the teawitch (the tea-series part one)

hobi

18-12-2022 the streets

P.O.V. Hoseok

"Bye hobi!" My friend laughed, being half drunk.

"Bye," I smiled a bit, grabbing my jacked. If I didn't had to work tomorrow I would have stayed, but I couldn't miss any sleep.

I got out, humming one of the songs I was working on at the moment while walking home.  To my surprise I saw a thick red trace through the snow, it smelled like blood.

Even while I just wanted to go home, I followed it, curious about who was bleeding this much. 

A young girl was sitting on the pavement. Naked and bleeding badly. Her nody was shaking, telling me that she was crying.

"Oh god... Can I help you?" I said worried, kneeling down beside her.

She flinched back by the sound of my voice and sobbed even louder.

"Hey... I won't hurt you..." I whispered, sitting down next to her, but with a one meter distance. 

She switched her gaze to me, "y-yeh... And then a-after two months?"

"After two months?" I blinked surprised, "I don't know... I just want you to get safe... Maybe I can just bring you to a hospital..."

"No hospital," she muttered quickly.

"Oh... Can I care for those wounds at least and make you sleep at a warm place? The streets are not safe for you..."

The girl stayed silent for a while, "how c-can I trust you?"

"Well..." I took my phone and opened spotify, "I am sure that there are criminals as music artists... But I make my own music..."

Her eyes lit up a little when I played one of my songs. 

"Do you know my songs?" I asked with a soft smile.

She shook her head, "just no music in two years..." She listened to it silently, calming down a bit. 

Two years without music... For me it sounded impossible. "Oh... Sounds sad..."

The girl nodded.

"What's your name?"

"Rue... Can I ask yours, sir?"

"Yeah, that's fair... I am Hoseok Jung, but call me Hobi."

She smiled a little, "hi..."

"Can I care for your wounds?" I asked, holding out my hand, "I'll take you to my house then and will bandage this at least, deal? Then you can decide what to do, but I won't leave you here dying..."

Rue stared at it, scared at first, but she laid her small and cold hand in mine in the end and let me pull her up. "You are lucky, we are already close. I saw the bloodtrace..."

She didn't say anything back, being almost as pale as the snow. 

We arrived after 5 minutes, something that normally took 2 minutes at max, but she had kept refusing my offer to carry her. 

I unlocked the door and helped her to the kitchen/dining room.

She slumped down on a chair, out of breath and trembling.

Without a word I grabbed bandages and started to bandage her legs. Then at least it stelped the wounds. Cleaning was a problem for later. 

Her arms and torso were the next steps and when I was done, I finally looked up. 

She was stared at the wall absently and had wrapped her arms around herself.

I got up and grabbed a blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders before I headed to the kitchen to make something warm to drink. I hummed with the melody of my ringtone for a while till I realized someone called me. I chuckled ashamed and took up without looking, making two cups of hot chocolate. "Jung Hoseok," I hummed.

"Hii, it's me, Scarlet!"

"Oh, hey," I smiled.

"How was your day?"

Scarlett was one of my close friends. She was a bright girl but she held something for herself. I knew that... but I never asked her. She had to tell her herself.

"Oh, it was fine... I found a girl on the streets by the way... Rue... really nice girl..." I gave a short glance at her.

She sat on her chair, holding her blanket tight around her body with closed eyes. 

"What was she doing there?"

"freezing and bleeding to death... I convinced to come to my house... and bandaged everything since she didn't want to go to the hospital..."

"Oh jeez... do you need anything?"

I stayed silent for a while, thinking about her question. "I gotta work tomorrow... can you come over to... you know..."

"ohh, you can drop her too at eliana's... I was planning on going there."

"I will ask her if she wants to... I don't even know if she want to stay here longer then one night... we will see."

"Okayy, text me if you need anything else!"

"Will do!" I handed Rue her cup after I hung up. "there you go, I hope you like it."

She nodded a little, "will do, sir..."

"Just call me Hobi please...." I chuckled, but quickly turned serious again, "hey... can you tell me what happened? or at least a bit?"

Rue warmed her hand at the cup for a while before answering, "You can't tell it to the police... Rex will kill me..." She swallowed, her eyes stood absently for a while again.

"sure, no police..." I nodded.

"promise?" Her eyes met mine for a second before she looked down again, almost like I had forbit her to make eyecontact. 

"Yes, I promise..."

"so...." she stared at the brown liquid, "there was this guy... rex... and... he was really nice for around two months..."

"Did he abuse you?" I said, already finishing the story in my head.

She nodded.

"For how long?"

The only thing she did as an answer was sticking up two fingers.

"Two weeks?" I asked her.

She shook her head.

"Months?" my eyes widened a bit.

Again she shook her head.

"do you mean... that this Rex... abused and raped you for... 2 years?"

Rue nodded silently. "yeh..."

I stood up, taking the cup out of her hands calmly.

Her eyes were scared again, fearing for what I would do, but I understood now. 

I spread my arms. "If you want to... and only if you really want to... you can hug me... I don't force you, I never will..."

She stared at my chest for more then 2 minutes before she stumbled up and fell into my arms sobbing. 

With a soft smile I hugged her, sitting down while pulling her on my lap. "I'll keep you safe from that monster, okay? He won't ever hurt you again."

She dug her nose in my shirt, making the fabric soak in tears. "t-thanks... si- hobi..."

I smiled while I thought about her behaviour last half hour. She had used 'sir' to me,Flinched back at the mear sound of my voice and the threat of me touching her. "And that same guy kicked you on the streets?"

She nodded.

"Do you have an idea of what I can do for you?" I stroked her hair softly, wanting to give her the sign she was safe with me.

"No... I d-dunno..."

"Okay... think about it as long as you want to... I'll stay with you."

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a/n wiehh, next chap and finally more characters, including Hobii. Boy will get a main roll in the story, so you guys better like him, or I will visit you at night to pour hot dramatea over your head. Hopefully not and just like him and Scarlett, and Eliana :)