Hazy Webs || Lee Minho

Chapter 5 • ٥

TW: mention of abuse

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I stayed curled under my bed in the dark for hours. In fact, I would have stayed there the entire night if it hadn't been for the insistent tapping at my window. Believing it to be a branch, I had the shock of my life when I pulled back the curtain and saw Minho's face on the other side of the window.

"Esther!" I heard his voice faintly through the window. Pointing to the handle, he continued, "Could you open the window please?"

Quickly, I snapped out of my daze and rushed to open the window and he tumbled to the floor. Looking up at me, he winked. "Hey Essie."

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

Sensing my anger, he got up. "Well," he started, brushing himself off. "I found it a bit suspicious when you didn't turn up for dinner and your father said it was because you were sick. I was with you for most of the day and you were perfectly fine. Plus you knew that we were eating molokheya for dinner tonight and I know for a fact that even if you were dying in bed you would have dragged yourself out for that dish. Then I went to the garden for our lesson but got bored after waiting for five minutes, so here I am!"

"And you thought you should climb up my window?"

He looked at me with an unimpressed gaze. "You're not exactly Rapunzel, I couldn't just ask you to throw your hair down! That would have been a lot easier than climbing up the trellis, believe me."

"Still Minho, you can't just-"

"Can we continue this conversation with the light on? I'd rather be able to see you instead of arguing in the dark. Being in your room is already terrifying for me, I'd feel better if I could see in case something tries to attack me."

I shrugged. "That's fine." I giggled watching him stumble in the dark with his hands outstretched.

"Stop making fun of me Esther, or so help me I will-" he cut himself off as he made contact with the wall and fumbled around for the switch. Finding it, he switched it on, light illuminating the room." He turned towards me. "Now what were-" he cut himself off as his body froze.

"Minho?" I called softly. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Who was it Esther?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, Minho." I stuttered slightly, caught off guard by the sudden mood change.

"What do you think I'm talking about Esther? Shouldn't it be obvious?" He sighed at my clueless expression. "Your face, Essie. Somebody hit you."

"My face..." I repeated until the feeling of terror ran through my bones as I realised what Minho was referring to.

Minho had seen the bruising handprint on my face.

"Well- um, it-", I started stuttering, unsure of what to say. "It- well, it isn't much of a big deal."

"You know that's not true." He responded, his eyes fiery. "Is it the same person as earlier this week?" Watching my eyes flit across the room, he came to his own conclusion. "It's the same person, isn't it?"

"No it isn't!" I spoke up, unconsciously itching my wrist.

He shook his head and narrowed his eyes at me. "You're itching your left wrist, Esther. You do that whenever you lie; it's one of your tells. Please just answer me truthfully; was it the same person?"

Realising that I couldn't lie to him, I nodded once.

"Okay." He nodded, calming down. Taking my hand, he pulled me down to sit on the floor with him. "We're gonna talk about this okay? Because once is already bad enough but twice is unacceptable. If someone is bullying you, it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible."

I sighed. "I'm fine, Minho."

He raised an eyebrow at my response. "The mark on your face says otherwise." Seeing the tears in my eyes, he sighed, lied down on the floor and opened his arms. Once I'd settled myself next to him, he continued talking. "It already kills me that I have to leave. But I can't leave you knowing that someone is hurting you, Esther. This needs to be dealt with."

"It's not- it's not that simple, Minho." I started to sob quietly.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." He soothed me, stroking my hair. "Is it the same boy who bullied Woo?"

I looked at him in shock. "Woo got bullied?"

"Yep," he sighed, "some stupid kid called San or Han, something like that, made fun of him for being adopted. His parents work here, so Woo was scared that if he spoke up the parents would face consequences as well. Only the boy was punished and his parents were appalled by his behaviour."

"That doesn't make sense though." I questioned him. "Uncle Hwa adopted Mingi and Céleste as well. Why would he only target Woo?"

"First of all, Uncle Hwa adopted Mingi when he was a few weeks old, so the kid never realised that Mingi had been adopted, however Woo was already five when Uncle Joongie adopted him. Besides, Uncle Hwa wouldn't have had a child like Mingi if he had children with his soulmate." He explained. "Second, Céleste may not be Uncle Hwa's biological child, but she is definitely a daddy's girl. He may not act straight away, but goodness forbid someone hurts Céleste and Uncle Hwa comes to hear about it. You weren't at dinner so you didn't see it, but afterwards he took your father aside to tell him off for the way he spoke to Céleste at lunch."

"Wait- did you say Uncle Hwa's soulmate? He has a soulmate?"

"Well-" Minho paused, unsure of how to continue. "He, um, he had a soulmate. I'm not too sure what happened, but I think it must have been pretty tragic since no one really talks about it. Eomma did mention though that his soulmate was somehow related to Céleste, so that may be why he adopted her."

"Wait-" I snapped my fingers as realisation hit me. "Is that why once a year he gets really sad and all the adults are gentle around him?"

Minho shrugged. "Possibly, especially since the loss of your soulmate is painful. Anyways, back to what I was saying. Third point," he continued, now looking me straight in the eyes, "Céleste also has an amazing best friend who would move heaven and earth for her. Now could you imagine what she would do if she found out someone was bullying her bestie?"

I giggled softly. "She definitely wouldn't be pleased, I can tell you that for sure."

He squeezed my other cheek gently. "Exactly, which has me thinking; I don't think that a child slapped you. But now I'm not sure who it could have been." He laughed when he heard me huffing. "What, did you really think your question tactic would distract me?" He teased me. His eyes then softened. "Seriously though Essie, who did this to you?"

As if to answer his question, the door to my family's wing opened and banged shut, followed by loud screaming in Arabic.

"Um Esther, your parents are back and seem mad, I'm not sure how they'll react if they see me here-" he was cut off in surprise when I buried my head into his shoulder.

"Please stay." I mumbled. "They won't come into my room since the door is locked and I really don't want to be alone."

"Okay." He laid there, letting me cry into his shoulder and listening to my father's erratic screaming, my mother's cries of pain eventually intertwining.

"No, no, no." He muttered softly, finally connecting the dots. "Essie," he whispered softly, nudging my head to look at him. "That handprint on your face is too large to be a child's hand, isn't it?"

One look at my teary face told him everything he needed to know.

"Please." I sobbed quietly. "You can't tell anyone else, I'm begging you."

His eyes hardened, not responding to my plea. "Tomorrow we start training. I don't care if he locks you up here again, one way or another, tomorrow is the day I start to teach you how to protect yourself."

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hello everyone, it's your girl elle ~

I'm gonna get box braids and I'm so tempted to do some braids white so it's kinda like Hyunjin's hair but I know my parents won't let me 😔
Also cos I'm gonna go to my friend's house soon and I don't want her parents to judge me