The Taste of Tears (VFany Fanfiction)

Chapter 31

Noh Hyunsuk tossed Jungkook into the room where Lee Seonghwa held Taeyeon. His boss sneered.

“Well-well, we have another company.” Seonghwa tore out Jungkook’s hair. “You must be one of the Bulletproof Boys. Are you here to save Taeyeon?”

From the corner of his eyes, Jungkook saw Taeyeon lying on the floor holding her left hand. Jungkook’s eyes goggled in horror when he saw blood flowing from her neck.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO TAEYEON?!” Jungkook shouted in anger. He was so furious that he couldn’t even feel the exit wound on his back. Jungkook grabbed Seonghwa’s collar and smashed his head to that devil’s head.

Seonghwa fell. Noh Hyunsuk kicked Jungkook on his wound and pressed it.

“ARRRRRRGH!!!” Jungkook groaned in pain.

“No, stop it!” Taeyeon screamed. She spontaneously crawled to reach Jungkook, but Seonghwa’s man quickly grabbed her.

Seonghwa laughed eerily. He touched his bruised forehead. “Aish…” He felt a bit dizzy. He turned to Taeyeon. “Do you care for this scoundrel?”

Taeyeon stared at Seonghwa’s eyes. She was petrified. Seonghwa’s question could only mean one thing.

“Taeyeon-ah,” Seonghwa smirked at her. “I used to ask Tiffany to choose between two options, unfortunately she isn’t here with us right now,” he really enjoyed the fear in Taeyeon’s pale face, “so I’ll let you make a choice.”

Taeyeon quivered as Seonghwa approached her. “Whose life do you want to save? Your life or that scoundrel’s life?”

Jungkook struggled to get loose, but Noh Hyunsuk pressed his body onto the floor. “Don’t you dare hurt Taeyeon. I swear I’ll rip your heart and throw it for dogs to eat it if you dare to lay your finger on her.” Jungkook glowered at Seonghwa.

Seonghwa flouted. “You’re not the one who’s making a decision here. It’s Taeyeon.”

Seonghwa gave a signal to his henchmen. They lifted Taeyeon and seated her on the couch.

Seonghwa took something from his cabinet. It was a bottle of some liquid. He looked at that bottle. He had always kept that liquid for himself. Seonghwa snorted. Who would’ve thought he would use it on someone else?

“Taeyeon-ssi,” Seonghwa turned to her, “I’ll let you choose: If you want me to spare his life, you must drink this. It will take your life anyway, but I’ll let your boyfriend alive.” He amusedly smiled. “But if you’re afraid to die, I’ll kill him before your very eyes.”

Taeyeon had never quivered this hard in her life. She looked at Seonghwa in terror. How could a man ever proposed such evil options? She was sure Lee Seonghwa had never been a human all these times. He was the incarnation of the devil himself.

“How could you play God on someone’s life?” Taeyeon whispered desperately.

“SON OF A BITCH!!!!” Jungkook struggled to break free. His anger gave him strength to push Noh Hyunsuk. He stood up—ready to smother Lee Seonghwa—but Noh Hyunsuk clinched his hands and kicked his calves. Jungkook was forced to kneel.

“Taeyeon-ssi, what do you say?” Seonghwa calmly looked at Taeyeon. He poured the hydrochloric acid into a glass of wine and put the glass on the coffee table in front of her.

“Listen to me, Taeyeon-ah!” Jungkook shouted. “Don’t even think about it! I will hate you forever if you dare to touch that damn glass!”

Taeyeon looked at Jungkook with all the sorrows in her heart. Why did you come for me, Jungkook-ssi? You could’ve lived your life happily if you had never come to me.

“D-don’t… Don’t!” Jungkook caught something in Taeyeon’s eyes. He had never been this scared before in his life. “Let him kill me….” Tears rolled down his red eyes.

“Life is just a life…” Lee Seonghwa sighed. “There are more than seven billion people in this world, your deaths won’t affect anything.” He nodded to his most loyal henchman.

Noh Hyunsuk drew out a knife from his blazer. He stabbed Jungkook.

“NOOOOOO!!!” Taeyeon shrieked.

Jungkook gritted his teeth in agony. He didn’t scream even when that same knife ripped his skin, flesh, and blood thrice. “D-don’t look at me, Taeyeon-ah….” Jungkook swallowed the blood that rising up his throat. “Just look away and leave…. You must live….”

Taeyeon was shaken. She had heard those words before. Tiffany used to tell her to look away and pretend that nothing bad ever happened to them. But Taeyeon had had enough. She couldn’t look away when Jungkook was severely wounded in front of her eyes. That man was covered in blood. It seemed to her that he had been ready to die for her. His determination was shown in his pretty eyes. Why did you do this, Jungkook-ssi? Taeyeon gave him an extremely sad smile.

Taeyeon trembled. She couldn’t move her fingers. Five of them had been crushed by Seonghwa. She turned her beautiful face away from Jungkook. She looked at the crystal glass in front of her. “Please live on, Jungkook-ssi.”

Taeyeon reached for the glass and lifted it closer to her lips.

“NO! NO! NO!” Jungkook screamed in pain. The four wounds on his body kept bleeding, but nothing could hurt him more painfully than to see Taeyeon touch the glass and drink what was in it.

Lee Seonghwa’s smile disappeared. He clutched his fist. He should’ve enjoyed this moment. But why did it not make him happy? Why couldn’t his heart feel anything? His heart was as hollow as twenty years ago when his mother left him.

“Eomma, don’t leave me, Eomma….” The young Lee Seonghwa clung to his mother’s hand. His face was covered in tears.

“Adeul…,” his mother looked at him, “let eomma go.” That woman begged as she let go of her son’s hands.

Seonghwa ran to catch his mother’s car, but he could only catch the smoke that coming out of its muffler.

A month later, that woman was found dead. Someone strangled her. Seonghwa knew it was his father who had murdered his mother. But Seonghwa couldn’t feel any sympathy for that woman. No matter how hard he tried to cry, his eyes were all dry. That woman had made her choice. She left Seonghwa and his father. He knew that woman had been scared of her ex-husband for so long. But how could she leave her only son just like that? If he had never meant anything to her, than she shouldn’t have meant anything to him. Ever since that day, Seonghwa had grown up into a much colder and more heartless man than his old man.

Lee Seonghwa looked around him. Taeyeon covered her mouth, she looked so much in pain. That woman chose to sacrifice her life to save the man who was going to die for her. It made Seonghwa’s head really hurt. He staggered and struggled to get out of there.

“What is life?” Seonghwa looked really puzzled. He was looking for the door.

Noh Hyunsuk watched his boss. There was something wrong with him.

“Seonghwa-sajangnim, are you alright?” He caught his boss’ body.

Seonghwa nodded.

“What do you want me to do to these people?” Hyunsuk asked.

“Let them be….” Seonghwa held his forehead. “I just want to get out of here.”[]