𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑰𝒔 𝑶𝒖𝒓𝒔 ✓

Chapter 10

MAL sent a smile to her brother, who stretched his arms out to engulf her in a hug.

"Hey!" She greeted. "Thanks for coming by!"

Rajwan nodded in enthusiasm, his legs automatically carrying him to the couch in the middle of the living room.

"Hey!" He replied with a warm voice. "How did your first day of work go, you know, after your vacation time?"

The girl sighed and frowned, remembering all the events that had happened earlier that day. All the sympathetic looks, the words of condolences, the whispers —all of it.

"It was..." She hesitated. "Fine, I guess?"

Her brother sent her a look of sarcastic disbelief. "Really? Just 'fine'? Come on, Mal."

She sighed once again, then hurried towards the storage room in the gigantic kitchen to grab a pile of snacks.

"Well, you know," she began, her voice echoing through the house, making him turn around to look at her, "the usual. Millie is supportive as hell, Finn is nice and sympathetic, and Trevor is a bitch for some reason. He had most of the cast whisper about my Hyunjin and me and it was annoying."

Rajwan scoffed, "your hyunjin?"

"Well, yeah," she replied, "he is mine, after all."

That caused him to let out a small chuckle.

"I know, Mal," he paused to think for a moment. "Trevor's just jealous he didn't get to marry you, okay? That's the only explanation for the way he treats you... And Hyunjin."

Mal sent her brother a look of disgust. "Ew! I'm already married. My husband might be missing but I'm still married. And, surprise surprise, I'll pick him over any man in the world, every time and everywhere."

"Yeah, no shit! But he has to be jealous."

The girl shook her head and headed towards the living room with a glass bowl in one hand and a big bag of Doritos in the other.

"I know, but I've heard the way he talks about Hyunjin," she paused for a minute, shaking her head in dismay, "and honestly, I don't like it. He keeps calling him names and whenever Hyunjin's around, he laughs at him with his friends, and Hyunjin's too naive to understand that they're laughing at him."

"Maybe because he's too kind to understand that he's being... Bullied by Trevor."

Mal eventually nodded, smiling lightly at the image of her husband smiling and waving at everyone he saw in her work location. He would greet everyone and ask them questions about their day, including Trevor. She remembered how she would engulf him in a tight hug and tell him how great he was doing, and his bright smile when she kissed him anywhere. His lips, his cheeks, his forehead.

She remembered how much of an angel he was.

And that only made her side smile turn into a frown. Tears automatically collected in her eyes, and her heart raced.

She missed hugging him on the very same couch after a long day of work, or when he was having a terrible day.

She missed holding him close and repeatedly kissing his forehead and mouth, telling him that he was the best husband she could ask for.

She missed cuddling him on their shared bed and caressing his cheek, then running her fingers through his soft hair and telling him that he did great.

"Hey—" her brother's voice snapped her out of her train of thoughts, "are you okay?"

She shook her head in disagreement, a small tear escaping her eyes.

"No, not really," she replied in a shaky voice, "but I'm glad you're here with me."

Rajwan swallowed his saliva and stretched his arms out once again, "of course, Mal... I'm always here for you."

Oh, but how she wished for a miracle at that moment.

❆

The boy stared in shock at the larger man in front of him. The man was already pushing him onto the bed, a wide, devilish smirk on his smug face.

"N-No-" the boy made a small attempt to protest, his voice trembling.

The man, however, whispered something in his ear that made a chill run down his spine. He put his hands together to beg him, them—heck, anyone—to no avail whatsoever.

"I'm going to tear you apart."

Tears welled up in his eyes once again, and he could feel the hot stream pour down his face. He turned his attention towards the important man from earlier, who had turned out to be the director.

The director of the short movies he was about to star in.

"S-Sir, no..." He protested, repeatedly shaking his head in desperation. "I-I have a w-wife! Please, let me go..."

The man rolled his eyes at the younger boy, "oh, I'm sure you do."

He turned to the other men behind him, a wide smirk on his face as the men followed him with dark chuckles.

"She's going to be so proud of you."

The line made him tear up harder in heartbreak.

Because the last thing he wanted was to disappoint his wife and make people laugh at her everywhere she went. He had managed to do exactly that with his parents, because of the dark rumors that were made about him.

And the last thing he wanted was to be treated the same way his parents treated him, by his wife. He didn't want to see her face curl up in disgust every time she saw him, and the shame that came with it. The pain and the heartbreak were simply too much.

"N-No, sir, please-"

"Climb on the bed and get on your hands and knees, slut," the man yelled, stepping close to the boy, "and do not waste our time."

Knowing that he was in no position to argue any further, he reluctantly obeyed, despite the urge to hurry out of the room towards the nearest exit.

After getting on the bed and avoiding the older men's gazes, he closed his eyes and embraced himself for the terrible pain that was about to come.

It eventually did.

And despite repeatedly telling himself not to react, he screamed so loudly he thought that any passing cars might hear him.

But that was only an imagination, after all, wasn't it?

A wish.