Scarlett Scars (Stray Kids FF)

Chapter 60

Pov: Bang Chan

I am not a baby.

So why am I in bed, watching the ceiling after being scolded by Scarlett for my lack of sleep?

She literally dragged me to bed since I was staying up all night, playing video games with Felix.

'I don't care if it's your vacation. Sleep. Now. You can play tomorrow. We don't need another nosebleed.'

I couldn't even remember the last time my mother had said such words to me.

It's actually.. really funny how much she resembles a mom. For someone so young, she's always scolding the members for doing stupid things. She's constantly encouraging Minji- though with a poker face- to fight harder and train well. Even though she's so busy with paperwork, she's keeping track of her teammates and everyone's safety.

As a fellow leader, she has my full respect.

In a way, it was ironic since she had lost her own mother at such a young age. I knew that since I shamelessly researched the Chu family the day after she'd cried. Never would I have thought that she'd be the daughter of a maid.

According to the internet, the Chus had treated her like their own daughter even before Scar's mother and father had passed away of an illness. They then adopted her but died shortly after from an accidental fire outbreak, leaving the whole fortune to her through a will.

So Scarlett had lost her real parents, attained new ones who were the Chus and a stepsister who was also adopted, then lost her new family too and became an orphan again.

I couldn't look at her the same after reading all that. Although the news could not be a hundred percent true, there was no doubt that Scarlett had grown up alone. It was obvious from her awkward way of showing affection. If I calculated correctly, she was about twelve years old at the time she lost everything.

Knowing that.. I was amazed. How had she grown up so well?
She could have been spoiled with all of those riches. She could have lost all the fortune. She could have tried to harm others to forget her own pain. She could have permanently closed herself off to the world and stayed at her villa, depressed.

But here she was, maintaining a job she didn't even need the paycheck of. Her story sounded like something out of a book. It was mysterious and sad and made it hard to believe that I saw her every day, yet knew close to nothing about her.

The nightmares she once talked about.. The fact that she couldn't care less about money.. The way she tried to distance herself from everyone.. Everything made sense.

Was she blaming herself for their death, by any chance? Did she hate all the money and responsibility that was thrown at her at such a young age? Was her negative way of thinking all caused by witnessing so many deaths when she wasn't even mature enough to process it all?

She sneaked in again, thinking I was asleep. All I had to do was imitate the sound of low snores and she'd approach my alarm clock, turning it off. It was so hard not to smile while she tiptoed back to her room.

She knew I had insomnia, yet believed that I was actually asleep every time she visited. I didn't understand how things added up in her head. She did once ask me about why I snored louder sometimes and I told her that it varied according to how tired I was. That was a lie; obviously, the louder snores were the genuine ones.

Since I was awake all the time, I made sure to notice if she cried again, but it never happened after that night. I wasn't sure if she was fine now or had just found a way to muffle her sobs completely. Hopefully, it was the former.