THAWING FIRE • VHOPE

C16 - You don't know about them

C16 - You don't know about them
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"Whatever the hell did happen to you, Tae?"

I cringe and cover my ears at Jimin's shrill voice, closing my eyes so I don't have to see his mad eyes – that is lacing with a million questions – staring straight into my soul.

I can't blame him, though.

He just had finished his training and he got back here in our dorm, sweaty and tired, and saw me on the sofa in this kind of state; with bandages around my arms and adhesive bandages at the middle of my nose and right cheek where I was cut because of the kicks.

The nurse who put me on a wheelchair when he had found me was the one who patched me up and brought me here, back at the dorm. Good thing that this school has a 24-hour emergency service. And nurses here are just, like, everywhere so it's easy for them to find students who need help.

I'm kind of grateful that it was Jimin who saw me first and not Mark. I don't know what th

"It's... nothing, Jimin," I try to convince him by smiling and crinkling my eyes for him to see, "really."

He just snorts – not really convinced at all – and stomps his way towards me, hand on his hip, a questioning finger pointed at me.

Great. Now he looks like Mom.

"What nothing, Tae?" he huffs and pokes my bruised cheek, me recoiling because of the sudden sharp pain. His face is distorted in a creepy way and I don't want to look anymore. "This doesn't look like nothing to me at all!"

"Fine!" I exclaim, huffing small breaths, lowering my head in shame. "I... I got into a fight earlier."

I hear him scoff and say, "Now I'm having second thoughts about you being innocent and all that."

I look up. "What do you mean? I'm truly innocent."

"Then why do you always get in trouble?"

My mouth opens to say something but my mind stills as I can't think of anything. I just close my mouth and bite the inside of my cheek.

He's right.

Why do I always get in trouble?

"I don't know, Jimin," it comes out as a mumble. I look at him, eyes wide. "It's like, trouble just loves me so much that he always sticks by my side... even when I don't want him to."

I feel the other side of the couch sink as he sits beside me and his hand is already pulling me. I'm pushed into his chest and that's when... I cry.

I don't know why I'm crying, though.

Maybe because Jimin's arms around me are warm and comforting?

Or maybe because I'm just too frustrated of myself for screwing almost everything?

I'm weak. Heck, I know that.

But that's the main point why all these are happening to me.

Because I'm weak; I don't have the courage to defend myself or even fight back.

I'm stupid and I absentmindedly do reckless things.

What else do I know?

I'm locked up in our house all my life; never had experienced such things until now.

What else do I have to know?

What else do I have to do?

"W-what do I do, J-jimin?" my voice quivers as I speak.