Beyond This Fucked Up World [choi yeonjun]

Chapter Five - The Boy With The Baseball Bat

[19. August 2022]

Yeonjun promised to answer my question, but the thing was that I didn't ask any of my actual questions. For the last few days, I had only been searching for clear answers and I honestly didn't feel like having a stifling mood the whole car ride home.

Yeonjun hadn't minded either that my questions were about him rather than my ex-boyfriend. In fact, I'm very sure he preferred that too and also didn't feel like talking about the past. On the contrary, we enjoyed it so much that we drove through the streets in the car until sunrise and talked about everything.

After a while, I didn't explain to him the way to my house, because I was so engrossed in the conversation with him that I had completely put it aside. It must not have bothered him either, because he just drove on.

Because we had been on the road all night, I was completely exhausted and tired when he drove me home. I just wanted to lie down and go to sleep but I had to go to work at the café at 8am. So I just changed my clothes and tried to dress like I didn't look like a criminal.

When I arrived 30 minutes late, I saw Kai already standing at the counter, cleaning it with a rag. He looked up at me and greeted me cheerfully. He was wearing work clothes that looked like a sailor's costume with a matching headgear. His blond hair fell down his face and also like Yeonjun, he wore light red eye make-up.

I gave him a quick wave and smiled a little before quickly going to the dressing room and changing. I hoped that the boss hadn't noticed I was late and went straight to my work.

Some of the surrounding tables were dirty and there were still used dishes on them that had been left behind by the guests. I took a rag from behind the counter and went over to one of the tables.

I stacked the plates and bowls together and lifted them all up so I could wipe the table.

Forgetting that I hadn't slept last night and hadn't eaten in 12 hours, the strength in my hand wore off and all the dishes shattered on the floor. I just squinted my eyes and hoped that by chance only Kai had heard it, although I would be just as embarrassed.

I looked at the broken plates and bowls and knelt down to pick them up. With a loud bang, the back door opened and a horrified boss stood wide-eyed watching the spectacle.

"What have you done!" I squinted my eyes again, hoping to just disappear. I stood up, holding some shattered pieces in my hand, and looked apologetically over at the boss.

"Can't you do a simple job for once!? You've only been working here for three weeks and you're already causing trouble!" He scolded me, coming over to me.

"Here." He picked up some broken pieces.

"Look what you've done. Those dishes were expensive! Do you want me to make you pay for it?" He shook his hand around, which was full of broken dishes.

"Not only are you almost an hour late, now you're breaking dishes at random! That's sloppy work!" He shouted at me, getting louder and louder with each word. I just looked at my hands, which were also full of porcelain pieces.

I wanted to disappear, because my head was already switched off but my body was still in place. Kai had to listen to all this while he was mopping the floor behind me, so it was doubly embarrassing for me. And all this just so I could stay longer with the handsome criminal.

"Are you even listening to me!?" He asked me angrily. I raised my head and looked at him confused because I really hadn't been listening and saw him get even angrier when he noticed.

"How dare you show no respect to your boss!" He snapped at me.

"No respect for the ambience! None!" He said, pelting me with the china pieces. I was startled at the sudden attack and accidentally crushed the porcelain pieces in my hand.

Suddenly I caught sight of the boss being hit by a stick and noticed Kai holding it tightly in his hand. He looked angry and had broken the mop in two to use it as a bat.

After giving the boss a good smack, he dropped the end of the mop and grabbed my wrist. He pulled me out of the cafe and we both ran away. He ran in front, looking over his shoulder every now and then to see if I was still following him, and I was.

We ran on and on until we reached an empty car park where we came to a stop. Kai was standing several meters away from me, resting his hands on his knees. He was panting loudly and trying to get his pulse back under control.

I did the same and propped my hands on my hips. I looked up at the sky and prayed that the next few days wouldn't be as chaotic as the last two, because my body clearly couldn't take it.

Kai came back up from his stance and turned to me.

"Is everything okay?"

"Apart from the fact that I just lost my job, haven't eaten in 12 hours and didn't sleep last night either, I'm fine, yeah."

"I meant your hands." He said pointing to them while still panting a bit. I looked down and saw all the blood drowning my hands.

"Oh." I guess those porcelain parts were sharper than I thought.

He came over to me and took my hands in his and analyzed them. I flinched a little, since I didn't actually know him and he had just punched our boss, how was I supposed to know he wouldn't want to punch me too?

"You should get that looked at. I can take you to an emergency room if you want."

"No, it's fine." I sighed and took my hands back. It would be a bad time to ask him about the bracelet now, wouldn't it? As I did so, I noticed that he wasn't wearing the bracelet at all.

"I should have done this a lot sooner." They're all criminals, huh?

I looked at him in shock. He laughed out let his eyes wander around the parking lot.

"Ahh, why did I even come back? Wasn't even worth it for an hour's work."

"Where have you been?"

"Not here." He said reservedly. I guess these guys like to throw a question mark at everyone. At that, I remembered.

"Thanks. For getting me out of there."

"No big deal."

I hesitated a bit, wondering if I should just leave now or not.

"Well. I'll be going then." I just said, turning around a bit perplexed and leaving.

"Aren't you going to ask me about Sunoo?"

I stopped abruptly. How does he know?

"Taehyun told me that someone at the cafe where I also work at was trying to find out something and that someone wanted to talk with me about it." I squinted my eyes and cursed Taehyun for making this situation more uncomfortable now. I turned around.

"You don't have to tell me anything, I know you don't want to."

"I can only tell you what I know." He told me, smiling wryly. A friend group full of attractive guys, how unrealistic.

"Where's your bracelet?" He looked at his wrist.

"I always take it off at work." Makes sense.

"Do you like playing baseball? Because of your pendant?"

"No, I like beating people up with a baseball bat." I looked at him startled but he just grinned and started laughing right after.

"That was a joke. Did you really believe that?"

"After what you just pulled, yeah sure!" He laughed even louder. I really liked his laugh. Can he please laugh some more?

"No, I play baseball in my spare time and I took sick leave to go to a game." That explained his good hitting just now.

"Do you have questions about Sunoo as well or just me?"

"About Sunoo too." I said, but I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to find out the truth but it wasn't that his disappearance didn't bother me. Thinking about it gave me a sickening feeling and honestly I would like to avoid it.

But the fact that Sunoo disappeared without a word must have had a reason. And I am sure that these five guys know something they don't want to reveal.