Reasons to Stay // Hyunin

~16~

Lix i found him

Changbin snapped more than a few pictures of Han and start senting them to Felix, who at school studied them immediately to get a good look and familiar face of Han. Maybe Felix was in class or something though, because Changbin saw that his messages were read but Felix hadn't answered. Changbin was wondering what he should do now, if Felix still wanted him to do something else or if his tasks were done. 

Then Binnie had what he thought was a wonderful idea: maybe he could talk some information out of Han. Wouldn't Felix be proud of him if he did that!

But his idea was out of the question when he saw Sky walk up to Han. There was no way Changbin was involving himself with calm and collected and too-intelligent Sky. He tried to watch unsuspiciously, but they were probably just talking about Sky staying at the dorm anyways.

Changbin got up to walk back to his own dorm building when he noticed that Sky, across the street, was eyeing him. Well, maybe and hopefully, he was just looking at something close to Changbin. So Changbin quickly walked away and glanced back at Sky again. He panicked as he realized that Sky's gaze was still on him. He walked even faster than froze in terror as he heard a "Hey, you, black shirt guy!"

Changbin's eyes grew wide as he slowly looked down in dread, realizing he was wearing a black t-shirt. Then, he slowly turned his head back to see Han motioning for him to come over, slow motion in Changbin's vision.

If he walked away, he would be too suspicious. There was only one thing he could do, and that was act like a casual college student who was confused of being called over. Wasn't he anyways? But before he walked over, he must make his last words, or in this case, last texts—just in case, because he was a rather cautious man. He pulled out his phone hurriedly and went to messages:

Me

MOMMY I LOVE YOU

-----

Meanwhile, Jeongin was feeling partly relieved when he had gotten a text from Hyunjin saying that he was okay and it was just an old friend wanting to come surprise him. And I only said partly relieved because the other part of Jeongin was disturbed and wondering, exactly what kind of friend? Yes, he was really obsessed with Hyunjin at this point.

He was lying on his bed scrolling Instagram reels, not in the mood to do homework or anything else. He was feeling like a lazy blob of nothing when he suddenly remembered that Chan had asked him to buy frozen pizzas from the store today. Jeongin groaned. It was dark outside already. Chan had told Jeongin that he was working late today.

Jeongin rolled over and stretched, accidentally banging his arm of the corner of his desk. OWWWW. The stab wound and its pain reminded him of Felix. Sigh. He still didn't know what the Hakkun situation was and he still hadn't made up with his friend. Well, as long he didn't lose Hyunjin, then he guessed that everything would be okay...

He finally pushed himself out of bed and put on his shoes, went out and locked the front door, then trudged down the dark sidewalk to get to the convenient store.

It was uneventful until Jeongin was on the way home with the pizza boxes in his hands. He was walking in the dark area with the shadow of the trees hanging, blocking out most of the moon's light, when he felt something, or someone, yank his hood from the back—

Jeongin dropped the pizzas as his hands immediately flew up to his neck, because his throat was being choked by the hoodie strings. Then he was being pulled; he felt his hands, face, and neck, get scratched from apparently being roughly dragged through bushes. Then he was pushed to the ground in a clearing. It was dark so he had to feel around to realise that he was lying on grass.

He didn't have time to observe very long, as his struggle began again when the criminal's hands gripped tightly around his throat. Jeongin grasped the hands and tried to yank them off of him. "Stop—Please—" he gasped. "What—do you want—I'll give it to—you—"

The captors' grip only became tighter, and Jeongin saw his life flash before his eyes. No...I don't wanna die...

~Yang Jeongin? You don't want to die??~

No...

~but i thought you said you wanted to?~

...

~It's okay Jeongin.~

...wh-who are you?!

~...I am you. I am Yang Jeongin, the part of you who wants to live, who wants to enjoy and find a purpose in life. The Jeongin who wants to find laughter and love, the one who realises that life is more than about yourself, but also about the people around you–~

...I–

The man suddenly let go of Jeongin's throat and punched him twice in the stomach. The sudden influx of air hit him and made him feel rather lightheaded, and then he felt his breath knocked out for a few seconds from the punches and he tried to regain it. He was glad he skipped lunch today, otherwise things might get messy.

He immediately curled up into a ball, clutching his stomach tight, leaving his side and back open target. The guy, whose form Jeongin couldn't distinguish at all, beat him profusely with his fists. Jeongin cried out, and a firm hand clamped onto his mouth. He thrashed around but the guy was sitting on his legs.

He was getting tired; there was no way he could get himself out of the situation. Extremely dizzy, blaring lights were going off in his vision. He felt like he was having seizures. And the blood taste creeping around in his mouth didn't help either.

Dude, are you gonna kill me or not?!

The beating suddenly stopped although the guy was still firmly holding Jeongin down. Jeongin's struggling subsided as he lay their helpless, just his body intense rising up and down, trying to catch breath. "What...do you want..." he breathed, almost unable to be heard.

"Nothing, you just don't tell anyone about this," the form hissed.

"So...you're not gonna kill me...?" Jeongin found it hard to talk in this position.

"..."

"...I won't tell," Jeongin whimpered.

"You'd better keep that." And just like that, the guy got off of Jeongin and walked away into the darkness.

Jeongin was shocked at the turn of events but he was still scared and just lay there for around another 5 minutes, wincing at every his movement because it hurt so bad. There wasn't even a purpose to the guy beating him. He hadn't handed over any money or anything. It was just a struggle of Jeongin suffering for a few minutes and the end.

Why does it always have to be me...?