𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲 | 𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐨

9

When I woke up the next morning, I found the spot next to me empty. Yoshinori probably went to school. I sat up, feeling my arm a little bit better than yesterday. There is still a tingling pain but it's bearable.

I saw a note on the table side and I saw Yoshinori's neat penmanship on it.

Here's my number. Just call me if you need anything. Asahi's going to be there later and he'll take care of you. Don't worry, he won't kill you. ;)

xxx-xxx-xxxx

Yoshi :)

I unconsciously smiled at the way he used smileys. But then, it occurred to me that Asahi's going to be the one to accompany me today. It made me shiver. I haven't really talked with Asahi ever. He's just too quiet, too deadly even.

A knock on my door made me jump.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's Asahi, Mirae." I suddenly felt a little bit scared. The calmness in his voice spooks me.

"O-Oh, come in." I hope my voice didn't fail me. I hope it didn't sound like I didn't want him here.

The younger boy entered the room and I couldn't help but melt at his face. I forgot for once that he's the deadliest among them. He's like a soft baby to me right now. He looks so shy and introverted.

He took a seat on the chair next to my bed and fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "Hey, do you want anything to eat?"

I smiled. "I just want something to drink, and bread will be fine. Just get the strawberry jam on the fridge."

His eyes grew wide. "Did you just say strawberry jam, noona? The one in the big glass container?"

I nodded, confused as to why he's so curious about the jam.

"He never lets anyone of us touch his strawberry jam." He muttered.

"Who?"

"Yoshinori." He answered. "That's his favorite jam. He never shares it to any of us."

My eyes went wide. "But he's seen me eat it a couple of times already. He didn't say a word. Tell me, Asahi, is he going to kill me for eating his jam?"

He let out a toothy smile. "Considering how you're still alive now, Mirae, I don't think you're on his death list. Besides, if you said that he saw you eating it a couple of times already, then maybe he doesn't mind you eating it. It's just so weird though."

"What's weird?"

"Well, are you Yoshi's girlfriend?" His question made me cough uncontrollably.

"W-what kind of question is that? Of course not. Why do you even think that I am Yoshinori's girlfriend? Do I even look like his type?"

"Fair enough actually." He nodded his head. "Yoshi is into sexy, girly girls. You know what I mean, right? Not to offend you though. I think you're way more beautiful than all the other girls he used to date."

I suddenly blushed at the compliment. I don't know why it feels a lot better to hear it when it's coming from Asahi.

"Anyway, Mirae. I should go get your bread and jam." I smiled at him and watch him go out of the door.

So Yoshinori dated a lot of girls before, huh. Well, it's no surprise. He's handsome and popular after all. Why am I so fed up with it though? I think... I think I need to sort out these feelings sooner.

Asahi came back after a while. He was holding a tray with the bread, glass of milk, and strawberry jam. He set it on the bedside table and helped me spread some jam on the bread as I cannot move my right shoulder due to the wound. I ate the piece of bread he gave me happily. I love strawberry jams. I saw Asahi looking at me.

"Asahi, why are you not eating?"

He scratched his nape. "Mirae, I don't think Yoshi would be happy if he finds out I touched his jam."

I dismissed him. "He wouldn't know so help yourself. Eat some."

He tentatively reached for the bread and spread some jam over it. He munched like a little kid. I saw how the corner of his lips pull up into a smile. He looks so cute.

"You don't look like you're dangerous." I unconsciously said. He looked at me, a small smile playing on his lips.

"I hear that often, to be honest." He said. "But as they say, don't judge the book by its cover. Do you know why I'm the one with you right now, Mirae?"

I shook my head.

"Because I'm the best shooter in Treasure." He proudly said. "They believe that I can protect you the best, except for Yoshi of course. But he needs to be at school right now."

"How did you end up in this situation, Asahi?" I sincerely asked. My curiosity is killing me. It's been weeks since my life got entangled with theirs but I still don't know how they've gotten to this point.

"It's complicated, way complicated." He answered.

"I have all day." I replied.

I saw him sigh before putting down the half-finished bread he was eating.

"We all came from wealthy, influential families from both South Korea and Japan. Our parents run multibillion companies. With our companies together, we can basically control both Korea and Japan. But again, nothing comes easy in the world of business. Our families have been targeted by bad guys. There are a lot of people who wanted to take down our families. Greedy government officials, mafia leaders, police officers. All sorts of people really. We needed to fight back. We needed to protect our families, that's why we went underground. It all started one day when Yoonbin almost got killed by the men of a senator who wanted his parents dead. I was the one with him that day. We were outnumbered but we fought. Yoonbin was shot. He was barely alive. Then everything went black, the next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of dead men with a gun on my hand. I didn't even know how I got the gun, it just happened." He looked at me and smiled sadly. "Mirae, I was the first one who turned into a monster."

For the first time, I saw a vulnerable Asahi. He looks so sad, so scared even. I reached out to him and called him to my side. I gently rubbed his back as he sobbed. Gone was the calm and stoic Asahi that I know from a far.

"T-the rest of Treasure found us both. Then a lot of armed men came after. Hyunsuk hyung and the others including Junghwan grabbed the guns lying on the floor and started firing at them. I sat there on the ground cradling Yoonbin. I was emotionless. I felt nothing even if I just killed a lot of people. Then the gunshots died down. All of the armed men died. Doyoung was the one who dropped the gun first. I saw him cry, so as Junghwan, Haruto, Jeongwoo, and Yedam. The older guys soon cried after them. They ran to us and carefully took Yoonbin away to bring him to the hospital. Jaehyuk stayed behind. He hugged me. He hugged me tight. That was the first time I cried in a while. That night, we all turned into monsters we never thought we would be." He continued sobbing hard.

"But Mirae... we just protected ourselves. I just protected Yoonbin. We just protected our families. We didn't want to be labelled as killers. We didn't choose this life. But we somehow got into this. We cannot go back now. Not now that all of those bad people are after us. We need to continue doing this noona. Even if this means losing our innocence and youth."

I just sat there listening to Asahi cry. He's just a victim of the circumstances that happened. They're all victims.

"Yoshi..." He trailed, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "He had it worse. His father... his father was killed by one of the bad guys. Yoshi went home one day to see his dad get killed right before his eyes. They killed him. His father was a known judge in Japan. He was after all the bad guys so they killed him. Yoshi used to be bright and jolly before but he changed after. He turned into this boy you know now. He became cold. He became ruthless. He's merciless. He doesn't even bat an eye even if the man pleads. He... he just doesn't care."

I couldn't speak. I'm just overwhelmed by everything that he said. Yoshinori... I felt bad for judging him. I felt bad for judging each one of them.

The day went by. I just sat there on my bed, with a now sleeping Asahi on my lap. His eyes are puffy and red but his face looks calm, a different kind of calm and that was enough to soothe my aching heart.