though he is tired and aching and sore, he runs towards her voice and sees her struggling on the ground, the thug pinning her down with his body and one hand while the other fumbles at her shorts.
Her bag was lying nearby, the contents spilled over the concrete.
There were tears in her eyes, terror etched onto her features.
He lunges forward and his first punch cracks the guy across the jaw, breaking it instantly.
The next, an uppercut, rams straight into the solar plexus. He doesn't bother with any fancy moves, the ones he uses for the crowd sometimes when he's in a good mood. Those were for real fights.
One more blow to the head and the guy is out cold. Jeno kicks him in the balls, hard, for insurance and leaves him lying on the ground when the man didn't even groan.
Nari is curled on the ground, her sobs soft but somehow loud in the silence.
He sighs and picks her up and carries her to the bench.
By light of the tall lamppost, he sees a large purple bruise forming on her cheek and there were red marks and scratches on her arms and legs and knees from sharp nails and strong fingers grabbing her hard enough to bruise.
He withdraws to pick up her things and stuff them into her bag.
A wallet, her phone and charger, the kit and the isopropyl alcohol, a well-worn paperback novel (some romance story by Nicholas Sparks and he's somehow not surprised), a pack of breath mints, tissues, lotion, a pink Mac makeup bag, a fancy little leather notebook with an elegant fountain pen. He drops the bag next to her.
"Thank you,"
she whispers in a tiny, broken voice.
"You're welcome."
He stops and looks at her and she's shivering a little so he takes off his jacket and hands it to her. She slowly wraps it around herself.
"You're hurt."
Her eyes roam over him.
"And you still came to save me"
He shrugs. "I'm not a gentleman but I still have morals, you know." His jaw clenches at his words, words that mean too much to him.
Her lips curl up in the tiniest smile.
"I know."
And he looks at her, with horror for a moment because how could she know? Then he knows she doesn't and his eyes dim.
She snuggles into his jacket and a few more tears slip out.
"Come here."
She takes out the kit but he shakes his head.
"I'll do it myself."
He's gotten lazy from all the times Nari bandages him up for him, but he does a fairly good job still.
When he's finished, Nari has stopped crying, but her eyes were puffy and swollen. He eyed her up and down, taking her in.
"You should go home."
She shakes her head. "I don't want Father to find out…"
She motions at her cheek, which had swollen up. "And the maids are sure to tell him."
"I thought you said he didn't care," Jeno said, raising an eyebrow.
"He doesn't, but…"
She shrugs miserably and he decides not to ask more when he sees she might start crying again.
"Then go to one of your friends' place."
He digs her phone out of her bag and hands it to her. The screen had a few thin cracks on it, but it still worked fine.
Nari hesitates for a few moments and there was hope in her eyes again before she asks tentatively,
"Do you… C-Can I stay at your place?"
"No."
The refusal was sharp and it cracked loudly in the air, causing her to flinch at his tone.
His eyes were dark and blank and terrifying. He loomed over her and she cowered in his shadow.
"Listen here, I don't know what you've deluded yourself into thinking, but we are not, in any way, friends or anything other than acquaintances. Alright, so you're good at all this nursing crap and that's pretty handy, but that's it, okay? We're not anything and we're never going to be anything other than what we are now so…"
He looks at her and she's crying again and she looks like her heart is breaking and he couldn't see why she looked like that even though the truth is staring right at him, reflected in those glimmering eyes.
(And he knew already, somehow. He knew but he refused to see, refused to acknowledge it.)
He couldn't feel anything save for the anger and the need for her to understand that he's alone.
He's alone and he's going to be alone, possibly forever, but that's fine with him.
"I'm sorry…"
She chokes out eventually and now anger, anger at herself, fills those dark brown pools.
Because stupid her, for thinking that a person who cannot love anyone besides himself can hope to care for her like she cared for him.
Jeno shakes his head, turns to go.
"Keep the jacket."
He walks further and further away from the pool of light and she calls out, almost pitifully.
"Will I see you again?"
But he doesn't respond and continues walking into the shadows.
Where he belongs.
Where he'd always belonged.
Where he always will belong.
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