I apologize for the foul language, I just feel as if the story really needs it to set the mood. If you guys' don't enjoy it please do tell me and I won't add in any more.

 

“And don’t think of uhh comin home uhh tonight. I’m makin a deal.”

Of course he is but that’s not stopping me from coming home. Plus, he’s drunk out of his mind right now I’m pretty sure he’s just making it up.

 “Did you ing hear me?!”

“Shut up! We heard you!”

“The hell did you say to me?”

He throws a punch to my face and another to my rib.

“Gah.”

Damn that hurt, my ribs are in so much pain right now. It’s getting difficult to breathe.

“Bastard, don’t talk to me like that.”

 He doesn’t stop his endless punches to me, each one getting more painful. I could only accept this bitter pain, there’s no point in trying to fight back in punches if he’s just going to keep hurting me like this.

“Appa, please stop!”

 I hear Hayeon plead from the sidelines, tears flowing down her cheeks.

 Dad finally stops his beating and looks at Hayeon with a sickening look in his eyes.

“Oh baby, I’m sorry. Why are you crying?”

I shiver hearing his creepy tone. What a ert.

He gets off of me and makes his way to Hayeon.

 Hell no.

I quickly stand up and push him away from getting any closer to Hayeon. In one swift movement, I was standing between him and Hayeon.

“Stay the hell away from her.”

“I was only trying to comfort my daughter.”

 “Tch, what’s your way of comfort you sick ert.”

“You bastard.”

“Appa! Please stop…”

 The cries of Hayeon project behind me, she grips on my hand and tightly squeezes it. I gaze at dad and he looks pissed off, his fists were balled up and his eyes were dead pinned on me. I don’t care if I have to receive another beat up, just as long as this bastard doesn’t touch my sister.

 “Just get out of my house!” He slurred, shoving past me and out into the hallways.

 What a great morning so far.

 Hayeon’s soft cries break me out of my thoughts. I turn around and pull her into my arms, rubbing her back for comfort.

“Shh, it’s okay Hayeon. I’m here.”

 She silently sobs against my chest. It hurts me to see her like this. I try my best to comfort her but it can only go so far until she cries again for the same reason. I tighten my embrace on her, patiently waiting until she stops crying as I continue rubbing her back. After a couple minutes, I felt her loosen her arms around me and she takes a step back.

“Oppa… Are you okay?” She croaked, her eyes red evident that she cried.

 “I’m fine, don’t worry about me alright?”

She gently touches my face, her brown eyes longingly stare at me as they glisten from the tears that were about to fall again.

“Hey, why are you crying again?”

 “O-oppa… Your face… It’s all bruised.”

 “It’ll heal.”

 I remove her hand from my face and gently squeeze it. “Come on, we have to go to school. I’ll buy you breakfast on the way.”

 She could only weakly nod and follow me from behind as we grab our backpacks and head to my car.

The promise I made to Hayeon is getting harder each day. How am I supposed to guarantee our happiness when I don’t even know where to begin?

And if I were to start something… How will I end it?

There are just too many roads and I don’t even know which road to take.

But all I know is… I won’t be breaking the promise.

 

After ordering our breakfast and dropping Hayeon off to school, I park in my usual spot and check my face in the rearview mirror.

Hayeon is right. My face looks pretty ed up right now.

I reach for the mask in my dashboard and shield away the cuts and bruises.

 I grab my backpack, step out of my car and make my way through the halls of the university.

“His mask is back on guys.”

 “He thinks he’s so cool wearing that mask…”

 “Tch, what a bastard. Showing off that he’s in a gang.”

The stares from all these people are really pissing me off. Making up stupid rumors as usual. Last time I checked, being in pain wasn’t considered cool.

 “Taeng.”

Sunny grips on my shoulder and softly turns me around. By the look in his eyes, I can already tell that he knows why I’m wearing the mask again. His fists tighten as he takes a deep breath before looking straight into my eyes.

“That bastard hit you again?”

 “What do you think?”

“When?”

“This morning.”

 “ Taeng, that early?”

 “Tch yeah. Great start to a morning right?”

 He takes another deep breath as we slowly walk to our first class. We silently enter class and take our seats next to each other. I gaze over and I can tell Sunny was in deep thought. I only wish I knew what was going on his mind.

“Hey, there’s Sunny and Taeng together.”

 “I wonder if Sunny is in Taeng’s gang…”

 “I mean… Sunny is Taeng’s only friend here. He could be his right hand man.”

“Whoa, dude why didn’t we think of that a long time ago?”

I feel bad for dragging Sunny into this; ever since college started he has been involved in my made up infamous reputation. He doesn’t look like he cares but I know Sunny, the look in his eyes gives away that he’s hurt of hearing all this about him. I wish I could tell them to back off but it would only create worse situations.

“Good morning Sunny.”

 I don’t even have to turn around to know whose voice that belongs too. Geez, she’s so happy in the mornings.

I wonder what that feels like. Waking up without a worry in the world.

 If only.

“Good morning Taeng.”

 I slowly turn around and Tiffany makes direct eye contact with me.

Again.

I swear this is becoming a daily thing. It’s kind of annoying in a way.

“Hey.”

 “Omo, are you sick again?”

If you consider sick being hurt physically, mentally and emotionally then yes I am terribly sick and I think I’m going to die of illness soon.

 “Yeah.”

 “I hope you feel better…”

There’s no cure for pain.

Class starts and I could only try my best not to fall asleep for the sake of protecting my mask. The last time I fell asleep wearing my mask, people tried taking it off just to mess with me and I instantly got worried that they would see my cuts. I was glad Sunny was sitting next to me to help pry them off of me otherwise I wouldn’t be able to show my face around here.

More made up rumors would just drill into my skull.

“Alright class, make sure you don’t forget to study for the chapter test. It’s coming up quickly.”

Immediately, the only sounds being emitted in the classroom were students cleaning up their stuff and chairs scraping against the tile floor.

 “I’ll see you around Taeng. Call if you need anything alright?” Sunny whispered to me, keeping it discreet.

 I could only nod and watch as he exits out through the door.

“Taeng.”

 What now Professor Kwon? I haven’t done anything wrong.

I approach her desk and lazily stand in front of her.

 “What?”

 “Where are you going?”

 “Right now, nowhere because you’re holding me back.”

 “Taeng, you better-”

“It’s okay Professor Kwon; he’s coming with me to the library to tutor me just like you asked him.”

 My eyes widen in shock as I turn my head to see Tiffany standing next to me. How long has she been standing there?

Professor Kwon clears , “Yes. I see. Good. Hurry along you two.”

 Tiffany bows and makes her way out the door. I found myself walking out the door to catch up next to her. I still can’t believe she’s defending me. I have too many questions running through my head right now. I guess dad’s punches are damaging my brain, I should take some pills. That weird feeling I experienced yesterday wasn’t helping either.

“Taeng?”

 I shake my head and end the thoughts that were running through my head. I didn’t realize how long I had been zoning out. I gaze over and see Tiffany looking at me.

“Huh?”

“Are you okay? I called your name several times and you didn’t respond.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Geez, I said I’m fine alright? Stop asking me.”

She remains quiet on the rest of the way to the library. I need the peace and quiet, my head is killing me. I restlessly sigh as we take our seats next to each other at the same table. I don’t know why I chose to tutor Tiffany again, she’s probably going to be fine and waste my time by not asking me a single question. I remain quiet as I watch her pull out her books, pencil and papers. She quietly begins her work, leaving me to die of boredom.

 It’s kind of surprising that she’s not talking; I guess she’s mad at me for telling her to back off on the questions. I don’t care anyways. I’m already wasting my time being here.

I take a deep breath and I immediately wince in pain. That wasn’t a good idea; I forgot that my ribs were possibly broken. I wonder if you don’t get your ribs treated if they’re broken, could you die from lack of bone support? I hunch over and hold my ribs to stop this burning pain that was searing throughout my stomach.

This feels like hell.

“Are you okay Taeng?”

 “I’m fine.”

 “You don’t look like it. Are you sure?”

 “Just leave me alone alright! I’m fine. Gah.”

Yelling doesn’t help either as I wince in pain again. I close my eyes and take short breaths to stop this wretched pain. Why do I deserve this?

“Taeng, let me help you.”

 I don’t respond to her, I can’t bear the pain I’m feeling right now. I stand up from the chair and exit the library. I really need to see a nurse. I stagger my way over to the nurse’s office, clenching my sides in pain. As I walk in the nurse’s eyes immediately widen.

“Can I help you?”

“My ribs… are in a lot of pain.”

 I couldn’t take it anymore, this pain was too far to bear that I wasn’t able to hide it anymore. I’m in pain and I need help. I don’t care if they see my bruised body.

I just need to be repaired. 

She walks around the desk and takes my arm. “Here, let’s go to the scanning room.”

She leads me to a room that was bright white and tells me to sit on the bed. “I’m going to have to ask you to remove your shirt please Mr. …?”

“Kim. My name is Kim Taeng.”

“Okay, Mr. Kim please take off your shirt.”

I obey her orders and slowly pry off my shirt, hoping that my ribs don’t look as bad as they feel. As soon as I take it off, I hear her gasp.

 “Omo! It’s severely bruised.” She exasperated as she continues staring at my bare torso.

 I gaze down and she was right. They were badly purple.

 She quickly x-rays my torso and leaves the room to get the printed copies of it. She walks back in and stares worriedly at the blueprint in front of her.

“Mr. Kim, how long have they been hurting?”

“A couple days…”

 “And you didn’t bother to see a doctor?”

 “I thought I was fine.”

 I lied; of course I knew they were more than just bruises.

 She restlessly sighs as she walks over to the cabinet and pulls out some tape.

 “They are heavily broken Mr. Kim. If you never came to get them checked up on, they could be permanently damaged and stay broken forever.”

Better late than never right?

 As she wraps the bandage around my torso, she continuously scolds me for my bad decision of not coming to see a doctor sooner. I only bitterly sigh and accept the scolding since she was right.

“Okay Mr. Kim, I’m finished. You can put your shirt back on.”

 I obey her order and slip it back on, my rib was still in a lot of pain but at least it’s taken care of.

“Your ribs will take some time to heal so make sure you don’t do a lot of strenuous activities.”

“Yes ma’am.”

 “May I ask how did you break them?”

 Crap, I was hoping she wasn’t going to ask me that awful question. I guess I have to lie.

“I was play fighting with my friend and it got little violent.”

That’s acceptable right?

She sighs and shakes her head, “Next time be careful when you’re roughhousing, it’s dangerous.”

“I will. Thank you.”

 I bow and excuse myself out of the nurses’ office. As soon as I step out of the door, my eyes widen in surprise to see Tiffany sitting by herself in front of the nurse’s office. She raises her head up hearing footsteps and stares directly into my eyes. I could feel my body shiver having to stare back into her eyes.

“What are you doing here?”

She stands up and walks closer to me, “I got worried because you left the library limping. You looked like you were in a lot of pain. Are you okay?”

She sounds so worried. Why? It’s just me, we hardly know each other.

“I’m fine.”

 I start walking away from her and back to the library. I’m only heading back there to get my stuff so I can head home.

 It’s already been one hell of a day.

 I hear footsteps rapidly approaching me from behind. I don’t even bother to look because I already know who it is.

“What happened?”

 I was starting to grow irritated from her constant questions. What does it matter to her?

“Why do you care?”

“Because you made me worried.”

“You don’t need to be worried; I already told you I’m nothing but a tutor to you.”

“I don’t care. A tutor, friend, whatever! I was just worried because you looked like you were in a lot of pain! If you saw someone winching in pain wouldn’t you be worried?”

 “No because it’s none of my business if I don’t know them.”

 She sighs in defeat and remains quiet as we walk back to the library.

This is really getting out of hand.

Just yesterday, I stayed on my own will to tutor her and now I don’t even want to look at her. I must be going crazy. I can’t even look at Tiffany knowing I was dreaming about her yesterday while I was napping.

What the hell is wrong with me?

 “I’m sorry…”

 I snap my head towards her as she softly says those words.

“For what?”

“For asking all those questions.” She takes a seat and resumes her homework as if nothing happened, “If you want to leave you can.”

I stare in disbelief at her. I can’t believe she’s opening the door for me to leave again. Why is she so willing to everything? She quits bugging me about my broken ribs and now she’s giving me another chance to ditch her?

 I remain quiet as I could only stare at her as she resumes working in her book. This is like yesterday all over again. Only this time the atmosphere is much darker.

Stay… Or leave?

I’ve already ditched her once. She’s offered to let me leave twice now. She asked about my wellbeing even though I didn’t tell her. And she apologized for asking.

Guilt… Dammit.

 I pull up the chair next to her and take my usual seat.

She doesn’t even look up at me.

That’s new.

 Time passes by and of course, she doesn’t ask for my help. I sigh as I open my backpack to take out some paper to draw on. My eyes widen seeing a pink notepad squished between two of my folders. I forgot Tiffany left it here yesterday. I pull it out of my bag and look up to Tiffany and back to the notepad.

 I sigh again as I slide it next to her paper that she was writing on. It took her by surprise as she gazes at the pink notepad and then at me.

“You left it here yesterday.”

She takes it in her grasp. “Thank you…” She slowly shoves into her bag and resumes working.

 I shake my head and resume looking through my backpack.

After hours pass by, she cleans up her work and neatly places the folders back in her bag. I stand up from my chair and sling my backpack around my shoulder.

Guilt was really getting the best of me.

Throughout the times Tiffany was doing her homework I was thinking of what happened earlier.

 I didn’t mean to snap at her, my head was killing me along with my ribs.

 I wanted to apologize but I refrained.

 It doesn’t matter right?

 I’m just her tutor.

“Thanks again for staying…” She said softly, not looking at me at all.

I shrug in response even though she couldn’t see it. She nods without looking back at me and exits the library.

Damn, I must have really done it this time.

I guess this means I’m fired as her tutor. 

And you know what?

I don't care.