"ZAIKA"

CHAPTER 9: WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?

"Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible.

God and devil are fighting there, and the

battlefield is the heart of man."

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

.

.

Taek Joo thought back to few months ago. That foggy, winter Island.

Was the man pointing the gun ever on edge? No, no. That is not Zhenya. Even if he was, he would never know.

That is not the Zhenya he knows.

Lack of attention forced Zhenya's hand to avert his chin from everything else but him. Only him.

"My eyes are up here, за́яц."

Taek Joo's chin reels crushed, and trapped under his body. The bullet that was shot moments ago, strangely feels as if it has been hours. No traces were left of it. He tried thinking who could have possibly fired. Were they targering him? Zhenya? Both?

Goddamnit...

Once again, muscles ached all over, as if he got mobbed out of his mind. He moved out of spite, taking a chance that spit in his face. He was starting to loosen his grip on Zhenya's arm, which was keeping some distace.l between their faces. But Zhenya evidently took that as a sign to annoy him some more. If someone walked in, from a different angle, this would  have looked like a hot make out session.

But it was not. He was fighting for his life not long ago in the woods, this guy is doing his most and now someone shot them through.

While thoughts of worry ran across his mind, there were none happening in Zhenya's. Up until this point, whenever there was a situation between them, Taek Joo did not know whenever to read it as a murder intent or a romantic flirting, which for Zhenya, it was the second case.

Him being the way he is, Taek Joo Has come to know one thing.

Zhenya doesn't understand love.

Taek Joo has had his eyes shut tightly for god knows how long. The preassure on his shoulders predseda down is not toning down. He cursed himself in his mind

So much for that plan...

Taek Joo felt his lips part by an object. That object, turned out to be that man's  two fingers. He circled them playing with the inside flesh. The saliva dripped along his glove, which he never takes off. He got reminded of Matryoshka doll.

Taking each peace out by peace. Layer by layer. Finally, the last piece left, that cannot be decided into two. Only leaving the innermost piece as a whole. This reminded him of Taek Joo.

The jaw was quite strained from biting into the gun not long ago. That made him grunt, barely making any sound at all.

"Ugh-hg..."

If they were not close to each other already, they were pressed against each other now. He inhaled deeply. Taek Joo felt angered more and more, by each passing second.

The bridges of their noses sharing a slight touch. Zhenya gently rubbed the tip of his nose against his with a complex expression on his face. He slowly retreated his fingers from his mouth. Now his arms hang down, head low.

Silence fills the empty space of the room. After a while, he speaks in a defeated voice, unknow to Taek Joo.

"What did you do to me?"

Taek Joo was indeed wrong. It was just as Dostoyevky said— Battlefield is the heart of the man.

Because what Zhenya lacks, was not love, it was the ability to comprehend.

Just like the gray wolf, perhaps.