Hua was just done work at the restaurant when she spotted Fang and his friends in the park nearby. She stopped walking and tried to hide and sneak her way past. Unfortunately, one of his douchebag friends spotted her like a hawk.
"Fang, is that your maid? The one you were telling us about?"
Fang looked over and grinned, "Yup. Grab her."
Hua felt the tension rise in the air and made a run for it. She was quick but not quick enough for the older boys who rushed her from both sides. She was caught like prey in the jungle and dragged into a dark alleyway.
Soon, the others joined him. Fang whooped, "There she is. My little maid."
"Damn, Fang! I'm so jealous you have a young maid."
"Yeah, mine is old and wrinkly. Yuck."
Hua tried kicking and making noise but since it was so late at night, there wasn't anyone around to help her. She couldn't even scream and the panic began to set into Hua's mind and heart. One guy ripped off her jacket and twirled it as the others made their way to the alley.
"Fang, she is so skinny. Did you see Fan Lan at our university? She's in the arts program. Her body is to kill for."
"She is thick in all the right parts," another commented.
Fang used his hands as if to mimic binoculars and squarely looked at Hua's chest.
"Hmm... looks like C cup... or maybe D?"
"What? D? No way! I wanna see!"
Hua's anger boiled at their antics. Her eyes gained a sharpness to them as if to look at them like the scumbags they were. She kept her panic and fear locked away and realized there was no point in showing them her true emotions.
Fang's best friend, Yichen had also been around the Zhang family for many years and was as bad as Fang. Two peas in a pod. He was shorter than Fang but was handsome in a boyish way. He was often mistaken as a kind guy because of his looks but he was just as creepy and scummy as Fang.
Taking a bottle of beer, Yichen splashed Hua's face while laughing.
"I have now cleansed her for our feast!"
All the boys whooped in unison laughing. Fang, the whole time kept looking at Hua like a predator as he smoked. Two of the guys were holding Hua against the wall while Fang ripped off her shirt and held her neck in a tight grip. Hua kept telling herself to not lose consciousness.
"Why are you looking like that?" Fang slapped her across the face.
One of his friends, "She is so skinny, so gross!"
Fang smiled sinisterly, "Let's make this dirty thing look even more disgusting so that no guy will ever look at her ever."
He put his cigarette on Hua's shoulder, burning through the skin as Hua struggled in pain. His friends held her tightly against the brick wall so that she couldn't move.
"Look, look, it's a perfect circle!"
"Fang, make like a weird pattern. That would be funny as hell!"
"All that booze has given you guys some creativity, huh?" Fang cackled.
One by one, Fang burned his cigarette multiple times down Hua's arms, making each one deeper as we went. He completed his cruel act on both her arms in a horrifying zig-zag pattern.
"That looks gnarly as fuck."
"HAHA, doesn't it?"
"Looks gross!"
She wanted to faint from the pain but she persisted. Fang's smile began to fade when he saw that Hua's eyes did not seem like they were begging for mercy. She just winced as tears came down her face but stared at him as if he was the dirt beneath her shoes.
Hua's eyes showed her grit and defiance which made Fang even more frustrated and angry.
"Bitch, you think you're better than me. Don't look at me like that!"
He got so angry that he lit a new cigarette and smirked looking at her face.
"I think you need one on your pretty face. Hmm....where should I put it?"
"How about her forehead? She'll have like a third eye."
Another round of rambunctious laughter ensued. His hand slowly moved towards Hua's face but then, he stopped. They all bolted out of the alleyway so quickly that Hua fell to her knees. She gingerly glanced to see that in the distance there were people walking by.
The pain from her burns was making her feel faint but she powered through. She needed to get help. The only person who could turn to was Master Wang. The usual 20-minute walk took her almost an hour this time.
Master Wang was an early riser so he was usually at the studio cleaning. Making her way in, Master Wang saw her right away and rushed to her.
"LI HUA!"
She passed out just as he reached her, feeling safe and knowing that he would help her. When she came to, she was in the hospital with both her arms covered in bandages.
"Hua, how do you feel?"
Hua just nodded to say she was okay. She could still bend her elbows. Luckily, she didn't get burned there.
She mouthed, "Thank you."
Master Wang nodded, "You can come to me any time for help, Hua. Now, tell me what happened."
Hua shook her head in response and just then, the doctor drew the curtain and spoke to Master Wang but Hua could read his lips.
"She has six cigarette burns on her right and seven on her left arms. It will take about two months to heal. Unfortunately, it will leave permanent scarring because the burns penetrated through several layers of skin. If it was just superficial, then there wouldn't be scarring and just hyper-pigmentation which fades in time but not in this case."
Hua nodded indicating her understanding of her situation.
"Now, I need to make a report about this incident. These are cigarette burns so I know you were attacked. I will have to inform the police and they can investigate the incident."
Hua signed for Master Wang to speak on her behalf.
"She says she doesn't know who did it. She was attacked in an alleyway."
"I will file a case regardless. At least it'll be on record if you remember anything later. Right now, you need time to rest and recover."
The doctor stared at Hua's face for a few seconds, "The nurse will tell you how to take care of your wounds in the coming weeks. Don't wet the bandages. They need to be changed after two weeks since your wounds are severe."
Master Wang nodded and wrote down everything the nurse was saying as Hua slept a bit more. He even bought new bandages and enough supplies for the entire treatment. Hua felt so grateful for all his help. Master Wang took her home and kept telling her to come to him if she needed help.
She wondered what kind of circus she was walking back into.
Written by Uner90 (R.R.)