FAVORITE CRIME. HAECHAN

08 | ONE LAST TIME

"People don't kill themselves while they are sleeping."

seulbyul looked down at her bleeding wrist, which was being held by the guy who spoke up just now. his voice was calm, though she can feel how hard he tried to not yell at her and scold her for doing this.

before she could open her mouth, the guy pulled her to the countertop, making her seat on the chair as he rushed to the cabinet and reached for a first aid kit. as for seulbyul, she tried her best not to make any eye contact with him, and she knew he was boiling in anger right now. he always was when it comes to her.

"thankfully the wound is not that deep. i was thinking about running you to the hospital," he whispered, his hands were busy treating her wound. she stared at her injured wrist, her face remained unimpressionable even when it stung during the treatment. 

"why did you save me, Renjun?" she muttered, making him look at her.

"are you stupid? why do I have to see my own best friend kill herself in front of me?" he sighed.

"witnessing that once is enough."

she moved her gaze to her lap, not knowing how to elaborate the conversation. as for the guy, he knew that giving her an earful would make her even more stressed out. though he never knew what was the reason she ended up being like this, at least saving her from hurting herself would be something he'd never regret in the future.

"you're up this late," she muttered again, her eyes staring at the clock which showed the time 3 am.

Renjun sighed again, wrapping the bandage around her wrist carefully before he pointed at the washer-dryer machine that was still running. 

"naeun's school uniform." he breathed out, before he examined her bandaged wrist to see if he left out anything. 

"you stayed up every night to wash naeun's uniform?" she asked, guilty started to dominate her feelings. just how can he do that when she was her aunt? when she was supposed to do everything is he doing right now. preparing her food, sending her to school and picking her up, telling her fairytale stories, tugging her to sleep, helping her with her homework and walking her to the playground.

just what kind of aunt she was?

"don't worry, it's not that I have much to do in this big house anyway." renjun shrugged it off, before he gently placed her hand on her lap. knowing that he didn't receive any reply from her, he stood up to place the first aid kit back into the cabinet.

"did naeun ever talk about me?"

"always, seulbyul. always."

seulbyul let out a small gasp. all these times, she always thinks about herself, nothing but herself that she forgot her responsibility to raise a child that is from her own family bloodline. she never felt so guilty, she knew that naeun was totally struggling with this too, and she never cared.

they didn't lie when they said she was selfish. 

"seulbyul? seulbyul."

Renjun snapped his fingers in front of her face, bringing her back to reality. before she knew it, Renjun placed a glass of orange juice on the countertop for her. 

"you don't look like you're going back to sleep soon," he said, before he opened the cabinet again to search for some snacks that jeno always bought. fortunately, he found a jar of cookies that he could dig in with her.

but after seeing seulbyul didn't touch any food that he served, he sighed.

"I don't think its my right to ask what happened to you, that made you do that..." he said, picking up the knife that he threw away from her, bringing it to the sink.