"Turn your face to this side" I say as I place the first aid kit we store in the shop for emergencies.
Yeinjun stopped midway from eating another spoonful of ice-cream and looked at me like a scared cat, with wide eyes and lips parted.
Yeonjun was currently seated in one of the chairs at the back of the room with another set of extra uniform on him, this time around, a closer fit to his size.
His pink hair was wet from what I assumed to be washing his face in the bathroom because there was no place for a shower.
His wet hair looked a little darker in shade than when dried.
It's either that or the blood stained his hair.
His lips were still busted and now I could see a deep gash on his forehead that had been the reason for the blood on his face.
There were multiple bruises and scratches on his arm now that he was not wearing the leather jacket to hide it.
I pull up a chair in front of him, determined to at least dress the wound of the forehead.
It didn't look deep enough to get stitches but it was deep enough to get infected if not dressed properly.
Yeonjun's chair screeched as he pushed away from me.
"What are you doing?" he asked, looking at me incredulously.
"What does it look like I am doing?" I rolled my eyes.
"I don't need it," he said and took another bite of his ice-cream.
I cannot relate to people who bite their ice-cream. They have to be psychopaths to be able to eat it like this without wincing.
"Well, too bad. I don't want you to get infected and die in front of me" I counter and he just scowls at me.
"Wouldn't you like to see me dead?" he asks, putting his cup on the table and folding his hands over his chest. He winces instantly and drops them back to his side.
"I don't want anything to do with you. There's a difference, Yeonjun. I don't care about you enough to think whether you live or die" I sit on the chair opposite to him and start spreading out the requirements on the table from the first aid box.
"And yet you care about me enough to dress my wounds?" he smirks at me with his head tilted to the side, slightly confused, his damp hair falling over his forehead, partially covering one of his eyes.
"It's the humane thing to do" I don't elaborate any further.
I don't need to explain.
I am doing this because he is injured and he sounded really tired. I don't want him to faint or anything in the store's property. That would just lead to many questions and fingers will be pointed towards me since I was at the closing shift and technically I am allowing him in here after closing hours.
"Whatever you say. Just don't go falling for my charms cause you'll only end up with a heartbreak" he eats another spoon of ice-cream.
I intentionally press the wound on his elbow with a little more pressure and he winces away from my touch.
"What charm? All you've been doing is making my life harder ever since I saw you. You're delusional if you think that is attractive to anyone" I snort and he glares at me.
He keeps quiet after that so I resume dressing his wounds.
His arms are scattered with scratches and wounds but they are all superficial and will heal within a few days so that is good at least.
"How did you injure yourself like this?" I ask as I move onto his other arm.
"That's none of your business" he snaps and I snort.
I was expecting this answer from him. I would be surprised if he had told me anything different.
But that didn't mean that I didn't want answers from him.
So I pressed on.
"Well, this looks pretty bad. And if you faint or die here, the police might ask me later on so I should be able to tell them" I shrug but don't look up. I focus my attention on his arm.
His pale arms are scattered with little scratches and new bruises are forming. The way he has his palm balled in a fist makes the veins of his arms stand out and bulge slightly.
I don't know why I stare at it that much but I just do.
"Aren't you in a little hurry to kill me off?" he snorts and I look up at him.
Even though he has a scowl on his face, the kind that is almost his signature look, his eyes look tired.
Really tired.
And not just because he met with an accident and is in physical pain so he looks tired and weak but his eyes look tired like he is mentally drained and just wants to be done with this day.
This makes me more curious even though it should not.
Maybe it is because he is weak right now but I am not as afraid of him as I should be.
This is my mind playing tricks on me or I have had a long day because even though he is physically weak right now, he has a lot of power, and even sitting here he can command a lot of things that might affect me.
And yet I say what I say.
"Well you have been a dick to me every time you've met me" I shrug and he rubs his eyes with his free hand and sighs.
I am definitely getting kicked out of Royals High before this week ends.
"And you've eavesdropped on not one but two of my personal conversations" he counters and I open my mouth and then close it again.
I mean, he has a point there but how do I explain to him I didn't mean to.
A sigh leaves my lips.
I will be honest here.
This is my chance.
He is not cursing me out or charging at me. He looks placated enough that I can actually finish what I have to say without him walking away so this is my only chance.
I put the cotton pad I am using to dress his wound on the table and look at him directly.
He instantly shifts a little, his languid pose straightening as if ready to defend whatever I have to say.
Still, this is my chance.
"Listen, I know you feel like I deliberately listened in on your conversations and I know whatever I say will not really change your mind but it's all I can try to do. I can only say my part and that is it. Whether you want to believe it or not is completely up to you and it's not like I have solid proof to claim my innocence but I am hoping you'll at least listen to me" I finally take a deep breath I say all this in one go.
I stare at him straight, waiting for him to curse me or say he doesn't want to listen to my excuse.
I wait for a whole damn minute, the silence between us stretching and getting more and more uncomfortable.
The more he stares at me, the smaller the room gets, the air leaving the surrounding till the point that I have to take deep breaths to just take the minimum of oxygen in my system.
When he doesn't interrupt or say anything, I take that as the green signal I need to continue.
"That night. The first night we met, I honestly didn't know who you were. I couldn't even see you or your girlfriend- ex-girlfriend â well she was sitting with you today so I guess girlfriend- I don't know, whoever the girl was. You and her." I rub a hand over my face.
Great start Yuri.
"What I am trying to say. I didn't know either of you and I couldn't even see your face. I took the closing shift because my friend had to go somewhere and I had to take the trash out before I left" I hope I am making sense to him.
"And when I heard you and her, I didn't know, I â I really didn't know what to do. At that point, this was my last job out of the three that I was juggling the entire summer so I was really tired and I just hoped that if I stayed there for 5 minutes, you guys would solve it or take it somewhere else" I shrug and hope he believes me.
"And for the incident at school, I was told to get my own folder and things from the supply room and I was told there would be an in charge there.He went out after I arrived and I didn't want to be late since it was my first day so I went to the closet on my own" I look at him and he has his arms folded as if he is judging me based on every word I am saying.
"I didn't know that you can only open the door from the outside and I got locked in. When I heard voices outside, I was about to scream for help but then â Well you were" I didn't want to say his brother because I remember him getting angry about it the last time.
"Well you know. So that's it. I knew I shouldn't have listened in on your conversation but honestly, I didn't know it was you. I just knew that there was some argument between two people and that is it. It wasn't until you opened the door that I found out it was you" I finish finally and look at him.
His face is impassive as he assesses me. He doesn't say a word and I feel my palm sweat with every passing moment. I should end it here but I will continue.
"And I know I was rude to you but I really didn't know who you were. Honestly. It makes more sense now why you were so paranoid about me recording your conversation now but I really didn't know you were the Heir of the Choi group"
Something I vomited out must have been wrong because his entire demeanour that had been so calm till now hardened instantly as his stare turned cold.
A/N: Hello lovely people. After uploading chapter 40, I will be taking a break till 17.12.22. I will start uploading the story on a regular basis again after that. I love uploading a chapter everyday, however, it is hard.
Even though I write small chapters ranging from 1200-1700 words per chapter, forming the outline, writing the draft, filling in and then editing (although I skip the last one many a times) takes a long time for me.
Initially I had a plan for this story and I knew how I wanted this story to end, however, while writing, he characters grew on me and each of them developed into their own person with so many stories of their own. If I decide to write all of it in this book itself, it will be a never ending book.
My initial goal was to complete this book within 50 chapters But as I am writing this note, I am typing out the draft of chapter 45 and there is sooooooo mucchhhhh more that I need to write.
My current goal is to complete this story or at least a part of by chapter 100. Needless to say this will be a long book but I hope you stick around till the end.