You On Me

IV

Seven years ago...
I was on my way home from a friend's house when I got a call from my younger sister. She was crying while I can hear my father's voice, shouting and cursing in the background. I closed my eyes in frustration and run immediately.

Here he goes again.

I can hear his voice as soon as I arrived at the front door. I gulped and held the doorknob, opening it slowly. The voices are starting to get clearer and clearer as I opened the door widely enough for me to enter.

Yujin saw me and looked at me pleading for help while my father is on top of her. What the heck. I widen my eyes in the realization of what he's trying to do and ran upstairs to my room. I was panicking while I looked for a certain thing around my room. I saw my baseball bat beside my study table and took it immediately. I went down and I can hear Yujin's muffled voice while I think of a way of how to stop him.

I walked around the house silently and saw drugs, money, and alcohol on the dining table. I walked closer to the couch and he didn't seem to notice my presence so I quickly hit him in the back. He winced in pain while I dragged my sister away from the couch.

"Yujin, trust me with this, okay?" She quickly agreed. "Get the money at the dining table then go to the playground. Stay there and wait for me to come back." She nodded her head and did what I told her.

My grip on my bat got tighter when he stood up from the floor. He's a lot taller so I was intimidated. His eyes are red and I know the drugs are invading his system. How stupid can an adult, grown man become?

"Who are you to hit me, huh?! Come here, you shit!" I closed my eyes in fear while I gathered my courage. I took a deep breath before my feet walked up to him.

"Fuck off!" I shouted as I hit both legs and kicked his private part. "Who the fuck are you?! Trying to rape your daughter?! You're absolute shit. A monster!" I shouted while I punched him multiple times in the face.

I stopped and realized what I did to him. I took a look at my right hand and it's bleeding and shaking badly. I glanced back at him and his face is bleeding, his expression shown in his face is pain while he's holding on to his private part.

I didn't realize that my tears were falling already. I can't believe I just did that. I got scared when he tried standing up again so I went to the door. "W-Where do you think you're going? Come back here!" I heard him say before I left, running my way to the playground with my bat still with me.

"Yujinie!" I said and she looked up. Her eyes lit up and ran to hug me. "Are you okay?" She nodded her head as she hugged me tighter.

This kid is so innocent and she experienced that. I hate him so much. He's a drug addict and he almost became a rapist too. Disgusting.

"We're not coming back there, right?" She asked, afraid of what I will say next.

"We're never coming back there." I smiled weakly.

———

It's almost a week since we ran away. The money we used to buy food is only available today. We got no money to buy food tomorrow. I don't know what to do. I'm only fourteen so it's hard to find work.

What should I do? What would a fourteen-year-old do in this kind of a situation?

"Hey, Y/N. You okay?" Yena said. I just met her two days ago. She's living in the streets too with her other friends whom she also met in the streets. She's two years younger than me.

"I don't know. Our money is up until today." I released a deep sigh and looked at innocent Yujin who's playing with Yena's friends.

Before she answers me, a man stood in front of us. I got alert and stood up from sitting down. "I'm not gonna do anything bad, kids. I promise." He harmlessly smiled towards us so I calmed down a bit.

He sat across us and we waited for him to speak. "I know what happened to you, kid. I'm here to help you." He spoke and looked at me. "I saw what you did to your father. He deserved that."

How did he know?

"Would you come with me? I promise that you'll be fine." I looked at Yena and she just smiled at me. "All of you can go with me. But..." I furrowed my brows and stared at him anticipating.

———

"We're here." He opened the door using his key and let us enter. It was a two-story house and it already felt comfortable as we enter our new home. Yujin was holding onto my hand tightly as the man gave us a tour.

For the first floor, it has a kitchen, dining, and living room. One bathroom and little laundry room too. The gym is in the basement and a backyard which is so cool. We don't have a backyard in ours.

As for the second floor, there are two rooms and both have two or more bunk beds. The bathroom is included in each room too. Me, Yujin, Yena, and her friends could fit in one room!

After the tour, we all huddled up in the living room. He served us drinks and bread which we're thankful for. His face looked cold and intimidating but he's kind and cool.

"Y/N? You're the oldest right?"

I answered a "Yes," quickly. He excused us and we went to the back of the house. "So are you accepting my offer?" I looked at him and slowly nod my head. His gummy smile is shown.

"In exchange for that, I will take care of you and Yujin's education and let you stay here until you decided to live on your own." That's a good idea. I agree much more. "We will start in a few days. I'll just let you know, okay?"

———

I collapsed on my bed and feel the softness of the mattress. I've been sleeping on the cold floors of the streets for a week that I forgot how it feels to sleep in a bed. I showered too so it's a very good day, like a miracle that happened.

Yujin is already sleeping on her bed while the others are talking, resting, or taking a bath. "Yo, Y/N! Your phone is open now and it has a lot of missed calls and messages."

"Really? Thank you, Hyewon!" I said and snatched the phone from her hand. I looked at it and it's all from the same person.

Sana.

I dialed her number and she answered it in a flash. "Sana..."

"What the hell?! Where were you?! It's been a week!" Ow. My ears.

"We... we ran away from home."