"You've been living a lie your whole life. Don't you want to avenge yourself from the people who kept you from the truth?"
"I don't know where to begin."
"Well, it's really easy. First, you have to become one of us."
Peril has yet again taken over t...
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FRIDAY; 8:01:10 PM
"T-tayeong, I want to go home." I cried, my heart throbbing as though it was going to burst its way out of my chest. I firmly held onto the sleeve of Taeyong's shirt, my hands quivering in apprehension. I looked at him with weary eyes. I wanted him to know I wasn't feeling safe at all. I wanted to be at home and not out here.
He gave my back my caress and replied "Do you live with your parents?"
Confused, I replied nonetheless. "Only with my father, why?"
"Is he at home?"
"Probably. . ."
Taeyong roughly exhaled, ceasing from rubbing my back with his hand. He budged a little towards me, placing down his palm on the back of mine. The corner of his lip twitched as he stared down to my shivering fingers.
"I'll take you home." He uttered, almost in a whisper.
*
When Taeyong and I arrived at my house, I finally had enough strength to stand and walk. But the guy still had his hands on my shoulder and on my elbow. He securely held them as if he knew these tiny brittle pieces of bones will shatter soon enough when not glued together.
I led him to the front door. He opened it and we silently entered. Father was in the dining room, anxiously sitting in front of untouched viands on the table he probably prepared for the both of us. He was on his phone, nervously talking to someone. He's worried.
"D-dad. . ." I called in a hollow voice. He immediately whipped his head to our direction and sprinted towards me.
Taeyong lightly yanked me to my father and I quickly engulf him with a tight embrace, burying my face onto his chest. Tears escaped my eyes the moment I hugged him. I finally felt safe. All the dread and ghastly thoughts in my head were fading. My father wrapped his arms around my neck, his hand stroking my fingers as he endlessly sighed in relief.
"Where have you been?" He queried, still fondling my head. "Oh, thank god you're finally home. Did something happen to you?"
I shut my eyes close. "Dad. . . Someone threatened me. . ." I snuffled.
I could feel father's hand morphing into a fist. His jaw clenched and he let out an abrupt sough.
I tried to recall the words and ended up replaying the distorted robotic voice in my head like a broken record. It's ringing inside my head, welling the perturbation back up. I shrugged it off, coming back to my senses. And I happen to remember one detail that had me baffled the most.
"T-they called me Kang Seulgi," I paused, gradually detaching myself from my father. I took a step back and look him in the eye. "If they're the same people whom I bumped into days ago, then they've called me the same name twice already. This time, I was stern."
