KISS 2 - FLOWER OR THORN

 

“And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers is always the first to be touch’d by the thorns.” ~ Thomas Moore

 

 

     “Here.” Jiyong gave the newly bought cake to the little boy. The latter shrieked and clapped excitedly as he took the food. A while ago, he was a crying baby in front of Candy Castle, but when Jiyong brought him to Funnel Cakes he couldn’t stop smiling anymore. It may not look like he did, but Jiyong loved kids, and he didn’t like seeing them crying or hurting. And though it couldn’t be seen on his face, he actually was quite happy seeing the little boy before him happily clapping his hands.

“Sorry for the trouble. This kid really is a brat sometimes.” The little boy’s mother looked at Jiyong shyly as she was standing beside her son.

“No worries. I understand.” He answered, not breaking his eyes at the kid.

The woman pinched her lips together. She already wanted to bid goodbye to Jiyong, but she couldn’t just yet. Beyond from feeling a little diffident leaving that soon just after he bought her kid the cake, she felt scared of him. Jiyong might be a beautiful guy who got an appealing semblance, but he also had this timorous aura anybody could feel. When Jiyong shifted his eyes to her, she tried her best not to look startled and have the nerve to say the words.

“Uhm…” She muttered. “Well…thank you. B—but, we actually need to go now.”

Jiyong coldly nodded. The woman looked to her son. She carefully held and patted his shoulders and talked to him gently.

“Sweety, we need to go. Say thank you to hyung.”

The little boy lifted his look to Jiyong and threw a bright smile.

“Thank you very much hyung. You’re so nice and kind.”

Jiyong was stunned for a second of the words he didn’t expect to hear from the kid. He raised the corner of his upper lip and crooked an inconspicuous smile.

“I hope to see you again, hyung.”

Together with his mom, the boy bowed and bade him goodbye. Jiyong just kept himself still and saw them walked away. Unconsciously, his inconspicuous smile turned to a more noticeable one but looked more of a smile of pain than of happiness; seeing the woman and the boy walking away together while holding hands made him feel gloomy. The moment was kind of nostalgic—a nostalgia that he would wish to have again, to feel again. Wanting to capture the moment he knew he would never experience anymore, he fished out his phone from his pocket and took a photo of them. It was a picture of a mother and son lovingly holding each other’s hand—the mother looking at the boy and the latter happily eating a cake.

---

 

     “What do you want for your birthday, little boy?” The mother asked the little boy. They were sitting on a bench under the dark but starry sky.  It was a cold and quiet night. Only the chirping of the night crickets and the rustling of tree leaves whenever the wind blew could be heard.

“I’m already a big kid omma.” He hissed. The woman smiled and poked her son’s cheek.

“But you don’t grow taller.” She teased.

“I haven’t drunk milk this morning, so I didn’t grow taller today.”

The woman laughed so loud, and the little boy pouted his lips. He looked to his mom and stared at her face. He saw how beautiful the woman beside him was. She looked so pretty with her beautiful almond eyes, sharp nose and pink thin lips. She also got a beautiful smile, and her laughs were like music to his ears. His small hands slowly reached for her face and gently caressed it. The woman got quite surprised with his touch. She looked at him and smiled.

“Why?” She asked.

“I want a strawberry cake on my birthday.” The little boy sweetly murmured. She laughed again and embraced him tightly.

“Sure. Omma will bake a cake for you. You sure would love it.”

---

 

      “Strawberry cake…” Jiyong whispered. He smiled—a soft and quiet smile but painted with deep agony. He was still absorbed with the photo, his thumb gently rubbing the screen of his phone. Looking at it brought a lump in his throat. Before a tear he could feel from his eye fell, he lifted his face. He couldn’t cry; he didn’t want to cry especially in that kind of place.

His eyes wandered in the crowd. Two teen age girls with rabbit ears headbands, holding balloons and pink cotton candy, posing for picture few steps away from him caught his attention. He then remembered the reason why he was there. Agitated, he scolded himself. He could not, even a second, let his mind wander at that moment of thoughts that were no important. He should waste no time. His eyes roamed in the place hoping to see the one he wanted and needed to find. Feeling frustrated, he gnashed his teeth asking himself on how he could find HER in that place jam-packed of people. As if a voice whispered him to do so, he decided to go to the Gyro Swing. While heading towards the ride, a familiar guy caught his sight. The guy was wearing a dark gray pullover hoodie sweatshirt, black casual harem pants and a black beanie. Jiyong tightly closed his fists and instantly gritted his teeth when he saw the guy looked at his direction. Their eyes met. He was sure it was him. The guy was looking at him fiercely making him shiver in anger.

As if the guy wanted to exasperate Jiyong more, he threw him an irritating smug smile. Jiyong clenched his right fist even tighter. He slid his phone in his pocket and darted towards the guy’s direction, wanting to catch him and strangle him with his own hands. The guy gnashed his teeth and dashed off the crowd, jostling. Jiyong then scurried to run after him. He also roughly pushed anyone and anything that would block his way and smacked them down. He was running against the flow of human crowds not minding whether he would hurt and injure anybody he would bump into, all he thought of was to catch the guy. The latter was already getting farther away from him when someone suddenly gave him a short sharp blow to the back of his neck. It was unexpected and was a really hard chop that he instantly felt weak and dizzy. His knees were shaking, his body was trembling. He still tried to make a step and balance his body; unfortunately he stumbled and fell to the ground. He heard the crowd screeched hysterically. That was a fatal blow, but he couldn’t let himself die that easy without even finishing his business. He tried to move his arms but he couldn’t. It’s as if he got paralyzed. He bit his lower lip and gritted his teeth both in frustration and anger. He clutched his palm tight. He wanted to stand up and continue in chasing the guy; he should not let him flee. Again, he slowly moved his hands and wobbly placed it on the ground to prop himself in standing up. His body was still feeble. He was already on his knees, shaking, when two pair of feet—one pair in black leather military ankle combat boots fastened with punk goth stud, and the other pair in black casual high-top lace-up shoes—came up into his side.

“Still alive?” Asked one of the two guys standing beside Jiyong. The latter was about to lift his head up to look to the man, but he was suddenly kicked by the one wearing studded boots really hard in the stomach that made Jiyong gnarl his body and growl in pain. As if it wasn’t enough, the guy also kicked him in the face that made Jiyong kiss the ground. Blood run through his nose. The crowed screeched again. Some gasped in pity, others gasped in fear. Everyone was startled; everyone wanted to help him but was afraid to. They were all afraid of the two juvenile delinquents standing beside Jiyong who both togged up in cool fashion like young thugs in movies. The guy who kicked Jiyong was sporting a fearlessly styled wardrobe of eclectic and studded statement accessories—from his badass leather jacket to hip-hop headwear. While the other guy who was holding a baseball bat in his left hand was wearing draped tops, fitted trousers, leather outerwear and voluminous capes accessorized with bold bandanas covering his face and luxe leather ball caps—an impeccably layered looks that looked effortlessly edgy.

“Sorry dude, but we gotta do this.” Said the guy holding a bat, and smirked. He gripped the bat tightly and raised it up. He was about to swing it and hit Jiyong when he suddenly got stoned in the back of his head. The guy jolted his head. He grumbled in pain and patted the injured part of his head. He then felt a warm liquid streamed from his head down to his nape. He slowly took his hands off from his head and looked to it.

“!” He rumbled as he saw a lot of blood in his palm.

The crowd was terrified with what they saw; the guy in leather jacket was alarmed either.

“Somebody call an ambulance, quick!” Cried a middle-aged woman in the crowd.

“We need the security here. Call the security! Call the security!” Cried another woman.

“Who the was it?!?” Asked the injured guy furiously. He looked to the crowd fiercely and roamed his eyes.

Jiyong slowly lift his head up and shifted his eyes to the crowd too, curious to know who that person was.

A little voice was then heard squalled.

“Do—don’t h—hurt hyung! Don’t hurt h—him!”

Jiyong got really stunned when he saw who the owner of the voice was. It was him—the little boy whom he had given a cake a while ago was there, trembling behind her equally terrified mother who was trying to keep the boy’s mouth shut with her hand.

“So, it was you. Huh!” The guy vexingly said.

The little boy’s mother got more terrified now that the guy was going to their direction.

“Oh please…please. Don’t. My son didn’t mean to do it.” The mother tearfully begged. The guy just smirked, gripped his bat tighter and swung it higher. The mother screamed so loud and tried to flee with her son.

“Run honey! Run!”

The crowd couldn’t do anything but scream and run as well. Nobody had the guts to save the mother and son from the two young thugs. The crowd was so frightened that they got in frenzied rush wanting to escape and be out of that place.

Because of the stampede, the little boy bumped to everybody else, so he stumbled and fell to the ground. The mother immediately lifted him up and carried him. Just as soon as she was about to run again with her son, the guy was already at their back ready to hit them with the bat.

“No, please. No!” Cried the mother soaked with tears.

Jiyong clutched his fist tighter and stood up unsteady.

“S—stop…stop!” He mumbled.

The guy in leather jacket heard him and looked to him. He gritted his teeth when he saw Jiyong already standing. The guy closed his fist and tried to knock Jiyong down, but the latter parried and the guy missed. Jiyong then quickly grabbed the guy’s arm and pulled closer to him and instantly gave the guy a really hard strike in the throat which made the latter spit some blood. The guy couldn’t breathe and gradually lost his consciousness. That was indeed a deadly crippling throat strike. Jiyong knew it. He knew he shouldn’t do it and should have been careful in using it, but he lost his control. He couldn’t let innocent people be implicated in this situation.

Jiyong looked to the mother and son again. They were just an inch away from being hit with the bat. He ran and tried to save them but someone beat him in doing it. A guy swiftly ran into them and gave the guy with the bat a 540 Jumping Spinning Circular Roundhouse Kick. Jiyong was surprised. It was so fast that he just saw the guy with the bat already lying on the ground, almost losing his consciousness.

“Never hurt a woman and a kid.” Uttered coldly by the guy.

Jiyong creased his eyebrows, wondering who the guy was. It was his first time seeing him, and he was sure he was not like him nor from where he belongs. The guy shifted his look to Jiyong. Their eyes met. It was as if they were asking or talking to each other in their minds. Mental telepathy as it is called.

The guy stepped towards Jiyong. When the guy was about to speak few steps away from him, something from his peripheral vision made Jiyong look to his left. The guy looked to the same direction he was looking. They both saw a tall man looking at them. He was few meters away from them. He then raised his right hand holding a flower, and dropped it on the ground. He then smirked. It was as if he was sending Jiyong a message that really angered the hell out of him more. The guy then turned his back and walked away. Jiyong was about to follow the man but the guy who helped him suddenly hold his arm.

“Hey…”

“You don’t know how much time I am losing now because of this drama of yours busy body, but thank you.” Said Jiyong as he away the guy’s hand from his arm quite hardly. He then turned his back from him and looked for the tall man, but he was nowhere to find anymore.

“!”

“To the lake.” The guy said. Jiyong looked at him.

“He’s heading to the lake.”

Jiyong then turned his look to the direction the guy was saying, and there he saw the man just a second before he was gone on the crowd again. He looked to the guy again and nodded as if he was thanking him, then sprinted towards the direction the man went to.

The man knew that Jiyong was already behind him, so he ran. Jiyong then went wild as if he turned into a scary beast, two-fisted, chasing after his running prey, shoving all that was blocking his way.

He must catch him, he thought, in any and every way possible. Jiyong was afraid that should the guy escape he would lose HER forever. She was all that he had and that he would do everything just to let her have the kind of life he could never have. He would never let anybody, especially THEM, own the LIFE that was hers.

The Reavers—the real Life Thieves of the real world compared to those ones in the world he was living in—take others’ lives and live in luxury. Furtive lives must it be called.

He would never let any of them have her vitals and viscera and own them as theirs. They could never have and taste her blood either.

The prey turned its head, looked back but still running away from the chasing beast and gave the latter a defiant smile—as if telling the chaser he could never catch him no matter what.

---

 

          “Aaah! It hurts.” Said Dara, her buttocks that slumped onto the ground. Her eyes were searching for the guy she saw, not looking on her way, so she bumped to the girl, just a little taller than her, running to her direction.

“You really are a klutz.” Nagged Bom as she helped her to stand.

“I was not looking on my way.”

“Well, even when you’re looking you still always bump to anybody stumble and fall. Pity you.”

“You really are a true friend. I’m touched.” Dara said sarcastically and crooked her nose.

Bom just smirked and rolled eyes. Her eyes then landed to the girl slumping on the ground, quite shaking; she seemed a little scared.

Dara was still checking on her clothes whether she got untidy when her friend shook her arm gently.

“What?”

Bom then looked to the girl’s direction. Dara turned her head slowly. The girl was already on her knees, looking to them, tears starting to form in her eyes. She clasped her two palms and started to beg; tears running down on her cheeks.

“Sorry. I’m so sorry. Do---don’t hurt me. P---please don’t hurt me.”

The two wondered. Their brows met, their foreheads creased. They looked to each other and looked to the girl again. Confused, Dara quickly stepped forward to the girl.

“Ah…are you hurt?” She asked.

“I’m sorry. Please, don’t hurt me.” Answered the girl.

Dara looked to her face pityingly. She didn’t know why but she wanted to touch her, to hold her. She slowly bent her body towards the girl and gently held the latter by the arm. The girl fidgeted when she felt her touch.

“Unnie…I’m so sorry. Don’t hurt me…please.” Cried the girl.

Dara gave her a soft smile.

“I won’t hurt you. Don’t worry. It’s alright.”

With genuine care, she helped her to stand. She held her more tightly but more gentle. Dara felt that the girl became calmer. With her touch, she already knew what the girl was scared of and what she needed. She knew that the girl before her was no normal. She was not like her, her friend Bom, or some other girls that she knew. She was the kind of girl that needed not only affection and care but protection and understanding as well.

“Are you hurt?” Dara asked again more gently.

The girl shook her head, not looking to her eyes. Her face still soaked with tears.

Dara got her pink cottony-soft hanky from the pocket of her baseball sweater, tied around her waist, and dabbed the girl’s tears.

“It’s alright. Unnie won’t hurt you.”

Bom went near Dara and leaned to her ear.

“Mentally disable…or Men---tally…ill?” She whispered, pertaining to the girl before them.

Dara elbowed her friend’s stomach and gave her a glare. Bom’s eyes widened; wonder-stricken with her own question either. Her brows furrowed.  She pouted her round lips and pressed it with the back of her pointer and middle fingers that formed a peace sign. She knew she became tactless again. She really could not trust sometimes. Disappointed with herself, she strongly flicked her lips with her middle finger that made her head shrink back in pain.

“Aww…” She shrieked quietly with her eyes closed.  She then her lips with her fingers.

“P---pretty.” The girl whispered.

Dara’s hand stopped from dabbing the girl’s tears. She didn’t hear her clearly, so she raised her brows.

“Unnie. Pretty. Pretty unnie. You are…pretty.” The girl said bashfully but more loudly. She just kept on looking on the ground with her hands at her back, holding each other. Dara was taken aback. She was surprised with what the girl just said. She felt shy. Her cheeks turned red. She couldn’t help but to give a timid smile, as if it was her first time hearing those words. Of course it wasn’t the first time. She was always told that by many. With her soft silky brunette hair, milky white skin, beautiful pointed nose, small oval face, almond eyes and thick soft angled-low arch brows and cute bow-shaped lips, her beauty was oft-praised despite her petite figure. But with this girl before her, the praise sounded different. It seemed more sincere, more honest; an appreciation of real beauty seen not only by the eyes but also by the heart.

“Thank you.” She timidly answered. “You too. You are pretty. Very pretty.” She told the girl as she continued dabbing her face.

It was the girl then that blushed and gave a timid smile. She got a cute round face, full round lips, pointed round nose and round Asian eyes. The girl was indeed pretty with unique charms comparable to Mulan, only she got short black hair with bangs and that her skin was fair unlike the tanned-skin Disney character.

Bom was in awe hearing the praises of the two to each other. She couldn’t believe they complimented each other, telling they were both pretty. How on earth could they express their admiration to each other that easy and be shy after? She found it really awkward. And what’s more awkward was, she was also there, just beside them, but they didn’t heed her presence and more importantly her beauty was not even regarded. What did they think of her, a drawing? She knew she looked like a living-doll with her long y honey legs and gorgeous facial features, but she’s a real human—just that she looked like a goddess—they shouldn’t disregard her, the living proof of a perfect creation of the Almighty one, just like that.

In synchronous with the breeze, Bom flipped her hair, turning her head left and right as if she was filming a shampoo commercial. She then tucked some of her hair behind her left ear, blinked her big eyes a couple of times and hemmed. She did then catch their attention. They looked at her, wondering.

“Uhm…I don’t often ask others about this because I’m a modest one, but you see…” Bom started. “Well, it’s already obvious and many people had already told me about it—”

“What are you saying Bom?” Dara intruded.

Bom looked at Dara with her eyes dilated.

“What I’m trying to say is…what do you two think of me?”

“What?” Dara could not understand what she was trying to say.

The girl was just staring at her not getting her point either.

“I mean…” Bom then hissed out of frustration and looked to the girl. “Aish, ya! You, do you think I’m also pretty? Well, many people already told me I really am pretty, your answer won’t really matter to me…just you know…”

The girl just stared at her blankly. Dara couldn’t suppress her laughter after hearing out her best friend’s words.

“Seriously, Bommie-a! Aish! Where on earth did you get the nerve to ask that? I never knew you’re that conceited until now. I felt like wanting to be just swallowed by a sink hole after hearing you asked that.” She said in between her laughs.

Bom curled up her upper lip and rolled her eyes. She went more near to the girl, stood before her and looked at her eyes.

“Look at my face.” She told the girl. “What do you see? An angel? A beauty? Perfection? What? C’mon. Don’t be shy. Just say it.” She continued while blinking her big eyes again and dabbing her face with her palms.

The girl just remained silent, staring at her.

“Oh, what? Can’t describe the perfection you’re seeing in words? I do understand. It’s really difficult to describe. I’m also like that whenever I look at the mirror.”

“Well she has the right to remain silent. It’s the best thing to do to not put yourself in sure jeopardy, Bommie-ah. And better not to say anything than to tell lies, right?” Teased Dara.

Bom then got peeved on her friend’s teasing that she didn’t help herself from threatening her.

“Ah! I hate you Darong. I would really tell Jaejoong we went here and rode the Gyro Drop once we got home. You sure are a dead meat.” She laughed so evilly.

“Ya! You try and we both would be slaughtered. You won’t have the chance to date Tabi oppa anymore.” Dara said, pertaining to Jaejoong’s best friend that Bom has a crush on, with her eyes squinting like how a naughty kid teases a playmate. She even smiled smugly; sure that she beat Bom out into that.

“Argh!! Darong!!” Bom exclaimed as she couldn’t say anything anymore. Bom was already losing her temper. Her face can’t be painted anymore. She creased her nose and looked at the girl again. The latter was still staring at her blankly. They just remained like that, looking to each other’s face. Shortly, the girl moved her hands and held Bom’s small but chubby face. She was just looking at Bom’s eyes.

“Ah…what now?” Bom asked.

The girl blinked her eyes a few times.

“What?” Bom asked again.

“It’s…it’s blurry.” The girl answered.

“What?”

“You’re face…your face is vanishing.” Said the girl who was already turning quite shocked and scared.

“What do you mean vanishing?” Bom asked confusedly.

Dara could not understand what the girl was saying either.

“It…it hurts. It hurts.” The girl said with tears starting to form in her eyes again.

“What hurts?” Bom looked to Dara as if asking her what the girl was saying, but her friend just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

The girl released Bom’s face from her hands and held her own head, screaming.

“It hurts. It hurts so much.” Pain was painted on the girl’s face. Tears running down on her cheeks.

Dara and Bom panicked. They didn’t know what was happening. The girl slumped on the ground again and started to scream more loudly.

“Hey! What’s the matter? Why? What hurts?” Dara asked when she knelt down beside her.

“What? Do you need pills? Pain killer? What?” Bom was already kneeling down beside them as well.

“Blurry. Blurry…painful. It hurts. It hurts.” The girl continued to cry.

“I don’t get what she’s saying Dara.”

“I don’t either. What did you tell her? What kind of voodoo did you do to her? Why did she become like this?”

“Ya! I didn’t do anything. She was just looking at me and I was just asking her.”

“You asked her a very difficult question for her to answer maybe.”

“What difficult are you saying there, huh?” Just when Bom was about to turn her head to her friend, somebody forcefully pushed her from the two and strongly threw her away that made her crash to a food stall. She hit and hurt her back and head and bounced back to the ground lying down. Food scattered on the ground. People were in horror when they saw what happened. Others were screaming.

Dara was terrified seeing her best friend crashed to a food stall, got hurt. She was unable to speak. She was just gasping, couldn’t say a word. She could see Bom’s nose and lips bleeding. She also got lots of bruises. With shaking knees, Dara got up. She was about to run and go to her friend’s side when she heard the girl scream. Her jaw dropped when she saw the girl being dragged away by the man who hurt Bom.  Dara didn’t know what to do. For a moment, she was stuck in her place thinking whether to follow and save the girl or help her best friend.

“Let me go! Let me go! Unnie, help me. Please, help me!” She heard the girl squalling.

Dara looked to Bom. She was really hurt and even shaking, but she was trying to get up from the ground. Dara quickly ran to her.

“Are you alright?” She asked as she helped her stand. Bom nodded. “Just stay here. I’ll just help her.” Knowing that her friend would not allow her to follow and help the girl, Dara quickly ran away from Bom.

“You…little punk! C---come…back here!!” Bom tried to call Dara back but she was so weak that she could barely shout. The crowd was staring at her. She was left alone, not standing straight, her right hand in her hip and left hand holding the back of her head.