This happens a lot. Kyuhyun would call me and although my dad has told me constantly that I need to forward all calls to him, I just don’t do that anymore. Why? Well, it depends on what Kyuhyun is asking. If it’s for a pick up, I’m expected to take care of it – sort of like an unwritten rule. If it’s something big like he’s being chased by someone, then I’m supposed to tell my father immediately. In any other situation, I am responsible for looking out for him. I don’t understand why it’s become like this, but I suppose you could assume that it’s because Kyuhyun is a top priority. Like I said before, my father has practically adopted him; therefore, he’s my problem when no one else is around.

And now, as we were walking through the slums of the city, I couldn’t help but think about how I’ve done this too many times already. The worst one had to be the night that he showed up at my back door drunk out of his mind and half . No, I don’t know what happened, nor do I want to know what happened. I just took him inside, cleaned him up, and put him to bed. My father never asked any questions.

“You’re no fun,” he complained.

Why would I be any fun? It wasn’t a fun situation. I hated everything about it. The places I had to go to get him and the people that were beginning to recognize me and the amount of time I spent thinking about him – all of it was frustrating and wrong.

Before I could say anything to him, his hand closed around my arm. Blood froze and I looked up at Kyuhyun. His expression was as pompous and cool as ever.

It all happened in a flurry. I slammed into a hard wall, and then lips were crushing mine. Breath hitching, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to pull back from him. Kyuhyun just laughed, sending shivers down my spine. “Stop ignoring me,” he whispered against my ear, “Got it?”

“What is it?” I turned my head, biting back a gasp when those same lips were pressing against my throat.

No, I’m not calm. It’s just that this has happened before. Most things have happened before, to be fair. Kyuhyun doesn’t take these things seriously though. In his mind, it’s fun and games and . I’ve never slept with him or anyone else, but that was probably out of sheer luck and the fact that he never went as far as to push himself on me.

Again, maybe there are some mishaps here and there, but that’s to be expected with someone like Kyuhyun. He was always thinking and plotting and making me scared to even breathe.

I tried in vain to get away again, but he tightened his hold on my wrists, his teeth digging into the skin just above my collar bone. “I’m going to a party tonight,” he mumbled, tongue gliding across what I had a feeling was a forming bruise. “Come guard me like a good dog or I’ll get into some real dangerous .” Kyuhyun smiled against my neck. “You don’t wanna do anything to piss off that old man of yours, do you?”

That’s what made him so potentially horrifying. He had the brains of a genius and the personality of a villain. As for me, I was only a pawn in everyone’s games. Too many chains bound me, drowned me, and consumed me.

“Get off of me,” I rasped, “I’ll go.”

Kyuhyun pulled back the smallest bit. “I knew you were a smart kid.” He took my hand, yanking me away from the wall and down the street. “Let’s go then.”

I swallowed the urge to snap at him for only now wanting to go to school. Sighing, I allowed him to drag me along, using my free hand to button my uniform higher to hide the marks.

“Ashamed?”

I looked up to see his smirking face. “Yes, I am.”

Kyuhyun just grinned wider, eyes flashing. “Good.”

***

“You’re in love with Kyuhyun?! Are you crazy?” one of Mir’s friends exclaimed.

I had only been taking a short nap after lunch, but it was so quickly disturbed by their obnoxious voices. The rooftop was supposed to be off limits for all students, but I was allowed up there because I’m me. That’s the only reason I can think of.

Mir and his friends had recently broken the door though and were apparently regular visitors to the area. They still don’t know that I spend my lunches on the roof, mainly because I’m on the raised platform that covers the entrance. Every day I was stuck listening to their gossip until I just fell asleep from boredom.

“He and I have something special…I think,” he admitted shyly. “Whenever I’m around him, my heart beats faster and I just want to be near him all the time.”

“You’re crazy, crazy, crazy. His life has been about making you miserable. Can’t you see that?” the same friend demanded.

“Why are you getting so worked up?” a new voice chimed in, “It’s not like it affects you. Mir can have feelings for whoever he wants.”

“Cho ing Kyuhyun isn’t just anyone. He’s bad in every sense of the word. How can you be so okay with Mir crushing on that guy?”

“He’s not as bad as you think!” Mir interrupted loudly.

My eyes shot open in surprise at the outburst. What was the kid talking about now? He really thought there was a good side to Kyuhyun? Even his good side was laced with bad. No one could ever uncover goodness in someone like him, because there was nothing to uncover. He was already too messed up to fix.

“Why? Tell me why you’re so adamant about defending the honor of a parole kid?”

Mir was quiet at first, but that didn’t stay true for long. “He…He told me about his life. He’s had it hard and I think that the more we talk about it, the more he opens up honestly. Like, his favorite dog died when he was little. His mother was a drug abuser and his father was a violent alcoholic. Both of them just let Kyuhyun do whatever he wanted.”

I frowned, trying to decide if it was inappropriate to laugh at those lies. The Cho Family was nothing like Mir had described. Kyuhyun’s father was a regular business man who killed himself due to anxiety disorder. His mother works as a dancer in the red light district. They’re still bad parents, but they aren’t at all like what Mir had heard. Neither of them had ever treated their son badly, well, as far as I knew.

Kyuhyun really had become a master at manipulating feelings. I’m pretty positive that his mother was a smoker, but that was it. All of his problems probably stemmed from personal choice. That was what made him such a terrifying person, in my eyes.

He has a mind of his own. He’s not trying to prove anything. Cho Kyuhyun is someone who wants to make an impression on the world – at least, that’s how I see it. There’s obviously thought behind all of his words and actions. So why did he tell Mir all those lies? Maybe he wanted to play the guy some more?

“If you start hanging out with his thugs, you better know that I don’t approve,” Mir-Friend (let’s call them that since I really don’t know their names) stated.

I rolled over, shuddering at the cheesiness of that line. Where were they getting their words? My gaze drifted over the tops of the buildings, past the residential streets, past the business district, and then they stopped when I reached the outskirts. I could almost see the black clouds hanging over them, telling people that it was where bad things happened.

Worst of all, that’s where I was going when night rose.