The stress Han was going through made him dizzy and hence, he unintentionally slept after the call disconnected. He woke up to his doorbell ringing making him panic.
'How could Minho find him. There's no way he saw him when he ran away..... Or did he?'
With these thoughts, Han went near the door and looked through the peephole. To his dismay, all he could see was a man wearing black hoodie with his face covered with the hood thereof and a mask.
Han went back to his room to wear a mask himself and wore a cap and glasses try to cover his face as much as possible.
After he had covered himself, he opened the door with trembling hands.
Before Han could open his mouth, he felt like a gush of wind pushed him inside the room, making him levitate. In the blink of an eye, Han was under strong grip of a man who was hugging him so tightly that Han could feel a few of his bones crushing. The man had lifted him up in the air while hugging him and looked like having no intention of letting him down.
"Oh my god, Sungie. Do you even know how much I missed you? Thank God you're safe." Saying this, Taejoon pulled down his mask and kissed Han's forehead.
Han blushed at this.
"H-hyung put me down. I'm not a baby."
"Yes, you are, my baby squirrel."
Han again bloomed red at this.
"Hyungiee!!! I told you not to call me a squirrel."
"Why? No one's around."
"As if you stop when people are there!!"
"God!! I missed this so much!!" And once again Han was in Taejoon's embrace.
-
Han and Taejoon ordered their breakfast inside the room. The best friends talked about their previous six months during the breakfast and enjoyed each other's company thoroughly.
"So, are you ready to talk about it?"
Honestly, Han wasn't ready but he knew if he didn't do it now then he wouldn't ever be able to do it. Therefore, he nodded his head. He took a deep breath and began.
"Do you remember, hyung? How hard I used to work when I came. CEO-nim was so supportive of me that people used to dismiss my hardwork by calling it "luck". Everyone used to say that my dancing was god gifted or I was a born artist but no, I worked my ass off trying to be better every single day. No one saw how I woke up for nights practicing my vocals or my dance styles.
One day CEO called a few of us in his office wanting to talk about our debut. He said they chose 15 of the trainees and only 7 out of us would be chosen to debut together. He said that company's executives are going to evaluate each of us on an individual basis first so we needed to prepare one performance wherein we had to perform on a self produced song. The music, lyrics, choreography....all of it had to be done by us and 10 days were given to us.
I worked my ass off to get everything done within 10 days. I was confident about the song. It was a perfect mix of commercial and classical music according to me. For some reasons, the evaluation was to be done in a hotel where foreign investors were staying.
Honestly, I was confident about the song but not about myself. I was worried that I would ruin the performance. Anxiety was getting the best of me as I had to wait until the end to perform. CEO-nim saw me getting nervous when he was going to the washroom. He patted my back and asked me to drink some water. He even sent someone with water for me to drink. I was so thankful to him.
But who knew what that evil man was upto. I started feeling weird after drinking it. Nonetheless, I went inside the audition room to perform. Despite of the nervousness, I performed well. The people in the room looked pleased with my performance.
I was happy but I couldn't ignore the hot feeling creeping up inside my body.
*Flashback*
"So, Jisung. What are your hobbies apart from music." Asked an executive.
"Well sir, I was never interested in anything else as much as I am in music but I love cooking. I cook pretty good. Apart from that I also partake in physical fitness" Han could feel his whole body itch but he tried his best to reply them properly. It was just for a few minutes more, isn't it?
"Impressive. I saw your stamina in the performance. It's admirable." The executive replied.
"On the scale of 1-10, how flexible are you?" Asked a European investor who had his eyes fixed on the Han ever since he entered the room.
"I'll give myself an 8.5"
"Let's check. Shall we?"
"Sure. What do I need to do?"
"Stand on your one leg and raise the other to make your feet as close to your head as possible."
Because of his interest toward fitness and dancing, Han easily made 90° with his legs but he was getting difficulty in stretching after reaching it to his shoulder level. He needed some support to pull it further.
The European investor saw this and stood behind Han to help him. He grabbed his waist from one side and put his hand on the calves of his raised leg to support him. This helped Han to reach his feet further closer to his head.
Initially Han was thankful for the support but few seconds later, it made him uncomfortable. The way the man's hand slid from his calves to his inner thighs creeped him. At one point, the man behind him bucked his hips forward making Han feel the stiffness in his pants. Han wanted to move forward seeing the situation but his body for some reason didn't comply. The warmth in body increased with every passing second. Unwillingly Han also bucked his hips backwards making it look like he was grinding on the said man.
The man turned Han to face him still ensuring that their hips were stuck with each other. He ran his cold fingers at the back of his neck sending a shiver down Han's spine. Han knew how wrong everything was. He knew people were watching. He knew he didn't want it but nothing seem to make his body co-operate.
His hand slid from his neck to his chest going south to his crotch. Han let a moan out of his the moment his crotch was caressed. The sound he made broke him out of whatever trance he was in. He immediately pushed the man and tried running out but again somehow his body felt weak. His legs stumbled the moment his feets touched the ground. He looked around to see people laughing at him. He tried standing back to his feet but he stumbled again. His eyes turned dizzy. Everything started blurring in front of his eyes and soon everything turned dark. His body gave up.
Flashback ended
"When I got up, I was lying on a bed and found that disgusting man ki-kissing me. I was shirtless. There was something sticky on my belly. I didn't bother asking him anything. All I knew was that I had to leave. I immediately pushed him away and ran away.
You know, hyung, I felt so dirty when I saw the marks he made on my body. I still remember it clearly. No matter how much I rubbed it, they didn't wash off. I know he didn't go the whole way through but his baby sauce on my belly was enough to disgust me to no ends. I-"
"Baby sauce?? "
"You know, hyung, his baby making gel from his natural tube"
"What the fuck, Han Jisung. You're an adult for god sake. Stop calling it baby sauce or baby making gel.... Not at least when you're talking about something this serious."
"Haahh! That's my coping mechanism , hyung. You won't understand."
Taejoon pulled Han's ears and said," I know all of you my baby squirrel and still love all of you. Stop being melodramatic and tell me what happened later."
"Ahh- yes. So, after all that happened, I locked myself for a week in my house, the one in Busan. About a week later, I decided to complain all this to CEO-nim knowing how supportive he was of me. When I went back later to the dorm, everyone looked at me with disgust. No one wanted to talk to me. I found it weird but I didn't say anything. I went inside the washroom to shower after a long journey. When I came outside, a boy slammed me on the wall and grabbed my throat. He started choking me put of nowhere. I was so confused. He started saying things I didn't understand at that time like now he understood why CEO-nim supported me or that he was going to teach me a lesson. Two boys in our dorm punched me endlessly. Fun fact: This was the time when I decided to learn Taekwondo. They almost beat me to death that day but I didn't understand why. They were my close friends after all.
Next day, I received a letter from our company saying that I am getting expelled from the training on grounds of plagiarism and using unfair practices to obtain privileges. I ran directly to the CEO to know whatever was going on but he never met me. Instead, I met his wife who slapped me in the middle of his floor for trying to seduce his husband and the foreign investor. I challenged her baseless accusations but she threw a stack of pictures right at my face. I sat down on the ground totally confused and saw one of the pictures. It was me with that investor. The pictures were clicked in such an angel that it looked like I threw myself on them. There were a few pictures of me with the CEO as well. I still remember clearly. It was on the same bed where I woke up the previous day.
Those bastards manipulated those pictures to show that I tried to seduce those charmless creatures to get an opportunity to let my plagiarized song released. Bitch, that was my song. I worked hard for it. They said that another boy had already sang that song before me. Guess what, the original producer of the song according to them was a boy who, I later on got to know, was his boy toy. That excuse of a human did everything I was accused of. I never copied anything, he did. He was the one who seduced that investor and CEO as well but everything was blamed on me.
I was shattered. I had no proof or people by my side supporting me. I made several attempts to meet that bastard but he never met me once. Somehow, once, I broke inside his room. That bastard tried touching me that day as well but I wasn't that weak anymore. I still remember, he said that he didn't let the news spread because he was so fond of me. I remember him threatening me to work here if I didn't want those pictures to be spread. Though he didn't ever touch me ever after getting the taste of my Taekwondo skills once and somehow, I also started loving the job so there I was until I was useful for him. "
Not a single drop of tear left Han's eyes. It is said that after a while your eyes just stop crying, it's your heart that weeps forever and same was the case for Han Jisung. The pain washed him all over again but his eyes didn't sting the way it did before.
Taejoon pulled Han back in his arms. Han didn't cry but Taejoon did. He pressed his face in the crook of the younger's neck and sobbed silently.
"You've been strong, Sungie. I'm so proud of you. You've been doing well." Taejoon said while patting the back of his head.
Han clenched his jaw hearing this. This was the first time someone ensured him.... someone believed him. He fought this battle alone. No one knew how much he suffered. No one knew how hard it was. It was new for him. The river in his eyes finally found a way after years and it escaped from his eyes. He thought he wouldn't ever cry about it but he did, again. He cried his heart out again.
Thoughts?