Change

자유 True Beauty
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change [chānj] n. - the alteration of something or someone to result in an outcome different from its initial form or state

 

“You guys need to get out of this room,” a voice commanded as he stood next to Kyungsoo’s still body. “Take him and move out of here, we need to lock this room up.”

His words went ignored by the others, and he let out a prolonged groan to express his frustrations. He crouched down and was about to lay his hands on Kyungsoo’s body to throw him out, but stopped when a small, cold hand wrapped tightly around his wrist. He glanced up in alarm and felt chills run down his spine at the glare he received from the girl.

“Don’t. Touch. Him,” Mihyun almost growled under her breath as she tightened her fingers around the other’s flesh.

The guard quickly obeyed her wishes, and nearly fled the room to escape her deathly aura. The room immediately fell dead silent, and the only noise that sounded was the quiet sobs that escaped Luhan’s lips.

“Mihyun, get up,” Sehun spoke in a soft, pained voice as he attempted to haul the girl to her feet. “Please Mihyun, get up. The guard has probably gone to fetch others to forcibly remove us.”

He continued to plead with her, but she remained on the floor unmoving, tears running down her face as she stared silently at the still figure in front of her. Sehun turned to his Hyung for help, but gave up when he saw Luhan sobbing into his arms as he held handfuls of Kyungsoo’s now blood soaked shirt in his tight fists.

“Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo what are you-!”

It was this voice that finally got Mihyun to react, and she slowly focused her gaze on the figure that had come running into the room. Jongin’s head turned furiously from right to left searching for the familiar face until his eyes finally zeroed in on the figure next to Mihyun.

Jongin let out a choked gasp once he processed the lifeless, bloody body belonging to the man he was looking for, and he staggered down to his knees in shock. Baekhyun let out a sharp shriek when he ran in behind him, and Chanyeol stopped mid-step with a gaping jaw.

“Is he…?”

Nobody needed to supply a verbal response for him to know the answer.

Loud muffled sobs immediately filled the room as Baekhyun buried his face into Chanyeol’s chest, the taller wrapping his arms tightly around the smaller’s body. Silent streams of tears ran down Chanyeol’s face, but he resisted the urge to cry audibly as he rubbed Baekhyun’s back reassuringly.

The only person that remained silent was Jongin.

“Jongin…” Chanyeol whispered silently as he outstretched an arm to lay a comforting hand on the other’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me,” Jongin’s voice quivered, his entire body beginning to tremor as he stared down at the unnatural shade of white Kyungsoo’s face was turning. “Please, don’t touch me right now.”

Chanyeol obeyed his wishes and immediately retracted his hand to rewrap around Baekhyun’s waist.

“Hyung is… hyung is…” Jongin stammered as he fumbled to his feet to stagger towards the still body. A tear finally broke loose and traveled quickly down his cheek, followed almost immediately by a heavy stream. He fell down to his knees with a heavy thud, his arms hanging lifelessly at his sides as he stared down at his hyung.

“Y-Yah, Kyungsoo,” Jongin whispered weakly as he reached forward to shake Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “Yah, hyung, hyung, it’s time to wake up. Hyung, Kyungsoo hyung. Kyungsoo hyung, you’re making everybody cry, so hurry and wake up.”

Mihyun stared at the boy in silence, silent tears spilling down her cheeks as she felt her heart crack deeper and deeper with each of Jongin’s words.

“Hyung please,” Jongin sobbed as he clung desperately to the front of Kyungsoo’s shirt. “Please, hyung, you can’t leave me. What am I supposed to do now? What am I supposed to do if I’m all alone? Please, hyung, please don’t leave. Or just, just take me with you, Hyung, I’m begging you.”

Sehun turned his head away to blink back his own tears, not bearing to see how Jongin crumbled to pieces right in front of their eyes. In all the years he had known Jongin, not once had the other ever shed a tear. It was always Jongin consoling the crying Kyungsoo, and now it was as if all those years of bottled up emotions were spilling over right on the spot.”

“Please take me with you H-Hyung, don’t le-leave me all alone. I ca-can’t sur-vi-vive if I’m all alone, Hyung,” Jongin choked as he pounded his fists weakly against Kyungsoo’s chest. “Please hy-hyung, I don’t wa-want to be al-al-on-one.”

Mihyun couldn’t bear the sight any longer, and she reached forward to press a comforting hand onto Jongin’s back. She wanted him to know that he was wrong, that he wasn’t all alone. He wasn’t all alone because the rest of them would remain by his side forever.

“I said don’t touch me!” Jongin nearly screamed as he spun around to shove the girl roughly to the ground. His eyes were glazed with sadness, anger and pain, and he couldn’t bear to think that somebody actually thought they could comfort him. What a joke. What a painful, humorless, joke.

Mihyun ignored the sharp pain that jolted up the palms of her hands that broke her fall, and she didn’t blame the other for his action even the slightest bit. She should have known better than to try to comfort him at a time as serious as this. He would need time. Jongin would need lots, and lots of time.

“It’s your fault you know,” Jongin whispered in a cold voice.

Mihyun’s eyes lifted themselves off the ground to meet Jongin’s icy cold ones.

“It’s your fault he died,” Jongin growled as he took a step forward. He appeared twice as dangerous with Kyungsoo’s blood smudged over his skin and clothing. “It’s your fault any of this happened. It’s your fault he died! It’s your fault!”

 Mihyun froze once she processed his words, not even realizing that Jongin had begun to charge forward to attack her from rage. He was whipped to the side by an angry Sehun, and pinned to the wall by Sehun’s frightening strength.

“Don’t you dare blame this on Mihyun,” Sehun growled in a low tone. He knew that Jongin was out of it, and that he would most certainly regret his words and actions once he was to get a hold of himself, but Sehun would never forgive the other if he were to lay even a finger on Mihyun with the intent of harming her. “You know as well as I do that this is not her fault. Don’t you dare try to point fingers.”

“Then whose fault is it, Sehun?!” Jongin screamed, his eyes gleamed a hint of madness as he stared at Mihyun from over Sehun’s shoulders. “Who was the one who tried to get us to do this damned rebellion?! Who was it that Kyungsoo was trying to impress?!”

Jongin managed to break himself free from Sehun’s grip, and he charged himself at Mihyun once again before Sehun could block him off.  She simply stared at him as he came forward, not even attempting to protect herself against his angry fists. What right did she have to shield herself? Her eyes widened in surprise when she was suddenly blocked by a figure, and Luhan let out a little grunt when Jongin’s clenched knuckles met roughly with his back.

“That’s enough, Kim Jongin!” Baekhyun shouted angrily as he ripped Jongin off of Luhan and shoved him roughly to the ground. “Do you think that Kyungsoo would be happy with you going mad?! With you hurting Mihyun?! With you hurting your brothers?! Save him some face, would you?! Don’t you dare make it so he… so he died f-for nothing!”

Baekhyun’s bottom lip trembled as he stared off to Kyungsoo’s body that remained still against the cold floor. “Don’t you dare, Kim Jongin. We’re all hurting, and we know that you’re hurting the most, but show some decency for ’s sake!”

Jongin sat there with his head hung in shame as he listened to the words Baekhyun had to say. His body began to shake when he broke out into silent sobs once again, and he pulled his knees to his chest before wrapping his arms around them. Baekhyun stared at him with uncertainty, but slowly inched his way forward to place a gentle hand onto Jongin’s shoulder. When the other made no moves to protest, Baekhyun quickly engulfed Jongin into a tight hug, breaking out into a fresh batch of tears himself.

“He’s gone, Kyungsoo’s gone, hyung’s gone,” Jongin repeated over and over to himself as Baekhyun rocked him back and forth as an attempt to calm them both down.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Sehun asked in a low voice as he helped Luhan climb to his feet.

Luhan nodded his head and held a thumb up to signal that he was okay, but glanced down at Mihyun in worry. The girl continued to sit there silently, her face stretched into the familiar stoic expression she had abandoned so long ago as tears continued to roll down her pale cheeks.

“I’ll take care of her,” Sehun whispered as he placed a warm, gentle hand on top of Luhan’s head. He glanced over at Baekhyun and jerked his head to the other’s direction. “Go to him, Luhan, you don’t have to act brave.”

Luhan’s bottom lip began to quiver, and he finally broke into another round of sobs when his eyes unconsciously strayed over to Kyungsoo’s still body. He nearly flung himself onto the sobbing pair, and Baekhyun immediately welcomed him by wrapping an arm tightly around his shoulders.

“Look at me, Mihyun,” Sehun called out quietly as he stretched out two fingers to tilt up the girl’s face. He gently wiped away the streams of tears with his fingers, and cupped her frightening cold cheeks with the palms of his hands. “Don’t listen to Jongin, okay? Don’t listen to what he said, he’s not in his right mind.”

Mihyun offered no words in response, and Sehun bit down on his bottom lip as his gaze traveled from her face to the others of the room. Tears stained the faces of each and every one of them, and even Sehun himself had to gulp down hard to prevent similar features to appear on his own face. He had to be strong. Even when it hurt, he had to be strong enough for the rest of them; they were all broken.

They were all beaten, broken and bruised with deep wounds scattered across their bodies and minds – and the wounds, these were wounds that would time a long time to heal.

 

 

Mihyun leaned her back against the window sill, her eyes closed as she listened to the heavy pattering of rain on the other side of the cold glass. Even the sky was crying for Kyungsoo that night.

She knew Sehun was right. Jongin would most certainly regret the words he had mindlessly spouted earlier that evening, and would without a do

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Aishmin
I have a huge project in the works for True Beauty that I am excited to share with you all soon. In the mean time, keep up with me by following me on Instagram @prisssyla!

Comments

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Zndjcjaj #1
❤️❤️
Beloved_1230 #2
I remember buying this book years ago when I was in middle school….And how I couldn’t stop crying about Haru. I suddenly remembered his character and sad death at work. Your book, I’ll always carry the memories.
Ekale_erie
#3
Chapter 70: Amazing story !
Loves reading it.
There are some issues, not exactly like 'Noyes' but still familiar in our society. I don't understand why this society doesn't consider humanity above all these stupid titles. You wrote an amazing book author. I hope more and more people could read it and understand that humanity is above all.
Thank you author !
❤️
Ekale_erie
#4
Chapter 62: This is really horrible. But she has to save the lives of the others too. My prayers are with those girls. I hope they'll find their own 'Mihyun' too.
Ekale_erie
#5
Chapter 59: So cute ! 🥰😘
Ekale_erie
#6
Chapter 56: She likes him ❤️
Ekale_erie
#7
Chapter 53: I... I.. I'm at loss of words
Ekale_erie
#8
Chapter 52: This girl is on fire 🔥
Ekale_erie
#9
Chapter 49: I hate that old bastard !!
Go to hell you dumb ing old haggard !! 😡
Ekale_erie
#10
Chapter 48: That was so emotional.

Han Miyhun... It's really hard to understand the character. She's wise, good natured, polite, strong, charming and everything. But there's still something about the girl that I can't pinpoint. I guess if the story was from her view point then I would have been. But, on the otherhand, what essence of story would be left if there was no mystery ...