Home Invasion || Park Jisung

13。when all hope is lost

Wednesday, 02:26 a.m.

The man had thrown Jisung on the floor next to her. Another chubby, bald man held the stubborn boy down as a lanky, bearded man tied him up.

"What a lovely pair..." The man who had found Nari before uttered, a crooked smile spread on his face as he held the stained knife in his fingers.

All previous hope for help she had before was thrown out the window. However, she'd be lying if she said her heart didn't slow down slightly with ease, now that she could feel part of his back leaning against her. Her eyes darted around the room, looking anywhere but at the men who were staring down at the two of them.

It was hard to do so, especially when the original greasy-haired man crouched casually in front of her, still brandishing the weapon in his hands. With the knife pointed at her with one hand, he reached for her glasses; she leaned back in fear, eyes shut as she felt her glasses slip out from over her ears.

Without a second glance, the man threw her glasses carelessly behind him, grabbing her face roughly; she squirmed under his vicious grip. Her horribly blurry vision was the only barrier between her and the repugnant man holding her. "You look better without the glasses, princess—" he tugged at her face again, forcing her eyes on him— "look at me."

Nausea creeped in as she stared at the blurry mess of a face in front of her. He chuckled, seeing from the confusion on her face just how blind she was without her glasses. The man merely scoffed, pushing her face away from him as if she was the one who leaned in.

Instead of standing, he continued to observe her, his eyeline slowly trailing down her body. His free hand began roaming her collarbone, slipping underneath her jacket and letting the fabric fall off her shoulders and revealing her bare arms.

He grinned in anticipation, his yellowing teeth now on full display— Nari still couldn't see a thing. Her frown could barely hold in the choking sob she was forcing in; her body tremored, praying that this could be over by some miracle.

"Don't touch her, you fucking creep."

Nari's breath froze; Jisung's deep voice stunned the air into silence. The greasy man whipped his head towards the teenage boy, his hand still on Nari's shoulder. The man scoffed, finally letting go of her with a new target in mind.

This man seemed to be the only one focused on the kids— the other two burglars didn't seem to give a damn; they were categorizing items on the counter, dropping them into bags like the goods already belonged to them.

Dim shadows and the pale moonlight was the only thing she could see. She could barely see the man bend over in front of Jisung. She held her breath, afraid of what was to come—

Like an explosion, the man lunged at Jisung, punching him on the face until he was on the ground; Nari screamed, hollow cries escaping her as Jisung groaned beside her. The assailant growled, agitated by Nari's loud cries.

"Shut up, you bitch!" He reached for her, grabbing her neck furiously; Jisung moved desperately on the ground beside her— "you touch her and I'll fucking kill you—"

The grip around her throat was gone as soon as it came. The other lanky, blurry figure had pulled the man away from her, wrinkling his shirt in between his knuckles. "Jung, that's enough. Get this shit in the van, we have one more sound system to uninstall from the other house."

Jung growled in annoyance, pushing himself off of the other guy. He glared at Jisung, who had managed to sit up against the edge of the sofa.

"Leave the kid," the lanky one ordered.

There was a tense silence before Jung grunted, storming off through the patio door and out of view. The third man, a shorter and slightly fatter one (from Nari's memory) was following suit, but he stopped, glancing at Nari for a second before walking over and crouching before her.

His nasally, pervert-like voice whispered, "I apologize for Jung, he's a dick." The man let out a creepy, high-pitched laugh.

Beside her, she could feel Jisung shift uncomfortably. "You gonna apologize for fucking robbing us too?"

The man looked over at Jisung; for a moment, Nari feared for Jisung, but the man didn't move. Instead, he cackled— "yeah, that too."

"I also ate your pie," he added as he stood up. "Not apologizing for that, though, shit's delicious."

The shorter man didn't wait for a response; he proceeded to walk out behind the lanky man, closing the patio door and leaving the two all alone again.

13。❝ when all hope is lost ❞