Chapter Thirty-Three

~The Truth About The Past~

    Yoomi laid on her bed, unconscious. The ten EXO brothers and Nai Nai stood around her bed with worried looks on her face. Suddenly the door busted open and Luhan ran in.

    “Yoomi!” he yelled in panic.

    Nai Nai backed up, letting Luhan take her place. Luhan bent down and cupped Yoomi’s cheek gently. Her face was pale. It worried him. He didn’t know what happened. All he knew was that Yoomi had fainted at lunch and that EXO and Yoomi were heading home. His heart beat raced in fear as he drove home from his office.

    “What happened?” Luhan asked to no one in particular.

    “She...she met someone and they had a little argument. The doctor said that her blood pressure was too high, so that caused her to faint. She just needs to rest, then she’ll be fine,” Suho said.

    Luhan stood up straight and stared at Suho.

    “Who was it? Who did she meet?” Luhan asked in a deep and angry tone.

    Suho shook his head.

    “We don’t know for sure. But...his name is Yoon Jaehwa and...and he’s her first love.”

    Luhan’s eyes widened.

    “F-first love?” he asked.

    His heart shattered.

    So, Yoomi also had a painful love experience. Luhan and Yoomi were more similar than he thought. He looked down at her and smiled sadly.

    So, one of your many scars are from your first love. I don’t know how deep it is, but I’ll make sure to heal it, since you’ve already healed mine.

    Sehun walked up to Luhan and patted him on shoulder.

    “It’s okay hyung. I’m pretty sure that Yoomi will open up to you about everything soon,” he said.

    Luhan looked at the younger one and smiled.

    “I know,” he said softly.

    Sehun smiled back.

    EXO walked out of the room. Nai Nai held onto Luhan’s hands.

    “Han, take care of her. I only watched over her for a year, there is so much more about her that we do not know. I’m not saying that I don’t trust her. I trust her with my life, it’s just...we should be careful around her. We should be careful of what we say to her because we don’t know what we say could hurt her or not. I don’t want her to feel anymore pain, but I don’t want her to keep it to herself either. I know that you will be by her side and help her,” she said.

    Luhan smiled and nodded.

    “I will Nai Nai,” he said.

    Nai Nai nodded in approval and reached up to his cheek. She brushed her thumb across his cheek and let go of his hand. She walked out of the room, leaving Luhan and Yoomi alone, once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Luhan sat down beside Yoomi, watching her sleep. Color had come back to her face. She looked much more alive now, but her eyes were still closed. Luhan held onto her hand and rubbed her hand.

    Yoomi, what happened?

    He thought of all the possible possibilities.

    Yoon Jaehwa, he could have played with Yoomi’s heart. He could have made her fall in love with him and then he probably did something to break her heart like cheat on her.  They would have had to met more than a year ago, since Nai Nai had not picked up anything about this “Jaehwa”, so maybe they had met two or more years ago. Then Yoomi and Jaehwa would have still been in high school, that is if Jaehwa was the same age as Yoomi.

    Luhan ruffled his hair and sighed.

    Who exactly is Jaehwa?

    Yoomi stirred in her sleep. Luhan’s eyes widened as he leaned in closer to her. Yoomi slowly opened her eyes. It was slightly dark in her room. The lights were turned off, but the sunlight lit most of her room up. She looked to her left where Luhan sat.

    “Luhan,” she quietly said.

    Luhan smiled.

    “How are you feeling? Are you thirsty?” he asked.

    Yoomi nodded.

    Luhan quickly got up and poured her a glass of water. Yoomi sat up as he did so. Luhan hurried back to her and handed her the cup. She gulped it down and handed it back to him. Luhan set it on the counter and sat back down. He stared at her. It was silent. Yoomi was looking down at her hands. She knew that the others must have told Luhan about her encounter with Jaehwa. She was right.

    “What happened today?” Luhan asked.

    Yoomi quietly sighed and looked up at him.

    “Luhan,” she breathed out.

    “Mm?”

    Her eyes began to water. Luhan looked at her worried.

    “Luhan,” she began to sob.

    Luhan’s heart clenched as her tears began to flow down her cheeks.

    “Yoomi ah,” he quietly said.

    “Luhan,” she cried outloud as he threw her arms around him. “I-I was so scared,” she sobbed into his shoulders.

    Luhan fought back his tears. If she was going to cry, he would have to be strong for her. He couldn’t let her cry in the arms of someone so weak. Luhan rubbed her back.

    “It’s okay. You don’t have to be scared anymore. I’ll take all your pain away,” Luhan whispered in her ear. “I’m here. I’m right here. I love you, Yoomi. I look you so much okay? I love you.”

    His words only made her want to cry even more. She held onto him tight, never wanting to let go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Yoomi was standing outside on the balcony. The wind blew, causing her to shiver. Suddenly warmth engulfed her. She looked back and saw Luhan’s face right next to her. His arms were wrapper around her. A blanket covered the both of them. A smile was on his lips. Yoomi forced a smile and looked back at the scenery before her.

    “Luhan...Jaehwa…”

    Luhan shook his head.

    “You don’t have to tell me,” he said.

    Yoomi shook her head this time. She turned around and faced him. Both of their bodies pressed against each other. She kept her gaze on his chest.

    “No,” she said, “I-I want to...I want to tell you. I think this will be the only way that I can...that I can forget about it and move on once and for all,” she quietly said.

    Luhan lowered his head.

    “Tell me,” he whispered in her ear.

    She held onto his shirt. Her head was down, she didn’t want to look at anyone at the moment. She rested her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat.

    “Jaehwa...I met him three years ago. I...I fell in love with him. He was two years my senior. He was the only one that was ever kind to me and paid me attention. He found out about my parents beating me. He stood up for me in front of my parents. I loved him so much. I thought...I thought that he did too.”

    Yoomi closed her eyes shut. Letting her tears drop down onto Luhan’s shirt. She began to shake as she tried to control her crying. She could hear Luhan’s heartbeat speed up out of anger.

    “I trusted him and loved him so much. One day...he asked me out. We went to a restaurant as friends. I was so happy. We got along with each other. We had so many things in common. That was when I told him my feelings for him. He looked shocked, sad, and sorry. I didn’t know why. When we left...I began to feel dizzy. He offered to take me home, I took his offer. When I got into his car, I fainted. He had drugged my drink.”

    Luhan’s grasp on Yoomi tightened.

    Yoomi hiccuped as more tears fell.

    How dare he, Luhan thought angrily.

    “When I woke up again, I was still in his car. We were parked next to an alley. I saw a group of men outside the car. Jaehwa was with them. I opened the door and got out. They were...talking about me. He was….he was selling me to them. I-I tried to run to a police station. The men caught up to me and tried to take me. I yelled for Jaehwa, but he did nothing. I-I was lucky that there were police officers nearby. The police tried to arrest all of them, but some of them got away. The police took me home. My parents thought that I had went to the police about the beatings, so when the police left, my parents beat me. I-I couldn’t w-walk for days.”

    Yoomi buried her face into his chest.

    “H-he,” she sobbed, “he was j-just j-just u-using me.”

    Luhan couldn’t hold it in anymore. He let his tears fall down as he held onto Yoomi tight.

    “He used me. N-No one ever came to help me,” she sobbed.

    Yoon Jaehwa.

    Luhan made sure to remember that name forever.

    “Don’t worry,” Luhan rubbed her back. “I’m here now. I’ll protect you. I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore. It’s not just me, you have Nai Nai, Jinah, Jungwoo, Jaebum, and your other eleven dorky brothers,” Luhan said.

    Yoomi let out a little laugh and looked up at Luhan.

    “Mm,” she nodded.

    Luhan cupped her cheek and wiped her tears.

    “I love you,” he said.

    Luhan would make sure that Yoomi knew that he loved her, that he loved her and would never hurt her.

    Yoomi smiled.

    “I love you,” she said to him.

    Luhan smiled and leaned down. They both closed their eyes as he kissed her forehead.

End of Chapter Thirty-Three

Author's Note:

Were you surprised about what happened between Jaehwa and Yoomi?