His Errand Boy | Kihyun [√]

Chapter 9: A silent storm

In the twilight without you, this farewell that grabs down the dawn

-shootout

Choi Minjae

Aunt gulped down the glass of water in front of her in one shot, then she stared at me with her eyes scrutinizing. The air in the living room was so thick it could be cut into pieces, even the boys stood holding their breaths.

My insides were churning. Only God knew what she had up in her sleeves.

"So, this is what you’ve been doing?" slow yet loud words rolled off her tongue, still holding the glass in one hand. Stare could only shoot invisible daggers at me.

"Maybe we should give them some space, " Minhyuk murmured, immediately aunt looked at his way.

"No! You should stay here and listen." The old woman's smile was as fake as it could get.

Had she perhaps, realized that I'd been hiding my gender?

"Tell me darling, have you told them the truth?" aunt showed me her cruelest smile. My insides churned again, she had definitely realized. But all I could do was plead to her with my eyes in the silence while a murmur raised among the boys.

Aunt opened her mouth to speak once again, I closed my eyes.

"That you’re a g-"

Before she could finish there was a loud scream, which made me shot open my eyes. It was Changkyun growling under his breath as he was kneeling down holding one of his feet.

"That mother ducking paperweight fell on me!" he grumbled, even aunt was a little shocked by his sudden behavior.

"Gosh look at you; lets go inside," Kihyun said with a little sigh.

Aunt stood up too. "You stay with me," she told me while her eyes never stopped judging.

So I did stay, with my heart in my hand as the other boys left the room one by one. Minhyuk giving me the last glance, asking with his eyes if I'd be okay. I only smiled, I won't. 

Aunt had been hating me since I was a child.

"You haven’t told them yet, have you?" Aunt hissed yet her voice sounded louder.  I shrieked a little realizing how close she had gotten in the meantime.

"Aunt..."

The words stopped on my tongue, there was nothing I could say to her to explain my situation.

Before my mouth could produce another sound, a harsh smack was planted across my cheek where it left a stinging pain. My ears blocking almost every other noise except a buzzing sound.

"You give me money and I'll shut up." Her words were venom filled. "Last month I didn’t get the paycheck."

My world had stopped spinning, still a ringing sound buzzing in my ear. That was the reason she was here.

"I'm sorry. I won't forget next month," I said without looking into her eyes, truthfully I couldn't.

And when she left my mind was still empty. All I could do was stumble my way to the swimming pool and sit by a corner.

I'm not a kid anymore. So she could torture me like before.

Then why did I let that happen? Why couldn't I reject her? Why couldn’t I say something or at least look in her eyes? Her slap made me more ashamed than it hurt me.

"Hey..." A voice said from beside me and I could feel someone sitting down.

"Hyung did you do that deliberately? Why-" I turned to face Changkyun but my words had stopped right there realizing it was Kihyun instead. "Oh, it's you," I mumbled.

"Sorry to disappoint you." There was a small rolling of his eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn’t I?"

"You look like a storm had run past you," Kihyun answered.  He licked his lower lip as he silently stared at my left cheek with an unreadable expression on his face. "Does it hurt?"

"Where?" I blinked looking at him. He looked away.

"Your cheek. We all heard the sound."

I turned away too. "Did you hear anything else?"

"Nope," he said popping the last letter. "Changkyun said your aunt is not quite right in the head. Is that true?"

Why was Changkyun helping me when he said he wouldn’t.

I only let out a small sigh. "Is hyung okay?"

"Yeah," I saw Kihyun rocking his feet in the water. And I could feel him staring down on his feet as he played. "It was nothing serious."

And the silence fell, it wasn’t awkward nor stiff. The air around us felt comfortable.

I was the one to break the silence first. "Tell me about your one sided love hyung."

There was a clicking sound of his tongue, a sound of annoyance. "You never stop, do you?" grumbled he. It was silent again but surprisingly then he spoke. 

"I first met Soyou when I was thirteen. She was the daughter of my dad's business partner. Long story short, we met in a cruise dad took me for business purposes. She approached me first and she was fun to talk with."

Seeing that Kihyun would speak no more I opened my mouth once again. "Then what?"

"Then what?" Kihyun scowled. "Then we talked from time to time and I developed a crush on her."

Even in the dark I could see his face going darker, which only meant that he was blushing.

"It must be fate now that you two are studying in the same university." a giggle left my mouth unknowingly, who knew a boy in love would feel this cute.

"Fate my ass," he murmured under his breath. "Now would you get up or not? You'll catch a cold like this!" he scoffed.

I couldn't help but coo at him. "Hyung cares about me!"

Next second the look he gave me was enough for me to stop. He got up and I had to too under his stare. "Put a cold compressor on your cheek," he commanded and took the lead, I nodded and followed him.

"And the thing your aunt was trying to say," Kihyun suddenly stopped and turned.

My heart dropped in my stomach.

"That you are gay right? I know your secret." He mockingly said.

I nodded halfheartedly as the colours started to get back to my face. Oh, only if you knew.