dare [h. renjun]

-chapter forty one-

(woah, i persistently make long chapters these days.)

"your jerk."

-

"haechan... are you gonna tell me what happened now?" with an annoyed tone evident in my voice, i asked my brother as i cleaned up his worned out face.

he remained silent, wincing by the stinging sensation on his wounded lips.
he already knew i'm mad, and serious; he didn't even complain about me calling him only by his name.

"you're not even saying anything since the moment i came here." i furrowed my eyebrows, not realizing i had pushed the tissue on his skin by force which made him wince in pain.

"i couldn't talk well." his voice was almost muffled as his lips were barely even opening.

"see?! you can't even talk with all that bruise on your face." i raised my voice. "how are you gonna explain this to mom and dad?"

"aren't you worried for me?"

"i am! i'm worrying a lot! i'm just annoyed that you're not taking care of yourself well." from a frustrated tone, my voice fell softer as i slowly felt a lump forming in my throat. it made me realize i was about to cry as haechan's face became blurry.

"don't be such a crybaby," haechan chuckled, making me even more annoyed as he cupped my cheek, and pressed his thumb on it to wipe the tear that had just rolled down.

"you're crying a lot these days."

"it's because of you, idiot!" i punched his chest, causing him to groan in pain because of his bruise once again. as i watch him in agony, and before even realizing it, i bursted out weeping stupidly. this made haechan to splatter hysterical laughter and snickers.

"you're so stupid, (y/n). acting all tough and punching me only to cry like a baby."

"you're the stupid one!" i wiped my eyes with the back of my hand while sniffing. "you still haven't told me who did that to you."

no words came from his mouth, making my brows meet each other, and nudged him to tell me.

"i don't know who did this to me. his face was covered, and beat me up out of nowhere while i was coming home." his eyes avoiding mine, he looked down.

"what do you mean?"

"i just got beaten up by a stranger. isn't it obvious?" he retorted, now staring at me.

"i don't mean that." i flicked his forehead. "do you have any enemy of some sort? do you have even a slightest hint of why you got beaten up?"

he didn't reply anything, and kept his head hanging down low. before he could compress his words out, he uttered, "i think..." then, prevented himself from saying anything out from his mind.

"(y/n)... whenever i'm not around you, and in school, stick with renjun, jaemin, or anyone close to you." out of a sudden, he told me with a strained face. he held my shoulder, sharing the tension on his back with me.

"what? why?" with my eyebrows knitting in sheer confusion, i asked my brother.

"just listen to what i say, (y/n). don't be stubborn." his face went stony, his hands crumpling my shirt as he squeezed my shoulders. "anything suspicious going around you, avoid it."

"there's... something suspicious that happened to me a couple of times," i muttered under my breath; my brows puckered as i recalled the unusual things that had happened to me for the past few days.