c h a p t e r  e i g h t e e n.
(part two)

.
.
.

“I told you to stay where you were.” Chen said, his voice unsteady. There was so much more that he wanted to say, but he bit his tongue when he saw how traumatized Wendy was. She couldn’t even speak. “...Come on.” he said in a more gentle tone, “We’re leaving.” He took her hand and helped her to his car, which was parked on the street just outside the club.

                He was utterly silent as he drove.

                His left elbow was leaning on the door and his hand was on his forehead, his fingers absentmindedly his eyebrow. His other hand gripped the steering wheel so tightly that the skin around his bleeding knuckles had turned white.

                It was clear that he was livid. He didn’t say a word, however, even though there were a couple of instances when it seemed that he might.

                In the passenger’s seat, Wendy just cried.

                And cried.

                And cried.

                Her phone rang. She ignored it.

                It vibrated.

                [ AMBER. Where are you? Are you okay? ]

                Wendy ignored the text. A few minutes later, her phone rang. She turned the sound off.

                “Where are we going?” she asked, sniffling as she threw her phone back into her purse.

                “I’m taking you home.”

                “I don’t want to go back to the apartment.” she said, tears flooding her vision again, “Amber will come looking for me and I just...I can’t...right now... I mean...” But she trailed off, not knowing where she was going with that train of thought.

                Chen took a brief moment to think. He took out his phone and selected a contact.

                “Uncle? Yeah, hi.” he said, “Wendy has had a rough day and is at odds with her roommate. Would it be alright if she crashed at our place for tonight?” Wendy could hear Mr. Cho’s smooth voice from the other side of the line.

                “Of course.” he said, “She is always welcome. I won’t be home for another hour or so, though.”

                “That’s alright.” said his nephew. “Thanks.” After hanging up and dropping his phone into his lap, he made an abrupt turn per the change of destination.

                Wendy sniffed and cleared . “This isn’t weird, right? Mr. Cho knows that we’re in a relationship, right?”

                “Of course he knows.” said Chen, a little disdainfully, “He made up that about having a new barista at the café just so that you wouldn’t have to work and we could go out that night.”

                “Oh. Right.” Wendy said quietly, feeling a little deflated by Chen’s curt answer. She drew in a shaky breath, trying to start crying again.

                After a few minutes, Chen let out a long, hard sigh.

                He reached out and held Wendy’s hand, not letting it go until they arrived at the house.

.
.

He showed her to an empty room on other end of the hall from his. This room was mostly white, unlike his with its beige-colored walls and wood furniture. Somehow, this room seemed more feminine, like it was decorated and furnished with a certain woman in mind.

                It really made Wendy wonder what was going through Mr. Cho’s mind when he put together the room.

                Chen, too, silently pondered this although he knew who the woman was.

                The two lay together on the bed, just holding each other.

                Not a word passed through their lips, but somehow, all that needed to be said at the time was said. It was one of those moments when one has an imaginary conversation playing out in their minds, except for Chen and Wendy it was a real conversation, though neither of them said anything at all.

                They knew that the other heard. They knew that the other understood.

                An hour at least passed before Wendy finally broke the almost silence (there was the faint sound of the heating system humming as white noise in the background) with a broken sob. She pressed her face into Chen’s sweater as she cried, quietly. Her body shook as she let out her emotions and Chen realized how scared she must have been at that moment, and the turbulent side of his heart wanted to end Eric for doing this to her.

                Chen turned towards Wendy and held her closer, hugging her so tightly that his arms started to ache. He pressed his lips to the top of her head.

                “Did he touch you?” he said, his voice low.

                It took her a while to calm down enough to speak. “...You saw what happened.” she said.

                “You know what I mean. Did he touch you?”

                She shuddered at the thought. “...No.”

                He sighed. “I’m sorry, Wendy━“

                “I’m so pathetic.” she said, unable to stop the tears from coming back, “I should never have gone... I’m so stupid and pathetic.”

                “You’re not.” he said, matter-