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na jaemin pov
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Then, the image switched.
I saw the same girl again. Her name was Narae, I think. We were a little older, maybe around nine years old. She was grabbing onto my hand, talking about random things that I couldn't make out. Everything was like as if we were underwater. The images were blurred, and the voices were muffled. I only heard one thing clearly:
"Jaemin! Look! That guy is getting bullied!"
Suddenly, the images began to clear. It was no longer foggy and blurry. I saw a kid maybe a little older than us, crowded against a wall, with bulky teenagers kicking him and punching him in the face. The kid had pale, fair skin and eyes that screamed pain. His nose was bleeding and bruises covered his entire body.
"P-please...stop..." the kid tried to say, but was interrupted by another punch in the face.
"Oh, please stop!" The boys mimicked in a high-pitched tone. They all burst into laughter. I could feel my body twitching with anger. "Or what, Tae? What are you going to do? Tell your mommy and daddy?"
"Oh, don't say that to the kid," one of the shorter boys cackled. "His parents probably don't even care. Remember he said that he lives with his grammy and he goes to therapy. I heard his dad is an alcoholic too. Drinks a shit ton and goes bonkers after." They all burst into a hysteric fit of laughter.
"I heard that his dad hits him," the tallest mocked. "I mean, who wouldn't? Probably because he's being annoying all the time. What a brat you are, Tae."
"Don't call me that! Only my grandma can call me that!" The boy, who's name I assumed was Tae, cried. "Stop bothering me and leave me alone!"
"We don't fucking care, you little dipshit," The tallest kicked him in the gut, making Tae cough up blood. "No one cares about you. No one. Your parents don't, your grammy doesn't, no one in this entire school cares about you. Why? Because you're a fucking loser. An outsider. Go do everyone a favour and kill yourself."
Suddenly, I found myself, stomping over to the boys, anger bubbling up inside me. I was only nine, yet in these boys I found nothing but evil. I found nothing but pure sin and hatred. I found in me a strength I didn't know I had. If I wasn't careful, the other me might take charge and destroy everything.
"Hey, don't bully him," I tried to stay as strong as possible. Knowing bullies, standing up for people will only make the bullies attack you, but I didn't care. These boys made really horrible jokes, jokes that would scar and break the skin of anyone. "What did he ever do to you?"
The older boys turned around and looked down to face me. Their expressions were cruel and full of spite. They smelled like cigarette smoke, making me cough. "Oh, what do we have here? A little boy! Ha! He's even younger than Tae!" They all mocked. "Tae, don't you feel ashamed, being protected by some stupid kid that's younger than you?"
Tae, who was definitely at least two years older than me, was at a loss for words. Tears were brimming his eyes and blood was streaming down his face.
"That doesn't matter," I spat. "He's a human. I'm a human. You too, are humans. No one deserves to be treated like that, no matter how old they are," I approached the boys, just a little closer. "If my mom were here, she'd tell you guys to go dig a ditch and go to hell. Just saying."
The boys scoffed, obviously offended, but kept their composure. "Oh, do we care what this little kiddo is saying? Of course not," the shortest shook his head. "What's your name, dipshit?"
I ignored the profanities and stood taller. "Na Jaemin. And you better apologize to...um, Tae before I punch you...I'll punch you in the face!"
The tallest threw his head back, laughing uncontrollably. He resembled a villain. "Punch me in the face, huh? You're like, fucking half my size, Na. How in the hell are you going to-AHHHH!"
I interrupted him by kicking him in the balls. He fell to the ground and clutched onto his pants, groaning from the pain. I smirked to myself and faced the other boys.
"Who's next?" I chuckled, shaking my legs to warm up. "I mean, I can also bang my head into your gut, kick you in the balls twice for good measure, or..." I pointed to Narae, who was now standing next to me. "I can call the cops."
"What the hell, who is that girl? Is that another one of your pansies, your little sidekick? Is she going to what, pull out a magnifying glass and solve a mystery with you or something?" The remaining two boys mocked Narae, but she didn't even flinch.
"You better leave the boy alone, you dogs. My uncle is a cop. I have his phone number. I can just so easily call 119 and all this would end with you two behind bars." Narae spat, pulling out her phone. "How do you like that?"
"I don't fucking care what a little girl is about to do, okay?" The boys snarled. "This kid, Tae, is a nuisance. He is annoying. He is a pain in the ass. He gets in our way and doesn't deserve to live. He is the one who should get in trouble, not-AHHHH!"
I interrupted with another flying of my foot, right at the spot. "Repeat that one more time and I will do it again. Everyone, even you mutant, deserves to live, no matter what they've done. That's why we're alive, isn't that right?" I made my tone a little more threatening. "How sad. Your parents didn't teach you about equality and love. So that's why you can't portray anything but violence and hate."
"Okay, okay! We'll leave!" The boys scurried away, mumbling curse words under their breath, stealing glances behind them, making sure that we weren't following them.
Once the boys left, I slowly approached Tae. He was barely conscious, with all the blood dripping on his skin. When I looked into his eyes, they looked so lonely and sad. They were wet with tears and they looked as if he didn't have any will to live anymore.
"Um...hyung, right? Uh, are you okay?" I asked him, with Narae behind me.
He hid his face. I could tell that he was crying. "Ugh, I'm so embarrassed..." He murmured under his breath, hiccuping with tears. "I-I...thank you...I don't know, um, I'm sorry. You didn't have to...do that..."
I shook my head. "Hyung, look at me." When he didn't look up, I gently took his hand and laid it down and looked straight into his lonely eyes again. They were red and swollen from crying. "Um, those guys were jerks. Like I said before, my mom would tell them to dig a ditch and go to hell. Uh, sorry. That's just my mom. But, um, you don't have to listen to them because they don't know what they're doing and they're probably failing all of their classes. None of it is your fault."
Tae slowly, then smiled sadly.
"Let's take you home. We can treat your-" Narae began, but Tae hyung cut her off.
"N-no, please, anywhere but my house, anywhere..." he burst into tears.
"Then let's head to my house," Narae suggested, realizing why. Apparently, Tae hyung's dad was an alcoholic and hit him a lot, according to the bullies. "My parents won't mind."
He smiled softly, then got up slowly. Luckily, none of his bones were broken, so he still able to walk.
We began walking, and to break the silence, I asked him, "Oh, yeah. I didn't ask you for your name. Um...they called you Tae but you didn't like that, so I just wanted to ask for your real name...?"
