The Day You Saved Me

14.

"Why can't you?", you stare deep into his eyes, challenging him. He keeps walking slowly across the water until your back hits the wall at the other end of the pool. "Because I'm scared if I do, you're gonna push me away again", he explains. And honestly, it makes sense. Since that day in the kitchen of their dorm when he had kissed you, you'd freaked out, but things were different now. 

"Try me", you whisper to him, taking advantage of the support the wall was providing on your back and placing your hands on his chest, appreciating the softness of his skin, roaming your fingers slowly across his pecks, feeling hypnotized under his arms. When you lift your eyes and connect your gaze to his, his lips crash against yours with urgency.

This time he is not being slow, this time he knows what he wants, and he has your permission to kiss you feverishly, one of his arms lets go of your leg and takes you by the nape, deepening the kiss. His tongue comes out to find yours and he grunts deeply at the intoxicating feeling. It's so strange for you to be kissed like this, passionately but still gently. So you push back, kissing him as desperately as he is kissing you.

Without realizing it, your hips move upwards colliding with his, coaxing a moan out of you, which Chris swallows into his mouth. He breaks the kiss and places his forehead against yours, catching his breath, moving his hand back down to your waist, holding you close. You encircle your arms around his neck and just hug him, placing your head on the crock of his neck and inhaling his addicting scent, noticing how both your breaths are labored and full of emotion.

He roams his hands curiously over your legs, your pants are floating on the water and he gets the chance to roam your bare skin, but when he comes in contact with the jagged skin of your scar, you pull away in a rushed movement, losing your balance a little, which forces him to remove his hands from your legs and hold your waist with both hands. "Easy, easy... I'm sorry if I went too far", he apologizes and you blush violently, covering your face with your hands.

"It's not that", you say through your fingers, opening two of them to look at him, "It's just that I'm very self-conscious about my body, I'm sorry", he reaches for one of your hands, slowly peeling it from your face. "I understand, you don't have to be ashamed of that", You reach for his face with your other hand and cup his cheek, detailing his face.

"How are you always so gentle?", he smiles shyly at your comment, grabbing your legs again and swaying you across the warm water once again. "My mother actually taught me how to treat a lady. Plus, I have a sister, well she is not a lady by any means, but you get the idea" He giggles and you poke his dimple, laughing at his fake offended face.

He places you gently on the shallower side where there are stairs but the water still covers your lower body and he sits next to you. After a few minutes of comfortable silence you muster up the courage to take his hand, riding up the fabric that covers your right leg, placing his fingers on the scar, tracing it up from just above your knee to your upper thigh, closing your eyes at the contact.

"I was in a car accident a little over a year ago", he reaches for your face with his other hand. "Hey, it's fine, you don't have to if you're not comfortable", You place your hand on top of his, leaning against his touch, and keeping his other hand on your thigh.

"My sister-in-law flew out of the windshield and died on impact... Her boyfriend died because of his injuries too, the other car we crashed against hit the side they were on", he holds your hand tightly and listens carefully to what you're telling him, "You were screaming her name the night you stayed at the dorms, right? Jisoo?", you nod looking down at were your bodies connect.

"Yeah, my subconscious relieves that moment every now in then", A chill runs down your spine at the memory, "After a few spins we crashed against a wall, and the hood of the car rolled up, trapping my leg, that's why I have this horrible thing. But that's the least painful one." You run yours and his fingers through your scar, tracing it up, the mere touch bringing goosepumps to your body.

"I'm so glad you made it out alive, angel", Chris says softly, looking for your eyes which are still fixed on your leg. "For the longest time, I wasn't. It was my fault they died and that's why Yunho became so... You know. That's how we met, remember? I was done with it all and I was ready to leave it all behind" he feels rage run through his vanes hearing you say those words, "Wow, what a bastard", he still holds your hands, but his face is serious now.

"I don't blame him, he lost his sister and his best friend, he could've reported me to the police and I could've spent the rest of my life in jail", he lets go of you, in complete disbelief at this nonsense. "That's what that idiot was feeding you with? That was his excuse to treat you like that?" he cups your face with both hands, "You listen to me very carefully, okay darling? That's not true. It was an accident", You grab his hands and move them out of your face.

"Yeah, an accident I caused, and because of that people died Chris. People we cared about a lot, Jisoo was my best friend, and his sister. I deserved it", You are looking down, closing in on the guilt that's been eating you up since that day. "Stop, stop it. Don't say that... Were you under the influence or something?" he asks, looking for some answers, you only shake your head no, "Well, what did the police say? There must have been an official report on how things happened".

"The car was not in good condition by the time we rented and it failed, but I didn't notice when I started driving, I should have noticed something was wrong, but I was tired and inexperienced." You explain to him, covering your arms, the heat from the pool wearing off and the cold from the memories rushing through your arms.

"Okay, then tell me one thing. If it was your fault, which is not true. Why didn't he ever report you to the authorities?", he says, coming closer to you, taking your hands again. "Cause..." you think before answering, "Caused he loved me..." he lets out a huff at your words. "He didn't do it because he loved you, it was because had nothing to report, but that was his way of manipulating you, angel. How could you not see that?"

He doesn't let you respond, instead, he hugs you close to his body again, cradling your head against his bare chest. "Please don't ever say that again, you didn't deserve any of that and it was not your fault, okay?", You nod, slowly letting out a few tears. He notices and runs his thumbs over your face, erasing them.

"Now let's get you out of here before you catch a cold", you smile at his protective antics. You let him guide you out of the pool and place a towel over your shoulders to stop the shivering, your teeth clashing against each other. You grab your things and once you meet him at the door, he intertwines your fingers together and starts walking down the hall to the elevator.

Once you reach the floor to the rooms, he pokes his head out of the elevator to check if there's anyone there who might catch you, but when he tugs your hand, you exit the elevator and start running across the hall like a couple of kids. You reach his room, closing the door with a loud thud, leaning against it, trying to catch your breath.

"That was close", he says, between jagged breaths, and at that realization, you let out the cutest breathy laugh, "I love to see you smile", he says, going inside the bathroom and taking a dry set of towels to dry you with. Once he comes out, you're standing in the middle of the room, oblivious to the way he is looking at you. He reaches for you and places his hands on the hem of your shirt, waiting for your consent to take it off, you smile at him at lift your arms, signaling for him to continue. Your boldness ends as soon as it starts as he roams his eyes over your upper half.

There are so many scars, the seatbelt mark on your shoulder all the way to your chest, the jagged skin of the piece of metal embedded by your ribs, the faded purple marks on your side down to your hips.

But he doesn't look intimidated, instead, he reaches for the bow on the front of your pants and starts undying it, slowly removing it, getting down on his knees as he rolls them down your legs, you support your weight on one of his shoulders once it gets to your ankles and take a step aside, letting him discard it completely. He comes back up slowly, tracing your body as he goes. "Please tell me if you want to stop, angel"