Hwan sat on the floor and threw the clothes in his hands. He couldn't bare watching his father beat him anymore. He tried everything in his power to wake himself up but nothing was working.

Just as he was about to go to the corner of the room, he heard a voice that was neither familiar nor unfamiliar. He heard this voice so rarely that he sometimes couldn't understand who the voice belonged to.

He quickly turned back to the hole and looked at the room, he faced his mother. She first looked down at his younger self, then silently knelt in front of him.

He sobbed and looked at his mother in defeat. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Hearing his own voice made Hwan take a trembling breath. He suddenly remembered how lonely and helpless he used to feel. How scared he was when he heard footsteps getting closer, how tired and weak he was each passing day, how he would be so hungry some days that he would stuff his face in the little food they gave him... It was like he was that kid once again, and it made Hwan feel suffocated.

"You know why."

"No, I really don't." Hwan watched himself snicker. He admired how brave he was and also how much he thought less of them. He watched in curiosity as he continued. "Do you really think that you can hold me in here forever? It won't take long until someone finds me and then, you and your precious little husband will die in the prison. I will make sure that you suffer."

His mother widened his eyes a little. "Is that a threat?"

He spat on her as a response. "That's a promise."

She looked at him with a disgust Hwan never saw from someone. It was like she was looking at something so hideous that she physically cannot hold her face impassive. She then silently cleaned her shirt with a piece of handkerchief and stuffed it in his mouth to silence him. "You are in no position to promise anything. Also, nobody is going to search for a little bitch like you." She poked his head a couple times. "Keep that in your mind."

Hwan squinted his eyes when her slap echoed in the room. When he opened his eyes back, his younger self was now laying on his side and biting the handkerchief in his mouth.

His mother kicked his stomach. As his muffled groans filled the room, she leaned. "Would you like to hear a real promise? I will make sure that nobody will find you alive."

As she left the room, Hwan plopped down on the floor. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't scream, he couldn't cry, he couldn't say anything. He was just frozen.

12.11

Xander was still giving Joo-Won his classic ‘you bitch’ looks as Joo-Won just tried to avoid him, which was impossible.

“What?!”

“Hugging from behind? Really? You just couldn’t be more obvious??” Xander laughed as Joo-Won tried his best not to join.

Joo-Won huffed and turned his head away. “What? He wanted me to stay with him and that was the best way to calm him down.”

“Yeah yeah like I believe it.”

Joo-Won got up as he laughed with both joy and anger as Xander quickly got up too and even ran away to the corner of the room.

“If I catch you I... will...” Joo-Won huffed and reached for his phone while fake threatening Xander, but his laughs turned to whisper as he saw the name on the screen.

Park Taem

Joo-Won’s eyebrows started to knit in anger as his other hand formed a fist. Right... Since he had some more things to do, Mr. Park needed to stay where he went for the business trip.

Joo-Won didn’t even know where the fuck he was, and neither did he care, he just knew that he was gone for a long time.

But just like every good thing, this one ended quickly too.

“You would what?” Xander's laughs faded as he saw his brother. He got closer to him with concern in his eyes. “Joo-Won?”

Joo-Won huffed before opening his phone. “Good evening sir.” He said with a cold voice.

“Come home. Now.”

Their lovely chat was finished with him closing the phone on his face. Joo-Won could feel his anger level rising.

“What did he say?”

“He wants me to come home.”

“Are you going to go?”

Joo-Won nodded silently before going to the bathroom and fixing his hair and clothes. He couldn’t listen to him nagging about how inappropriate his look was, fixing it was way endurable.

(...)

After getting out, Joo-Won saw that Xander was waiting for him.

Joo-Won tilted his head to the left as Xander put his phone in his pocket when he saw Joo-Won. “You thought I was going to let you go there alone?”

“You don’t need to-"

“Shut up, let’s go.”

Joo-Won smiled softly as he went to the door. He felt so lucky to have a brother like him.

When they were about to head out, Kyong called out to them from behind. They both turned to Kyong and Hwan in front of him.

“Hey, you guys going?” Kyong knitted his eyebrows just like Hwan did too as they both realized the twos' expressions.

Xander held Kyong’s arm and took him to say something as Joo-Won kneeled in front of Hwan, who looked at him. “What is going on Joo-Won?”

“Look... Mr. Park called me.”

The second he heard the name, Hwan grabbed his hand. His face was emotionless, but Joo-Won could understand he got worried even though he was good at hiding his expressions.

“Don’t go.”

“I don’t want to either but I have no choice. I will be back in a couple hours, okay? I promise you.”

Hwan sighed in silence as he slowly let go of his hand. Joo-Won smiled and rested his forehead on Hwan's for a few seconds before getting up. Xander was watching them with a smile before Kyong waved goodbye to them while taking Hwan back to his room.

Without turning back to look, Joo-Won and Xander got out of the hospital in silence.

(...)

As they finally reached home, Joo-Won looked up to Mr. Park's study room, only to see him waiting for Joo-Won, shooting looks at his watch with his knitted eyebrows and angry face. They got inside and walked to the stairs. Joo-Won could feel a drop of sweat streaming down to his temporal. Xander placed one of his hands on his shoulder. Joo-Won could feel his concerned eyes even without looking at him.

Before getting inside the room, Joo-Won shot a look at Xander, getting a small nod with a smile as a response.

He got in and closed the door behind him. Now it was just Joo-Won and... that man. The empty, cold room was even more unbearable to Joo-Won when he was inside it. He was wearing a formal suit, his classic golden watch on his right wrist. His slightly grey hair was tied in a tight bun.

Joo-Won couldn’t help but feel disgusted whenever he saw him. It was just a tick he developed with time, he thought.

Mr. Park finally turned to Joo-Won. He looked even more disturbing to Joo-Won with his frown. He took a few steps and stopped when he was right in front of Joo-Won. He just glared at him, making his soul shiver. Joo-Won took a step back to break the tension and closed his eyes in anger.

Joo-Won looked at him, frowning. “Why did you call me here?”

Mr. Park didn’t answer at first, then went to his desk and opened something from his laptop. He called Joo-Won to take a look at the screen.

And to his horror, it was security footage from the time Joo-Won first got inside Hwan's room. Weirdly, the camera was right in front of Hwan's room and it seemed like it was positioned and placed to only monitor that room.

And there he was, standing in front of Hwan's room before knocking and getting inside.

Mr. Park stopped the video and turned to Joo-Won, even more furious than he was before watching the footage. Joo-Won took a couple steps back as he was walking up to him.

"Did you know him before he was admitted to the hospital?"

Joo-Won avoided looking at his eyes. "No."

The veins on Mr. Park's neck and forehead were getting visible. "Then how did you learn his personal information?!"

"I-"

“Don’t you know anything about privacy? How could you barge in like that in a patient’s room?!” As his voice grew louder, Joo-Won gulped.

'Show no emotion Joo-Won, he feeds through fear.'

“That’s not barging in. I knocked before getting in,” Joo-Won said in a cold voice, staring at Mr. Park as emotionless as possible. “I just wanted to ask something, that’s all.”

“Ask something huh? To a stranger? And how many times did you ‘ask something’ to him? There are dozens of footage captured you getting inside!”

Joo-Won sighed. “I know what I did was wrong, but did anything happen? Did he report me, call the cops? No. So?”

His face turned red in anger. “Are you serious right now? That’s not the point-"

“So what’s the point?!”

Mr. Park froze.

“Too scared to get lectured by your boss?” Joo-Won took a step closer to him as he took one back. He was too surprised to do something.

“What, cat got your tongue?”

Another step.

“You are nothing but a doctor working there. You have no power over me. Neither as in the hospital nor as my so-called father.”

Mr. Park widened his eyes with anger, one could even see the flames in his eyes if looked carefully.

Then, something happened.

"You are just a-" Joo-Won suddenly choke on his words as he felt a sudden grip on his throat. Mr. Park's big hand was wrapped around his throat, choking him with all his strength. Joo-Won's eyes widened as he looked at him in fear.

Mr. Park wrapped his other hand on Joo-Won's neck as well. “How dare you. How dare you speak to me like that?!” His eyes grew in rage as he slammed Joo-Won's back on the wall, making him hit his head and groan in pain.

“Who do you think you are?!”

“S-stop!” Joo-Won tried to push him away but he was too strong.

“What, cat got your tongue?” Mr. Park said sarcastically while tightening his grip even more. At this point, Joo-Won's face was burning and covered with sweat.

“Get away!” Joo-Won's vision started to blur just before he threw him on the ground. Joo-Won was coughing and trying to breathe like crazy as Mr. Park kneeled and grabbed his face. He squeezed his face so hard that Joo-Won couldn’t breathe once again.

“If you open your mouth, you know what will happen.” Mr. Park yanked his head to the floor and silently got out of the room.