"Ew! Get off me, my friends are right over there! What if they see?!" His little sister desperately tried to wiggle out of his hug while a fierce blush crept onto her face, but her efforts were meaningless against Fen's strong arms that wrapped around her.
"Too bad! You should be happy that you have a big brother like me, especially because I'm, well, me!" Fen smiled dumbly before finally releasing his flushed little sister from his embrace. But the instant that she thought she was free, he quickly dashed forward and ruffled her silverish-white hair, destroying the product of the morning's hard work in just a moment. The perfectly straight strands began to curl naturally through his fingers, becoming all poofy just like he intended.
"Argh! You're so annoying! Honestly, go and get some friends," His sister spat out with not a small amount of venom while she did her best to salvage what was left of her perfect hair. It was fair to mention that Fen was actually the one who styled it that day, so it wasn't really fair for her to get mad at him for taking away something that he had given her. "I was supposed to be over there half an hour ago!"
"Alright, alright. I'm done. Go have some fun, or whatever you do when I'm not around."
Fen smiled and waved at Alex's back as she hurried over to the shopping mall they were in front of, the white flowery dress that he helped pick out for her perfectly matching her hair while it fluttered in the wind. The sun hung high enough in the sky that he had to raise his hand to cover his eyes just to see her, and the smile on her face told him that it was time to go and let her enjoy some time with her friends.
He made sure to triple-check the area around the group of kids for anyone suspicious-looking, sighing in relief when he only saw happy families and adults walking their pets. There was one time in the past when there was a kidnapping around the area where he dropped her off, and the fear that struck his heart then made him pick up this habit. Even if he looked like a helicopter parent- or sibling, in this case- as long as Alex was safe, he couldn't give two shits about what everybody else thought.
When he turned around to start walking back home the smile on his face disappeared completely, replaced by a tired gaze that wearily looked at everyone he passed on his way home. Although he should be happy that Alex was having fun, going outside was the very opposite experience for him. When Mom had asked him to escort his sister to the meet-up and he had agreed- he was very reluctant to stay too long. The only reason why he did agree was that it wasn't like he had anything else to do on a Saturday anyways besides staying at home and studying.
The smile that Alex gave him when they told her she could go was more than enough to make the trip worth it in Fen's opinion, and every other moment he spent with her was just a bonus. Still, every corner that he passed and every dark shadow that lasted just a moment longer than it should have in the midday sunlight just reminded him of the people he wanted to avoid, and the constant focus on his surroundings wore down on his mind.
By the time he was halfway back to his house he was covered in sweat and clutching at his chest while his eyes darted at everyone who stared at him a moment longer than necessary. His heart thumped in his chest like it didn't know when to start and when to stop, making his eyes pulse in his head from his heart's thumping. His legs constantly jolted from the adrenaline rushing through his veins, and his worn down psyche didn't help with keeping his concentration; the combination of both the adrenaline and his lack of focus it possible for the worst-case scenario that he feared would come true to manifest in reality as he felt a hand press down on his shoulder.
"Ah!" He yelped in pain as his body was thrown to the floor as a familiar laugh reached his ears. Before he could even raise his eyes and see his attacker, his ribs burned with pain as a foot crashed into his stomach, making him spit out in shock.
While he clutched his stomach, somebody grabbed his hair and pulled up, making him look up into their eyes.
"Gary! Fuck, of course, it's you," Fen spat with venom while he glared at the blond guy smirking at the pained expression on his face. "Who else would be so pathetic to beat on some ten-year-old," Fen gasped as the older boy narrowed his eyes and punched him in the stomach for his words.
Gary was a few years older than him at fifteen, but that never stopped him from finding the time to kick his ass whenever he could without anyone watching. He had the countenance of an angel with his golden hair and sparkling blue eyes, but to Fen, he resembled more of a demon than anything else when his lips twisted upwards from seeing him bleed. Their relationship of mutual hatred had begun when Fen was walking home one day while he was with a group of friends, and seeing the opportunity, they took advantage of his loneliness to have some fun with him.
'Fun', in the sense of getting some sick sense of joy at seeing him groan in pain from their beatings.
Events like these weren't especially unusual, but most of the time, kids stayed in groups of their own for protection from people like Gary. But because Fen didn't have friends, he was alone most of the time and so got targeted by older kids sadistic enough to beat him up. And, after seeing that he was being targeted, other kids started avoiding him too; this created a loop of rejection and violence that nurtured the hatred in Fen's heart for other people after he saw how they just ignored his injuries.
Even if they saw what was happening, they ignored it and walked away, silently thankful that it was him being beaten and not them. Even if they never said it explicitly, Fen saw it- the relief in their eyes when they saw him beaten bloody.
As a kid, he healed fast, but never fast enough for him to be completely painless. There was always some throb or ache in his body that served as a reminder of how cruel life really was. The only place he felt safe was in his house, but somehow he never managed to get there fast enough before they found him and continued their previous actions.
"Aw, don't say that. I thought we had a special thing going," Gary leered before throwing another punch straight into his arm, smirking at the satisfying sound the hit made while Fen's mind went blank from the shock.
"You people always say that..." Fen muttered under his breath while he instinctively curled into a ball in a position that he learned was the best way to protect his important organs after numerous beatings.
Another punch made him shiver as he tried his best not to scream out from the pain. "What was that you little fuck? I thought you were saying something," Gary's spittle landed on his face, "come on, say it. Say it! Not so talkative now, huh, you little bitch!"
His punches were slow compared to the others, but he made up for it with the power behind them; Gary never failed to test the limits between being knocked out from sheer pain and being awake long enough to taste blood in his mouth.
He usually stopped when he felt satisfied, taking advantage of Fen's small body to alleviate some of his pent-up stress from the week while he hurled various insults at his quivering body.
"Hey! Stop it!" The punches and kicks stopped for a moment with the sound of a young and feminine voice angrily yelling. "You're going to kill him!"
"Huh? Who the fuck are you to tell me to do anything?" Even without seeing it, Fen could imagine how red Gary's face was from his heavy breathing; but that wasn't from tiredness, no, it was because Gary always got excited whenever he beat him.
Out of all of them, Gary was the one who enjoyed seeing him bleed the most.
Fen peeked out from under his arms to see a girl around his age standing stiffly straight while she glared at the guy assaulting him. She pasted a fierce expression on her face, but even his eyes blurred from blood could see how much she was shaking from fear with her fists clenched so hard that they were white.
She had dark hair and eyes that absorbed the light around them, with pale skin that accurately showed just how afraid she was, but even if he didn't see what she looked like, he'd still recognize her from her voice.
Miko. She was a little older than him and was in the same grade at school, and, for some reason, he'd always find her watching him with a strange expression on her face. When the beatings first started a year ago, she tried convincing her friends to go and protect him but inevitably failed; after all, the risk of getting beat didn't go away just because they grouped up. Avoiding people like Fen who were specifically targeted was the smart thing to do, and they resented him for not seeing that whenever he glared at them.
There was a time when Fen begged for others to help him when he was still young enough to naively believe in the good in people, but that was a long time ago. Now, he left others alone and they reciprocated his resentment by avoiding him whenever they could, but Miko never failed to make her presence known. It bothered him because he never understood why she did it, but until now she never tried to get in the way of his beating by calling out to people like Gary.
"Oh, I get it, you think you're some kinda hero, huh?" Gary scoffed. "Welcome to reality. Heroes don't exist, not on this planet anyways. Now, I'm not in the mood to beat up a little girl, so why don't you fuck off?"
Gary continued to sling punches at his body as if she no longer existed, his smile returning to his face after a small yelp managed to escape from Fen's mouth despite how hard he clenched his teeth. After a few moments of this, Fen heard someone running very quickly towards them.
"Hey!"
Gary turned his head just in time to see Miko swiping a brick straight into his face.
The blonde youth clutched at his face from the pain while she pushed him off Fen, gasping as she finally saw how badly Fen was beaten. Blood was running down his face from the small cuts Gary's fists did, and his eyes were bleary from the strain of staying conscious despite the amount of pain racking his small body.
"You... you little bitch!" Gary looked at his hand and the blood spurting from his nose before he dragged his cold eyes to the pair of kids in front of him, staggering as he reached his hands towards them in rage.
"Come on!" Miko said while pulling at his arm, her eyes trailing for a moment on the newly formed bruises on his face. Her hesitation only lasted a moment before she pulled him up by the arm and started running away from Gary before he could recover from being hit by a brick.
"Why are you helping me," Fen muttered, not really expecting an answer. No matter the reasoning, he let himself be pulled along while focusing on not tripping with his shaking legs.
"You idiot, you should be asking why other people aren't helping you! Nobody should have to endure being beaten like that and not expect help," She responded, panting while running. Her answer was so straightforward that Fen was stunned, looking at her like the naive girl he believed her to be.
"But that's what everyone else does. You did that. Why'd you help me now?" It didn't make sense to him. Leaving him alone to let him soak up the beatings for them was proven to be the smart thing to do. It was a proven practice that benefitted the majority at the cost of a few insignificant kids like him.
"Because... I don't know! Does it matter? I'm helping you now, so shut up, and let's get out of here."
Before they noticed, they'd put some distance in between them and Gary, and the help of some convenient narrow streets and alleys made it a lot harder for the boy to find them after they ran away. Right now, they were in a residential zone with houses all around them; some of the people passing by giving the pair strange looks because of Fen's physical state with blood dripping down his body.
"Heavens... Here, my house is close by, I can take you there," she gingerly touched his face and made him look up at her.
Fen was wheezing for breath and was barely able to stand; his legs were wobbling like they were about to give out at any moment, making Miko wonder just how the hell he was able to run for so long without collapsing.
The boy weakly pushed her hand away from his face, saying, "No need. I can walk home from here." He tried to walk, but he stumbled after barely taking a step and would have fallen to the floor if she didn't quickly wrap her arm around him and catch his falling body.
"Like hell you're going home right now, you can barely walk. Now, shut up like before and just let me help you!" The exasperation in her voice was obvious.
Fen had no choice but to nod weakly, forcing his legs underneath him so he could at least walk with her supporting him.
While they walked, he started mumbling something that she couldn't hear. After a while of him repeating those noises, her curiosity made her ask, "What're you saying?"
His brown eyes peeked out from under his hair and made her heart flutter with the amount of emotion hidden within them.
"I said... thank you." The voice that came out from his body was a lot stronger than it was before, making her relieved.
"Y-you don't have to thank me. I should've helped you a long time ago." She smiled, almost blinding him with how bright her expression was. He chuckled at how strange it was to feel happy so soon after being beaten before his laughter warped into coughing as his ribs throbbed with pain.
"Ah, don't laugh! Actually, don't say anything, we'll be home soon. You can call your mom after we get there."
Despite her telling him not to, Fen continued to mutter 'thank you' while the two of them slowly approached a brown house with a woman standing out in front with a worried expression on her face. Seeing them and the state he was in, the woman gasped before rushing over and picking him up. Without even saying a word to her daughter, she immediately hurried inside the house with Fen carried over her shoulder.
The mother-daughter pair had a close enough relationship that they didn't need to greet each other with such a serious situation at hand, and Fen's injuries needed immediate treatment anyways, so it was understandable if they didn't feel the need to say hello.
Fen's body was dropped off onto the couch, while Miko's mother went to find some bandages and medicine to help with the pain. Miko sat down next to the injured boy with her head down, and she was always the first one to break her gaze away whenever their eyes met. He could see the trace of guilt and sadness in her eyes, the emotion so unfamiliar to him that he had some trouble recognizing it.
"...You don't have to be sorry. I understand why you didn't help me before-"
"No." She cut him off, the harshness in her voice directed at herself. "No matter what, we should've helped you. If only we knew how badly you got hurt every time..." Her voice trailed off as she thought about all the bandages he had whenever they saw each other at school and the discolorations on his body that made him wince whenever they were touched. "Fuu... I think that some of us already knew about it, and chose to ignore you anyway. It just seemed so far away, like if we stopped paying attention then it wouldn't exist anymore.
"I'm so sorry."
Fen's eyes bore a hole into her head until she finally met his gaze with red eyes that were barely restraining tears that threatened to run down her face.
"Miko. I told you, I understand. No matter what you did before, you helped me now." Though his face didn't carry any expression, his eyes showed how much he appreciated her actions.
"And speaking of helping me, what the hell were you thinking? Gary's not gonna let this go; he'll remember your face and make your life a living hell just for helping me, but you hit him with a brick too! Did you go crazy or something while I wasn't paying attention?"
His tone sharpened when he reprimanded her for being so reckless, but she didn't back down. Not this time.
"Shut up! If I didn't do something then he wouldn't have stopped! Right now, you should be in a hospitable- think about what would have happened if I didn't get him off you!" Her words made him wince at the reminder of his injuries, but the tinge of anger in his eyes didn't die off completely either.