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CHAPTER 3

The blood was redder than my rain boots, my favorite flavor of lollipops or the blush that appeared on my cheeks every time I ran in to the postman, who always showered me with compliments. Deep and messily stitched cuts were littering the porcelain skin on my arms, tainted by numerous specks of deep purple, that was slowly fading in to an ugly yellow. The wounds were taking their time to heal, almost as if they wanted to disappear together with the freshly brewed liquor, that the housemaids just stored in to one of the pantries, where it was going to stay until it would be ready to drink towards the late end of the summer.

'' You can't treat your wounds on your own, Sachi. '' I was sitting on the dining room, frowning and staring at my knees, both scraped and bruised. There was a pile of bloodied bandages on my side and the family doctor, miss Ishihara Satomi, was in the process of cleaning the wounds on my slowly healing skin. Instead of using regular disinfectant, she preferred to go for a much more natural option. During her visits, she always drenched my skin in some kind of liquid that left me smelling like I fell in a juniper bush for at least the next three hours and that day was no different. I hated it, but it served it's purpose.

" I can't? " I crossed my arms on my chest and huffed in annoyance. '' We won't know until we try. ''

'' If your little grabby hands come any closer to my supplies, I will make all of your worst fears come to life, '' she threatened when she caught me eyeing the silver briefcase that she always carried around. It was full of interesting things like needles, bottles of strong smelling liquids, creams and pills. Pushing a strand of her brown hair behind her ears, she offered me a faint smile as concern flashed over her eyes. '' Please, don't tell me that you are still hung up on what happened when you were six years old and you stole one of the pills from my bag and ate it. I already apologized to you countless times. You know that I lied to you and said that you will die, just to teach you a lesson. Do you still not trust me? ''

'' Look where trusting another person brought me, '' I seriously replied and looked towards the doorway of the dining room. Baekhyun was leaning against the wall and watching me. His dark hair was still a little damp from the shower that he took earlier, his cheeks were reddened by a faint sunburn and there was a thoughtful expression on his face. '' You understand what I'm talking about, don't you, Baekhyun? It's foolish to trust people. ''

I raised my chin and gestured towards the bandages that were covering his leg. Instead of answering, he tilted his head to the side and frowned. There was something that was troubling him. Something that he didn't understand about me, the rich girl who he first judged to be nothing more than just a posh snob. He was watching me and spinning a cigarette in his hands, the same way that I spun a pencil when I was bored during my classes back in school. At first, I thought that all his smoke breaks were just an attempt to get close to the beautiful Mina, even if she clearly wasn't very interested in starting a friendship with him, then I figured out that he was even further down in the dark hole of this bad habit than she was.

'' It's boring not to trust to people and you have to become strong enough to not let every little mishap in life break you in to pieces. ''

'' I almost died! ''

'' That sounds... like it must've sucked for you. Quite a bit, probably, '' was all that Baekhyun said in response to my shocked exclamation. Miss Ishihara chuckled in amusement before I shot a glare in her direction. She tried to cover her mouth with her hand, but even so, I could still hear the sound of her muffled laughter. In moments like this one, I regretted choosing someone like Baekhyun as my home tutor. I thought that I wanted someone who wouldn't pity me, but at the same time, I wasn't used to not being able to exploit my current state for my own good. Even so, I couldn't get rid of him. There was a whole other side to the reason why I wanted him as my tutor and not someone else. '' Is this going to take much longer? We've got tutoring scheduled for this afternoon. What are you even doing for so long? Do rich people doctors also give messages if you pay them a little extra? ''

His assessment of me, was probably even more narrow than the one that I made of him. For some kind of reason, I really wanted to prove him wrong.

Miss Ishihara continued smiling in amusement. She was intrigued when she found out that the Nagano household hired a new tutor and she didn't believe the rumors that she heard at another villa in our neighborhood until she saw him with her own eyes. With a cigarette stuck behind his ear and hysterically laughing at the escargot that chef Manon was planning to prepare for dinner, he made quite the impression on her. It seemed to be a good one, because even in that moment, her eyes glimmered when she curiously asked: '' Are you not fond of doctors either, mister Baekhyun? ''

'' It's not that I'm not fond of them... '' he lazily began and winked at her. The woman, at least twenty years older than him, was caught off guard at that simple gesture and I rolled my eyes at the sight of her blushing. '' It has to do with the way that I was brought up. When you've got no money, you don't have the possibility to call a doctor for every little reason. All that you get, is an earful from your mother because you ripped another pair of pants and stained them with blood, made an enemy of a kid who was her friend's son or played outside despite the weather being cold and you knowing very well that your thin hand-me-down jacket, could hardly protect you from a possible cough and illness. At those times, life seemed cruel, but it made us stronger. Tougher. You looked like you could use some of that, Sachi. ''

'' Are you calling me weak? '' I asked and stared at him with wide eyes. I wasn't expecting his words to offend me as much as they did. My weaknesses were something that I despised more than anything else. They were the reason why I even ended up covered in wounds and bruises. '' Go away. Why did you even come here? Are you bored, so you thought that you might as well come to make fun of me? I'm not in the mood to study. We'll do that tomorrow. ''

'' A cop's visiting you tomorrow, '' he reminded me. The idea of the special visit that we were getting tomorrow, seemed to trouble him as much as it troubled me. '' Also, that's exactly what you said yesterday. We'll never get anywhere if you'll keep postponing our tutoring and I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop making my life difficult. My paycheck relies on you not falling behind on your school work while you're recovering at home. ''

'' Hey, the day before that, you were the one who said that you weren't in the mood for teaching! '' I protested and clenched my fingers in to fists. He was right, just like he always seemed to be and it was starting to irritate me. '' You're the one who's supposed to listen to me anyway! I'm the boss here! I give the orders, not you! ''

An antique clock was ticking on the wall behind us and counting away the moments until one of us would cave in and admit their defeat, but that didn't happen. We both carried a certain fire within our hearts, sparked in completely different ways and from opposite types of reasons. Mine burned too fast and too bright, while his, seemed to be more controlled and warm instead of destructive. His flames, gave out heat on neverending cold winter nights and mine appeared in the middle of long and raging storms, causing even more destruction.

'' I'm the boss here! ''

'' Hey... ''

'' Listen to me! ''

'' Stop it! ''

'' I give the orders! ''

'' Stop imitating me or you're fired! '' I hissed, turned my head and glared at Baekhyun again. That was when the doctor couldn't contain her laughter anymore. He purposely raised his voice and tried to sound as mocking as he could and I was furious, because hearing it out loud, made me realise how embarrassing my behavior actually was. I was angry at him, but I still hated myself more for acting like everything that I despised.

His hand suddenly landed on my head, he looked in to my eyes and grinned. The cigarette that he was spinning around with his fingers earlier, now found it's way between his lips, always a little reddened from his habit to chew on them. '' You finally looked this way, huh? I can't believe that you made me resort to drastic and childish measures like this one, but I will do what I have to do. I can swallow my pride if this is what it takes for you to listen to me. Finish things here and get your books ready. Today we'll try to tackle Maths. I got two new packs of cigarettes especially for this. I feel like you're one of those people who suck at numbers and if I'm right, I'm certainly going to need them, so that I'll be able to smoke my stress and impatience away. ''

I acted like he couldn't get through to me, but once miss Ishihara told me that she was done with her work, I still grabbed my crutch and limped after him right away.