↳ ❝WHERE ARE YOU, sexy?❞
she whispered into thin air as warm, salty tears slipped down her face. the last thing she wanted was to boost the depraved lunatic's ego by giving up, so her conscious snapped her back to reality and encouraged her to continue crying out for help as she had been for the past five minutes. the hand firmly placed around her neck prevented her voice from reaching too loud a level, but she still shouted as if her life depended on it.
jay knew she had three choices: fight, flight, or freeze. the second was clearly not an option because her attacker doubled her size and was holding her down with all his might to prevent her from slithering away. the third wouldn't help her in the long run despite every nerve in her body begging for her to give up. ultimately, the only thing left for her to do was fight. she was convinced someone would be miraculously passing by and hear her cries. she prayed someone would ... anybody.
"miss parker!" the recognizable voice jumpstarted her hopes, and she quickly resumed punching the degenerate fumbling with her pant buttons as hard as her fists allowed. she doubted for a moment whether her english teacher's presence was actually real or simply a figment of her imagination, but she realized she had no space in her mind to question it. her heart pounded louder in its ribcage as her expectations heightened, praying on every deity possible that she wasn't going insane.
the pressure around her neck stopped.
mr. park had gripped the hem of the younger boy's shirt and yanked his body backward without a second thought. the boy landed a few feet farther than what mr. park had anticipated, but, at this point, he was too infuriated to care about his uncontrolled strength.
jay curled herself on the ground, tugging her knees closer to her chest, and sobbed in relief as she realized the boy was no longer restraining her.
"what's your problem, man? can't you see i was in the middle of–"
but the young teacher connected his sharp fist to the boy's cheek before he could finish that sentence.
the boy instantly fell back to the ground, and mr. park's rage became even more indomitable.
he pummeled the teenager's eyes, cheekbones, jawline, and the sides of his nose (the most painful area of them all), and when he tired himself from that move, he began slamming down his clasped hands onto the vulnerable student's face. dark blood immediately effused from his broken nose and mouth, bruises formed on every inch of his face, and, finally, the despicable youth lost all consciousness.
the boy was no longer recognizable, his eyes swollen and crimson-colored from the impact, his lips cracked open, and his mandible impaired.
mr. park heaved a sigh as he fully inspected the damage he unwittingly imposed, wondering if he had perhaps taken his aggression a bit too far.
but then he heard the faint sniffling of jay parker from afar, and his anger clouded his judgment yet again. he no longer regretted what he had done.
he scurried over to jay's quivering body, gallantly crouching down beside her and tranquilizing her with tender susurrations that he hoped would ease her mind. subconsciously recognizing the sweet sound of his voice, jay threw her desperate arms around his neck and continued to mourn out her distress. he didn't hesitate in hugging her back, sliding his hands underneath her body and standing up with her safely upheld by his arms.
"everything will be fine, miss parker," he snuggled his nose into her hair to ease her pain. "y-you'll be just fine. trust me." she couldn't contain her grief. she bawled on his clothed shoulder, feeling somewhat guilty for staining his white shirt with her thick tears, and tightly clung unto his neck. "can you do that, miss parker?" he choked when her teeth pinched his skin. "can you trust me?"
her loud sobs subdued after a minute, and when they finally reached the safety of his car, which had been hurriedly parked beside the sidewalk, she attempted to compose herself from the scare.
mr. park set her down on the passenger seat, buckled her seatbelt, and sprinted over to his side of the vehicle as swiftly as possible. once he entered the car, jay's teary gaze and uncontrollable hiccups became clearer. he peered back at her in concern as she tried to shrug off her fright and pretend like she had somewhat gotten over the incident. it wasn't as easy for mr. park to forget, though, when the red streaks around her neck that evidenced the abuse brightened.
she stiffened when another tear trailed down her face.
"you don't have to act tough in front of me, miss parker. it's okay to cry. you need to let it out," he cautiously reached out for her hand but did not grab it, not wanting her to squirm from the suddenness of his touch.
jay pursed her lips, allowing a couple more tears to flow from her eyes as she glanced down at her lap in embarrassment.
she surprised herself by taking his offered hand and linking it with her own. "i-i trust you, mr. park," she wearily nodded, closing her eyes as she felt yet another shot of discomfort in the pit of her stomach. the idea of what the boy almost did to her nauseated her entirely, but she swallowed her sickness to avoid spewing it all up inside the teacher's clean car.
"things will get better, miss parker. i'll be here," he assured her by squeezing her hand. "but, remember, resilience is key. i don't want you to linger in this moment for the rest of your life, okay? i want you to fight through it. that useless piece of shit does not deserve your fear nor your tears," he wiped away at her cheek, and his gentle stroke caused her to flutter her eyelids open again. "it's okay to feel perturbed and weak right now. it's okay to feel hurt. but, baby, i know you'll get through this. i know you'll return to your normal, quirky self soon enough. i know that you'll go back to teasing me and making inappropriate remarks because you know it secretly amuses me. i know that you won't let this traumatizing event scar you. it'll strengthen you, instead. i believe in you, miss parker. i just need you to focus on your breathing for now, okay?"
"you called me baby," she sniffed, wiping her eyes with the back of her free hand and meeting his stare rather expectantly.
"w-what? no, i didn't. i-i said–"
"you called me baby, mr. park. i may be unstable and emotionally impacted right now, but i heard you loud and clear. please don't deny it. i don't think i can handle feeling even more humiliated right now," she begged in a whisper, looking down at her fingers that were now twiddling with his own.
she took notice of his blood-stained knuckles, doe eyes widening as she traced her fingertips over the dried-up stains. mr. park observed the way her thumb rubbed against the lingering plasma that evidenced his previous loss of temper, her intense gaze boring into his ring-filled fingers.
he defeatedly sighed, now admiring the sheath of innocence that majestically shone in her incomparable features.
the word had slipped past his lips without realization. it just came so naturally to him. in his mind, that's what she was to him now—his baby.
"miss parker, do you," he stopped himself, carefully rephrasing the sentence in his head. "i don't know how to say this without scaring you away."
"you could never scare me away, mr. park," she admitted, still refusing to meet his stare. "even if you were pointing a gun to my head, i'd still find you incredibly sexy and irresistible," she chuckled at herself, shaking her head and continuing to fumble with his bloodied hands.
it hurt to laugh, it really did, but something inside her told her that it was good—that laughing would help mend her heart somehow. her heartbeat slowed as she repeatedly breathed in and out.
mr. park broke out into a sheepish smile at the brunette's dark humor. "very well, then," he cleared his throat and cracked his neck in preparation for his next move.
he retracted his hands from her playful grasp and cupped the sides of her face before his nerves could talk him out of it.
at this point, he had blocked out his conscience's desperate reminders about this being unlawful because the incessant urge to express what he felt just kept eating away at his heart.
"look at me," he instructed—softly, of course, as he was still weary about startling her. she reluctantly did as told, finding an unusual sparkle in the midst of his eyes and losing herself in it. "well, you see, i," he shook his head and accidentally squished her cheeks as his grip on the sides of her face tightened. "i like you quite a lot, miss parker."
"what?" she gawked at him, forgetting for a second about the attacker that lied unconscious in the distance.
"it's– i should probably stop touching your face now, shouldn't i?" the young teacher sighed, ready to pull his fingertips away from her delicate skin.
"no!" she slapped her hands over his so that they remained on her cheeks. mr. park quirked an eyebrow in question, and jay nervously giggled away his suspicion. "i'm sorry, sexy," she gulped and dropped her bold hands back down to her thighs.
"for what?" he scoffed. "if anything, i should be the one to apologize."
"well," she paused for a minute. "i know it can be quite a burden to ... you know."
"i don't think of this confession as a burden. the heavier load was keeping my feelings for you a secret." he watched the way a shy smile nagged at her perfectly full lips. "and i apologize if i made you uncomfortable by telling you this. if you'd like, we can go on as if today never happened, and–"
"why would i do that?" she replied with a playful huff. "no one said i wanted to forget. i want to keep this moment engraved in my mind for the rest of my life."
though her voice had a confident tone to it, her legs continued to shake with each passing moment. mr. park's sympathetic gaze dropped to her quivering limbs. that's when he realized that, despite her laid-back behavior, jay parker was far from fine, as would be expected.
the man's heart broke as he thought about her never moving on from this mishap. despite feeling guilty for not saving her on time, he did feel grateful for arriving at least before anything more permanent occurred. still, the trauma of getting thrown on the ground and choked must not be easy on the poor girl.
but he didn't want her to be forever haunted by the memories of today. he wanted her to forget everything. he wanted her to resiliently handle this situation and go back to being the same flirty student for whom his heart had swooned.
"miss parker–"
"there's something you must know, sexy," her voice was hoarse. "and it might not come as a great shocker—or it might, i don't know. but the burden i was referring to was not the burden of confessing." she explained breathlessly, gathering up a rush of courage before spitting out the perilous words that were roaming in her mind. "i was referring to the burden of knowing that your recklessly flirtatious student, that is i, has fallen madly in love with you."
~
pictures of the day:
-サラ