Julian
I woke up hearing screams, heart-wrenching screams I never imagined in my wildest dream. I rubbed my eyes as nonchalantly as possible as I wore my slippers. I walked casually then something trickled into my senses as I made my way down the warehouse faster than I ever walked, almost running. I reached downstairs only to find a shackled girl. She was fighting her way with 10 of my men as they grabbed her arms and feet only for her to stumble and wind back like a wild cat. I felt my headache growing from the pit, and I cracked my aching neck. My back was stiff. I leaned against the wall and let the darkness engulf me and the silhouettes brightened because of the only light bulb swinging back and forth from the ceiling. I looked at the girl, the dirt-covered girl, looked heinous with red-shot eyes as she screamed like a maniac witch. I looked back and forth at my men, in their hands there was a watch, a rather old belted watch, the belt was ripped here and there. What was so special in that leathered watch, an almost worn out, cheap, and second-hand watch? Why was she even fighting for it? Amidst the chaos her eyes locked against Lorde as I darkened my gaze, challenging her, scaring her to stop whatever the insolent behavior she was doing. But she didn't stop. She lurched towards me but couldn't come forward as the chains in her feet gripped her tight as she fell. She stumbled on the ground. Her fiery eyes looked at me as if I was the living monster on the earth she ever come across. So much hatred was wafting off of her as if she was the tigress of whom I snatched the pup.
"Give it back," she said with icy coldness as if her body felt rigid against my gaze. I narrowed my eyes, looking at her audacity. She was the one who was tied from head to toe like a fucking animal and still, she got the mouth to use.
"I said, give the watch back," she said straight, looking at me as if she didn't have much to hold onto, she didn't have anything more to lose. I saw my men running towards her as they captured her petite body, and jerked her body like a tied insane woman. But she jerked against them, arms shaking as hard as possible. Eyes icy cold as if dead. She kept looking at me. Her silence was deafening, and still, she looked scary. She tried again to lean forward towards me, like finding prey after so many prayers.
"I said give me the watch back"
I slapped her forearms and gripped them tightly, ready to bruise.
"Stop that fucking filthy mouth of yours" She looked at me as if every word I said was expected. She smirked
"Or what?" I glared at her with that same deafening cold silence
"Or you won't be pleased to bear the consequences. We aren't in your father's castle. This is Hades's den and not a fucking air bird leaves the den until Hades approves."
She still smirked, cold and insolent demeanor, just like a brat. Her face was covered with dirt and sand. Her eyes blood rimmed red, swollen, and puffy, and her lips still had dried blood on them. Her cheeks were hollow, her hairs frizzy and clotted against each other like a bird's nest.
I looked down, from head to toe, with a slow sliding show, sliding my tongue around my lips.
"What is in you huh? There is nothing particularly noticeable about you for that roadside guy to fall for"
"Don't go there Hades, don't fucking go there."
I heard my men gasping in the air as she called me Hades looking back at me with a crazy exterior. She looked like she lost it.
"Why? Aren't you interested in hearing about your lover boy anymore? How skinny and ugly he was"
I felt a thud against my cheek as I felt finger marks resting against my cheek. The feel of her fingers was sharp and remarkable. I felt shaken from the core. I gripped her chin in my palm as I heard every machine gun's tip pointed at her. The triggers were ready to be pulled.
"Calm down darling, my men are way possessive about me, one single scratch and they will blow your skull. But you see, I am a very generous man. No food for you, no bathroom visits for a week. See a light punishment. O and another thing"
I nodded at one of the men, who came with a duck tape as he taped her mouth, her eyes widened more than earlier when she heard my other punishments. She shook her head, her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
"Keep your filthy mouth to yourself otherwise, there won't be any mouth to begin with. This isn't some fucking palace darling" I jerked her body downwards as she fell on her butt, grunting in pain. The chains clashed against each other. She looked at me with wide eyes, but the eyes had something else. A bitter hatred which I never disliked. Hatred is better. Better than…
I walked off of her as I threw her body to the floor, to tumble, her forehead hitting the floor as blood started pooling against her skull, she didn't make a ruckus out of it, and her arms never jerked. Her eyes were still on that watch as I took it from one of my men. I threw the watch to the nearest wall as her eyes followed the watch and saw it getting crushed and shattered. Her fingers clenched and she fisted her palms so hard, her bones might have snapped. My men were looking at me with that silent defeat, a submissive stare, a scared stare. But as I looked back at her, she looked at me as if she pitied me, my wrath. I felt something irk in my body and I went to the wall underneath where the watch was shattered into pieces. I stood on top of those pieces and crushed the bits. Her eyes kept looking at the destruction of the watch. She looked at me upwards as blood oozed more from her forehead. Her arms were tied and her feet tangled in the copper chain. Her thin cloth was torn apart because of the earlier rumble with my men, my men's arms lingered against her skin as something like bile raised against my throat. I looked at my men as they bowed down, never meeting my eyes. Her collarbones were bare, the cloth ended right after covering her breast. She was wearing cargo pants, loitered with blood marks. The blouse barely covered her naked glory, her neck toned and longer, her shoulders wide and lean, her back taut. My fingers trickled. I glared at my men, as they walked back to their prospective places which were in every corner of the warehouse. I pulled out my sleeping wear and threw the cloth on top of her bare body, the sleeves ripped as I could see her forearms, scarred with finger marks, my men held her there, and pulled her harshly as their fingers left marks. Something ugly and rotten feeling settled inside my gut. As I walked outside I noticed her arms threw the shirt I placed on top of her to somewhere far away. She remained in that torn blouse. I walked out wholly as I stepped inside my living room through the elevator.
"She will die Hades" I stopped in my tracks as I heard Jamy's voice. His voice is stern like a general he is of my gang. I turned towards him.
"You seem to take so much interest in her huh? What trying to get in her pants" he glared at me and I narrowed my eyes. His brows knitted together.
"Look at you talking like an animal"
"Language Jamy"
I barked at my remark.
"You are being too harsh to her. You killed him"
I felt my migraine pain increasing. The sweat trickled down my neck. The pressure getting caught in my throat.
"I kill millions of people, Jamy. This is no big of a deal" Jamy looked traumatized, a little sad, grief so delicately sat on his face, regret and pity were his companions.
"He was the only thing she survived for. He was her survivor"
I looked at red-shot eyes, rimmed with misery. Pure devastation sat on Jamy's face. I glared at him.
"So?"
He narrowed his eyes and said
"How can you be so ruthless"
I lunged towards him and grabbed his throat, pinning him to the wall. He didn't flinch. Jamy never flinches, not from the day he became my right hand.
"You didn't say anything when I ripped open the throats of millions of people. You never said anything when you accompanied me to so many as I ran on a killing spree"
"Nobody turned on you Julian, nobody came back at you, they accepted defeat. That girl barked back at you from the day you killed that guy. She is different and even you have to admit it"
"And what if I do? Some people are born wolves but that doesn't mean they can fight back lions"
I felt him gagging against my palm as I released him. He panted kneeling.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Namjoon looking at me from the corner of his room, peeking through the living room. I ignored him and his stares. His stares are filled with pity and guilt.
That day he noticed me, his amber eyes rested on Lorde as his stares meant deeper than I desired for myself. His curious bambi eyes landed on me as he peeked through the aisle to Lorde. He was holding a doughnut, the doughnut I just bought a few minutes ago but he caught me this time, seeing me put down the pleasantries. My fingers brushed against him as I held the bookshelf railing. Our faces are inches apart. I bit my lips as a crimson blush crept along my skin. His innocence wafting off of him, and his eyelashes were so long. He was so illusionary and beautiful up close. He looked at me frowning his brows.
"You bought me all these for the past few days"
I nodded, gripping my lip with my teeth so tightly, it might have been ripped in a second if he hadn't said.
"Your lips will bleed"
My blood rushed and I felt adrenaline reaching to my cheeks and ears.
I opened my lips and I felt my inhales shivering by milliseconds. Get a grip, get a grip. His right cheek had a finger mark this morning too, the scar reddening, maddening, and burning, making my eyes burn. The under eye, right where the left eye was so swollen, dark blue blemishes here and there, cheekbones sunken, the face pale, like a skeleton. He was still so beautiful, his moles so poignant and highlighted, that I could barely breathe. For a while, we just kept looking at each other.
"Thank you, but you don't have to do it"
I shook my head vigorously
"I want to" Perhaps I was too hasty to say it. He might be thinking I was a creep.
His lips tucked upwards and I felt tumbling over the wall. Felt my heart flutter like butterfly wings.
My fingers unconsciously landed on his right cheek, feigning the scar, it's a slap mark, I could recognize. My fingers are plaintive and delicate against his rough skin. His skin was dry. I cupped his face. He kept observing my acts, how my fingers gilded against his scars without flinching. And right there a thought occurred to me, I have to save him. Save him from every monster this evil world has ever produced.
"I am sorry '' I said as he shook his head, making me see he was habituated. He wasn't. Nobody is habituated to pain, pain doesn't ease. He was the epitome of living pain. His sadness sat brilliantly in his eyes. I wish I could take away his grief. I wish I could save him.
"Can I sit with you?" he nodded hesitantly. His lips mounded to question a million things but I didn't let him. As I sat beside him on the last aisle of the library where the shelves were hiding us.
"You don't have to" he whispered as our shoulders touched. We sat side by side.
"I want to" he nodded and sat there frozen, contemplating thoughts, his brain rummaging through doubts. I smiled looking down, biting my lips out of habit.
"You can start sketching" his wide eyes rendered on Lorde. His eyes popped out of the socket.
"You..you saw it"
"Not the drawings, but….you"
His breath hitched and I could hear the flutter there. I smile, feeling my insides churning apart.
"You were looking at me….for how many…"
His voice is thin but velvety.
"38 days," I said as his breaths became faster, and he started panting hard. I panicked
"Hey hey look at me" I held his wrist, his chest heaving up and down
The mole on the lips heaved up and down
He looked at me, narrowing his eyes. I felt my insides filling to the brim, there was this extreme fondness for this, I never knew I could feel.
"I am no threat. I promise. I promise on the doughnut"
I said looking at the half-eaten doughnut in his hand
He burst into crinkled laughter. I felt I was flying and swaying in the air just by hearing it, it kept me at bay. I would one day peel the moon for him. Grab the sun only to let it worship him. Turn the world upside down just to watch his single fluttering smile, the giggle rumbling against my earbuds. I smiled at him as I bumped my nose against his. Booping his nose as he giggled again, the chuckles chest and precious, taking my breath away. He would be my death one day. He dragged the doughnut against my lips as I widened my eyes, but still took a bite from his half-eaten doughnut. It felt sweeter than before. He smiled gently as his fingers wiped the crumbs from the corners of my lips. The panic retreated from his face as his relief showed. I wasn't a person you were scared of. I could cry.
"Which department?"
"Commerce"
"You?" I asked back
"Arts" I smiled and scrunched my nose.
His eyes frowned and he asked
"What?"
"You are cute," I said as a red blush crept against his cheek. The cheek had a scar. I wish I could take away his pain. When did he become so precious to my soul, when did I start making urges to protect this man from the entire world? How I was ready to fight every one of his battles. How my earth started revolving around him and only him. I smiled back looking at him blushing with his cheekbones crinkling. He was beautiful, I could die.
I slammed the book as I walked down to the warehouse. I looked at the girl, my chest howling in a tightness I could never describe. It irks my whole body. Whenever I look at her it irritates my whole body. She is having a headache. I looked at the men assigned to her, standing at every corner. She was lying on the floor.
"Did she eat?" I asked, my voice crisp and clean
My men were startled as they shook their head
"Boss you said she couldn't eat for a week" I glared back at them. They shivered physically and looked down.
"Get her something to eat now" I ordered. My eyes gleamed. My chest burned looking at her, sleeping, wrapping herself with her arms, my jacket thrown to some corner of the room. Fucking stubborn. This room is chilly, the cold is bone-cracking and she was in a plain blouse and slacks. The coppery chains tangled against her feet and wrists, grip tight as she slept like an infant, curling to herself, as if carrying the warmth her arms provided but never could have asked anyone. She murmured as her eyes fluttered in a very disturbing way. She was covered in dirt. Mud smeared against her dress pants.
I saw 5 of my men enter holding a tray filled with fruits. They tried to hold her wrist but then decided to hold the chain, like waking up an animal, a pet. My blood boiled.
"Hey, hold her hand"
They jerked back and delicately held her and tried to make her sit, but she hissed loudly, and groaned in pain, as if her feet pained so much. I looked at her feet, the ankles red blotches and bruised because of the shackle pattern of the chain. She couldn't stand up. Couldn't sit. I felt a spark of flame just enter and blow me from inside. My chest tightened again.
She finally looked at my man, her eyes turning painful to raven eyes. Tigress eyes, the calm before the storm was provident in her eyes. Just like a tigress. A wounded tigress. She hissed the more my men tried to move her from her position. She barked at them.
"Leave"
"I said fucking leave me" she screamed, her throat already broken, cracked but she still yelled. One of my men touched her chin and gripped her chin in between his fingers. I felt furious.
"Don't touch her there" I snarled. This caught her attention and she turned to me. My men captured her forearms, making her strangle, making her barely stand up. She jerked her body like a man woman, her forearms trembled, shook her whole being like a reckless animal, like an animal ready to attack. She looked at me as if she wanted anything but to kill me, her eyes turned cold and rigid. Not a single emotion other than hatred was shown. The filthy clawed word hatred, she loathed me with her whole being and it made me shiver seeing the impact only in her eyes.
The adrenaline rushed into her veins, the wheels working like a train rail in her head, she looked red, and her anger was so strong I felt tumbling apart. Those men looked back at me. I told them to leave her and as they left her arms, she stumbled and fell. Within an instant, I carried her weight from behind and she sagged against me. Her exhausted body was petite and grief-filled. Grief decorated her face like evil carved. But still, she looked at the bruised sadness we rarely experience in poetries. I gestured to these men to leave. She looked at me with refrain, with disdain, with disgust, but then her expression fell, exhaustion filled her face as she sighed and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. Her head was about to tilt to the other side as I captured her limp head and rested it against my chest, her face snuggled and she didn't jerk away, didn't pull. Her extreme tiredness weighed her body. Her slumber suddenly made a grip on my chest, as if someone just held my chest in their palm. Her eyes fluttered open in a tired manner. Such grief in her features, how is she alive? Did I kill her?
"Travis " she named me him. Her palm was dirty and calloused coming to my cheek as she cupped my cheek with one hand. Her eyes delighted, stars inflicted. Suddenly the glow in those eyes was provocative.
"Trav" she whispered, with emotions filled to the brim, teary-eyed
"Trav you are alive" I felt my chest swelling
Her voice was filled with hope
I pulled the trolley and took out a bowl of freshly cut fruit. I took a piece of apple as her eyes were never Leaving mine. She looked at me with so much fondness as I felt I was hit by a truck. I cupped her cheek gently, as softly as possible. I kept looking at her hopeful eyes, the eyes looking at me as if I were her entire world. I offered her the piece of apple, she widened her mouth and I frowned. She ate the piece, her lips turning upwards, spreading it to a smile, I never got from her. She took out a piece of orange. I hate oranges. It's too sour for my taste buds. But with her as if I was in a phase, it is still life. And she offered me, and fed me the fruit and I chewed it concentrating on how she was looking at my lips. I felt my insides churning.