The Bet - Masters of Puppetry » Jikook

서른다섯*

A/N: Warning! Please be aware of mature content.
Vague description of sexual assault.

Part Thirty-Five
"Be a good boy, will ya?"
          
        
Flashback

Jimin had some trouble sleeping. It was nothing new at this point.

As usual, he was reading as a pastime, cuddled up in his soft blanket like a little child as he turned page after page. He was kind of lost in thought, though, and couldn't really grasp the plot of the manga he had secretely bought two days ago.

These last few weeks his stepdad had been more intense than ever. Fortunately, Chul was barely at home but when he was, things got utterly bad. He would always smell like booze and start one argument after the other with both Jimin and his mother. His constant mocking, his excessive criticism and blaming intimidated the teenager so much, he couldn't remember the last time he had actually felt secure in this house.

Yeah, when had it been?

He was also extremely worried about his mom when she wasn't around, scared that Chul might beat her in his drunken state. Because whenever Jimin lost sight of them, he couldn't protect her.

So there he was, wondering what the married couple was doing at the moment, afraid his mother needed him but he wasn't there.

Most of his stepfather's periods of rage were unjustified in Jimin's opinion. But who was he to judge? Who was he to revolt against Chul? In this house, Jimin had nothing to say. Absolutely nothing. He was secondary priority. Maybe even that was an overstatement.

Chul was the master.

And he made sure to remind them of that, too. Sometimes he would forbid his mother to leave the house and lock her in rooms when he felt she wasn't complying. Every now and then he would blame the kid for his bad relationship with his wife. As a punishment, he liked to deny Jimin supper or give him long periods of silent treatment.

Since his stepdad had been a rather unwanted presence in the house for a long time, Jimin normally wouldn't complain about not having to talk to him, but whenever Chul was ignoring the younger, he had a feeling his mother was avoiding him, too. Furthermore, the look his stepfather would give him in the meantime was threatening.

It never ended that bad for the younger, in terms of physical pain, but it was still psychological terror; watching how badly he treated his mom, having Chul tower over him in order to demonstrate his superiority.

Jimin just didn't understand why his mother didn't flee, why she didn't start a new life far away from this heavy drunkard. Why didn't she pursue a life without violence, without emotional abuse? Didn't she long for a place she could feel safe and sound in? Why didn't she care about Jimin at least, about his daily traumatizing experiences under Chul's control?

He didn't understand until only several years later.

And little did either of them know what else Chul would do this very night, affecting the child well into its adulthood...

Jimin, as quiet as usual, was still busy turning pages when footsteps suddenly resonated from the hall. He freezed in an instant. Don't breathe, don't breathe. He'll go away. He'll leave eventually.