Chapter 18
Topposites Attract
Chapter 18 Part 10
Chapter 18 Part 9
Chapter 18 Part 8
My eyes flew open and I saw a large pair of eyes right in front of me. His hands were on my chest, his lips too close to me....was he trying to do CPR on me?
I immediately began coughing out the water and TOP backed away in surprise. My eyes burned and my lungs felt waterlogged. My throat had this nasty sensation of water that seemed to go down the wrong "hole".
My entire body shook, especially my hands. I hesitantly turned to look at the pool where I had fallen in.
The toy was still in there...and TOP was soaked wet with pool water. His hair was slopping wet and slicked down to his face. His usually sharp eyes had changed to shiny puppy dog eyes.
He had saved me...?
Still, I was in shock of my fall into the pool. Something had happened, something triggered in my head that made me knock out.
This weird feeling...I feel so cold and scared. Helpless.
"Are you okay?" TOP asked with a bit of concern. But his voice sounded distorted, like everything else that I could see. The house seemed larger than before and I felt myself become crooked.
I stumbled getting up and looked aimlessly at the ground. My brain felt frozen, as if it couldn't function properly.
"Y-Yah..what's w-wrong?" TOP asked again, this time with his hands up just in case I would fall.
I didn't reply. I couldn't reply, my mouth felt raw and broken...as if someone had punched it.
I brought my hand up to my face and swallowed hard. Why was this so painful?
I continued stumbling as I zombie walked up the stairs. Pool water dripped in puddles out of me but I didn't care. Water dries.
Once I reached my bedroom, I locked the door and crawled up in a corner beside the bed. I had vowed never to go inside a pool again since that night during my high school trip. I never knew it would hurt me this much. There was a ripping pain in my heart that seemed to sting every time I took a breath.
My wrist that bore the scars from that night seemed to glow red and more prominent. Tears seemed to be endless.
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I let my legs hang down from the the glass veranda by the 2nd floor living room. The night was a cool black and blue with small wisps of grey clouds around the cream colored moon. The breeze felt nice on my dry skin, weaving through my hanging arms and legs.
Charlie laid himself right beside me and his soft fur rubbed against my bare leg.
I felt much better than before....not so brain dead now.
I looked up at the beautiful night sky. It was breath taking in its own sort of way. The world above looked empty and continuous. I knew that this was going to become my new favorite spot in the house.
I wonder if this was what Choi Seunghyun did on his sad nights...wait why am I thinking about him all of sudden?
I shook my head and leaned my chin against the chrome railing.
Choi...Seunghyun. How strange was it that that actually used to know me. Not even just "friends" but my first kiss as well?
I scoffed and shook my head again. Hell no, that couldn't be counted as a first kiss. I was just young and stupid.
Speaking of relationships...I haven't visited my only family in a long time... My mom. I've just been so caught up in my job and being here that I haven't even thought of her.
"Raena you terrible child." I mumbled to myself as I sighed out. Maybe being able to live here was a good thing after all. All the money that I would earn would go to paying my debts but firstly the hospital bills.
Ughh there's too much to think about...
The veranda door behind me opened and shut behind me. I didn't have to turn my head to know who was there.
TOP sat down a few feet away from me and sighed deeply. I rolled my eyes over to see him. Charlie lifted his head and then laid his small head back down.
TOP being TOP, he looked stunning as usual. Despite his casual clothing, his handsome appearance really made it all that magazine worthy. How was it that a long sleeved black shirt and blue checkered pajama pants looked so different when he wore it?
His blackish strands of hair slightly waved over his eyes in the breeze. But there was something new about him...he looked normal...almost human.
"Do you want soju or beer?" TOP bluntly said out loud with his velvety voice.
Pfft. I almost said that out loud at his bluntness
I turned my head and ran my fingers through my hair. "Is 'so-Mack*' an option?"
TOP scoffed and pulled out a can of beer from the six pack next to him and put a bottle of soju next to him. He popped open the can and set it beside. Before he opened the soju bottle, I stopped him and took the bottle from him.
I snapped the bottle open by applying pressure with my thumb...just as I did that night when he gave me soju when I saw him.
TOP looked at me funny as if he were trying to remember something..except he couldn't.
I gave him the bottle and he began mixing the two drinks together so that they would combine. He handed me the soju bottle and he took the beer can.
We quietly sat there together taking sips every so often until he broke the silence.
"So...today." TOP awkwardly began talking. "What..um happened?" He asked.
Crap I knew he was going to ask.
I let my head hang low and sighed deeply. "If that's your sorry attempt to get to know me just stop."
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*so-mack: mixture of soju and beer (mackju)
TOP took another sip from his drink and then laid down on his back, using his arm as a pillow.
He spoke in a soft low voice, "You know..."
I slowly turned my head to see him. TOP's eyes glistened in reflection of the warm moon. "I grew up kind of alone too."
His voice was different, more sincere. Not serious and dark but more innocent.
He continued, "My father...he passed away when I was young. My mother and sister were both strong about it but I felt somewhat distant...it was hard for me to take it."
TOP told me his story about how he felt pressurized to grow up but because of his weakness...it was too hard. Especially when he wanted begin pursuing hip hop as his passion. No one really believed in his dreams to become a rapper...he told me how he lost weight and practiced so hard day and night to become who he was today.
I listened attentively at his words and felt myself smile at some parts. We were really similar in a way even if we were so different. I knew what he meant when he said "no one believed in him". But for me...no one was even there to not believe in me. I only had my mom, and she was sick the entire time. She began to live more with her eyes closed.
And so I was left with nothing but myself. I stayed up nights mixing tapes and delivering Chinese food and endless part time jobs. I got a scholarship to go to the US to get my degree in music and earned enough to take care of my family.
I don't know if it was the beer and soju or what but I felt comfortable. This whole atmosphere of just talking and laying down looking at the moon. I felt...peace.
When TOP was done talking, there was a soft silence that held on. As if it was waiting for my voice to fill the gap.
I looked at my wrist...the one with the tattoo over the scar. I swallowed hard and began. "In my last year of high school...the entire upperclassmen went on a spring trip to the south beach."
I scoffed, "I didn't want to go...I had no friends anyway. But um...I still went. I thought 'why the hell not'."
I could remember the night exactly from color to detail. Some of the kids in our class had brought alcohol to the vacation house that we were staying at. The weather outside was terrible, brilliant flashes of lighting and heavy rain. There was a disturbing humidity in the air, the kind that creeped through your body, giving you hot chills.
While the other kids were having a good time making new "friends" and listening to loud music, I went in to one of the quieter rooms. There was a large grand piano taking up the entire half of the room. My fingers immediately let loose and began playing. The keys were ivory and soft yet they made such a rich and powerful sound.
I played a random combination of notes that went with the loud pop song in the other room. They were drunk to their heads, I was drunk with the sounds.
From the corner of my eye, I saw four people walk into the room. Three guys and one girl.
I recognized them immediately and my heart pounded hard.
Kang Minhyuk, Kim Sora, Kim Habin and Park Jiwoo.
Funny how I remember them till now. But how could I forget? They had been having fun toying with me for an entire year, labeling me as some , the reason I didn't go to school on some days.
They had a smile on their face..more of a smirk. I continued to play without trying to look at them.
Sora leaned against the piano and slammed the piano cover shut.
I glared at her without saying anything.
She smiled at me with a fake kind face "You know...you're really loud. We would really appreciate if you.." Sora hit my forehead with her finger along to the syllables in her words. "Stop Playing."
I kept my jaws tight and glared at her. "Why would I stop for you?"
The guys laughed blandly and one of them pet my hair.
"And the bites back!" Minhyuk said with a douchy smile on his face. "Yah Jiwoo-ya, say something to her."
Jiwoo...the only decent guy in my class. The one that would talk to me during lunch when no one would. The one who pretended to like to make a fool out of me.
When I saw him, it hurt. He was better looking than most of them too. The way his eyes curled into smiles when ever his lips did. His soft voice in the end ripped my heart apart.
Jiwoo just smirked and gave a wink.
I grinded my teeth and continued playing.
"Better stop" Habin said sternly, grabbing my hair.
"YAH! My words don't sound like words to you?!" Sora yelled in my face as she hit my head with her knuckle.
Then I lost it. I immediately stood up and gave a cold punch to her face.
Sora laughed as she touched where I punched. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me you ?!"
Someone from behind grabbed my shirt and pushed me forcefully on to the ground. My back crashed on the harsh floor and I felt pain ripple throughout my body. I bit my lip hard not to cry.
A kick right to the abdomen and another at my chest.
"Guys stop it...it's rude to kick a girl like that." Someone said in a sarcastic tone. Jiwoo.
Jiwoo grabbed my arm and plopped me on the piano chair. "Keep playing. You said you wanted to become a music producer didn't you? You gotta keep playing then." He said with a "kind" smile as the other guys laughed.
My body was shaking from the pain. It was unbelievable, my lungs felt as if they could collapse any moment.
Minhyuk grabbed my neck and squeezed hard. "Play ."
I tasted blood in my mouth and my head was spinning. I forcefully put my hands on the piano keys and started playing. The keys didn't feel so smooth as they did before.
Sora grabbed my wrist and took a small Swiss knife from one of the guys. Before I could even do anything, she harshly drew a splicing line on my wrist. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out. There was a bright blue lightening strike that lit up the entire room. Carmine blood flushed out of my deeply slashed wrist and pain hit deeply in the core of my bones.
"Keep playing Moon Raena!" Someone yelled and a final push from the back of my head rammed me into the piano. And then I out.
The next time I opened my eyes...I was in the water.
Blood gushed out of the slit wound, coloring the water with bright red as if it were a literal pool of blood. My body was weak so I couldn't move. It was helplessness that I felt. Knowing that I would die if I stayed under this layer of blood but not being able to move. My body and mind went under lock down and I let myself drown.
No one had saved me that night. And I didn't expect anyone to. Rain water over flowed the pool and so that's how I was able to float over to the top.
They said it was a miracle that I survived. But because of the slit on my wrist, people thought it was an attempted suicide.
I sighed and looked at the moon. "As for those guys..."
TOP sat up with a somewhat pissed off face. "What happened to those sekki*s?"
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*sekki- bastard
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"I don't know.. I was too scared to go look for them or try to call the police on them." I touched the back of neck and sighed, "stupid..."
"You should have at least tried to find them!" TOP said angrily.
Why was he getting so worked up about this?
I shook my head, "It didn't matter. They helped me in a way I guess. They told me to 'keep playing' and so I did."
It was weird in a way. Just as people say, experiences did make me stronger. Sure after that incident, I couldn't use my hand for a month due to my severely impacted nerves but I continued to play after that so that I could be stronger..stronger than them.
TOP sighed loudly and finished off his drink. "You're strong alright ,Moon Raena."
"You're not too bad yourself." I said looking at him through the corner of my eye.
He smiled to himself and he turned his body towards me. "Maybe...we started off on the wrong foot." He held up a hand, "how about a hyung-dongsaeng* relationship? Truce?" His eyes sparkled in the moonlight.
I laughed and slapped his hand away from me. "I'm not going to call you hyung god damn it." I took a last sip from my soju bottle.
I stood up to leave but before going inside, I paused.
"Maybe an Unnie-dongsaeng* relationship." I said with a soft smile.
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*hyung-dongsaeng: big brother-little brother relationship
*unnie-dongsaeng: big sister-little sister relationship
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