Love Contract / Mark Lee

Chapter 30

"Areum, I barely recognized you. You look so different. D-did you loose weight?" He asked. Areum sat down across from him.

"Well the meds I take for my anxiety and depression, make it hard for me to consume the right amount of nutrients and fat so..." She mumbled. He pursed his lips.

"Oh..." They sat there in silence. She twiddled her fingers.

"So... you came all the way to South Korea to do what exactly?" She asked. He sighed, sitting up straight.

" I didn't like, nor do I remember, the way we ended things." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"I am better Areum. I am nothing like I was before." He said. She scoffed.

"How am I supposed to believe that?" She said. He raised an eyebrow.

"Well for one, I no longer despise ketchup. I use it all the time." He said. Caught her off guard, she found herself laughing. But she soon stop once she saw him smiling at her.

"And I've met another girl. And I'm ready to move on. B-but I want to move on the right way." He said. She felt her throat welling up so she cleared her throat.

"You- you're dating someone?" She asked. He nodded.

"Vanessa?"

"H-how did you know?"

"Why else would she bail you out of jail?" She asked. They sat in silence for a while.

"Why are you insisting to apologize?"

"B-because I'm not... I don't want to be remembered as a bad guy. Because I'm not. A-and I don't remember anything at all, and I'm so sorry about that." he said. She scoffed.

"You really don't remember anything?" She asked. He shook his head.

"So let me paint you a picture. You know how in the movies when the girl is standing in the shower, staring at the wall as the water falls from the shower head above her? You know how she's sobbing and when she goes to bed she can still feel his cold hands strangling her? You know how when they zoom in to the time of the attack, the women sits there and it's either one of two things; she is fighting back while sad music plays in the background, or she sits there, trying to find something to distract her of the horror she's going through?" She asked. She paused slowly.

"It's nothing like that... nothing at all." She muttered.

"It's dirty. And painful. And sweaty., but not a day at the beach sweaty. It's the flames from hell sweaty. It's scared sweat. Not satisfied sweat. A-and you're pulling my hair. And when I scream you suffocate me or punch me so hard that I start seeing stars. And it's not just one time. It's everyday when you feel like taking the edge off. A-and your weak defenseless girlfriend is right there to help you. Because you know she wont run. You know she won't yell. Because she tried it once. And you hit her so hard that she landed a spot at the best hospital in Maryland. So you kept going on. You kept her hurting her. That's what it felt like." She said. He pursed his lips. 

"You remember now or you want more?" She asked. He shook his head.

" Screw what you want. Let me just show you the proof, shall we? Remember this, from when you pushed me onto the stove while the hot water was boiling?" She asked, showing him the burn mark on her shoulder.

"Areum-"

"Or how about this? From when you 'accidentally' tripped and I fell down the stairs?" She said, lifting up her dress to show a scar on her thigh. Her eyes started to water as she started to feel her blood boil.