"Don't smile, it must hurt," she said. "Let's go to the hospital. You have to get them treated or your beautiful face will be covered in scars."
Beautiful? Haruki sighed. His face which he liked when he was younger has become the reason why he has been ridiculed and hated by many.
He swallowed and smiled at his aunt who had said that jokingly. He did not want to be known as a pretty boy but as a handsome leader that should be feared.
It was hurting so much; that he did not have the strength to argue. He just wanted to get rid of that pretty face, perhaps he could keep the scar so that he will look tougher. He could get a couple of neck tattoos too.
He shook his head when his aunt began trying to help him up.
"You don't want to go to the hospital?" she asked him what she guessed could be the reason for his refusal.
He nodded as tears filled his eyes.
"I will call the police if you don't follow me. They will take you to the hospital and investigate what happened."
He waved his hand to stop her before slowly standing up. He gestured to her to stop since it was so painful to speak. He went in search of the phone number on the card he was given.
He could not speak so making a phone call will be useless, he texted them to come and pick him up from his aunt's house as he had changed his mind.
He was not sure if they will come. He rubbed his hands to beg his aunt to wait. She was confused but when she noticed that he was trying so hard to make her wait, she decided to wait.
When the men knocked on the door, he opened the door and told them to wait. There were a few things he had to take. The rest that belonged to his parents were in a storage house and he was willing to wait to get them later.
He watched his aunt who looked very confused as he kept walking around doing things with his face swollen. When he was done, he went to his uncle who was asleep on the bed in their room.
He knocked on the door since he did not want to use his hand to touch the man who had hurt him. The man groaned and rolled before opening his eyes to look at him.
"Uncle . . ." he began difficultly. "I will never sell my body to any man. I will rather have enough authority, power, and money to make anyone willing to sell themselves to me," Haruki vowed as he looked at his uncle who might have not heard him with the way he spoke.
"What do you want to say?" his uncle grumbled as he rubbed his eyes in annoyance.
"I will show you if you are privileged enough to see me in the future," he replied to the man who was barely awake.
"What do you mean Haruki?" his aunt asked worriedly.
"I am leaving with those men outside. I will come back later to take my parents' things away. I might never come back but I will check on you occasionally," he replied with ease too excitement to care about the pain he felt.
"You cannot leave with those gangsters. It was so difficult for your mother to escape them," his aunt tried to stop him with a tight grip on his wrist.
Perhaps that was meant to awaken him from the impulsive decision he had just made but there was no way he was going to go back on his words.
"I am sorry but they are the only ones who can help me now," he replied to her as he pulled his hand away and walked to the door.
"Aren't you scared," his aunt asked him worriedly.
"No, I am not. I need their help and I don't care what I have to give them in return for their help," he replied as he pulled open the door and walked out of the house, he has lived in for almost a decade.
Since his aunt knew who they were and that he was going to his family, she did not stop him due to his firmness about his decision. She also found it hard to persuade him since her husband must have been the reason why he chose to leave.
She cried as she watched him leave. The words his mother spoke to her about her family, made her feel bad and guilty that an angel like this boy who she watched growing up was about to become the worse demon in hell.
She cried as she walked back into the house. She remembered how much his late mother used to say she never wants to have her child live that life and she had lost in protecting the boy they left in her care.
/ / / ^\\\
"So, what made you change your mind?" he heard his grandfather ask him when he walked into the man's study in his villa.
"I want everyone to fear me so much that they will not think I am beautiful or dare to call me that," he told his grandfather with his eyes filled with so much determination they could almost feel it leak out of his gaze.
His grandfather laughed in amusement. "I like the sound of that. I will give what you want and you will give me a good heir. I thought I will be able to live longer.
"Since that is impossible, I do not have enough time to make you what you want to be but I will make sure you have the basic training you need to be what you want to be," the old man promised him.
Haruki looked away from the man who looked at him like he was a treasure he wanted to cherish for the rest of the years he had to live. He did not want to cherish the raw treasure alone but to mold it into what he wanted so much at that moment.
"I know your mother will hate me when I meet her but I am doing this because . . ." the man stopped to cough.