~<*>~ Pain in me ~<*>~

Chapter 11

Dino stares into Joshua's eyes with all the courage he has inside his body. The leader may be taller, stronger, older and more powerful than him, Dino is still smart. And in his opinion, cleverness beats everything. 
"Are you accusing me to be part of Stray kids?" Joshua scoffs in disbelief.
"I'm glad you're telling me yourself", Dino reflects challenging.
"You are unbelievable", Joshua mumbles as he shakes his head laughing.
"And you're a traitor!" Dino snaps back. For a second, Joshua doesn't react. But then, the leader lifts his head with the speed of light and looks Dino in the eyes, more furious than he's ever been.
"And what makes you think I am?" he asks daring and Dino grins, this is his moment.
"First of all, you don't like me since the very beginning. Stray kids doesn't like me since the very beginning either." Joshua interupts Dino with laughter and the younger looks up confused.
"I don't know if you realize," the leader says, "but Stray kids was focused on the whole group, not you. And if there was one person they truly hated, it was Scoups."
"You were always near Scoups, maybe because you care, but maybe because you need to keep an eye on the leader", Dino states in return. Joshua looks up at the ceiling, not really knowing how to react. I caught him, I did it!, Dino thinks in euphory, but Joshua isn't done yet.
"Anything else?" he asks with a smile on his lips.
"I'm glad you ask, when Scoups and I visited Kyle in jail, you were there too. Why?"
"I already told you, I was taking a walk", Joshua repeats annoyed.
"Nope, you weren't", Dino reflects.
"Excuse me? And how do you know?" Joshua asks as he crosses his arms in front of him.
"Because you never walk in that neighborhood. You were there to visit that member of Stray kids", Dino scoffs and Joshua blinks suprised.
"What are you, a stalker?" the leader asks offended.
"I just know my team well."
"And besides, his name is Jisung", Joshua corrects Dino and the younger widens his eyes.
"Aha! I got you! How do you know his name when you never met him?" Joshua keeps silent for a while, but answers anyway.
"I do research about them, what did you expect?" he says unbothered, but Dino does not believe it.
"You wanted the lead badly, didn't you?" the younger suddenly asks and Joshua looks at him confused.
"What?"
"When Scoups didn't die like you planned, you were probably upset. But, lucky for you, he was in a coma, which leads to Jeonghan taking over the lead and that means only one person is above you and keeping you away from taking the lead. So your solution? Sending Chan and Seungmin to Scoups to kill them and in the meantime, you kill Jeonghan." Dino has just finished his sentence when something inside of Joshua snaps. The leader widens his eyes in fury and in only a split second, Dino sees the red-haired male coming at him before he slams Dino against the nearest wall. Their faces are only inches apart and Dino can feel Joshua's hot breath. To be honest, the younger is terrified.
"Don't you ever speak about Jeonghan again, you little brat!" he yells and Dino swallows his spit startled. 
"You aren't even worthy of saying his name, I should have killed you the first time I had the chance", the leader adds and Dino realizes what is about to happen. When would Scoups return home? Would he be home on time, or would Dino already be dead? Will Joshua kill Scoups too?
"I knew it", is all Dino says and in anger, Joshua pulls Dino down, causing the younger to smack his head on the hard floor. Dino gasps as he feels his head pounding and his world is turning around slowly.
"Why did you even join the group!?" Joshua exclaims frustrated as he punches Dino, hitting his cheek.
"What? Upset that I found out? That I'm the only person smart enough to see right through your lies?" Dino challenges Joshua, but he gets a hard punchs on his nose in return, which makes his eyes water.
"Crying already?" Joshua mocks and an evil giggle escapes his mouth. Dino is devestated. How can he still save himself without dying first? Joshua clearly has the better hand and he is in control, topping over Dino, literally and figuratively. Dino can't even speak, he has trouble breathing because of the weight of Joshua on top of him. He can't see clearly because of his watery eyes. The only thing Dino can do is wait and he hates it.
"I have had it with you", Joshua grits through his teeth as he punches Dino again, this time in his stomach. The younger coughs in response.
"Always wanting to be the hero, but always ending up making it worse." Another punch reaches Dino's stomach.
"Do you know how many people have died because of you!?" Joshua yells as he punches Dino's nose with such force that his head slams against the floor again. The pain is unbearable and he soon tastes salty blood in his mouth which is coming from his nose. Dino wants to defend himself, say something back, but he can barely keep his consciousness. Suddenly, Joshua gets off Dino and even walks away towards the kitchen.
"Oh, did I make a mess?" the leader asks dryly while he is busy with something. Too dazed to get up, Dino looks around. What is Joshua doing? Isn't he going to kill Dino? Maybe Joshua is searching a knife or something like that, to finish the job quicker.
"Let's wipe that away", Joshua mumbles as he returns with, to Dino's surprise, a towel to clean the blood off Dino's face. And when he actually cleans it, Dino is completely speechless.
"What?" Joshua asks unbothered, "Suprised about the fact I can actually be nice sometimes?"
Dino opens his mouth to say something, but Joshua cuts him off.
"I still want to kill you," he says boldly, "but I want to make it fair." Dino looks at Joshua helpless and confused, but the leader only puts an empty bottle on the ground, one meter away from Dino. Is Dino supposed to go and take it? It's right out of his reach, so he has to move first.
"You can use that as your weapon. If you really claim to be so smart, you should show it to me. Take that bottle and knock me out with it." Dino stares at Joshua suprised. Why is he suddenly acting like this when he could simply kill Dino with the bottle himself?
"What are you waiting for?" Joshua asks as Dino doesn't react. The younger keeps his eye closely on Joshua, but the leader doesn't seem to be attempting something. Not really sure what to do, Dino moves slowly to take the bottle, but when his fingertips touch the glass, Joshua quickly wraps his hands around Dino's neck and pushes the younger down again. Gasping for breath, Dino smacks against the floor for the third time as he watches Joshua grin.
"I will always be one step ahead of you", Joshua says as he closes Dino's airway slowly. Choking, the younger tries to get Joshua's hands off his troath, but nothing moves. Not knowing anything else, Dino kicks the bottle with his foot, causing it to roll towards him. Joshua notices a second too late and, while he is almost losing consciousness again, Dino is quick to snatch the bottle and smack it on Joshua's back. The sound of shattering glass echoes through Dino's ears as Josua screams in pain and falls down on the ground, beside Dino. The younger gasps and coughs, trying to catch his breath as he rubs his painful troath with his hand while he pushes himself up on the other hand. It takes Dino a few seconds to steady himself, but he still manages to grab the neck of the bottle while Joshua is still wriggling in agony. Just as Dino lifts his arm to knock Joshua out with his weapon, the front door opens and a clueless Scoups enters the room. Joshua notices and is smart to make use of it.
"Help!" he screams at the top of his lungs, startling Scoups, but catching his eye. The older stares at the scene in shock as his eyes widen in disbelief.
"What the fuck happened here?" Scoups asks as Dino quickly lowers his arms and Joshua gets back on his legs. The leader makes sure to put his hand on his back, showing Scoups he's hurt. Dino's roommate believes the act and immediatly rushes to his friend, his eyes full of worry.
"Are you okay? Dino, what did you do!?" Scoups asks accusing and the younger opens his mouth in disbelief.
"What? I didn't do anything...", Dino objects, but Joshua shakes his head firmly.
"What about that broken bottle in your hand? What about my painful back? I wanted to check up on you and you suddenly started accusing me and even attacking me, can you believe it?" Joshua turns towards Scoups, who shakes his head dissapointed.
"What was the reason, Dino? What did Joshua do wrong to you?" Scoups asks, his voice soft, but full of sadness. Dino starts to tear up realizing his friend doesn't believe him.
"But, Joshua is the one who attacked me! He hit me, he choked me, I just tried to defend myself!" Dino mutters devestated, but Scoups doesn't believe it.
"How come that Joshua was on the ground? Why aren't you bleeding? Why don't you look hurt!?" Scoups asks, raising his voice with every sentence. Because I'm not overdramatic. Dino sighs as he looks down.
"It hurts, Scoups", Joshua whines and Scoups lifts the leader's shirt to check on the wound.
"Oh that looks painful indeed", Scoups mumbles as he walks to the kitchen to get something to clean up the wound. On his way, he notices a towel with blood on it and grabs it in disbelief.
"What is this?" Scoups asks, Dino notices that the older is starting to get furious.
"That's the towel Dino used to clean up my wound so you wouldn't notice it!" Joshua exclaims dramatically before Dino can even say a word.
"Seriously, Dino!? I didn't expect this from you", Scoups states as he puts his hands on his hips.
"But that's my blood! Joshua used it to clean up the blood on my face!" Dino yells devestated, but Scoups shakes his head.
"Joshua wouldn't lie about something like that", Scoups says firmly and Dino notices a faint grin on the leader's face. Dino clenches his fists frustrated, how can Joshua have this much influence on Scoups?
"I'm going home, I'll clean myself up over there", Joshua informs Scoups, who tries to hold him back.
"Wait, I can do it too!" Scoups objects, but Joshua shakes his head sad.
"I don't want to be in the same room as that creep any longer", the leader states as he stumbles out. Scoups sighs deeply and slowly makes his way towards Dino, who's standing still speechless.
"Why did you do that?" the older asks and Dino shakes his head.
"I didn't do anything", Dino tells his friend, but he doesn't believe it.
"Are you jealous of him? Do you think he's too close with me? Is that why you decided to kill him?" Scoups asks, raising his voice. Dino flinches, but stays silent.
"You're mad. What happened to you back in Korea?" Scoups asks in disbelief.
"I almost died! I had to defend myself!" Dino yells, trying to make his friend understand the situation.
"Stop it, Dino! Why do you keep lying!?" Scoups exclaims as tears stream down Dino's face.
"Why won't you believe me!?" Dino yells frustrated as he runs towards his room and slams the door shut behind him. He feels as if there is no way out, Joshua keeps torturing him and now the leader has reached the end. He even set up Dino's friend against him. While Dino lays down on his bed and cries his heart out, Joshua's words still echo through his head.
I will always be one step ahead of you.