The first thing I came to be aware of after I jolted awake was the pain – I felt it everywhere; in my back, in my arms, in my legs…and in my head, that seemed to be in the worst condition by far – a throbbing headache was accompanied with a large bruise that covered about half of my face, and a couple of smaller bruises that currently resided on the back of my head.

I let out a small groan, and then another one when I realized where I was. The third one – the one I released after the memories of the last night suddenly came rushing back - was more a scream of frustration than an actual groan. I caught myself wishing that the ground would instantly crack opened and swallowed me whole, so I would never have to deal with that sadistic bastard again. I had managed to heavily embarrass myself on quite a few occasions until now, but never so severely than the last night –the mere thought of it made me shudder.

I was planning on my next step – get out of bed, get dressed, somehow leave the house without meeting Jongin (probably impossible, but at least I had to try) – when the door of the guest room suddenly swung open and in came the last person I currently (or ever) wanted to see.

I hastily averted my gaze from his dark eyes that were sparkling with amusement (what else is new?), while trying to divert my face from adopting a darker shade of red. Pats of conversation we had had last night were swirling through my mind, deepening my already deep feeling of embarrassment. I really didn’t have enough of energy to be dealing with this ...

“I honestly had no idea it is even possible for a human being to look so horrible.” was the first think the sadistic bastard decided to share with me, his face decorated with semi-mocking and semi-amused smirk that I – by the way – found extremely repulsive. “You should be proud of yourself freak – you’re breaking the record.” he added as he nonchalantly sat down on the edge of my bed before he unconcernedly put a glass of water and two round white pills onto the nightstand.  

“I thought we agreed that you are going to stop being rude to me.” I said dryly, trying to ignore the fact that he was probably right. I hadn’t yet get the opportunity to check myself in the mirror, but I was nevertheless pretty sure that my attractiveness level was currently somewhere near zombie’s.

“I am not being rude.” retorted Jongin calmly, his smirk still intact. “I’m being realistic. Check yourself in the mirror if you don’t believe me.”

“Right.” I replied lamely, simply because I didn’t know what else to say. My almost-unlimited collection of snarky remarks and curse words insidiously let me down this time – probably because my throbbing headache (I drank way too much to not suffer any consequence) created a chaos of unconnected words I couldn’t properly put into sentences inside my head. The embarrassment mixed with the general lack of energy didn’t much contribute to the problem either.

Sadistic bastard – despite all of my expectations – didn’t make an offensive comment but instead stayed quiet, staring at me with a serious expression on his face and slightly furrowed eyebrows.  He actually seemed sincerely worried when he asked; “Are you okay?”

I subconsciously narrowed my eyes, directing a very much suspicious glare at him. I didn’t believe in the purity of that question, not even for a second, not at all. He was playing with my head again - that was the only possible explanation. Except if he actually… no, I certainly couldn’t afford to think that way.

“This is very uncharacteristic of you to ask.” I pointed out accusingly, my eyes still narrowed in suspicion.

The transformation into his usual self happened incredibly fast. He wore a serious pondering expression one moment and the very next his lips were once again curled upwards into his typical self confident and highly amused smile. “Oh really?” he wondered mockingly. “Well, news flash freak - you don’t really know me. So you are obviously not the right person to judge whether something is uncharacteristic of me or not.”

“I know you well enough – unfortunately – to tell that you are a sadistic , whose favorite activities include toying with people. And that is precisely what you’re doing right now, don’t you? Playing with my head?” I inquired, trying to ignore the sudden wave of anger that came rushing towards me. Why was this bastard so entirely incapable of respecting a deal? I massaged my head – that sadist somehow managed to make my already horrible headache even worse.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are way too smart for your own good, freak?” smiled Jongin, his eyes boring holes through me with intensity that already bordered on creepy. I had an uncomfortable feeling that he knew exactly what I was thinking and since he somehow seemed to be able to ‘read my mind’ (or whatever you would like to call it) I didn’t doubt that was true – which obviously didn’t make me feel much better.

“Has anyone ever told you that promises are meant to be kept?” I hissed back angrily, reminding him of the fact that we had agreed on two very simple points; first – that he would stop being rude to me, and second – that he would stop playing games with me.

“I saved you from a drunk and let you stay here over night.” stated Jongin nonchalantly, not breaking eye contact for a single moment. I already proceeded on opening my mouth in order to mention that that didn’t have any connection with the current subject what so ever, when he continued:  “And as you so nicely pointed out – I’m not a saint, I don’t do favors for free.”

I slightly raised my eyebrows at those words, even though I wasn’t really surprised by his statement. He had honestly screwed me over so many times that nothing could properly shock me anymore. Frustrate me? sure. Made me want to push him off the roof? definitely. But shock me… Well, perhaps I shouldn’t claim that too soon. “You are a disgusting human being.” I observed accusingly.

“Oh, I know.” he smiled mockingly. “It helps me sleep at night.”

I replied by shooting a poisonous glare in his direction. “Okay, great.” I murmured sarcastically a couple of moments later, before I angrily continued; “No offence…” by which I of course meant every offence “…but I have had quite enough of your sadistic tendencies for now – for my whole life actually – which is why I am going home.”

I jumped out of bed a bit too hastily, completely overestimating my current abilities, which is why I almost managed to collapse on the floor. My vision got blurry the moment I stood up and dizziness mixed with a serious throbbing in my head immediately robbed me of my balance. I would have experienced a pretty hard impact with the floor if Jongin didn’t push me back on the bed in the very last moment. I had a very strong feeling (no, not just feeling, I was 100% certain of it) that he only did that because he knew it would make me more embarrassed than if he just let me fall.

The day had barely even started and it was already marked by a deep feeling of embarrassment. I wished the ground would crack open and swallowed me whole even more sincerely than right after I had woken up. Why did I have to be so damn clumsy?

“Yes, I can see that.” Jongin smiled mockingly, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Then he pointed on the glass of water and those two pills he had put on the nightstand about fifteen minutes ago. “That might help.” he said, before he nonchalantly turned around and walked towards the door, stopping on the hallway. “Do I have to draw you a map or are you going to find your way out by yourself?” he wondered mockingly, his left eyebrow slightly raised.

“Thanks.” I answered, pouring as much poison into my voice as I possibly could. “I’ll manage.” I added a moment later, accompanying my words by sending an obviously fake smile towards him.

The moment he left the room and – thankfully – closed the door, I got out of bed – slower and more carefully this time – and got dressed in a record time. I truly didn’t want to stay in this cold house any longer than absolutely necessary. I pondered whether I should take the pills or not and decided against it in the end. I honestly didn’t trust Jongin enough to swallow every medicine he gave me without questioning whether it actually was a medicine and not some strange drug.

Luckily I still remembered how to reach one of the side doors and I was on my way home about five minutes later. I took a bus this time – I felt way too ty to walk all the way to my even-more-ty neighborhood. I seated myself somewhere in the back, leaned my head onto the sit and closed my eyes, when my phone suddenly vibrated. I quickly fished it out of my pocket and checked the message, having a very good idea who it was from.

Sadist: By the way freak – I expect you to swing by my place sometimes tomorrow.

Freak: Why?

Sadist: You’ll see.

Well, that definitely couldn’t mean anything good.

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yes, this is horribly short, but since i've taken quite some time to update (four months to be exact - i'm not even going to try to find a legit exuse for that, lets just conclude that i'm a horrible human being) i decided to post shorter chapter now and  make the next one longer. i hope you didn't give up on me just yet.