I wandered here to your outreached hand,
found you to protect you, be your savior.
In the pitch black darkness I’ll take your hand.
A life saver, Lightsaber

***

 

It was two in the morning when Sehun returned. He leaned his back against the lift steel wall, waiting for the door to close when an arm suddenly held it back.

“Sorry, can you hold the door for a while.”, a guy appeared midway. He nodded and pressed the hold button as the guy strove to get in. Sehun eyed the guy’s outstretched arm to pick the fallen jacket when he realised that the guy wasn’t alone at all. A slender limp figure was leaning against him that he even needed to struggle to get in.

 “What a long night eh.”, the guy talked as the door closed and he pressed the seventh button.

“What happened to your girlfriend?”, he bitterly asked as he acknowledged the limp figure.

The guy subtly smiled, “She isn’t yet, but after this I’m sure she will.”

Sehun stayed still.

“I’ve been waiting all my life for this.”, the guy whispered as he starred at the girl’s face, down to her bare neck and slightly exposed collarbone. “Tonight you’ll be mine.”, he kissed her hand that circled around his shoulders.

Sehun hardly heard his last words, but he already felt the urge to punch him right on his cunning face as the lift kept ascending and finally stopped at the seventh floor. The guy asked him to hold the door again before he stepped out of the lift, dragging the girl with him and thanked Sehun as the door closed.

Sehun stared at the narrowing gap where the guy vanished under the dim lights of the hallway. He hesitated as the door closed at full and the lift started to ascend before it stopped at his floor. The door slid open, he remained inside, sighing before he pressed the button again, brought him two floors beneath.

He rushed out of the lift as the door slid open, turned to find the guy was still struggling to drag her along not far from where he stood. He bolted and called him at once. The guy turned, just in time when he swung his firm fist straight to his face. The guy collapsed along with her in front of Sehun.

The guy was still panting as he wiped the drip at the tip of his mouth when Sehun came on top of him, carried on beating him black and blue. The guy strove to get up but Sehun was pinning him between his legs. His fists rained down on him before he started to exhaust and thrown aside by the guy’s sudden force. The guy finally got to lift his head and swore at him.

“Leave her alone.”, Sehun said shortly.

“Who do you think you are to tell me that!”, the guy exploded.

Sehun starred at his swollen eyes before the guy stood up limply and left in no time, leaving her lying on the floor. Sehun could hear the arriving lift before the guy disappeared at last.

He sighed, the tip of his shoe slightly touched her exposed knee between the ripped cloth. Her face was peaceful in spite of her current state. Some skin was peeking from beneath her disordered white shirt and her black hair was untied. He starred at her for a while.

“How come he was thinking about having you when he doesn’t even care about you, leaving you here like that.”, he spat the air out, “Who are you really.”

He got up and reached out for her purse, intended to find her access card but ended up just gazing inside her purse. Instead of an access card, it was filled with a pack of cigars, a tiny plastic of colourless powder, another plastic filled with what looked like stickers, but he knew better that they weren’t at all and a tube of pills, the only mundane things inside were her phone and wallet. He halted before took out her wallet and found that the access card wasn’t there, he returned the wallet and checked for a side pocket, nothing. He leaned against the wall next to her, carefully fixed her disordered shirt so not a tip of skin shown when his eyes met her closed eyes. He lifted her gently.

She was curled in his arms as he walked towards the lift and to his unit. He pushed the door open with his back and headed for his room to place her on the bed. He pulled up the blanket up to her neck and left her alone in his room to sleep on a couch in his living room.

He was staring blankly at his room door before he closed his eyes.

“Listen to your father and brother while I’m away, Sehun, my son.”

Sehun lifted his head to see his mother’s face while she kept his head gently on her lap, “will you, my son?”, he pouted, “why you should go Mom? Can’t you just bring me along? I’ll promise to behave.”

His mom pushed herself to smile, “It’s not a place for kid, Sehun. You’ll get bored once you arrive there.”

He got up, “No, I promise!”, his mother smiled at him, her last smile.

Sehun was leaning against the locked door, tears were rolling down his cheeks as he pledged for his father to open the door. From behind the door, he could hear his parents kept yelling at each other. He could even hear the sound of his father slapping her mother for times, and he tried to close his eyes, telling himself that he heard nothing, it was just the wind, it was just the wind, and he fell asleep.

The next morning he woke up to find his aunt was sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Good morning, Sehuna.”

Sehun stayed still when his aunt suddenly sprang to hug him. “It’s okay Sehun, It’s okay Sehun, everything will be okay.”, her tears fell down on his head and he started to feel his heart crumpled and his eyes wet again. Later he figured out that her aunt was coming over for his mother’s funeral.

He was staring at the plain wall when a doctor came in.

“Hello Sehun, how are you feeling right now boy?”, the doctor smiled at him.

The nurse coming along with the doctor now began checking his condition.

“You should at least eat boy,”, the doctor paused and sat next to his bed so they were looking at each other now. Sehun looked away. “You should eat so you can return home soon and meet your family boy.”

Sehun turned and starred firmly at him, “I don’t have any, Doc. Mom is died, my brother is away, and he’s not my father, he’s a murderer.”

The doctor lowered his head before he stretched his arms to place his hands on Sehun’s tiny shoulders, “Look, Sehun, I know this is hard for you, but you should understand that your father didn’t kill your mom, she was-“, he lost on his words and Sehun let go of his hands to lie on the bed.

“Leave me alone.”, he shut his eyes as their steps started to fade away and the door closed behind them, leaving him alone starring at the empty ceiling.

Sehun jolted upwards as the sound of his father slapping her mom returned to his head, sweat  rolled down his temple and neck, he wiped it as he looked around the empty living room. The sun was peeking from behind the blinds when he got up and headed for his room. He hesitated before opened the door to find her was still soundly asleep on his bed. He reached the edge of the bed shortly before he collapsed on the floor next to the bed.

 

“It makes your frozen heart melt and flow,
and within we now dance the dance of light”

 

She was turning to his side when he got up. Her face was pale under the dim light of his room. He outstretched his arm to remove the wild hair from her face, her skin was soft under his hand, so delicate compared to him. He traced the side of her face with his fingers and stopped at her hand that was laid motionless next to her face, he pulled it gently to cover his face that now lay on the edge of the bed before he closed his eyes, more peacefully now.

“I’m here, my son. I’m always here with you.”

He smiled in his sleep.

--

Yujin woke up with an extremely heavy head that she felt the ground was spinning beneath her. She tried to open her eyes finding out that she wasn’t at her room, a place she had never been before. She tried to brush her eyes when a light blow of air was sweeping her hand, she looked down and found Sehun was sleeping with his head laid on the edge of the bed. She bewildered and tried to remember what had happened with her last night, she went to the club with the girls as usual, they had a little party when the boys came, now without Jisoo telling her in advance. She was so high last night she didn’t even care that Woobin was clinging to her, she frowned at the pictures in her head, she tried to remember what happened after she had another shot but failed, she couldn’t remember further.

She breathed heavily.

Sehun was so peaceful when he slept. She carefully patted his head, his hair was soft between her fingers, she smiled to the fact that she had been wondering how his hair would feel like ever since she saw it dancing on their first ride. Just then, it moved to her shock she pulled back her hand at once. Sehun lifted his head with his eyes still closed. Yujin was frozen when he finally opened his eyes and shortly smiled.

“How’s your sleep?”

She remained still. Just then she saw his hands were covered with dried blood and bruises when he lifted one of them to brush his own hair out of drowsiness. She then recalled some sort of sound from last night and fear started to creep in.

“What happened to your hands?”

Sehun was alarmed by her question that his eyes shot open at full, he didn’t even pay attention to his hands until he starred at his own hands in front of her, he smirked.

“Is that your habit to ask question instead of answering one?”, he paused as he stood up and left for the bathroom. She caught a glimpse of him washing his hands through the gap of his bathroom door. She gulped. He returned with his hands covered in some sort of cloth.

“You’re not even bothered to ask how can you be here?”, he sat on the corner of the bed.

She folded her legs closer to her.

“This is not the first, why I even need to give a about it anymore.”, she talked as she leaned her head on her knees, looked away from him.

He was starring at her back when it suddenly rocked lightly. She was still looking away when Sehun moved to her side, he could hear her sniffing softly.

“Your friend is fine.”, he paused, “just some bruises by now perhaps.”

She stayed still, “It’s not him that I worry about, I know him too well that this won’t surprise me.”

He was staring at her in silence when she turned, her face turned pink and her eyes slightly wet.

“Why are you sobbing?” was all he could manage to say.

“I don’t know, maybe from last night.”, she sobbed, “where’s my purse?”

She looked so fragile to Sehun right now, far from the girl he had met nights before.

“Give me my-“, she hadn’t finished her sentence when Sehun suddenly took her fully in his stiff arms.

“Stop pretending that you’re tough in front of me.”, he said shortly as he tightened his embrace.

She burst, “Why couldn’t you just leave us alone, why?”, she cried on his shoulder, not sure why she was crying either. “He won’t just leave you alone now, don’t you know that?”

“I don’t care. I’m a dead man anyway.”

She pulled away from him, “You’re not.”, she gently rubbed the side of his face, cold and soft under her skin. They looked into each other’s eyes for quite a while before he lifted his own hand to wipe the tears off her face.

“Now stop crying. You’re ugly when you cry.”

Yujin laughed while she was still sobbing. She pulled her hand back as he did so.

“Well, now give me my purse.”

“I left it in the living room.”, Sehun talked as he looked outside the room.

She got off the bed and darted outside at once.

Sehun arrived at the living room when she sighed out of relief to find her purse and all the things inside were still there.

“I was trying to find your access card-“, he hadn’t finished his sentence when she turned and gave him a fierce look.

“So now you know.”, she smirked, “ I’m nothing like you’ve been thinking of.”

She gripped on her purse as she walked past him, headed to the door when he grabbed her arm firmly.

“I don’t care about them at all, but just let me help you.”

Yujin eyes were down to his stretched arm, “You can’t and I don’t want to be helped.”, she paused to look at his eyes, “so, leave me alone, I’m the dead one here.”, she let go of his grip and walked out of the room in no time, leaving him slumped down onto the couch.