-Chapter 22-

Assurance

It was a plain and somewhat spacious room. A neatly made twin sized bed sat in a corner and a few feet away from that was an empty computer desk which had a thin layer of dust blanketed on it’s flat surface. Just a few steps away from that was a window with crooked shades, absent of any curtains.

Anyway you looked at it, it was all the same- it was a just a lifeless, empty bedroom.

Breaking your gaze away from the tiny dots of dust that floated around in front of you, you peered over your shoulder. Staring back at you from the doorway was your older brother Sehun. Leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, he was silently staring on at you; picking up and paying close attention to your reactions and movements while being inside this new environment. Finally picking up on your gaze on him, Sehun snapped back into reality and looked onto you expectedly.

“So what do you think? You think you’ll be okay sleeping in this room for a few days?” Sehun asked. You kept your silent stare on Sehun, fully aware of the bleak expression you bore on your face. You didn’t really have a choice here. Even if you told him you didn’t like it here, that you didn’t want to stay here, that you wanted to go home, he definitely wouldn’t allow it.

“I’ll be fine.” You nodded; your tone neutral. Staring forward once again, you took hold of the wheels on your wheelchair and pushed yourself forward to sit in front of the window. Sehun quietly sighed and hung his head down in anguish.

He thought that by allowing you to stay here, far away from your house, it would make things better. (At least for the time being) But it seemed as though Sehun might have been doing more bad than good. (At least that’s what you made it seem like to him) You obviously didn’t want to be here because you wanted to be at home- Sehun could tell this in an instant. But he had to keep reminding himself that this really was for your own good…

Sehun jolted up when a hand abruptly slapped down onto his shoulder. Jerking his head to the side, he immediately arched an irritated eyebrow at a certain cocky, handsomely neutral-faced friend of his. “So how are things going, Sehunnie?” Jongin asked, anchoring a heavy arm around Sehun’s neck. Jongin promptly glanced over at you with curious eyes. “What does Jaeyun think of the room?”

“She said it's fine.” Sehun replied back, also shifting his sights on your backside once again. “I owe you one for allowing Jaeyun to stay over your house for a few days.” Jongin opened his mouth and was moments away from repsonding before Sehun promptly added, “Though I would have preferred having her stay with Kyungsoo, or Joonmyeon, or Baekhyun, or Chanyeol. Too bad they were all too busy.”

Jongin clamped his mouth shut and pulled his arm away from Sehun, subtly grimacing at the younger boy before him.

“All I’m asking is for you to take care of her while she’s here.” Sehun started on a serious note, effortlessly brushing off Jongin’s glare. “She’s… pretty sensitive right now… She still can’t walk and she’s still recovering from her recent accident.” Jongin’s glower instantly faded away as Sehun spoke on. Jongin, as well as the others in their group of friends, only vaguely knew about what had happened to you recently since Sehun didn’t want to disclose the entire story to them. All they knew was that it was serious- serious enough to put you into a hospital for a few weeks until now.

“That accident she was recently in- is it because of…” Jongin hesitated for a moment. “…Those things in your house…?” Sehun felt his body irritably tense up at the thought of it. He simply gave Jongin a small nod. Jongin cringed a bit when he felt an abrupt tingle run down his spine. “Well… then how is having her stay at my house any better than having her stay at your house? I mean, the rumors in school- not that I fully believe them, do say that spirits follow her.”

Those stupid rumors… “Even if something is following her, she seems safer when she’s outside the house. Nothing bad has happened to her outside of our house compared to what’s happened to her when she was inside it.” Memories of the ominous dark entity that had dragged you towards your bedroom and you lying on the kitchen floor drenched in blood with a knife at hand directly flashed into Sehun’s mind against his own will. Looking over, Jongin took notice of the discomfort beginning to form on Sehun’s face and decided it was time to change the subject. 

“…Your parents are okay with her staying over at my house?” Jongin casually asked, leaning his back against the doorframe as well.

“I lied and said she was staying over one of her friend’s house to help her catch up with her school work.” Sehun answered. “It was a pretty stupid excuse, but they fortunately bought the lie.”

“Ah, but that’s not a complete lie because Jaeyun and I are friends.” Sehun let out an unnecessarily loud, obnoxious scoff and flashed Jongin a momentary look of sarcasm. “Hey what’s with that look, huh? We’re a lot closer than you think.”

“Right, whatever you say.” Sehun said, waving Jongin off. “But I swear, you better not try anything with Jaeyun while she’s here!” Sehun promptly added.

“What if I do, hmm~?” Jongin cooed with a catlike grin. Sehun glared killer daggers into Jongin’s eyes until Jongin burst out in laughter. “Chill Sehunnie, I won’t do anything. If anything, Jaeyun is more like a little sister to me than a girl I’d want to date. I mean, how creepy would it be to try and pick up your own little sister?? Ugh, grosses me out just thinking about i-“ Jongin was abruptly cut short when Sehun had launched an unexpected punch to Jongin’s left arm. “OW!! What was THAT for??!!” Jongin shouted, furiously rubbing his sore arm.

“Nothing… just felt the urge to do that is all…” Sehun quietly muttered. While Jongin was whispering incoherent curse words to himself, Sehun turned and strode towards you. “Jaeyun?” he carefully called out when he was a few feet away from you. You were awoken back into reality at the sound of his voice and turned your wheelchair around to face him. Sehun walked the remaining distance towards you and kneeled down on one knee to look at you at eye level. “I have to go now. Jongin will take care of you while you’re here, so you’ll be okay.” He gently reassured, giving you a small smile and nod.

You vacantly stared at him at first before giving him a weak nod in return. Sehun lightly patted you on the shoulder and rose up on his feet. Just when Sehun had turned his back towards you and started off, you unexpectedly reached a hand out and grabbed onto the hem of his shirt. Sehun stopped dead in his tracks and instantly looked over his shoulder at you.

“Are you… going to be doing something about Luhan…?”

Sehun blinked at you in surprise. The simple yet profound question surprised him. Without any rush, Sehun slowly turned around to fully face you with his eyes fixated on the ground beneath his feet. “Don’t worry about it. Just worry about your injuries and get better.” Was all he said. The statement sounded a bit cold, though there seemed to have been a bit of concern hidden in the undertone of his voice.

You were expecting that type of answer from him… Casting your sights down onto your lap, you gradually withdrew your hand away from him. Sadness began to clench at your heart the moment you heard him say that. You knew what he meant by that… you knew what he was really saying behind those words…

The sound of light footsteps approaching you suddenly caught your attention. Your body instinctually stiffened when you felt two arms suddenly encircle you. It was almost an impulse for you to immediately think of Luhan when you felt two arms lock around you like this. But this time it was different… this time it wasn’t him…

It was Sehun. Leaned down in front of you, his arms were securely wrapped around you- though his grip wasn’t at all forceful, for it almost felt like he was being cautious enough not to hold onto you too tightly. His platinum blonde hair lightly brushed against your cheek when he had turned his head to softly whisper in your ear.

“I’ll be back to pick you up as soon as I can. Just please Jaeyun… stay safe.”

Just as suddenly as it had happened, Sehun had already pulled away from you and had walked back to the doorway to Jongin. Still a bit stunned, you numbly watched Sehun murmur something to Jongin and then walk out of the room with him, leaving you all alone in the room.

You sat there in the silence with an empty mind for what might have seemed like ages. Out of the blue, a strong chill ran down your spine that caused you to cringe slightly. All at once, the very air that surrounded you felt like it became thicker and start to weigh down on your body and lungs. You hung your head down low and wrapped your arms around your body as you felt tiny goose bumps arise on your exposed arms. It’s been a while since you experienced this all too familiar feeling… Or rather it’s been a while since you’ve experienced it this strongly…

“Luhan…?” you faintly breathed, bravely bringing your head back up to look around. After about a minute of no response, a sudden breeze blew past your body that caused you to shiver slightly. He was here alright… Sitting there, you could feel what felt like some type of heated tension in the air and for the second time, you felt like Luhan might have been glaring at you. But what for?

You would have been more concerned about this if it weren’t for the fact that you yourself were feeling a bit upset with Luhan as well. “It’s… been a while since I’ve talked to you like this Luhan…” you quietly said. Silence followed your statement and you sat there soaking this absence of sound in. He wasn’t responding back. “Did you lie to me Luhan?” You paused for a moment.

“Did you lie to me when you told me you’d protect me?” The heavy tension crowding around you seemed to have been lifted just a tad bit after the question had left your mouth. “You told me you were going to protect me that one night I was crying. But… look at what’s happened to me. Both of my legs are broken. I was bullied in school. And… I almost stabbed myself to death. Where were you when all this was happening…?”

Maybe you were being needy.  Maybe you were overreacting. Maybe you were asking for too much. All these possibilities were rushing around in your mind but how else were you supposed to react to all of this?

You looked around. Still, you couldn’t hear a sound. You were patient though, and minutes ticked by as you awaited for some type of response. Maybe ten minutes had gone by but still nothing. A despondent sigh blew past your lips. “Did he hear me…? Or maybe… he just doesn’t care…”

You flinched when you suddenly felt pressure on both of the arms of your wheelchair and what felt like weight being pushed down on it. Looking forward, you saw nothing but unmistakably it felt like a living force was standing directly in front of you, looming before you. A chilling tingle ran down your spine in sync to your stomach knotting up when you felt Luhan’s breath brush past your cheek and ear, almost feeling like light caresses on your skin. You shrank back in your seat, feeling your cheeks burn up at the sudden overwhelming act. At the same time it felt as though Luhan was leaning his face closer towards you the more you eased back.

Your beating heart that was gradually picking up in pace suddenly skipped a beat the moment you heard him with a low, airy whisper say your name right up at your ear. Through your overwhelmed and lightheaded daze, you somehow managed to hear Luhan whisper once last phrase in your ear.

“Jaeyun, I’ve always been protecting you. I’ve been protecting you from her.”

“From… her…?”

BARK BARK BARK

Instantly you jumped up in your seat, startled out of your mind, and you felt Luhan’s presence completely vanish around you. Staring forward, you saw a tiny chocolate brown poodle standing at the doorway. The wary looking dog was staring up at you with its teeth bared slightly. It stood at the doorway slightly shrunken back with it’s tail between it’s back legs. The dog let off a few more deafening barks with it’s body trembling slightly.

“Monggu! What’s wrong?!” came Jongin’s distant voice followed by rapid footsteps running down the hard woodened floor down the hall. In mere seconds, Jongin appeared at the doorway where he knelled down to pick up Monggu in his arms. “Monggu, what’s gotten into you?” Jongin worriedly asked as he the dog’s tiny head comfortingly. Monggu continued barking while kicking and wriggling in Jongin’s loosening grip. You watched on in shock at Jongin attempting to calm his dog. And all the while, the dog’s beady black eyes were locked directly on you the entire time…

Jongin, feeling himself seconds away from having the frantic dog about to slip out of his weakening grip, dashed down the hall. Hearing the sound of metal clanking against plastic, you realized that Jongin most likely placed his dog inside a pet cage. About a minute later, Jongin came back to your doorway panting slightly. “I have no idea what’s come over Monggu…” Jongin sighed, using the back of his hand to wipe the perspiration off his forehead. He then glanced over at you.

“Hey… you okay? You look kinda pale.” He said. “The barking didn’t scare you too much, did it?”

“N-no… it didn’t… I-I’m fine…”  

`Author's Corner

So I've been keeping up with that recent poll I posted from the last chapter. Chanyeol and Kai were in last place just as I expected. At first Luhan was WAY in the lead, but then Sehun steadily began to climb up the poll until he was neck and neck with Luhan. Then they were tied. And NOW, Sehun is leading by two votes. The whole time I was watching this progress I was just like "Hmm.... interesting.... * imaginary beard thoughtfully*"