HOW YOU LIKE THAT | JENLISA

Chapter 27

Jennie

By the sixth day, they'd completely broken me, and I don't mean physically. It seemed like my mind and soul had left my body and wandered elsewhere. When I fell asleep, a bucket of cold water was splashed over my body. I was far too numb to notice who was doing it. I ate the food when I got it. A maid would allow me to use the bathroom and bathe me.

The nights were the longest. It was pitch black and sometimes they left the dim light on. It would turn on and off constantly sometimes, and that gave me a headache. I think it was being done on purpose. I was drenched, shivering, hungry, and was just someone who was on the brink of insanity. Sometimes, it was hard to even gather my thoughts. I wondered if I was dead or alive.

I heard the lock turning again and I didn't know what day it was. It was probably some maid again. Instead, I saw a tall and enormous figure approaching me.

Nichkhun... this time, he didn't stop a few feet away. He hunched lower to my crouched form and touched my cheek. I screamed and thrashed until he got hold of both of my hands in a firm grip and said something. The voice was so distant, and my head felt so light and my eyes couldn't even see clearly because of my tears. But I could recognise the familiar cologne.

"Jen... it's me."

I opened my eyes at once. "Lisa!"

I was hysterical, saying some incoherent things that probably weren't even making any sense at all. I don't think that Lisa could even comprehend what I was saying, but the words flowed like a dam.

Lisa held me close and caressed my hair. "I'm so sorry."

There was someone else standing behind her. It took a few seconds for me to realise that it was Bambam.

Bambam gave me a look filled with sympathy. "I thought you died. They wouldn't tell us where you were."

The look on his face was equal measures of disgust and relief. "This is exactly why I don't like getting attached to the house staff. They just end up dying. If they're just going to die in the end, what's the point of me, making light conversations with them?"

I felt Lisa's stare locked on me. She ignored her little brother's rambling and asked me, "Can you walk?"

I shook my head. "I think my legs are healing, but I can't stand up." I tried to swallow my pleading; I couldn't ask her to take me upstairs. It was quite hard. "Lisa, you should go back to your room. I don't want to get you into trouble."

She placed an arm around my shoulders and the other hand to support my legs as she lifted me in her arms.

Bambam threw her a look. "You're not seriously considering taking her back upstairs, right?"

"She's hurt..." Lisa said and her hands tightened around my body, "... because of me... I'm not leaving her here."

When she said that, it proved two things.

One, Lisa wasn't as stupid as Nichkhun believed her to be.

Two, she might know what was going on in the family and was keeping silent to protect herself.

"This is on you, Lis, remember that. I never helped you get the keys." Bambam said, "Now, let's hurry. I have school tomorrow."

Lisa took me up to my room upstairs; while her brown eyes looked down at me as she whispered, "I won't let them hurt you anymore."