7 Minutes in Heaven

7 Minutes in Heaven Chapter 14

Filler chapter, but I hope you like it! xD (pic of Arden Cho on the right xD I know...a little older to be Jemma, but it's not that easy finding other Korean-American actresses so...yeah)

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Nate stayed that night. However beforehand, when I got out the car, he drove off to the end of the street so his car wouldn’t be seen by Emmett or my parents. And by the time I entered the house, I heard a pair of feet rampaging, stampeding, to the foyer. I was welcomed by a suffocating hug that put so much weight on me, my lungs and ribs were practically crushing.

I exclaimed, choking out, “Oh—oh my—Jung Hee! You’re s—suffoc—cating m—me!”

He finally released his hold on me as he gripped me by the shoulders, staring right into my eyes, asking in an extremely worried voice, “Where the hell were you, Jae-Hwa?! God, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” Emmett examined my face closely before he questioned in a hushed tone, “What happened to you?”

The traumatic events came rushing past me again, and I felt the tears well up in my eyes. Emmett pulled me in for a big hug, stroking my hair gently like Nate had done earlier with the same feeling of security. “I—I”—I stammered.

My face was buried in his chest. He asked through gritted teeth, “Did Stanford do this to you? Because if he did, I swear”—

“He didn’t,” I cut him off hastily. Then I added, “When I wasn’t answering my phone, Nate was at school for wrestling practice, remember?”

“But he left practice early, so he could’ve had this planned,” he countered in a malicious voice.

“He’s the one that saved me!” I unintentionally screamed at him as I pushed myself away, coming off more defensive than I’d meant it to be. Emmett was taken aback, eyes wide. “If he hadn’t left practice early, and if Nate hadn’t come in time—if it weren’t for him—I would have been raped by Thomas Gibson!”

My brother took a step back, his expression utterly disbelieving. “You can’t be”—

“I’m serious!” I retorted. “You know, he’s not as bad as everyone thinks he is!”

Then I caught myself with those words, my hand clapping over my mouth, rendered speechless towards what I had just said. What’s wrong with me? Why was I being so…I don’t know…like this?

I ran a hand through my still damp hair. When my eyes met Emmett’s, it was entirely unreadable at the moment. “Jae—Jemma…” he began, his voice lowered to just above a whisper, “You don’t know that… I’m sorry, but he might just be doing this to get into your head…”

But when he held me…it felt so…real…I contradicted in my thoughts.

My brother still continued to speak, “Even if what he did was an act of pure kindness or whatever, I still don’t want you around him, you hear me?” I nodded my head slowly.

On the other hand, I still wanted him around me. Even though his show of kindness may be fake (though I doubt it) and temporary, I still wanted Nate to have his arm wrapped around me in such a protective way—in such a way that I knew I won’t get hurt with him around, which is kind of ironic, considering his history.

The one thing that continuously crossed my mind was why he felt the sudden need to find and rescue me. I mean, sure it could’ve been just because he’s still playing a game with me. But was there more to it than that? The way Nate had acted and the way he yelled at Thom made me think so. There’s no way all that could’ve been an act, could it? Hard fellow to read, he is.