"Wow, that must've been harsh..." Jongup said, leaving his fork hanging in his hand as he listened to her story.

Between words, she would eventually take small sips from her orange juice, but never made eye contact even if Jongup would intentionally look straightly at her face, hoping she'd lift her eyes from the table.

"So you're telling me that your sister killed your father when you were five,"

She nodded.

"And that you saw everything while your Mom was trying to hide you,"

She nodded.

"And after a couple of months, your sister died in a car accident."

She nodded.

"Moreover, the driver was a spitting image of your father."

She nodded yet again, under Jongup's attentive eyes. He took in everything she said and didn't deny one word. The juice in her carton wouldn't last forever; she stood up the instant air started to climb up her straw. She crumpled the carton in her right hand and finally looked into Jongup's eyes.

"I lied." and she walked towards the trashbin, tossing the ball of carton in and leaving the cafeteria without even looking back.

'She left. What are you going to do now?'

"What are you expecting me to do, go after her, hug her from behind and tell her that everything's gonna be alright?" Jongup shrugged, playing with the fork in his food. "I actually lost my appetite now." he sighed and placed the fork onto his plate, leaving for his room.

'I told you she wasn't nice.'

"Oh, come on." he turned around, eyeing the nothing in front of him from 'head to toes', "Why so pessimistic?" Jongup placed his hands on his hips, "Maybe we can make her feel better! Like you made me feel better!"

'We?' Jongup heard a chuckle, 'I have no authority over her.'

"Neither do I." he shrugged, "But we could at least try!"

"Who the Hell are you talking to." Jongup heard another voice, more vivid this time, though. Turning around, his eyes met Minjung's as she was staring at him, jaw-dropped. He slowly spinned on his heels so he could fully face her and shifted a bit, trying to 'cover' the person he thought was behind him.

"Nobody." he almost whispered, terrified by her gaze.

Her judgemental look sharpened right when from behind the corner, a guard and a psychiatrist appeared, walking towards them. Her eyelids almost closed as the hatred in her eyes was more than obvious.

"Lies," she muttered, balling her hands into fists, "It's all lies!" she yelled and ran away, locking herself in the room.

She slammed the door shut and crouched, her back against it, as her hands found her way towards her head and held her ears. She kept rocking back and forth, uncontrollable sobs escaping from her lips. When she heard the slightest knock at her door, she stumbled forward and screamed in fear. The door was unlocked and now she was most vulnerable.

“Come on, it’s time to take your medication.” she could hear the voice of her psychiatrist, soft as always; yet she saw a monster behind his face.
“No. No. No, go away.” she managed to say between sobs and continuous crawling around the floor in search for a hiding place.

The next instant, the door opened, revealing the psychiatrist with a tray full of pills and a syringe. His intentions were genuinely good, yet Minjung saw nightmare in front of her widened eyes, from which endless streams of tears fell. Her lips continued murmuring negations and her head kept shaking while her hands were searching for something, anything she could throw at the one in front of her.
Everything was unveiling under Jongup’s eyes a bit too fast for him to comprehend everything - he was frozen. One moment, the guard was just idling outside the room, the next he was already gripping Minjung’s wrists, holding them tightly behind her back so she wouldn’t struggle while the psychiatrist tried his best to push the needle in her vein.

‘Sorry for this.’ he heard a faint voice whispering behind him.

His eyes widened when he thought he felt the softest pair of hands touch his back, yet roughly push him forward. He almost stumbled over nothing as he unwillingly dashed forward, as if an unknown force had control over his body for a certain period of time. His mind instantly went blank when Minjung looked up from the floor straightly into his eyes. Even if her lips were only slightly parted, Jongup could’ve sworn he heard her screaming her lungs out for help - and he was sure it wasn’t any of his ‘friends’.

“N-... No!” he stuttered, reaching his arms towards the guard, “Please, she’s innocent!”
“Go back to your room.” the guard bluntly retorted, throwing Jongup on the floor only by barely shaking his stupidly strong arm.

Seeing absolutely no more hope in front of her, Minjung let her head back down and stopped struggling, her muscles suddenly limp. As puny as she was, she immediately collapsed to the floor, slipping from the guard’s grip with the slightest ease. Jongup followed her body with his eyes, regaining composure when her head hit the floor - her eyes wide open, staring into void, her chest heaving with every breath she took, as if she was hungry for air. It took him some time to realize that the psychiatrist finally managed to get the syringe’s needle in her vein and shoot the medicine down through her vessel. When he wanted to look up at his face, both the psychiatrist and the guard were already up on their feet; they dusted off their clothes, ‘cleaned the scene’ and left. No words, no explanations. They didn’t ask him to leave either. They didn’t even close the door behind - maybe they were sure that the drug in that syringe was powerful enough for her to stay calm until evening, when exhaustion would kick in.

Jongup crawled all fours towards Minjung’s still limp body, laying inert on the floor. Bringing his feet under his body, he cradled her head and let it lay onto his lap as he held her hand. Minjung reacted by shivering violently, sudden sobs escaping her lips every now and then. His free hand brushed her soft hair; he stood like that until her sobs died down. Once her breathing pattern came back to normal, Jongup felt that the grip on her hand loosened, yet something kept him in place - her hand was tightly grasping his, as a desperate attempt to make him stay; it was a silent cry for him not to leave her.

‘She fell asleep.’

“She isn’t sleeping.” Jongup whispered, putting his index finger in front of his lips, “Don’t wake her up.”

‘You’re so innocent, Jongup... Seriously.’

“Me?” he smiled, looking at the girl whose head was still onto his lap as she slightly shifted to adjust into a more comfortable position, “Next to this being, I shall be deemed the biggest sinner.”

His right hand started drawing small patterns in the palm of her hand. With every movement, her grip would softly tighten, all until Jongup couldn’t move his hand at all.

“She’s so pure... Believe me.” he looked up, “I feel her.”

‘Maybe you should go to your room for a while. It’s time to take your medication as well.’

Jongup nodded as he picked Minjung up ever so easily, placing her on her bed. He pulled the white sheet over her as he watched her facial expression gradually changing.

‘She might be having a nightmare.’

Jongup nodded to himself and turned around to leave, but something kept him from doing so - and the feeling wasn’t as phantomatic as the ones he gets from his friends; the tug on his sleeve wasn’t powerful either, yet it made him turn his head to see what was preventing him from moving. A smile slowly made its way onto his face as he finally saw Minjung sleeping peacefully, knowing that next to her is someone that could protect her. He crouched next to her bed and placed her hand next to her body. He kissed her forehead and felt her shift under the sheets. Her brows furrowed slightly as he heard her mutter something behind her lips.

‘Don’t leave me.’

“I won’t.” he whispered and got up, “I’ll be back.”

And with that, he finally left. Once he was in the doorstep, he took one glance back, to have her figure deeply carved into his memory. At the sight, his joints buckled and he almost fell; his breath hitched and air was sticking to his lungs. He gulped and searched deep inside for the guts to take those steps forward.

Minjung’s eyes were wide open. She may have been awake all this time. She was staring intensely at him, not even bothering to blink.

“You left me.” she muttered, low enough only for her to hear, yet Jongup perceived it as a whisper, “You promised you wouldn’t. You left. You left.”

‘Don’t dare come back.’

Yyyyeah! Finally updated. Again, sorry for the PAINFULLY slow updates, but I'm trying my best. This story might be boring & all at the start... But the main point of this is focused on the ending *nod*. Please don't unsubscribe. It's gonna be LEGEN-... Wait for it... -DARY! (: Hehe.

Also, lots of thanks for the subs and comments. I appreciate them all from the bottom of my heart even if I don't use to reply to each comment separately T.T

The chapter hasn't been proofread, so errors might be lingering here and there. Maybe I'll correct everything tomorrow ^^