that boy | hwang hyunjin | ✔

Chapter 28

"Chaelin! Chaelin, are you there?"

A deep voice hollers through the hallways, causing me to stir and slowly lift my head. It hurts, my knees sting like crazy and then I remember what happened. How I sank to the floor after seeing the mess my mother made, how the shards of the beer bottles penetrated my skin and how I didn't even care. Somehow, I must've fallen asleep on the cold kitchen floor, my now sore back resting against the door station.

Footsteps come closer and I hear my name being called again. The deep voice unmistakenly belongs to Felix and the idea of my best friend being here soon causes my eyes to tear up again. I need him. 

"I'm here," I croak out, my voice hoarse and barely a whisper. But it has been heard. The footsteps quicken and soon Felix appears, his orange hair a mess. His eyes widen as he finds the mess in the kitchen and then his eyes trail down, finding mine and widening even more.

"Chaelin," Felix gasps, instantly falling to his knees and wrapping his arms around me. His gesture is enough to make me cry again and I bury my face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his familiar scent. The boy gently strokes my back in a soothing way.

But he isn't alone.

Only a moment after Felix, Hyunjin appears as well, his dark brown eyes widened with shock. No, it isn't shock. He looks terrified as he eyes the mess inside the kitchen. He mutters something under his breath before looking down at me and Felix.

Felix slowly lets go of me and he immediately notices my injured knees. His shoulders slump down as he reaches out to inspect the small wounds. A few trails of blood have trickled down my leg, staining my white uniform stockings.

"Hyung," he calls out, slowly getting back to his feet. "Can you remove the shards from her knees? I'll search for band-aids."

The raven-haired boy nods before crouching down in front of me. Felix hurries out of the kitchen, heading towards the bathroom where the first-aid kit is supposed to be. Hyunjin and I idly stare into each other's eyes for a moment while I'm trying my best to fight back the tears. 

"What happened, Chaelin?" Hyunjin carefully asks as he reaches out to remove one of the shards from my knee, a larger one that's easy to remove. I flinch as he peels off the first bit, using his nails.

"My mom went nuts," I deadpan, hissing as he takes out another shard. "She basically ruined the kitchen in a drunken rage and disappeared." I let out another humorless laugh while the tears threaten to leave my eyes again.

Hyunjin remains silent, obviously not knowing what to do or say. He avoids my eyes and focuses on removing the glass shards from my knees while hurting me as less as possible. But no matter how careful he is, I feel every time he removes a shard and it stings like crazy.

"I'm sorry," the boy mutters after a while. "It's terrible, I never knew you were in a situation like this." Yet another shard joins the others on the ground and he gently dabs my knee with a tissue. 

"I never went into details," I sigh. "This is what my dad did to my mom, I'm don't want to trust a boy since I'm scared to end up like this, too."  I gesture to the mess in the kitchen and Hyunjin nods in understanding.

Then Felix enters the kitchen again, the first-aid kit and three pairs of shoes in his arms. He lets the shoes fall to the ground and gently places the kit next to us on the floor before opening it.

"Are there tweezers in there?" Hyunjin asks, leaning forward to search the kit its contents. "There shards are too small to remove with my fingers."

"There should be," I reply, and Hyunjin reaches out to rummage through the bandages, scissors, and wrappings with sterile gauzes. Then he takes out the tweezers and I brace myself for what's coming next.

This is the most painful part. All the shards left are only small splinters that are hard to remove. Hyunjin is intently staring at my knees, his tongue between his lips as he focuses on removing the last shards without doing any more harm. I hiss in pain, my teeth gritted together and my eyes squinted shut.

And then finally, Hyunjin leans back with a sigh, putting down the tweezers next to him.

"Done," he states, admiring his work.

"Thanks," I mutter, receiving a smile form the boy opposite of me.

Felix reaches inside the first-aid kit and takes out a package of band-aids and a bottle of iodine to clean the small cuts. I know it will sting, but comparing to what I've already been through when Hyunjin removed the shards, I'm positive I can handle this.

And indeed, the pain is bearable when Felix gently dabs the cuts with a cloth drenched with the disinfectant liquid. But nevertheless, I'm happy when he's done and carefully places some bandages over the largest cuts.

"All done," Felix state while helping me to my feet.

Then he hands me my pair of sneakers before slipping on his own. Hyunjin follows our example and I understand why. It's not safe to walk here bare-feet or with only socks covering your feet with all the glass shattered everywhere.

"Let's go and clean this mess," Felix suggests, looking around the kitchen with a frown.

Hyunjin and I both nod in agreement but a rush of sadness surges through me as I glance around the kitchen once more. The person who should care for me did this. The place that should be my safe home looks like this more than once because of her. Everything something like this happens, another part of me shatters. And I have no idea how long it takes before I can't handle it any longer.

Then the boys both leave the kitchen to gather cleaning supplies and I slowly walk towards the refrigerator to organize it again, my knees still weak and aching. I don't know how long the door's open already, but inside the fridge, it isn't as cold as it should be anymore. I still decide to put everything back, if I can't find anything that isn't spilled, torn or smashed against the wall.

Soon after they left, the boys return with buckets of water, sponges, a broom and a few trash bags. They both look around the mess once more, gulping as they realize what's awaiting them.

This is going to be a lot of work.

Thanks, mom.

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