SCARRED | TK

Chapter Twelve

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"Searching for a way to escape the madness
A dire need for change as we fight for better days
The hurt and the pain cut deep like a razor blade
Holding in a cry for love, abandoned and afraid."

The thin woman hovering by the side of the road smiled as the slim figure of her son emerged from behind a towering building, his arms carefully cradling an exhausted and dirty animal, his lips quirked in one of the brightest smiles she's ever seen in her whole life. His eyes glittered with such joy that it made her chest warm up each time she saw him—he was her light, her only spark of hope in that dark world of theirs. Even if the world had collapsed around them long before, she could still stand, they could still bare the pain—for him. For their son.

The boy started running, his feet leaving marks in the sand before he stopped in front of his mother, his brown eyes glinting in a way that had caused both parents to walk away from the other groups, all for the safety of their son, whose gaze reflected intelligence and health. Once people started realizing that their son was in fact not showing signs of infection, they started becoming violent, angry. It was part of their human nature. They were all suffering and the sight of a completely healthy child among them certainly made everything worse. They were forced to walk away from other groups and isolate themselves, giving up on food and shelter for the sake of their son, hoping that one day he'd be able to walk away from that place and live a normal life.

It was all for him.

The woman crouched down with difficulty, grey eyes meeting brown ones as she did her best to put on a genuine smile in front of her excited son. The child looked at the animal in his arms, then back at his mother, his eyes squinting at the corners.

He was so, so happy.

"Ma', I found him near park behind that building, in a bush. Do you think he will die?" Jeongguk asked, his eyes shining with the tears he was trying to keep hidden from his mother's eyes.

The little boy had always been far too attached to the people and creatures around him and because of this, the Jeons decided to distance themselves from other groups. Jeongguk had tried to help far too many people, putting his own physical health at risk, but he didn't realize that he couldn't do anything for them. He had been saved, through some miracle, but he couldn't save others.

He was too young to realize.

The woman smiled and stood up, gasping at the pain that shot through her body from the sudden movement.

"I don't think anything will happen to him, my dear. Why don't you go look for your father?" The boy looked behind him, his face covered in a joyful expression and a wide smile, but his sparkling brown eyes gradually disappeared, being replaced by grey irises and a person who knew far too much for his age.

The boy crouched and let the bunny move from his arms, making sure it would land on the coat next to him, then looked up at the person in front of him, brows lowered as he looked into the eyes of the woman who had raised him.

"Don't send him around alone anymore. You know he's in danger and yet you leave him alone all the time." Jungha looked at her son amused but her eyes reflected the sadness she actually felt inside her heart. She hadn't seen him in months, and the fact that he was showing himself so rarely broke her heart. "When the time comes, I won't be able to take care of him if you keep leaving him alone." JK said, his lips tightened into a line as he kept frowning towards his mother. Soon though, his lips broke into a devilish smile that made Jungha's heart clench and her fingers shiver. "Or do you actually want him to get caught?"