For the second time, my eyes slowly opened. The ground under me moved up and down at a firm pace; someone was carrying me.
"Hey." A male, Holt, spoke. I groaned deeply, feeling nothing but pain in my whole body.
"It's all right." He assured
A small panic rose in me. "I don't want to go back to the bunker," I whispered quickly.
"You won't," Holt confirmed. "They hate you now, so if I bring you back you're most likely dead."
"Minho.." I felt my eyes close again.
"Yes, I'm bringing you to that kid." He laughed quietly. "There's a small tube with ointment in your pocket. It'll heal your wounds faster."
"Thanks, Holt," I said quietly before falling unconscious again.
~
"Hey! It's that man that beat me up." The familiar, comforting voice shouted, but then I could literally feel the whole mood change. Slowly my eyes opened, yet I couldn't see anything other than the ground.
"The shuck you carrying my girlfriend and she's bleeding?" Minho screamed, his mood switching to bad.
Once Holt noticed I was awake, he carefully put me down on the ground. Minho took that as a sign to hit the man right in the face, hard enough to make him stumble over. Then Minho rushed over to me, face full of worry.
"Oh, god." Minho wrapped his arms around me firmly. "Why would you do that?" He asked, raising his voice slightly again. "Why would you leave me? Jesus, Lee!"
I could only cry, so happy to see and touch him again. I survived, at least. Though I was still bleeding a lot.
"Minho." Newt's British voice warned from behind. The boy let go of me and inspected my body.
"Shuck," Minho mumbled, his eyes twitching to every wound I had. "Who did that?" His eyes turned full of fire. "Was it him?"
Minho motioned at Holt, who by now got up and rubbed his cheek.
"No, no," I said quickly. "It wasn't him."
"Who, Lena?" Minho questioned sternly. "Who did this to you?"
I swallowed, deciding to just tell him. "Aris and Teresa," I whispered.
His face exploded with multiple emotions. Confusion, worry, sadness, but mostly anger. Pure anger. His face looked sweet, though his eyes said enough for how raging he was.
"This needs to be cleaned," Jorge spoke up. "Minho, lie her down and save your fists for later."
"Wait, no-." But before I could resist, I was already on the ground.
Minho's eyes met mine for a second. "Do I get permission to lift your shirt a little?"
"Whatever," I muttered. He nodded and looked at my bare stomach, which was probably bloody and bruised.
"Imma kill those two," Minho grunted as Newt and Frypan just stared with wide eyes. Holt handed Jorge a bottle with disinfection liquid.
"Minho, grab her wrists." Jorge sighed and opened the bottle, pouring some of it on a cotton pad.
"What?" I stammered, scared of what was about to happen.
"This is gonna hurt like total hell, so we need you to stay still," Jorge explained. "Do it, Kid."
Minho nodded and took both of my wrists, but I cried so loudly he immediately let go. The one where Aris had carved on hurt so badly.
"Hey!" I pulled back when Minho reached out to roll my sleeve up. He wasn't supposed to see that.
"What happened here?" He grumbled angrily, strong enough to grab my arm and look at the cuts.
Then his face fully broke, mask slipping for a second. It hurt me to see his hurt expression, but then he turned raging again. What a roller coaster.
Curses toward Teresa and Aris spat out of his mouth easily. Soon Jorge stopped him and told me to grab my arms instead, which Minho ended up doing.
"Alright." Jorge took a breath and pressed the cotton pad onto my stomach. I screamed loud enough for him to stop already.
"What the fuck, man!" I groaned. "That feels worse than some salt on a paper cut!"
"Sorry, Hermana. But these gotta get cleaned." He motioned at my bruised stomach.
"Get over with it," I mumbled. Jorge pressed it on my stomach again. It felt like it burned right through my skin. I tried to contain my cries, but couldn't stop them.
"You're doing great," Newt assured, holding my legs down once I tried to kick with them. "He's almost halfway through."
(Why did that sound like Newt is a doctor and Lena is giving birth to a boy... anyways)
I threw my head back at the stinging feeling. Curses and cries escaped from my lips as tears streamed. "Is it over?"
"The stomach is, yes." Jorge took a new cotton pad. "But your face is pretty shucked up, Hermana."
"Excuse you?" Minho gave him an offended glance. "Her face is pretty beautiful." He corrected. I blushed deeply, mouthing 'thank you' to Minho.
"Right." Jorge cleared his throat. "But the face won't hurt as bad. It's just a slight cut and abrasions on the cheeks."
I sighed in relief when Jorge finished the wounds on my face.
"On with the wrist."
I shot straight up. "No. That's not happening." I refused very fast. Minho seeing what they wrote on there was already the worst, I didn't need everyone to see it.
"Princess, it's gonna get infected." Minho lowered his voice. "Come on, let him treat it."
The tears filled in my eyes again and eventually, I nodded. It hurt too much not to get treated.
I hated the way everyone dropped dead silent when they saw the letters on my wrist. I took a peek at them. They were deeply carved into my skin, for sure leaving a scar.
"Stop staring and clean it," I commanded. Jorge obeyed and let's just say it hurt like hell. It made me want to scream, but all I did was cry.
"Almost done, princess." Minho placed a kiss on my forehead, which slightly helped. I closed my eyes for a few seconds when it was finally over, my body having to rest.
Holt got the tube he gave me out of my pocket. "Put this on. It'll cool the wounds down and make them heal faster."
Minho nodded and put some of it on his fingers, slowly rubbing it on my wounds. Soft sounds in relief and happiness escaped my mouth and if you wouldn't be able to see what was happening, but only hear... you would've thought I was being pleasured differently-
"Lovely how everyone is watching me moan here." I smiled, and Minho laughed. "Why's everyone watching anyway?"
"Because we care about you, slinthead." Frypan chuckled and I smiled even brighter.
"All done." Holt and Jorge assured at the same time.
"Awesome." Minho jumped up from his feet as I sat straight up against a tree. "Now where's Aris?"
"Just leave Aris," I muttered, exhaling deeply.
"Leave him?" Minho crossed his arms. "He hurts my girlfriend, I kill him."
"Calm down, kiddo." Jorge laughed, but Minho turned angry again. His eyebrows furrowed and his eyes said enough.
"Calm down?" He repeated in a tone as if he was disgusted. Threats and curses meant for Aris were thrown by him after.
I felt nauseous out of a sudden, my head falling backward and my eyelids getting heavy.
"Woah." Newt bent down in front of me. Minho just kept ranting about Aris and Teresa. "You all right?"
I just nodded and reached out to Minho. The boy didn't hesitate for a second to sit down next to me.
~
Minho and I waited until everyone was asleep and Holt left to the bunker again. I had thanked him for his help and said he could always come to search me if he needed anything.
"I'm sorry." Minho suddenly said while moving face to face with me.
"For what?" I smiled weakly. My body was just so painful.
"I'm sorry for not being able to protect you, princess," Minho explained, his voice low. "I'm sorry."
I scrunched my eyebrows. "Why would you be sorry because of that? I was the one that walked away myself."
"Yes, but still." He cupped my face. "I should've searched for you, fought for you, and-."
"Min, you're already doing enough for me." I interrupted, my hand making its way to his shoulder. "Don't worry about it."
He sighed long. "How dare they do that to you?"
"It's okay," I assured sweetly again. "It's what I deserved."
Minho's head snapped toward me so fast I thought he would break his neck. "What?!" He almost screamed. "Deserved?"
I was lost in my words for a while, eyes glued on the ground. "I am a murderer," I mumbled.
Minho cupped my face hard enough for me to look up. "So what? To me, that means you can protect people, defend yourself, and are strong." He snapped.
You don't know who I killed.
"But I-."
"Those punches, you think you deserve them?" Minho's voice was full of frustration and anger. "Because you shuckin' don't, Lena. Don't ever say things like that again, okay? You promised me that before."
I looked down in shame, wishing the things in my past never happened.
"Or think," Minho added. "You hear me?"
His hands still cupped my face as I slowly nodded, not fully convinced, though. Then he leaned in, putting a soft kiss on my lips.
And just that cured my sadness for a moment. Slowly I kissed back, my lips being one of the only things that didn't hurt like hell when I moved.
"I don't think this is the right moment to kiss, actually." Minho let go of me.
"Aah, shut up," I replied. "You started this."
He scoffed, a small smirk planting on his face before he trailed his lips over my jaw. "Well, if you insist." He whispered.
I got breathless, forgetting about all the pain, which was awesome. Minho teased, his soft lips barely touching my skin until I connected my lips with his.
He laughed and lay down, carefully taking me in his arms. "Are you comfortable?"
I didn't feel any pain, so replied "Yes". Minho smiled once again.
"Also, tomorrow I'm gonna Thomas you with questions." He added.
"What?"
"Thomas always ask a lot of questions, so if you do that to someone, you're Thomasing then." Minho explained. "I swear it's in the dictionary."
"I don't think it is." I smiled. "But okay."
"Good night then, princess."
"Night, Min."