My Yellow

Part 17 - Two

Rose's POV:
Time skip - After the date

"This was fun," I say to Junghoon, he smiles at me.

"Do you want to do this again soon?" He asks me. I shift. To be completely honest this was the worst experience of my life. All he did was talk about himself the whole time. I barley got a word in.

"Maybe!" I hear my voice crack, I clear my throat. "I'll text you," I say with a nod. He smiles and steps closer to me, leaning down like to kiss me. I duck back and laugh nervously. "Um, I have to go now," I say awkwardly. He just stares at me. I wave goodbye and walk away from him. I look at the sky and see the sun setting. I smile a bit and decide to take the long way home. I hum to myself and watch the people I walk past. I take a deep breath of the air and hold onto my purse. I pass by an alleyway, then another one. I shiver at the cold air hitting my legs. I feel my body start to get an uneasy feeling, but I shake it off. It's just nerves. It is starting to get dark after all. I pass by another alleyway, I stop. My body is screaming at me to turn around and go the other way. I try to walk, but my legs won't let me. I shut my eyes and take a few deep breaths, calming my body down. I open them back up and keep walking. I start to pass by another alleyway, when I feel a hand grab me. I go to scream, but another hand goes over my mouth. I struggle, kicking and hitting whomever is behind me, they grab tighter.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," John says. My body freezes. John. I feel my body start to shut down, hot tears streaming down my face. I feel his hand start to go up my dress and I get snapped back into reality. I won't let him. I won't. I reach into my purse and grab my pepper spray. I lift it, and spray. Because he is behind me, pepper spray goes into my left eye. John screams and let's me go. I shut my left eye, the pain not hitting me yet. I feel frozen. Like a deer in headlights. "You bitch!" John screams, hunched over, holding his eyes. I feel my breathing get heavy. I turn and start running. I run so fast I feel my dress starting to come up. I hold it down, the pepper spray still in my hand. I run faster, the pain of the pepper spray starting to kick in. I see the company building in sight. I heave, crying harder than I realized I was. I run inside. Maddy is sitting in the chair.

"Rose, an unknown caller kept calling you," she doesn't look at me. She has my phone in her hand. I squeeze my left eye shut, I fall on my knees, coughing. I feel like I'm about to vomit. "Rose what.." Maddy gets up and I look at her. She freezes. "Oh my god... Keeho!" She screams. I hear running, but my right eye is starting to burn too. I shut my eyes and gag. I feel Keeho lift me up and hurry me to the sink. He tilts my head over it.

"Maddy get the milk!" Keeho shouts. I hear the fridge open, and Maddy slams it shut.

"Where is it?!" She yells.

"Here," I hear Theo say, running in. "I got her milk the other night and I guess I didn't put it back in the right spot," I hear the fridge open again, and then I feel a cold liquid being poured onto my face, the burning sensation of the pepper spray is letting up ever so slightly. The pouring stops and I hear Keeho grab the hose to the sink and I feel cold water on my face. I gasp for air, gagging again. I grip onto the sink.

"Breathe Rose," Keeho says gently. "Once this is off of your skin, you'll be okay." I nod and grip the pepper spray still in my hand. I feel Maddy go to my side, gently taking the spray from my hand. I feel her watching me.

"I know about John texting you," she says quietly, but her words aren't processing. "He kept calling, and it was under an unknown number so I answered and heard his voice. Why didn't you tell me?"

"We can talk about this later," Keeho says. "For now, let's focus on making sure she doesn't go fucking blind!"

"Wait," I hear Theo say. "What's Johns full name?"

"Johnathon Richards," Maddy says.

Theo's POV

"Johnathon Richards," Maddy says. I freeze. I stare at Rose, watching her gasp for air, watching her sob. I look back at Maddy.

"Maddy can I talk to you?" I whisper. Maddy raises her brows.

"Okay," she says, but she doesn't move.

"Alone," I say not looking at her, I keep my eyes on Rose. I did this. This is my fault. How did I not fucking realize who that was?

"Alright," she nods and walks to me, I turn and walk away from the kitchen. She stands in front of me. "What's up?"

"I bumped into John," I say quickly. "I was going... on a walk... and he bumped into me. I helped him pick up his stuff and I saw his name, but I didn't realize who it was," I take a deep breath.

"Okay," Maddy searches my face. "Do you think this is your fault? It's not like you told him where she was."

"But I did," I shut my eyes, feeling dizzy. "I told him she was at the park because he asked and I..." I squeezes my eyes. "I told him."

"Theo.." Maddy sighs. "You didn't know," she says, but I can hear the disappointment in her voice. "Don't blame yourself okay? We barley ever talked about John with you anyway."

"Okay," I say and open my eyes. She's not looking at me. I'm going to blame myself. I told him where she was.

"Let's go back to helping them, just... now you know what he looks like. If you see him again, deck him." She laughs weakly and walks back to the kitchen. I stand there. I should've stayed at the park. I should've stuck with my plan. I turn and punch the cement wall, I feel something in my hand snap. I shake it out and tilt my head back. I hold my hand and walk back into the kitchen. Rose now has a paper towel on her eyes, and she's sobbing uncontrollably. I would do anything, anything to hug her right now. But I stay put, watching Keeho and Maddy comfort her. This is all my fault, and I don't deserve to be near her.