ALL BARK NO BITE | SADISTIC BEAUTY SPINOFF

Chapter 33

6 YEARS AGO

~ Business Class, One Way Flight from Seoul to Paris, Korean Air

Wookyung clenched the frame of the sink, trying to hold his guts in. He hadn't even eaten anything since 24 hours but his stomach was still pumping, making him throw up every now and then, so violently that he couldn't breathe while it all happened.

His body was already sore from nearly a week of no sleep. He was since doing poorly but towards his final few hours in Seoul, Minho's kiss, his mother's diagnosis, the last phone call, his early morning flight. Not only was he awake, his body was on fire.

"Hmmf" he retched, clutching his mouth as he stared at himself in the mirror. His clothes fit him looser as he felt weak, his eyes were bloodshot and he felt the tears burn his eyes again. He couldn't tell if he was crying because of the pain in his stomach or that in his heart.

Minho's sweet voice on the call, him finally having initiated their first kiss, his tenderness, his sensitive body, his lips, the eagerness in his voice as he said tomorrow. Even his mother's touch, her struggling yet strong spirit having protectively held him away from his father his whole life.

All the love he had ever felt in all those years felt like a fever dream, slipping away and he could feel the bitterness reemerge at the back of his mouth, infecting all his little comforts and better memories. He felt another forceful jolt at his core and he clenched his teeth tight.

He had to stop the vomiting before he lost consciousness. He reached into his pocket with a shaking hand, barely able to pull the pack of anti-nausea pills from his jeans when the turbulence unsteadied him and he looked down, swaying at the sink.

Tomorrow

The packet of pills fell from his hands, clattering on the floor as Wookyung scrambled for the toilet, heaving up the remaining fluids in his stomach, giving in to the weakness his father despised. He was already a shell with nothing left to call his own, better to empty his guts too.

****

14 HOURS LATER

~ Principal's Office, Paris School of Business, Rue Nationale, Paris

Wookyung stared at the overhead clock, entirely unsure about what he was doing. The school office was pristine and smelling superficial, like a hospital. It had been five minutes into his interview with the university board and he wasn't doing too good.

"You look unwell, do you need some water?" one of the interviewers asked in French after several seconds of silence from his side, pointing to the bottle of water on the table and Wookyung lay his unfocused eyes on the bottle, still unable to adjust to the switch in language.

Han Taekyung, his new guardian, owner of Arsenault Imprimerie and Wonsik's associate, had taken him off the flight and forced fed him half a subway sandwich before depositing him at the University for his interview. No sleep or proper food, Wookyung was less than conscious.

"Uh, no" he replied, sitting straight back up. So far, his interview had sucked. He was unfocused, unwell, slow, disinterested and clipped in his replies. The only reason they were still holding up was because of his father's pressure and his undebatable record of academic competence.

"Is there... any particular reason that you are joining with us now after completing your major nearly halfway?" one of the professors on the interviews board asked, glaring at his records from Hanguk University. "I..." Wookyung looked up at the ceiling for an uncomfortably long time.

"I was supposed to come here starting the first year..." he finally said, "At first I didn't care when the decision was made for me to be sent here. I had already had my heart wrenched back in high school when I wanted to go to Japan to learn music and my father cast the idea aside telling me that he doesn't want a fiddler for a son..."