HER || [Chaerji]

{19}

Staring at the red liquid on her fingertip she muttered with a frown, "There's so much blood... Where did she—"

Chaeryeong was cut off mid-sentence when the person whom she was worried about opened the door. Yeji looked down at her kneeling, and she stood up, her head lifted slightly to look at her, not breaking eye contact.

"Yeji..." she mumbled the tall girl's name.

"......"

It was, as usual, she gets ignored. However, it feels different this time. Chaeryeong still looked deeply into her eyes, trying to read her emotions behind those cold gazes but she couldn't decipher. But there's something wrong. She felt it. "Where have you been? It's so late already and you came back bleeding so much. What happened? What did you—"

She was surprised by the tall girl's sudden action. Who would have expected Hwang to plop her head onto the girl's shoulder, resting herself there?

Chaeryeong was stunned. Her mind went blank for seconds but she tried pulling herself up, though she still don't know what should she do. She wanted to pat on the girl's back, to comfort her, but she felt hesitant. After three weeks of living together, she studied a few pieces of information about Yeji, and one of them is that she's not fond of physical touches.

"H-Hey... Are you okay?"

She asked and as the same as earlier, there was no response from the other. Chaeryeong lifted her right hand slowly, going so near to the girl's back. She made up her mind and placed her hand down, wanting to give light strokes but it was probably a bad idea.

"Umhh!—" the tall girl groaned in pain, body flinched and tensed up, stiffened. "Oh god— Sorry!"

"It's- *inhales deeply* It's fine," Yeji uttered in a low tone as she tried to relax. "Ryujin is sleeping. Treat my wound."

"M-Me?"

"Yes..." the older trailed off, she cleared her throat before muttering another word: "Please."

"I- Um... Okay."

After Chaeryeong's response, they both stayed in the same position and kept quiet. The tall girl was inhaling and exhaling deeply, making the latter worried.

A minute passed and finally, Yeji pulled herself away and stood straight, "Sorry." she said before she left the spot.

Chaeryeong's POV

I was very surprised.

We sat on the sofa with her back facing me. I took the ointments needed to clean the wounds. But I didn't know how serious it was until she lifted the hem of her shirt up to show me her bare back. I gasped in pure shock.

The wounds... it was extremely terrible.

My eyes wandered along her skin and all I saw were scars everywhere; holes, cuts, bruises. My eyes started shaking a little and my brows knitted, I gulped and clenched my jaw.

"You don't have to be so surprised. Just scars."

"S-Sorry, I don't mean to—"

"Never mind."

"I just want to tell you that I don't feel disgusted, Yeji."

I'm always amazed by how well she could bear the pain, but I didn't know she was enduring this much. Sometimes I wonder why and where she gets all these injuries. I'm concerned every time she comes back looking pale and weak.

She quietly hissed in pain when I applied the liquid to the cuts. I eyed down at her right hand which was placed on her knee. She was gripping onto nothing tightly.

"You don't have to endure all the pain quietly by yourself. It's okay to be weak sometimes, you know?" I uttered.

"It's not painful."

"Well, your body says otherwise."

"......"

"Yeji, Everyone has their weaknesses. And it's okay to show your weakness sometimes."

"You don't understa—."

"And I don't mind seeing the weak state of you around me, I'm totally fine with it." I stopped applying the liquid and my face leaned closer to blow cold air on the cuts. She jolted a little but when she realized it was me, her body muscles relaxed. "Perhaps if you trust me enough, you can share with me some of your stories too? I can proudly tell you that I'm a great listener."

The blood was still flowing out so I had to keep cleaning it. I tried to stop it but it's still the same. Probably because her wounds are a bit too deep, not just a small cut.

Yeji still flinches in pain from time to time, so I did my best to pat the pad ever so lightly on her back. Eventually, I wrapped her wounds around with bandages.

When my eyes glanced at her left arm, I saw another cut that hadn't been treated. My hand held onto her shirt to pull it up a little to have a look, "Hey, your arm is also injured, do you want me to—"

It seemed like she was alerted when my hand gripped her shirt because she pulled her shirt down immediately. "No. I can clean that myself later."

"O-Okay then."

Was she hiding something there?

After wearing her shirt nicely, she turned to face me and showed me her neck which also had a cut. A small one, thank goodness. I cleaned it and put on a dressing for her.

Everything was done so I started cleaning up the mess, throwing the pads and all into the bin and keeping the things in the aid kit. She was still sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at the cold floor. I walked to her and sat back where I was earlier.

"Are you hungry? Ryujin and I left you some chicken, it's on the table. I'll reheat it if you want to eat."

"......"

"I'll take it as a yes...?" I questioned and waited for her answer but she still didn't reply. I sighed and stood up as I said, "Wait here, I'll be right—"

I got pulled back down.

"Hey, seriously, what do you-" All of a sudden she laid her head on my lap. "W-Want..."

Being completely startled, I froze there sitting still. I didn't know what to do, all I felt was nervous, and my heart beating fast, again, like earlier when she rested on my shoulder.

"I'm tired."

"But you hadn't eaten dinner yet. You'll starve."

"Just stay here for me. Let me stay like this for once... Please."