▲▼ CHAPTER 24 // SCARS 

( A/N : Slightly gruesome action (bloods). Read at your own risk. )

     Everything came to a still as your eyes were stuck onto the dark shadow. He came flying from nowhere, surprising everyone with a kick right onto one of men's stomach, allowing him to let out a grunt and collapsed to the ground. He moved so swiftly that you imagined him as a ninja. Right after the kick, he relentlessly continued to fight the other men. Slowly letting them collapse one by one as they suffered the huge pain from his punch. You snapped from your own thoughts as you took the opportunity to rush to Anthea, scurriedly pulling the tight rope to reveal her swollen wrists and took away the ragged cloth in . She allowed her body to lean onto you as her warm fingers tightened around your waist, her other hand rubbing your back to soothe you. For once, you felt how love was.

         You looked upwards and saw how the leading man was still fighting with this certain person. As if planned, a ray of sublight came through the opening of the narrow alley as it allowed you to see much better. Your heart stopped and your jaw dropped to the ground as you saw the guy. The similar honey brown tousled hair and prominent jawline told you it was Daehyun.

         He grunted under his breath as he attacked the man with his effortless punch, his face scrunching upwards which his veins which could be seen prominently onto his temples. But the man wasn't going to be seen as weak while he threw a kick onto Daehyun's stomach, letting him crumble to the ground. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't want you to be involved in all of these. I can't lose my grand daughter." She spoke, her dry and hoarse voice could be heard as you slowly helped her up while holding her arm. Within seconds, the other men got onto their feet as they steadily made their way to Daehyun, locking their arms with him and stopping him. Daehyun looked up as you met his eyes, that were full of concern and sympathy. Without any second to lose, you tried to get away with Anthea while dragging her and hoping that it was not late to get out of the area. A loud and sharp sound of a handgun shot off alerted your attention as your eyes widened - without any mercy, Anthea allowed her body to collapse onto the floor as she fell with a loud thud.

         You could have sworn that your heart stopped beating for a second and your legs were still rooted on the spot. You turned slowly and soon, your eyes met the unforgiving sight. There laid Anthea lifelessly as a pool of blood kept gushing out from her chest, staining her beautiful cream colored shirt. Your lips trembled yet again while your legs gave in, letting your knees to fall onto the ground. You were overwhelmed with feelings and your mind was empty, not believing the scene before your eyes.

         Right before another fight broke off again, the high pitched sound of the Police siren went off followed by a loud screeching sound of wet tyres. Without hesitation, the men got onto their feet with full enthusiasm as they took their slender legs out of the narrow alley. You were too traumatized to even notice any chaos happening. You couldn't get a grasp of what just happened and so they you were, kneeling before the cold floor with your eyes b with tears as you looked onto Anthea's wise face. Daehyun held onto his stomach as he hurried to your aid, shooking your shoulder vigorously but you weren't able to react to him. One by one, your tears fell unwillingly while damping onto your cheeks, your hands shaking Anthea's arm and calling her name to wake her up. She kept lying onto the cold floor, unable to respond to you and you got upset.

         You knew she was still alive since you saw how her chest heaved upwards slightly but deep inside, you knew she was long gone. "I need you to wake up and help me get away from this nightmare, Anthea!!" You screamed your lungs out, calling her name minute after minute. Daehyun had his eyes on you as he saw how broken you were and he couldn't help but to hold you, whispering into your ear that everything would be fine and that the nightmare would be over. He too was upset to see how your sadness had took over you. That evening, the Police eventually found out about the scene and the both of you spent your night in the Police Office to answer some questions. You weren't co-operating that well with the officers ever since the incident. Right after they placed you inside the instigation room, you were still as a statue eventhough they kept bombing you with questions. Your mind was blank and empty, nothing allowed you to process the statements they questioned.

         You stared onto the surface of the table, fiddling with your hands and tilting your head slightly to the side. The doorknob clicked and a slender man entered the room, holding one file into his grip as he cleared his throat. He took out his hand from his deep pocket as he sat down before you, dragging the wooden chair outwards. Surprisingly, you didn't even realised that he entered the room till he placed the folder right on top of the table. "Let's talk." He called out, interlacing his fingers together and placing them on the table. You looked up, only to see the familiar rosy cheeks amd jet black hair. "Start with something easy, do you know the group of men?" Youngjae questioned, opening the folder as he took out a ball point pen from the pocket of his shirt and clicked it.

         You kept silent.

         He then shrugged, letting out a huge sigh. "Were you involved in this gang activity?" You tried to process whatever that he had just said which allowed your eyes to widen and your arms to be folded across your chest. Youngjae then raised his eyebrows with a slight curiosity as he straightened his back, anticipating your answer. You scoffed and tried to widen your swollen eyes. "Are you assuming that I tried to kill my own grandmother?" You raised your voice as your burning stare bored into his eyes. He held his finger right in front, "I'm just asking. Anything is possible." His sentence ticked you off as you could feel your anger piling up and overwhelming yourself. You stomped your palm onto the table as you stood up, kicking the chair away from you. "Are you ing kidding me, Youngjae? Those guys killed my grandmother and you should be hunting them down, not asking stupid questions at this hour!" You were boiling with anger. How was it possible that he was able to assume that you were involved in the incident and had made a scene. It was already too much for you to handle and yet, the problems kept piling one by one. You were already at your limit and you've had enough, you just wanted to go home and bury yourself under your own covers.

         You kept hitting the the table while Youngjae tried to hold you down. "Give her a break, man." You heard a deep voice calling out from the side. Then, you were dragged out from the investigation room while you settled down onto the chair with your palms covering your face. "Hey, listen to me." Daehyun got a hold of your wrist, shooking it slightly but you pulled it away to cover your face. Tears overwhelmed the brims of your eyes and your heart ached terribly. Daehyun then held your shoulders, allowing your body to tilt the other way. His almond eyes narrowed at you and he bit his lower lip. "It's hard huh?" Your lips trembled and you fiddled with your jeans, staring into Daehyun's eyes. "I need you to co-operate with them since this will help them alot to find those guys. Please.." He begged and you witnessed how his eyes were sincerely pleading you. "I want to see you fight for this and be strong."

         Thankfully, you decided to continue with the interview - get it over and done with. Youngjae was much careful this time, trying his best not to touch onto any sensitive questions. He too, felt horrible seeing how you had acted before and he didn't want you to be feeling that way again. As the dark night settled in, you were finally done with the interview that lasted almost a solid hour. You trudged your way out of the room with your head hung low as you saw Daehyun waiting for you near the entrance. It was already dark and you decided to walk back home. Without a doubt, Daehyun readily stood beside you as he walked you back home together to make sure you were safe. He was full of worry knowing the fact that you insisted on staying a night in his house since it might be dangerous for you to live alone in the two storey building. He didn't like the thought of you spending the time alone but he somehow understood that you needed it. The journey back home was full of silence whereby each of you didn't even feel awkward.

         That day, Daehyun had the chance to feel how your mood was complementary to his - the heavy atmosphere that surrounded you had buried him inside of it too and it made him feel miserable. The sounds of your wet shoes stomping onto the damped grass and pavement filled the silence as the both of you had your head hung low and your hands buried deep into your pockets. As soon as you saw the house, you whinced and whimpered. Daehyun then walked you to the front door, "Are you sure you're fine all alone?" His doe-like eyes widened which you saw the glint of worry that he had and he bit his inner cheek. You stared at him lifelessly, nodding your head and turned to close the door but Daehyun stopped it before you were able to do so. He let out a sigh, "Please be careful." You saw the sincerity that he had in his eyes - how serious his tone was showed that he meant what he had just said. You nodded and stood behind the door, watching over Daehyun's back till he vanished through the darkness. Right when he was gone, you could feel your legs trembling as it then collapsed to the cold ground. You pulled your legs closer to your chest and tears started to overwhelm your eyes. You wiped it off but it successfully came rolling down onto your cheeks. From that moment on, you were officially alone as you felt small and weak.

         Truthfully, you didn't allowed yourself to keep high hopes on finding your grandmother and you were more than prepared knowing that she might not even exist anymore. But never did you expect that she would die in your own hands. Till now, it felt like everything was a bad dream which you desperately want to wake up from. You sat there blankly, staring into space while your thoughts gathered by themselves. Now, there's a reason for you to not live anymore. What made your heart ached the most was to see how Anthea was suffering severely before any of the incident happened. It was selfish for you to not make a move and eventually try to find out the problem before any of these had happened. You were furious at yourself as you screamed out loud, the whole house shook and your voice echoed. Why must you live like this? For once you thought everything would eventually be fine and you would have a chance to lead yourself into a normal life again but it seemed as if life took your words as a joke.

         You choked onto your own tears, stomping your way through the kitchen and ransacked the whole area. You opened the drawers one by one, teeth gritting amongst each other. Your eyes gave off a fiery stare as you saw the pen knife lying right under the first drawer and took it into your bare hands. Then, you clicked the pen upwards to reveal the thin yet sharp and shiny piece of knife. During times like this, it was your best friend. A small smile creeped up onto the end of your lips and you felt yourself overwhelmed with a mixture of anger and sadness. You took the handle into your grip and clenched your fingers into a tight fist where your veins immediately popped out obviously. The recent slits that you made on your wrist had already recovered ever since and it started to fade away, only scars could be seen. You sighed a little, it felt empty without having the slits seen on your wrist. Taking the sharp end of the pen knife, you forcefully dugged it deep into the skin of your wrist and dragging it outwards to create a vivid line. Brick-red coloured bloods came bursting out from your veins as it slowly dripped down your arm. You let out a small whimper and a grunt, clenching your fist yet again as the blood continued to spurt out from the wound.

         Taking another huge breath, you held the pen knife closer to the edge as you scratched your upper skin - revealing the small cut. Beads of bloods slowly rose from the wound as it covered your whole wrist. For a whole minute, you took a breath and felt your head dozing off. Because of the loss of blood, the dizziness kicked in and you had to regain your consciousness. Looking at the wrist that was facing upwards, a small tear escaped from the brims of your eye.

         Nobody understood this. Nobody ever did.

         It was something that you would call a remedy for yourself but torture for the others. You were often being teased at because of slashing your wrists - they thought it was something that would eventually turn you to become mentally unstable. A sense of remedy, that was what it is. Every slash counts. Each stray line represented your agony and your toubled thoughts that you were never able to knot it into words to anybody else. You had nobody to turn to and when a drip of blood stained your wrist, you felt the satisfactory sensation. It was as if a part of your agony was gone and you greed for more. The night ended that way for you - endlessly creating small yet define scratches onto your wrists - but not for the hero, Daehyun.

did you guys realised I changed my name? hehe

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