Reasons to Stay // Hyunin

~22~

"Hey Sky, where you goin'?"

Seungmin was packing up a few things into his regular backpack, an indication that he was planning to go somewhere. "Ummm just to check out some stuff about Hyunjin's mission."

"You need me to come along?" fellow gangster Won asked.

"Nah it's good."

"I mean I'm bored anyways," Won pestered. He clearly want to come along, but Seungmin realised by now, Won doesn't have the best temper and if he's casually going to Felix's house, it's not gonna work with him along.

"No it's Okay. I'll be fast." Seungmin persisted.

"Fine fine, whatever." Won sighed heavily with a tinge of annoyance.

Seungmin felt something wrong with the tone in the man's voice, but he shook it off and started out alone--or what he thought was alone. It was unfortunate that he did not realise that Won had decided to follow him.

He also didn't know that Felix wouldn't be alone at home tonight.

----

In the meantime, Jeongin was at home feeling stressed about having said "no" to Felix. Hadn't he wanted to get right with him? Rejecting that wouldn't help anything. He didn't really have anything to do tonight, and oh how he longed to be good friends with Felix and Changbin again. Especially if Hyunjin was gonna transfer to a different school and Jeongin wouldn't have anybody at all.

Finally convincing himself that the right thing to do was go over to Felix's house and say sorry, Jeongin sighed and heaved himself out of the bed and out of his room. He passed Chan in the living room without a word and went to the door to put his shoes on. "Where you going?" Chan asked, friendly.

"Felix-hyung's." Jeongin mumbled and Chan said something along the line of "All right have fun" but Jeongin was too disturbed to notice it.

He started off, walking along the road and past the convenient stores to where Felix's house, he hadn't been there for so long, was located. He walked at a fast pace, still scared by the incident that had happened the night he had gone to buy frozen pizzas. However, these days it was dark quickly and Jeonginnie was about 3/4 way to Lixxie's house when it was already dark outside.

He entered the neighborhood and was walking on the sidewalk (Lix's house was in the back of the neighborhood) when he heard someone call "Hey! You!" on the opposite side of the road. Jeongin looked up but continued walking, he didn't think the person was talking to him. "Hey! You boy with the grey hoodie!"

Jeongin blinked twice. Oh yes. He was wearing a grey hoodie. He stopped and saw the older lady beside her car, waving towards him. It was strange but he quickly ran across the road and see if she needed any help.

Suddenly he felt his body jerked into the back seat of the car and a car door slammed. No-! Not something like this again- Jeongin thought in a frenzy, hoping it was just a bad dream.

It wasn't. And again there was a familiar feeling of a person on top of him, crushing him. The lady was nowhere to be found and the creepy black masked guy was the same as before. "Imma kill you tonight..." he growled at Jeongin.

Innie was too afraid to even object. He shut his eyes tightly and felt his tears coming again. No...don't kill me, I just met my Lee Know hyung and we have a whole life to share together...then he thought of Hyunjin at school. His crush he'd never see again? How hurt he would feel if he realised that the Hyunjin he loved so much was the man killing him right now.

"Let me see your scars one more time before I cover your body in blood, bae," Hyunjin laughed sarcastically. Jeongin didn't even struggle as he pulled up his hoodie, revealing the burn scars on his side. "You have a nice body, bae."

I don't care... Jeongin thought, drowsy. How he longed to be at home watching TV with Chan on the living room couch right now.

"Let me strip you, bae."

WAIT-- DO WHAT?! Jeongin's eyes flew open and he mumbled, "don't please-"

Hyunjin laughed and yanked the hoodie off Jeongin. Wow, it's cold.... Jeongin thought and he immediately wrapped his arms around his bare self. No more please... he wished to say aloud but couldn't bring himself to.

Hyunjin started running his hands along Jeongin's body when he saw something that suddenly made him stop.

The cuts on Innie's arms were certainly a sight to behold, every cut perfect the same length of one inch, lined neatly in a row, mounting high up his arm. Hyunjin kind of knew from school that Innie was struggling with self-harm, but not this bad? He hadn't thought too much about it.

And out of all the things Hwang Hyunjin had seen in his life, children being torn from mothers, cruel murder, burning people alive-- nothing had made him feel utterly regretful for his evil actions except now. He was used to hurting others, not people hurting themselves.

It frustrated Hyunjin that he suddenly had no desire to finish his mission like he had set out to do. And he must have paused a while, because here is Innie underneath him, confused of why the masked man suddenly paused as if he heard police sirens. Then he pushed the hoodie onto Jeonginnie's chest. "Wear it," he mumbled.

Jeongin looked at the mask with wide and confused eyes, what was this turn of events. He held the hoodie loosely in his arms, unmoving because he was shocked. "Wear it." the man repeated sternly.

Jeongin tried to sit up so he could put it back on, and Hyunjin let him to sit up. Shaking, Jeongin put it over his head and pulled it down, and when he had finished, Hyunjin ordered him, "Get out the car."

Jeongin paused and blinked twice at him. "Get out."

Jeongin nodded hesitantly and shakily opened the car door. He got out and just stood there, still confused. Hyunjin stared at him through the mask. "Don't tell anyone about anything and go do what you were going to do. Forget about this."

"O-ok..." Jeongin whispered and after a few hesitant steps, briskly started walking towards Felix's house. He longed to go home but he was already so close to the house, besides he just wanted to be somewhere safe right now. He dared not look over his shoulder, if he made eye contact with the guy, maybe he would change his mind...

Hyunjin stared at Innie's back as he walked away. And he remembered..

He had saved a boy from the fire. It had been....Jeonginnie? What had made Hyunjin's heart turn from saving people into killing people?

His head ached and he yelled in frustration "HWANG HYUNJIN! WHO ARE YOU?!"

Jeongin wasn't too far away that he couldn't hear that.