, so keep your head low. Don’t waste anymore of your time with this thief and her lunatic father.” One thing that Yuri couldn’t stand was when we insulted her father. That was her problem, and it wasn’t something for people to meddle in with. Her anger reached its limits, and yet she didn’t move.

   “Beat me up!” shouted Nichkhun to provoke the adversary. “After all, beating up someone with malfunctioning eyes definitely shows how strong you are,” he shrugged sarcastically. “Either way, you’re too pathetic to actually look at yourself in the mirror to see that you’re not any better.” This statement made Doojoon hate Nichkhun all the more. His hand naturally swung up in the air and punched Nichkhun on the left cheek. The impact was so big that the blind boy dropped to the ground. Doojoon couldn’t help but throw more fists. It was tempting considering his intolerance towards his rival. Seeing the violent scene unfold made Yuri panic. She attempted to break it up without success. Nichkhun was completely vulnerable in this position.

   He wasn’t fighting back, but Doojoon still proceeded. Yuri tugged on the enemy’s arm to pull him away form the victim.

   “Yuri-ah, let him hit me. I told you that I didn’t need your help,” he whispered weakly between a punch. Yuri became stuck between two actions: obeying or ignoring. She stared at the blood dripping on the side of his perfect lip, and at the marks left at each impact. It hurt her as well. But Nichkhun ordered her not to do anything. That was his source of anger after all. After a few extra minutes of total torture, Doojoon’s friends held him back, judging that the beating was sufficient.

   Doojoon’s breathing became fierce and scary. He wanted more, because nothing could describe how much the guy got on his nerves. Nichkhun’s likeable traits became pure detestation. Yuri pulled her friend out of the mess and pushed Nichkhun behind her. She fixed Doojoon with an indescribable, yet overwhelming rage before leading Nichkhun out of the gathered spectators, without a word. She knew that if she began speaking, she would cause even more trouble.

   Their hands were tightly wrapped into one another. Nichkhun’s bruised up face covered his natural appearance. Everyone followed them with their intimidating guard. Yuri blushed as she passed the people. Nichkhun was actually lucky that he couldn’t see any of their glares.

   They made their way to the women’s washroom. They both stopped on front of the door. Yuri released the pressure between their fingers. She made him wait a second as she entered the restrooms. She came out with a wet piece of paper towel.

   “Sorry for the inconvenience. Hope this will do,” she apologized before tapping some of his wounds with the paper. Nichkhun could feel the sore sting in contact with water. He carried various stripes of blood and blue spots all over. “Mianhe, I didn’t help you much back there. I feel so guilty for letting you be beat for something I was the root of.”

   He nodded in acceptance to her words. “I felt like the stronger one even when getting the beating… A lot stronger than usual.” Yuri smiled, continuing to tap the bruises with cold water. When not receiving a response, Nichkhun reached out randomly in front of him to find her hands.

   As he caught it, a weird sensation ran down their spines. Yuri stopped nursing the injuries and stared at him in the mist of her thought. The unusual connection made her forget reality and the materialistic things around her. All she could see was him.

   “Mian… For being kinda cold earlier.” Yuri still didn’t speak. She swallowed hard as her eyes still didn’t leave him. “To be honest, the reason I’m angry is because I’m mad at life in general.”

   “What do you mean?” she finally pronounced. He let go of her wrist and returned to the less awkward position. Yuri took a step back to make things less discomfited.

   “It’s just that…” His hesitation transpired a voice of hopelessness. “I thought that everything was going well. I was so close to attaining enough money to get an operation for my eyes. I was so close to regaining my sight. But somehow, God just hates me.” Yuri remained perplexed.

   “Of course he doesn’t hate you. I don’t understand. What’s really the matter?” Fear covered his innocent expression.

   “The thing is… We got robbed yesterday. I lost all my savings. And they took almost everything.” Nichkhun seemed filled with sadness. His expression was beyond words could describe. Then the thought occurred to her: What if it was her father? He went to work yesterday. Could it possibly be… Yuri didn’t want to believe it. She refused to rely on that thought.

   She looked at him pitifully, once more. His condition looked notoriously inhuman. Yuri reached from her back pocket for a paper bill her father had put into her bag that morning. She figured that Nichkhun would never accept money if she offered. Instead, she came closer and enveloped his muscular body around her arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and glanced down to his bag pack. She then slipped the money inside the smaller zipper, and closed it back into place.

   After the purposely and thought out hug, Yuri drew away. He gave her a soft and irresistible smirk.

“I don’t know why, but somehow, I feel like I have to help him right now,” she told herself. 

WOW. It's been nearly a month. I'm so sorry for the late update. Thank you to subscribers. I really appreciate comments (optional). Saranghae!