Beyond Redemption || Lee Know

Six.

Jisung throws me down roughly onto the bed. My body bounces on the mattress, causing lightning strikes of pain from my injury.

"Aghhh....Asshole." I grit my teeth at him, sitting up slowly, fighting tears.

He doesn't respond to my insult, but instead walks over to the bookshelf where he set that pill down earlier. He brings it back to me. "Change your mind yet?"

I glare at him, and he clicks his tongue in disapproval.

"Now Tristin," he speaks to me condescendingly. "If you don't take your medicine, I'm not doing my job properly. If I can't do my job, Hyunjin won't be happy. And if Hyunjin's unhappy with me....I'm unhappy with you."

"Go to hell." I stare him down boldly.

He advances on me in a flash, this time riled up by my defiance. His hand grabs my face and it's surprisingly strong. He squeezes my cheeks, forcing my mouth to pucker open. The fingers of his other hand are at my mouth instantly with the pill, but I clamp my teeth down tightly.

So he uses another tactic. He releases his grip on my face and instead clamps his hand down on my left shoulder, over my broken collarbone. He applies the slightest amount of pressure and when I open my mouth to scream, he forces his fingers down my throat along with the pill.

I choke and gag on his fingers, my eyes tearing up from the sensation. But I've helplessly swallowed it. He remains close to my face, ensuring that he was successful. Seething with anger and using the extra saliva in my mouth from being gagged, I spit in his face.

His reaction is to slap me. His palm collides with my cheek, sharp and stinging, before my whole head jerks to the side from his force. I fall onto the bed, my teeth rattling inside my head.

I raise my good arm to feel my cheek and wince at how it still stings. After a while, I glance up to find him sitting in the chair next to the bookshelf, looking ominously serene.

"Don't mind me." He says, "I'll just be here until you fall asleep to ensure that you don't make yourself vomit."

There's no way that was just a pain pill if he worked that hard to get me to take it.

I begrudgingly accept the fact that I have no power over him. Even without being weak and injured, I can tell he's a lot stronger than me. Beyond Jisung, my obstacles are Seungmin and whoever Hyunjin is, and they don't sound any easier to get through.

I have no sense of time in this room, but the effects of whatever pill I took are hitting me fast. I'm sitting up in the bed, facing Jisung in case he comes at me again. But I quickly start feeling dizzy, the room spinning around me. It makes me uneasy, so I lay back down and close my eyes in hopes that the feeling will pass.

* * *

I step out through the doors of the testing center into the parking lot. Chan is waiting outside of the car for me, leaning against the hood with his hands in his pockets. He perks up when he sees me, and my eyes immediately fill with tears when we make eye contact.

"Hey, hey....its okay. Don't cry." He wraps his arms around me in a hug. "That test doesn't define you. You'll pass the next one."

I pull away from his hug just enough to show him the single piece of paper that the test proctor gave me. I watch as his eyes scan over the paper before landing on the word 'PASS'.

"Pass...you passed?!" Chan's eyes light up, his dimples appearing next to his stellar smile.

"I passed!" I exclaim as I fall into his arms again. "I passed my licensing exam!"