Etude of Memories

Chapter 20

Daegu, 10 Years Ago

Hwayoung pulled out a small knife. He grinned.

Taehyung glanced at the knife. Did Hwayoung plan to kill him?

But Hwayoung didn't move. He just grinned. "Do you know what's more painful than being stabbed with a knife?"

Taehyung didn't say anything.

"To see the girl we love with someone else."

"You don't love Tiffany. You only want to hurt her." Taehyung hissed. He knew his ex classmate was obsessed with Tiffany, but it wasn't love. Love shouldn't be destructive.

Hwayoung laughed. "And you call what you do to Tiffany as 'love?" That teenager sneered.

Taehyung shot a glare and clenched his fist.

"Your face," Hwayoung pointed his knife at Taehyung, "Tiffany's father did that to you, right?"

Taehyung ignored Hwayoung's question, he walked past him, but one of his men quickly grabbed his arm.

"I'm still talking to you, ya Kim Taehyung." Hwayoung snorted. "I know why that old man beating you up."

Hwayoung then hissed in Taehyung's ear. "You got Tiffany pregnant."

Taehyung felt as if he'd just plummeted into a deep well. He spontaneously turned around to see Hwayoung. How did that bastard know?

Taehyung didn't know that Hwayoung had been stalking Tiffany, looking for a chance to approach that girl.  Unfortunately for him, Tiffany's father always drove her daughter to and from school. But that afternoon, Hwayoung saw that girl and Taehyung went to the hospital. Hwayoung knew Tiffany's father rush to the hospital too. And Hwayoung saw when Hwang Jung Min beating up Taehyung. And he also knew what made Tiffany's father so furious. Hwayoung had heard everything.

Hwayoung whistled. "You always stand in my way everytime I try to touch Tiffany..., well, well, well, who has laid his hands on her now? The brave and the heroic Kim Taehyung." Hwayoung clapped his hands.

"What do you want?"

"Do you want to know what I want?" Hwayoung sneered. "I want to tell everyone in Daegu Highschool that Tiffany is having a baby out of a wedlock." He whistled again.

"Son of a---" Taehyung tried to choke Hwayoung, but that delinquent's men grabbed his hands.

"What? What were you trying to say?" Hwayoung smirked. "You really don't know your position, ya Kim Taehyung. Do you really want me to tell all your schoolmates that you're going to have a baby with Tiffany? Imagine how our friends will react to this news? Shocked? Happy? Disgusted? Is that want you want to see?"

Taehyung clenched his fists. "What do you want? Tell me!" He shouted.

"Let's see..." Hwayoung spat. "I don't want Tiffany to get a bad reputation. That's so pity. She is so beautiful, pretty, sexy..." Hwayoung smiled when he saw how furious Taehyung upon hearing his words. "Relax, I'm just telling the truth. Nobody knows how sexy Tiffany Hwang more than you do, right?"

Taehyung tightened his mouth.

"I don't want a girl as innocent as Tiffany to receive hatred and repulsive stigma for being a bitch--"

"PLAAAK!" Taehyung released himself and smacked Hwayoung's face.

Hwayoung faltered backwards. He spat. "Do you really wanna do this, Kim Taehyung? Go on and hit me. Hit me until you're satisfied, but you can't save your girlfriend. Tomorrow, everyone in Daegu will know that she is pregnant!"

Taehyung gasped. He couldn't let that happen. He realized, even if he beat the shit out of Hong Hwayoung, that would only instigate that jerk to ruin Tiffany's image. Taehyung didn't care about his own reputation, but Tiffany? He couldn't let anyone insult that girl. Taehyung knew he was running out of options.

"What do you want me to do?" Taehyung stared at Hwayoung.

Hwayoung moved closer. "Get on your knees and kiss my shoes. Maybe I will change my mind."

Hwayoung didn't have to repeat his words twice, Taehyung quickly dropped himself and kneeled before that bastard.

And he kissed Hwayoung's dirty shoes.

Hwayoung scoffed. He kicked Taehyung hard on his face.

Taehyung fell backwards.

"You're really pathetic, ya Kim Taehyung!" Hwayoung laughed scornfully. "You make me feel disgusted. Tomorrow, everyone in this city will know what kind of girl Tiffany Hwang really is: a slut who is giving birth to a bastard!"

Taehyung was furious. He had never been hating someone like he hated Hong Hwayoung. He smacked that scoundrel's face. He hit him so hard for several times.

Hawyoung's henchmen quickly pulled him away from Hwayoung. They jabbed his stomach by turns.

Hwayoung got up. He spat blood onto the ground and gave a signal to stop beating up Taehyung.

"Ya, Kim Taehyung. You are the one who did this to Tiffany, you are the one who has knocked her up, but why are you so furious? Is there any of my words that isn't true?" Hwayoung tufted Taehyung's hair and spat on him.

Taehyung growled. He was so ready to break Hwayoung's nose again. And this time, he wouldn't only break his nose, he would also break every bone in that bastard's body.

"You know what I'm gonna do to Tiffany?" Hwayoung moved his face closer to Taehyung's. "I'm gonna taste her the way you had. And I'm gonna hurt her until she screams in pain. I'm gonna hurt her so bad that she'll wish she had never been born." Hwayoung sneered.

Taehyung couldn't think straight anymore. He knew Hwayoung was an evil. That bastard had tried to rape Tiffany twice. Taehyung knew he must do something to protect his girlfriend, a girl that meant more than anything for him. But at that time, Taehyung couldn't think straight. He just moved according to his impulse.

"SON OF A BITCH! I WON'T LET YOU HURT TIFFANY!!! With an immense power he got from his rage, Taehyung pushed everyone that were holding him. All of Hwayoung's men tumbled down. And Taehyung quickly grabbed Hwayoung.

Hwayoung thrusted his knife towards Taehyung, but Taehyung quickly tossed it. The knife was thrown onto the ground. He grabbed Hwayoung and punched him. But Taehyung didn't let Hwayoung fall easily. He punched him again and again until Hwayoung finally lost his balance and fell backward. He fell really hard.

One of Hwayoung's men tried to grab Taehyung, but that angry wolf was quicker. He jabbed the man who was trying to clutch his collar.

And suddenly, all of Hwayoung's men stopped attacking. They all stopped moving.

"Hw-Hwayoung ah!!!!" One of them screamed frantically.

Taehyung was confused. He quickly turned around to see Hwayoung.

And there he was. Hwayoung sat on the ground. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't say a word. Blood was spurted out of his mouth. And he tremblingly touched his stomach that was bleeding heavily.

Taehyung and the scoundrels gasped as they looked at Hwayoung in terror.

When Taehyung pushed Hwayoung a moment ago, he didn't realize that he had pushed Hwayoung towards some rods behind that scoundrel. One of the steel rods, the sharpest one, stabbed his back and skewered through the teenager's stomach.

Taehyung could only freeze in his place. He didn't know what to do or what to say. Hwayoung's men quickly approached their dying friend. But Hwayoung didn't move. He couldn't. Hong Hwayoung had died a few seconds ago.[]

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