CHAPTER TWENTY - -

- - nightmare

"Will your parents be awake?" I asked Minho nervously as we approached the farmhouse. It was a large one at that and I widened my eyes as it came closer. It could surely match the size of suburban house, one in one of the fancier parts of the country. All around the house was land, cultivated land and I got the feeling that Minho was actually more well off than what I'd thought.

Well, could you blame me? He'd been wounded in an alleyway when I'd found him. He'd had nothing on him too back then. 

A warning would've been nice.

"My parents would've been up for at least an hour now," he grinned, "They wake up as soon as the sun rises really."

Well, that made sense. Besides, I was sure that there was a rooster or two that woke them at the crack of dawn.

Or was that just a stereotype? I guess I'll find out soon enough, won't I?

We were on the front porch before I really registered and Minho pulled me towards a door. I felt myself wanting to resist, but how exactly could I explain that? Did I tell him how scared I was now?

Why did it feel like I lived in my life in fear anyway?

First my parents, then Sulli and now Minho's parents.

Would fear follow me for my entire life?

I had no time to question as we were inside the house and Minho was calling out.

I froze.

There was no turning away now, was there?

"Mom, dad? I'm home!"

That's when I heard footsteps.

Breathe.

Breathe.

It'll all be ok.

"Minho?" the voice sounded so uncertain, as though they'd heard a ghost. Well, I would be cautious too. If I were his parents, I'd probably be armed because our son wasn't meant to be home yet and if he was home, he would've let us known if he was coming home, wouldn't he?

"I'm in the entrance hall," Minho replied excitedly, seemingly oblivious to the hesitance in his parent's voices.

"Son?" and the owner of the voice came into view.

It was his mother, an elegantly aged woman who couldn't be older than 50. She had a petite figure and I was tempted to believe that I was taller than her. But how on earth had she kept her skin so young looking? She barely had any wrinkles.

Mrs Choi's eyes lit up as soon as they fell on Minho and she raced over, embracing him tightly. He soon returned the gesture and I couldn't help but smile at the reunion. You could tell that she'd missed her  son -  a lot. I almost felt out of place at this reunion. I felt like I wasn't supposed to be here, especially since Minho had let go of my hand as soon as his mother had embraced him.

"What's all the commotion?"

And that was his dad.

His dad was a tall man, probably where Minho got his height from, and he was lean from his years as a farmer. His skin was nicely tanned and I could tell that he'd been an attractive man when he was younger. Well, at least now I could see that Minho was going to age well, if his parents were anything to go by.

Mr Choi noticed his son immediately and his lips curved into a smile, "You're back? Why didn't you tell us?" he asked cheerfully as he strode to Minho and patted his shoulder. Minho's smile simply widened at the action and I could see that he sought after his father's approval quite heavily.

"Sorry, we had some... problems," Minho began to explain as his eyes slowly motioned towards me, "So we couldn't really call in advance. We came in quite a hurry."

His parents noticed me.

I froze at their expressionless faces, waiting for them to morph into scowls of distaste. Their son had brought a city girl home, without warning and one that probably looked as though she'd fallen from a tree.

But they...

Smiled.

"Mom, dad," I could hear the pride in Minho's voice, "Meet Jung Krystal." He took my hand again, now free from his mom's grip, "My girlfriend."

My eyes widened exponentially at this. I hadn't been expecting him to announce it so soon. I quickly remembered my manners and bowed politely, keeping my head lowered for longer than I should in order to avoid seeing their faces.

"So we finally get to meet her!"

Today was just full of surprises, wasn't it?

"Finally meet me?" I repeated in surprise. They'd known about me beforehand?

"Did you really think that I wouldn't have told my parents about you?" Minho asked as though I'd gone insane, "Taemin let me us his phone to call my parents every week. Of course they know about you, they even encouraged me to bring you here if I could," his grin was wide, "See, this is why I told you not to worry earlier."

So he wasn't quite a mind reader, but boy did he have foresight.

Meanwhile, I was mentally slapping myself. Of course he would've found a way to contact his parents. Just because he'd seemed like a lost puppy that first week, didn't mean that he was one. For all my brains, I could be really stupid at times.

Mrs Choi approached me first and placed both of her hands on my shoulders. Her eyes were kind, very, very kind and I felt at ease.

"You really are pretty," she said softly as her eyes scanned my appearance, "My son knows how to pick them."

"He takes after me, what do you expect?" Mr Choi chimed in playfully.

Mrs Choi laughed and rolled her eyes, "But you two must be starving! Come, come, it's time for breakfast anyway."

And just like that, I'd been accepted.

- - - - -

In small towns, especially farming communities, everyone knows everyone.

And so, everyone knew Kwon Yuri.

Her dad was the local potato farmer and her mother was a former beauty queen.

Kwon Yuri was not only known due to the town's size, but because of her beauty too.

But beauty has many, many flaws.

Obsession.

- - - - -

All the boys had a crush on Yuri. It was something as commonly known as the weather. So, needless to say, I had a crush on her.

But Yuri, she liked all of the attention she received, but she never abused it. I never heard of her ever asking someone to do her homework or telling someone to leave her alone. She was almost too nice for her own good really.

I guess that was just one of her charms.

I was just lucky because our fathers were good friends.

I got to see her more than most and I got to see her out of school.

We used to hang out a lot, playing hide and seek, riding horses and causing mischief. Those had really been some of the best days of my life. While I liked her, we were best friends and I'd been content with that. She confided in me and trusted me, what more could I want?

She told me everything, even when she was on her period. I didn't really find it weird, it just helped me understand when she'd snap or why she'd need to go to the bathroom so often.

She'd even let me read some of the confession letters she'd get.

We were fifteen when she received 'that letter'.

It'd been written with blood.

- - - - -

"Minho! Please, help me!"

Yuri was being kidnapped.

Holy hell that creep was actually kidnapping her.

I struggled to my feet before I began chasing after them. Yuri and I had been out walking when he'd knocked me on the head and slung her over his shoulder. He'd come from behind... I hadn't heard him moving until he'd hit me. Luckily, he hadn't knocked me out so I could still save her.

I needed to save her.

I ran, as fast as my legs would. I'd lost sight of them due to my injury, but I knew where to find them. There was only one place in this town that you could hide and unfortunately for him, I knew where it was.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that I should call for help, but there was no time. I needed to get to her.

Who knew what he'd do to her?

I groaned as my head began to pound. What on earth had he hit me with?

"No! Stop!"

Yuri's screams were enough to blind me from the pain.

I was at the scene in seconds and what I saw brought raw rage to my body.

He was trying to her.

With an anguished cry, I jumped and tackled him off of her. We rolled and rolled, both trying to dominate the other. But I'd had the element of surprise and I managed to sit on top of him.

I was punching him before I could even tell myself to.

And I didn't stop.

"Minho! Stop!" 

I couldn't.

Rage took over. 

How could he do this to her? To her of all people? She'd never hurt anyone. She didn't deserve this.

But he did.

"Minho! Stop, please!" Yuri was screaming somewhere at the back of my mind.

Not even she could stop me.

...

"He's..."

Dead.

- - - - -

"Minho? Are you ok? You're sweating buckets and whimpering in your sleep?"

"Yeah... it was just a nightmare. Don't stress."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

...

But some nightmares are a reality.

Well, I'm pretty sure you can all guess what happened to Minho :3 So there, his secret >< I hope it's not too weird and that you all still love him after this <3 There isn't too much left of this story, another three, four chapters at most! Thank you for all the support! I appreciate it so, so much!