Chapter 11: Guilty Conscience

Bright lights greeted Hyunseung’s eyes as he opened them. Blinking them rapidly he looked around the unfamiliar room. The room was a light cream color and he was lying under a white comforter. There was a small bookshelf in the corner next to a large window and a desk along the wall near the door. Panicked, he sprang up only to groan loudly in pain. Holding his head he curled in on himself. ‘What happened…I don’t remember anything after that kiss…oh God…is this his house?! What did he do to me?!’

Ignoring his pounding headache Hyunseung forced himself to sit up in the bed. Holding in his whimpers he slid his legs off the side of the bed, pushing the blanket aside. Holding his left arm to his chest he lifted himself off the bed. Tears filled the injured boy’s eyes, but he held them back. Biting his lip to keep from screaming out, Hyunseung pushed his way towards the door, which would hopefully lead him to his freedom.

Hyunseung had just made it to the door and placed his hand on the doorknob when he heard footsteps on the other side getting louder and louder. Fear filled the young boy’s body as he stood frozen dreading what was about to come. He forced himself to walk backwards, falling to the floor against the bed. He pulled his knees to his chest as he watched the door slowly open. The sight that greeted him left him shocked.

”Doojoon?!”

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Doojoon had been walking home from the little convenience shop when he heard a ruckus coming from one of the alleys. Normally he would mind his own business and continue on his way home, acting like nothing had happened, but for some reason something was drawing him in. He walked a little bit closer to the alley and peaked down into the shadows. His eyes shot open when he saw the boy they tormented at school surrounded by a group of well known gang members.

‘Heh, that is around again…’ For some reason, Doojoon felt sick to his stomach after that thought passed through his mind. Right when the ring leader was about to fully molest the young boy, Doojoon’s voice rose without his command.

“What the do you think you’re doing?!” The angered teenager glared at the ring leader as he stepped into the alleyway.

The leader of the gang paused in his movements and looked up at the new arrival. The other gang members slowly started moving forward towards the entrance of the alley, towards the boy.

“Oh, someone else wants a turn as well.” The leader smirked. “Well, you’ll just have to wait your turn. Grab him.” Three of the men jumped forward, attacking Doojoon. The teenager ducked down, dodging every attack made on him. Reaching around, he landed some well placed punches on the men. It was only a few moments later that the men fell to the ground unconscious.

“Let him go you sick bastards.” Doojoon glared hatefully as he made his way towards the leader. A couple of the men took off running in the other direction, leaving the leader to defend for himself.

“Heh, bring it on runt.” The leader smirked after he pulled his pants back up. He had stood up and turned to Doojoon, taking a fighting stance.

Doojoon smirked back at the leader. “This is your only chance to run.” The leader ignored him, running towards him with his fist raised. Doojoon just shook his head as he ducked below the punch and lifted his knee, slamming it into the other’s gut. He then brought his elbow down onto the leader’s ear, forcing blood to start pouring out slowly. In one more movement of Doojoon’s hand to the back of his neck, the leader fell to the ground unconscious.

“I warned you.” He said as he walked over to the teenager crumpled on the ground. ‘What the hell are you getting yourself into Doojoon…’ He reached down, redressing the boy, and picked him up bridal style and began walking back to his house.

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Hyunseung stared up at the other boy in fear. ‘Why the hell am I here?! How did I get here?! What happened last night...?’ Ignoring the growing fire of pain within his body, he pulled his legs even tighter to his body, trying to protect himself from the other boy. ‘What did I ever do in my past lives to deserve this…?’ Tears started forming in his eyes as he squeezed them shut and tried to push reality away.

“Hyunseung!!” Doojoon yelled once more, trying to get his attention. Said boy slowly opened his eyes and looked up in his direction, fear lacing his eyes. “Relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” The boy didn’t even twitch a muscle. With a sigh, Doojoon stepped closer to the boy, ignoring the flinches he was making and lifted him back onto the bed. He then pulled up the blankets and tucked him in.

“Stay here; I’ll go bring you something to eat.” With that, the older boy left the room, leaving the confused boy behind. ‘What the hell…?’ Hyunseung stared at the door, confused for the older boy’s behavior.

He continued to stare until the door once more opened and the older boy walked back in, carrying a tray with a bowl of porridge, a glass of water, and some pain killers. Doojoon set the tray on the desk before turning towards the bed. He walked over, wrapping his arm around the younger boy, ignoring the way he tensed up, and situated the pillows she he could sit up to eat the food. He then brought the tray back over and set it at the base of the bed.

“Here, eat this.” Doojoon took a spoonful of the porridge, blew on it a little in order to cool it down, and brought it to the other boy’s lips. Hyunseung sealed his lips shut refusing the food. “Just eat it, I’m not trying to poison you. Besides, my mom made this so think of it as coming from her.” The older boy looked away as he said this, still holding the spoonful out.

Hyunseung stared at the older boy for a moment, noticing how sincere he was being and very slowly, leaned forward to take the spoon between his lips. Taking his time just in case it was a trap, he took his time swallowing the food but finally he did. The older boy looked back at him with a very small smile as he fed the other another bite. It wasn’t long before all the porridge was gone.

Doojoon smiled when all the food was gone. He placed the empty bowl on the tray and picked up the pain killers and the glass of water. “Here, take these.” Hyunseung timidly reached forward with his good arm, taking the pain killers, and swallowed them down, taking a large swig of the water. He was already feeling much better because of all the food that he had. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had eaten that much food. Once the water was gone as well, Doojoon moved the tray to the desk once more before helping the other lay down once more. “Get some more rest. I’ll come check on you again later.” With that Doojoon left the room with the tray, closing the door quietly behind him. It wasn’t long before the injured boy’s eyes started to droop as he fell asleep once more.

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The next time that Hyunseung woke up he noticed that his arm was in a new cast and he had bandages wrapped around his torso. Confused as to when this happened he tried to sit up.

“Nuh-uh, stay still.” Came Doojoon’s voice from the doorway. Hyunseung stopped all movement. The older boy walked into the room, carrying another tray of porridge. He moved over to help the injured boy sit up again and started feeding him like before. “You’ve been asleep for awhile now.”

“H-how l-l-long…?” Hyunseung struggled out in a whisper. Doojoon looked at the other’s face for a moment before answering.

“A day and a half. My mom and I brought you to a doctor while you were asleep.” He motioned towards the cast and the bandages on his ribs. Hyunseung looked down at the bandages once more. ‘A day and a half? That means I’ve slept for nearly two days straight. Thank God it’s the weekend. I can’t miss any more school.’

“They say you have to be really careful for the next couple of weeks or you are never going to be able to use your arm again.” Doojoon looked away, ceasing in feeding him. “Did we really make it this bad for you…?” he asked quietly.

Hyunseung didn’t respond right away. He looked at his lap before working up the courage to speak. “Yes.” Was all he said. The older boy looked up at the younger with guilt.

“I never…I mean…I didn’t realize that it got to this point. I was just going along with Junhyung for so long…I-I’m sorry…”

The younger boy glared at the older one. “Yeah right. You think that this makes it all better? You think that you can just take care of me and apologize and everything will be okay? You think that I will forget about all the things that you have done to me and all the pain that I have had to go through because of you and your friends?!” He was screaming at this point. “You’re wrong! I will never forgive you or anyone else for what you have done to me. Now, tell me how to get out of here, I want to go home.” He had no clue where all this confidence came from but he wasn’t going to let it slip away. He glared forcefully at the older boy as he looked at him sadly.

“Just finish the porridge and I will take you home.” Doojoon said defeated. Hyunseung was going to protest but the older boy gave him a glare that made all his previous confidence fade away. He slowly nodded his head and continued eating. When he was done, Doojoon helped him stand up and walked him out to his car. The younger boy tried to protest the ride home once again but he was too weak to fight the older boy. All he could do is direct the older boy to his rundown apartment.

Doojoon stared at the apartments before him. ‘He lives here? It’s about to fall apart!’ He looked over at the younger boy as he was climbing out of the car. He was struggling quite a bit but he was in a much better condition than the one that he had found him in. Doojoon stayed until Hyunseung made it up all the stairs and disappeared into his apartment. Sighing once more, he pulled away from the curb and drove home once more thinking about the injured boy the entire way. 

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I am so so soooo sorry that it has been so long since I've updated. Classes have just kept me so busy that I haven't had a chance to write anything. I hope that I will be able to be better from now on and update more frequently. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Thanks for reading!

-Ashley