The Street Child (Min Yoongi)

Chapter 20: Trepidation

Yoongi narrowed his eyes.

"A table won't give you such a huge and painful bruise. What is it, Yuna?"

His fingers ran over the large, grey mark covering half of my stomach, tickling me; my muscles tensed.

"Tell me, Yuna. Please," he whispered.

I closed my eyes.

*Flashback starts*

"Joshua! I'm home!" I called out, informing him of my presence.

I didn't receive a reply, so I trotted up the stairs to his room, thinking he must be washing up.

Creaking the door open, I peeked inside. To my surprise, I found him standing near his shelf, his back facing me.

"Joshua...?" I asked anxiously.

He slowly turned and walked towards me. I took a sharp breath as my eyes landed on his face.

A small forehead giving way to a gently slope of a small, button nose, his defined eyes were swollen with unshed tears. His glistening cheeks gave away the path his tears had taken, as his thin lips trembled.

"Yuna? Is that you?" He whispered, cocking his head to the side.

I trudged forward, nodding.

"Yes, Josh. It's me," I smiled.

His lips tugged down as they wobbled, and his eyes let loose the array of tears that he had been holding back. He stretched his hands out to me, and I immediately ran into them, wrapping mine tightly around his quivering frame. His face pressed into my neck and I felt his warm tears.

"I-I'm not feeling g-good, Yuna. I-I was sitting here and I felt someone standing behind me. But when I looked back, there was no one there. C-can you check for me, p-please? I thing t-there's someone in m-my room," he whispered in a scared voice, taking rapid breaths.

I closed my eyes and stroked his hair slowly.

"Sshh. Don't worry. I'm here now. There's no one in your room. It's just me. Just us."

He pulled back and grabbed my biceps.

"Can you c-check, please?"

"There's no one, Joshua."

His hands started shaking me.

"Can you please check if there's someone in the room, Yuna? I think there's someone watching us," he breathed.

I looked at him desperately. How could I make him believe there was no one there? I took his moist face in my hands and caressed his cheeks.

"Joshua, baby. There's no one in the room. I promise."

His eyes widened and his grip on my hand tightened to an extent where it became too painful. I squirmed in his clutch, feeling panic arise inside me.

"I told you to check. Why aren't you checking? Do you think I'm lying?" Joshua's words started coming out angry.

I tried to calm him down my rubbing his back, but he jerked my hands away.

"Do you think I'm lying?"

His quiet voice held an ominous ring that made me halt. Joshua stared down at me, a forlorn look on his eyes.

"Do you think I'm a liar?" He whimpered, sniffing.

"I'm not lying, Yuna. I promise I saw someone. I swear. You believe me, don't you? Don't you, Yuna? You believe me, right?"

My mouth felt like parchment, like someone had sucked all the moisture inside. I found myself unable to form words, unable to tell him that I believed him. My mouth opened and closed, struggling to utter something.

At not receiving an answer, Joshua's soft eyes blazed up with fury. His lips promptly curled up in a sneer, and he seized my arms.

"You think I'm lying? YOU THINK I'M LYING?"

His spit flew in my face as he hollered, and with a large tug, he threw me to the ground. I smashed into the bed, and the corner dug inside my stomach. All the breath got knocked out of me for a moment, and black spots covered my vision. A gasp left my mouth and it opened up in a silent scream. Joshua kneeled down in front of me and roughly grabbed my face in his sweaty hands.

"I'm not a liar, Yuna. I said I saw someone in the room. You should have believed me. Why didn't you believe me?" He snarled.

The furiosity drained out of his face, and a gentle look replaced it. His hands retracted to either side of my face as he softly stroked my tear stained cheeks.

"Why didn't you believe me, baby?" He whispered.

I sobbed in response, and his eyes widened. He snatched his hands away like they had been burned, and crawled away from me.

A wave of relief washed over me as I saw the sane look return in his eyes. His hand flew up to his mouth as he saw me sprawled on the floor, clutching onto my stomach. Gradually, he scooted closer to me, his eyes searching my face.

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry, baby. Did I hurt you? Did something happen to you? Why are you sitting on the floor? Why are you crying? What happened?" He ran his hands all over my face, wiping my tears and kissing me.

"D-Did I do this to you?"

His dread filled voice and the petrified look on his face shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. He raised his hands to his face, and stared at them.

"I'm a monster."

I shook my head, trying to reach out to him, but he moved away from me.

"I'm a monster. Don't come closer to me. I'm a monster. I'm a monster."

He covered his ears and rocked back and forth, muttering the same thing again and again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

All I could do was sob.

*Flashback ends*

My eyes flew open and I crumpled onto the floor. My breaths came fast and short. Everything around me seemed to move in a blur slow motion. Yoongi's cries entered my ears, and I groped around for him. I found his hand and intertwined our fingers, bringer it closer to myself for some kind of reassurance.

"Yuna. Yuna, look at me. Are you okay? Yuna!"

I raised my head and looked into his terrified eyes.

"I-I..."

Yoongi was panicking, desperately staring at me for some kind of explanation.

"What's wrong, Yuna? What's going on?"

I gulped and placed my hands on his shoulders. He leaned in closer to me, expecting me to say something. But I didn't.

Instead, I pressed my lips tightly onto his.