Soulmates - k.yc • p.jh

•xii•

When Seo's fist connected to Chan's temple, I swore he was dead. There was no way he wasn't. "Oh my God!" I screamed, covering the girls' eyes.

Sehyoon rushed over to Chan, teaching for his phone. Seo grabbed it before coming at as for me. "What the fuck? Seo, you could've killed him!" He just shrugged.

"Let Mother take him upstairs, you come with me." Why was he getting punished for Chan's mouth? It made no sense to me.

I dared to ask. "What did Sehyoon do? What are you punishing him for?"

Seo glared at me. "Give me one of them." He looked at everyone, trying to decide. I hid the girls behind me and Byeongkwan latched on to my side. Eunseo looked at what I was doing and hid Jooheon and Minhyuk behind her.

"What are you doing?" Sehyoon asked. I wonder if we all had the same idea.

Eunseo shook her head. "I can protect them just as much as you can, Sehni." We did indeed have the same idea.

Seo looked at her. "Oh?" He chuckled. "Different from my usual, but you could most definitely do."

For the first time in his life, and I could tell this by the way his body and voice shook, Sehyoon charged at Seo, pushing him as much as he could. "You touch her, I'll kill you my damn self." Seo laughed, more at Sehyoon's attempt to be intimidating.

"Any other takers?" He asked. "While I'm waiting for Jackass, every phone better be in that drawer when I come back upstairs."

I handed Eunseo the girls. "Sehyoon, go over there in front of her." Before he could argue it, I snapped at him. "Now!" After passing Eunseo my phone, I stepped forward to Seo. "Me, bitch."

That was all it took for him to grab me by my hair, dragging me downstairs. "I've had it with you, thanks for making it easier on me." I didn't even fight. As much as I hated this, knowing I never got away from it, I couldn't let him hurt any other kid here. The more we made it apparent that I was lucky to have Chan as my soulmate to save me for a few hours at least, the more I realized no one was saving Sehyoon.

Getting downstairs, it was a mess. There was no way Sehyoon "cleaned it" earlier today. "Seo," I mumbled. "Why do you do it?" I wanted to know why this is what people do.

Seo chuckled, looking at me with hungry eyes. "You take in these worthless pieces of shit and they all trust you to do the right things, but that's boring. I do it because I can you dumbass, did you want a deeper answer?" I wasn't even sure what I was expecting either. "I don't even feel like doing what I usually do. So just get on your knees, take it, and go back upstairs."

I looked around, trying to piece together what he did normally do. I noticed blood on the carpet. That meant one of two things, and I hoped neither was true. Nevertheless, I did what Seo wanted and as fast as I could. Feeling disgusted with myself, I sat back away from him. "Can I go now?" I asked softly.

Seo shrugged, fixing his pants. "Get the fuck out of here, I don't want to see your face anymore." As I stood up, he chuckled. "Goddamn, you're better anyway. Watch out, I might switch you two out." As sickening as that was, if I was protecting everyone else, that would be fine with me.

I made my way upstairs, taking deep breaths to avoid being sick. "Jun," Sehyoon piped up, seeing me make my way to the upper level.

"Where's Chan," I sighed softly.

Eunseo looked at Sehyoon, kind of uncertain in how they should talk to me. "Upstairs? Older kids' bedroom." I nodded, heading up there, trying to put my mind elsewhere.

Someone followed behind me, Sehyoon probably. "Why are you doing this?" He asked, following me upstairs. "Why would you let Seo take you like that? I can handle it."

I turned to him. "That's not something you should have to learn to handle. You called this your normal and it shouldn't be." I wanted him to let it die. And I could tell he was actually grateful. But guilty that he felt so.

We watched the time. Every half hour we were checking to see if Chan was still breathing. Around the three hour mark after he'd been hit, Sehyoon started losing it. "Damn it!" He whined, tears starting to pour.

"Sehyoon?" I asked, turning my attention to Chan. "Is he okay? Is he breathing?"

He nodded, struggling to breathe himself. I got up, helping him straighten his torso. "This isn't him, Jun." I furrowed my eyebrows as Sehyoon pulled himself up to stand. "Once he turned 15, he lost it. Having a soulmate ruined him. So many people love this system but it drives people crazy and others get punished for something their families did with not chance at change. Knowing he couldn't find you drove him crazy every single day and now? He's fucking crazy. This is not my best friend."

As I was going to respond to him, I heard a grown come from behind me. "Chan?" I spun on my heel to face him. He nodded softly, groaning again in pain. "I hope you're okay. Because we can't call for an ambulance. Seo took our phones until morning." Chan was instantly enraged.

"What the fuck," He snapped. Sehyoon shushed him quickly.

He sighed, wiping his tears. "You're responsive, we can't call. Just promise me you'll stop testing him. I can take what he gives out, I don't need you hurt trying to protect me." I glanced at him, hoping he'd let me take over the hurt. Chan just silently agreed.

I ran my fingers through his hair softly. "Can I get some aspirin?" Sehyoon got up to get it.

"You have to get it together, Chan." He sighed, laying his head in my lap as I stroked his hair. "Please get it together." I wasn't sure what he was doing but he had to stop before he made everything worse. He's so impulsive and that's dangerous for us all.