TIP #23: “Courage, espoir, foi”

(Courage, hope, faith)

Diabolic hands are reaching for her pale skin, nails so dirty with rust that are just a few centimeters from clutching her neck.

In Hya tries to scream but for some reason, she’s lost her voice.

The worst thing is that she’s all alone. Buried in the silence of a December gone horribly wrong.

“You don’t deserve to live.”

She takes not one, but two steps behind and feels her back pressed against the pillar.

“This is the only way that you can pay!”

With a furious shout of the warning, he reaches out for her slender neck and accurately wraps his finger on .

“It’s not.. not my fault.. you knocked her down..” She retorts with the strength of a mule.

“I hate nosey parkers like you..”

The squeezing of his hands tightens and In Hya chokes back a cough threatening to slip out of her tongue unwillingly. She feels the oxygen supply to her lungs being cut off and whimpers because she thinks the last thing she will ever see before dying is a pair of murderous, torturing eyes.

“No no no no! No!!!!!!!!! NO NO!! Let me go let me go!!!”

“In Hya, In Hya! Wake up! It’s me, Baekhyun! In Hya!”

Her eyes flutter wide open at the distance call and it’s then she realizes she has been crying. But they’re no longer tears of fear.

They’re tears of relief.

Baekhyun peers down at her face quizzically and helps her sit up. She’s bathed in cold sweat and all the blood from her face seems gone. Her brows are creased and slickened with anxiety. In Hya pants heavily like she’s just been out for a long triathlon and kneads her wet eyelids.

“Hey. You had a nightmare. Are you okay?”

He crouches down on the velvet carpet so that he can meet her gaze when he’s asking her questions. She feels around her neck but luckily, it’s clean. In Hya then nods and Baekhyun smiles lightly, rubbing a soothing hand behind her wet back.

“I did? Oh yeah.. I did.”

“What did you dream of?”

“I dreamt of him.. Wonwoo.. He was strangling me.” She mutters scarcely.

Baekhyun sighs regretfully and comforts her by giving a gentle pat as he swipes a strand of damp hair behind her ear, “Hush, hush. It’s just a really terrible dream. He’s not here. No one is going to hurt you for real, alright?”

“Right.”

When he sees her regaining her senses, Baekhyun fumbles for a plastic bag on the table before the sofa and takes out a yellow box with some packets of chilli.

“Did you sleep the whole day?” Baekhyun prompts as he takes a seat on the carpet and opens up the lid of the box in his hand, revealing a fresh pack of golden crispy chicken wings.

In Hya drags herself off the couch and follows Baekhyun to the carpet too, “Well.. Not exactly.. I mean I played fetch with Chunchun for like 3 hours and look who got tired first.” She explains, hinting that the little Yokshire Terrier has been napping peacefully on the pillow.

“Hmm, I apologise then. My apartment isn’t the most entertaining place to be.”

In Hya chuckles and it sounds like heaven to Baekhyun’s ears, “So I see you’re really bent on eating takeaways for the rest of your life.”

“Today is an exception. I was on my way home and the scent of fast food attracted me. Sinful pleasure, ever heard of it?”

Baekhyun arranges a fresh serviet in front of the girl and spoons out a piping hot chicken wing for her.

“Bet you haven’t had dinner?” He teases while his greasy fingers and on cue, her stomach rumbles.

In Hya takes a bite of the chicken and the spices and herbs invade her entire cavity, “Mmm, this is so good! Indeed rich people’s foods are different.”

“Oh come on.. I bought this for only $10..”

They ended up finishing 15 pieces of chicken wings in less than an hour and Baekhyun is marveled. The girl has a huge apetite, if she’s going to be staying here, it might cause a huge impact on his wallet.

The entire time, they bickered about why Baekhyun chose honey glazed wings instead of buffalo wings and Baekhyun had to retaliate by saying the shop’s signature dish was honey glazed wings. Of course, In Hya stubbornly retorted by saying who came up with that theory and Baekhyun had to defend that he personally asked the shopkeeper himself, marking his territory.

They even fought over the last piece of chicken wing and a chopsticks battle ensued. In Hya suggested a democratic solution to solve this, and the idea was to fight fairly in a simple game of scissors-paper-stone. Baekhyun said she was childish, but he still went along with the game. Ironic much.

And he might be regretting his decision now because In Hya emerged as the champion and she whistled in victory as she flashed the last remaining piece before his sparkling eyes and chewed off the delectable chicken skin.

Annoyed, Baekhyun gulps down a can of beer he had gotten complimentary along with the purchase. Watching his Adam’s apple bob up and down, In Hya suddenly speaks up with piqued interest, “How does that taste?”

“Are you rubbing salt into my wound?” He snorts with bitterness over the loss of his food without sparing her a glance.

“No silly.” She points to the can he’s holding with her other clean hand, “I’m talking about that.”

“This isn’t for you.” Baekhyun retorts, knowing she’s a lightweight.

“Let me try it.”

“No! This is mine!”

“Don’t be so petty! Just let me have a small sip, please. Or wait, give me the entire can. You have an extra one in the bag anyway.” She whines childishly.

“I don’t want to be responsible when you start cursing me in a drunken stupor.”

“Petty petty petty.” She chimes irritably.

“I swear to God, you can’t have this. Ever.” He laments boringly but In Hya snatches the can when he isn’t paying attention.

“Hey!”

But In Hya is already chugging the vile sour liquid down , frowning more with every sip and slaps the can on the table when she’s done. She takes one big last swallow and lets out a satisfied cheer before wiping the wet ends of her lips with the back of her hand.

“Nice!” She hiccups and gives a thumbs up.

Baekhyun watches in horror as he lifts the empty can and looks back at her for any sudden behavioural change, praying hard that his omen doesn’t come true, but she’s already nibbling down her chicken enthusiastically, like nothing has happened. He lets out a relieved sigh, thankful that she is still normal.

* *

Of course, his happiness is short-lived when his conclusion comes to a wrong one. He mentally facepalms himself because she had been so stupid to ignore his warning. Within minutes, the then sober girl was swaying side to side, humming while making questionable shapes in the air with the pair of chopsticks dangerously dangling from her fingers.

“I knew this was a bad idea from the start, you little troublemaker.”

She nods faithfully and plasters a sheepish smile on her face, “Baekhyun ah.. Baek.. Baek baek baek. Baeeeekkkkkk.”

“Seriously, you only had half a can, and you wind up drunk? What’s your deal, Miss?” He grunts.

The drunken girl wails with a pitch, “Mean mean mean! Baekhyun!” She reaches out to thread her fingers in his hair, “Fluffy!! Like Chunchun.. Fluff fluff.. shampoo..”

“Argh what’s the matter with you!” He catches her hands before she can whip up a messier mess, “That’s it, from now on I’m banning you from anything that has liquor. Not even ice-cream!”

Deep down, Baekhyun is thankful that at least they are seated because it would be more of a hassle if they aren’t. Imagine how he would have to help her steady her balance on her clumsy feet.

She groans tipsily with a pout, “No… not the ice-cream…”

In Hya rocks her head back and forth before it finally slams onto the table with a loud thud. Baekhyun is so startled when he sees that the girl has stopped moving. He shakes her frantically a couple of times and then she springs back up, forehead now with a red patch that makes Baekhyun want to snigger until he see teary half-lidded eyes staring back at him.

“Do you.. hate.. me?”

The question catches him off-guard but he still replies anyway, “Of course not.”

She gives a lop-sided smirk and props the side of her head with her elbow, wagging an unflattering finger at him, “You surze..? Are you lyinghhh or nahhzz..?”

“You’re drunk.” He states as he tries to make out her gibberish words.

“Good.. you won’t leave me thenzz..”

“No one is going to leave you, In Hya.”

“That’s what they all said..” She trails off, “to me..”

Baekhyun watches silently as he sees her stifling a sufferable smile.

“They all.. left.. I’m alone.”

Baekhyun carefully plucks out the chopsticks from her hand before she can swing it around threteningly again, “You have Jongin. And me.”

“You want to know a secret? You know my father passed away not too long ago.. my mother too.. Ah, but you already know that..”

Baekhyun freezes as he pays close attention to her words, which now sound more like a desperate plea.

“Should I tell you another secret? Actually..” She whispers with glistening eyes, “I have another mother and brother.. but..”

Baekhyun blinks in surprise as she unexpectedly slips off some of her family history because he’s sure that it is really important to her to be saying it so casually. She must’ve felt so bothered by all of this to be shedding it off only now.

“Um.. but?” He asks cautiously.

Suddenly, she starts giggling and sways her body dreamily again, leaving Baekhyun hanging. He has to hold out his palm now and then just in case she decides to bang her head on the table again.

“I’m glad I have Jongin.. and you of cozzz.. Oh Chunchun too.. Psttt.. don’t tell Jongin plueeasee..” She purrs sluggishly with a topic switch and a tint of blush rises up her already flushed cheeks.

“Yeah yeah, we know. You should go to bed now.” He cajoles in a fluster when he senses the hint of tiredness in her voice and quickly tries to lift her up from her spot.

“You two.. are very nice to me.. reallyzz.. you help me a lot when I was at