The Bouquet

Chapter 2

Within seconds your hands were stained with blood, the boy below you jerking and whimpering in pain. The suture pierced his skin smoothly, but your unsteady hands would occasionally jump and yank the thread too hard causing the both of you to wince. You did your best to hurry as well as stitch it as correctly as you could. The more you worked the stiller the boy became, his breathing relaxed and more even than before. You tied the thread off in a knot and snipped the excess, it was finally over. You quickly helped your brother bandage the wound and then set off to clean the area around it. The bowl of water was rapidly turning pink as you struggled to remove the fresh and dried blood that stained his tan skin.

"What happened? I thought everything was going good, you said there was nothing to worry about and the next thing I know you're calling me and Namjoon is half-dead over your shoulder."

"The deal went bad." Your hands halted their movement in an instant. The deal? What deal was he talking about and what did your brother have to do with it?

"Those motherfuckers didn't even plan on paying up, one second everything is fine and then the next five more guys come out of nowhere and start shooting the place up."

You whispered his name in shock, your voice cracking as you realized what had been going on for the past few months. "You're in a gang? Mom and Dad are gonna kill you!"

"It's not Mom and Dad that I'm worried about killing me." He scoffed, tiredly rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's not funny! You could get hurt or worse, killed! And you had me help you, we're harboring criminals!" You squeaked, your heart thumping in response to your words. The both of you were breaking laws tonight it seemed. In such a short amount of time, your life had changed so suddenly.

"Criminals? So that's what you call your big brother now, huh?" He grunted, his jaw set and taunt as he began to pace in agitation.

"You - you know that's not what I meant." You sighed, your eyes falling back down to the boy- Namjoon - who laid still beneath your blood-stained hands. Were those really your hands? They were still dainty from your young age, the fingers curled in from the tightness of the dried blood. You had never seen so much blood in your life.

"Trust me, I know exactly what you meant." He snapped, the vein in his neck beginning to bulge in anger. "That's all you, Mom, and Dad ever think of me as, right? Some fucking free-loading delinquent that will never amount to anything, right?!"

"Hey, you need to calm down -"

"No! I won't fucking calm down! I'm sick and tired of being treated like some apathetic sack of shit nobody gives a damn about." He yelled, shoving Hoseok's hand off of his shoulder in his fit of rage.

The feeling in the room was tight, your heart pumping loudly in your chest as if it were trying to escape the entrapment of your ribs. You love your brother, and once he loved you. But this person, he was someone you didn't know. Your brother was patient, loving, kind, and understanding. He was the one to pick you up when you fell, the one who you could count on for anything. But this version of him was a twisted clone, something that had been birthed from hate and envy, something that was unrecognizable as the boy who used to bike down to the river with you every weekend. He was a stranger.

A choked sob broke free from your throat, momentarily halting your brother's persisting rage. A deep frown curved into the smooth skin of his cheeks, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sound of your distressed cries that you were desperately trying to muffle with your stained hands.

He whispered your name, taking a step towards you. Before he could come any closer, Hoseok took hold of his arm once more and pulled him back.

"Let's go get some air, Jin is on his way we should go wait for him." He mumbled, tugging your brother in the direction of the stairs.