Ring~

Jungkook slowly opened his eyes at the sound of his phone ringing that laid on the round table as the screen showed the name of the caller.

"What is it Kim?" He groaned while rubbing his eyes after picking up the call, streching his neck from side to side that became sore and painful as hell.

"Did Jimin came back home yesterday?"
SeokJin asked in worriedness.

"Yeah. He came late at night in his car. Why you ask?"
Jungkook questioned as it was unusual of the doctor to personally call and check up on them like this, especially in early morning.

"Oh its nothing. Actually he had some wine at my place and you know already his tolerance is less so I was worried about his return to home."

"No. He was driving his car all fine."
He simply answered to SeokJin not fully convinced with his statement.

"Okay. That's all I wanted to know."
With that, he ended the call quickly making Jungkook roll his eyes in annoyance as he then noticed the blanket above him that was covering half of his lower torso and thighs.

Blinking his eyes in confusion, he peeked towards the bed to find it empty and no signs of you inside the room making him realise he fall asleep in the balcony on chair while smoking.

Standing up on his feet after removing the blanket from him, he entered inside the room to find it all clean and neatly arranged. Also, seeing the wet towel hanged on a pole stand near dressing mirror he had an idea that you have been all dressed up and probably went downstairs to make breakfast.

Sighing, he looked at the blanket for few seconds before throwing it on the bed and made his way towards the bathroom wanting to have a long cold shower despite having a warm bath already ready for him by you.
He needed this cold shower after yesterday's nightmare and also for his muscle pain because of sleeping all night on the chair.

Meanwhile, you were all done preparing the breakfast for the family and went out to start serving on the table where everyone was present except Jungkook and Jimin.

"Dear, where is Jimin? And Jungkook?"
Mother asked to Taehyung.

"Jimin went out early in morning regarding some buisness and Jungkoo-"

"He might be still asleep in room."

He was cut off in middle when you abruptly answered her question regarding your husband as he looked at your figure in confusion, a slight displeased look on his face.

"Oh, then call him down for breakfast."
Mother said.

But as you turned around to make your way upstairs, Jungkook already made his presence wearing a grey sweatshirt with black pant.

He greeted Mother and sat down on his chair as you quickly went back inside to bring his breakfast on table before sitting beside him.

Nobody said a word the whole time and quietly went by their routine after breakfast.

Jungkook and Taehyung left together for their respective works, Yuna still needed some rest, Mother was in the garden doing her meditation and here you were left with Junwoo in his bedroom, looking after him.

The last time you saw him was in the garden when you were telling him about your childhood until Jungkook popped out of nowhere.

"Aunt Y/n, can you open this for me?"
Suddenly the little guy showed you a small cylindrical box decorated with few stones.

You smiled and opened the tightly packed lid of the box after some struggles to find more different coloured gemstones inside.

"Did you do the stonework?"
You curiously asked as the boy started picking out some stones of his choice and putting them separately in another small container.

"Yeah. But I didn't completed it."
He answered focusing hard on his work as you admired the kid with a smile.

His doe grey eyes were moving from one box to another, inspecting the stones for any deformities in them and then throwing them away to other box.
In total he had 3 boxes- the decorated one having all types of stones, the black box containing his selected stones and at last the grey box holding the discarded stones.

You wouldn't deny you were amuzed by the kid's disciplined way of arranging stuffs and not making any mess. Even when you look around in his bedroom, you couldn't help but be amazed how clean and perfectly arranged his room was. Perfectly clean and folded blankets without having any creases on them, toys arranged in line according to their sizes on the shelf, books kept in a rainbow pattern according to their coloured covers.

'This little guy is too mature for his age.'
You wondered.

"How did you got introduced to this gemstone artwork?" You questioned the kid really wanting to know since stone artwork was nowhere familair to you or your nearby surroundings since childhood. It is rare to see kids taking interest in these and rather focus on mobile phones and playing sports.

At first he seemed queit for few seconds as you felt guilt kicking you again, scared you might have asked something you shouldn't have.

"Hey kiddo, its fine. I am sorry I shouldn't have ask-"

"My mother taught me this. She used to like gemstone artworks."
Junwoo interrupted you and looked down at the decorated box with a small sad smile.

You heart fluttered in sorrow when he stated 'used to' for his mother.

"But do not tell this to Father, okay?"
He immediately looked at you in desperation while holding your hand tightly and eyes trembling in fear.

" Hey, don't worry. I won't tell about this to anyone Junwoo. I promise."
You gently cupped his squishy cheeks to which he nodded with a pout.

"You know, Yuna Aunt accidentally told my Father about this and he got so mad that he threw this box in the dustbin. But I secretly bought it back at night and hid it in my secret treasure."
He said and quickly looked at you with sparkling eyes that melted your soft weak heart.

"You promised me you won't tell about this to Father, so I will show you my secret treasure!" He exclaimed in excitement and quickly stood up hiding the boxes under his pillow on bed.

You confusingly looked at Junwoo who signalled you to follow him out of his bedroom and you did exactly what he told you.

The two of you walked in the long hallway as he suddenly puts his finger on lips and telling you to do the same before he tip toed in front a particular door. You immediately recognised the room as Yuna strictly denied you before to never ever walk near this room which belonged to the Mother.

You were slightly afraid to cross the door but Junwoo kept looking at you with those puppy eyes.

So, you also quitely passed by Mother's room and following Junwoo further until he finally stopped at the dead end where another door was present.

He opened the door and told you to come inside before he quickly closed the door back as now you both were left in darkness.

But instantly the sensor lights turned on revealing the interior of the room.
It was actually a bedroom.

Your gaze then met with a large photo frame on the wall in front of you making your eyes go wide.

It was a woman.

Holding a little kid in her arms.

"She is my Mother."
"My treasure."
Junwoo announced with the proudest tone and admiration in his eyes.

You were in awe because the woman in the photo was so pretty and beautiful and probably looked around your age.

Her porcelain like skin shining bright in the picture as she wore a pretty yellow floral dress with a familair locket around her neck that Junwoo had in his room. She had a sharp pointed nose with a mole on the bridge, a sweet smile carved on her lips and a pair of mesmerising siren eyes that were staring back at you, but-

They held sadness.

The more you looked at her face, the more things you started noticing in her picture.

Her eyes were actually swollen like she had cried, a small scar hidden by her hairs in the temporal side of her forehead and that 'mark' on her arm-

Exactly, like yours.
On same side.
On same spot.

"My Mother used to work in a crafting company where she got to know about this gemstone artworks and she instantly loved it."
Junwoo started speaking as he walked towards the closet in the corner of the bedroom.

There was a drawer beneath as he opened it and took out a canvas.
It was a potrait of cat made by different coloured stones and it was so amazingly crafted.

"She made this for me. This was her cat Lucy when she was a kid."
He smiled and brought you the canvas as you held it carefully in your hands, peering at the amazing artwork in surprise. This was truly wonderful.

"Your mother was so talented, Junwoo."
You said while touching the stones and noticing a signature at the bottom empty space.

'Choi Haneul'

It was his Mother's name.
Not Park Haneul but her original surname.

"Jungkookie uncle also liked her artwork a lot. But Father and Grandma didn't liked it so she stopped making these."
The kid sadly pouted as you sighed wondering how difficult it must have been for his mother to battle between these monsters alone.

She was the first chosen one to be brought in this family. It must be so confusing and frightening for her to go through all their messed up stuffs alone.

For you, Yuna was there that somehow helped you to just know what the hell is going on in this family but her-
She must have been like a scared lost puppy.

"It's sad she stopped making these because she is really amazing. I would have loved to see more of her artworks."
You smiled and kneeled in front of the kid hoping he would cheer up a little but instead his face became more dull and gloomy.

"Actually she had made six canvases before but- after her death- Father threw all of her artwork but I managed to get only one peice out of the garbage bin."

Your heart ached badly for the little boy as you engulfed him into a comforting hug after seeing his glistening eyes.

Poor him.
At this small age, he had gone through some rough times.

You really wanted to ask him about his mother's death but refrained yourself to do so. It was not the right thing to ask and make him remind about her death again, going through that mentally traumatic event again.

"Aunt Y/n, I am really sorry for hurting you that day."
He suddenly muttered while holding onto your shoulders tightly as he snuggled more in the hug.

You shook your head and caressed his hair softly.

"It's okay kiddo. I didn't respected your boundaries that day."
It was actually not a good thing to rummage through someone's belongings without their permission.

And especailly in Junwoo's case, you were going through the stuff that he treasured to his heart and soul. A very personal item of his mother- that locket.

"Uncle Jungkookie was right. You are a good person."

You blinked your eyes at his unexpected statement.
Jungkook.
Told him this?

"He...did? When?" You hesitantly muttered slowly pulling away from Junwoo.

"Yesterday night, uncle came to my room after Aunt Yuna complained him about me hurting you. So he told me that you are kind and sweet just like my mother."
He explained leaving you in shock.

That Monster said this about you to him.
But why? What does he gain from doing this?

It's....wierd.

"Oh! We should go back to my room now! Otherwise someone will notice us gone missing."

Junwoo quickly picked up the canvas and made a run towards the drawer to keep it back inside. You both went outside the bedroom and started walking back to his room while he continued chatting about how his mother taught him about the artwork but you were unfortunately not listening to him as you kept thinking hard about Jungkook's action.

'Did he do this out of some intention against me?'

****

You sighed deeply at your miserable life as you cleaned the dishes and kept looking outside at the backyard. The sky was now dark filled with twinkling stars and an almost full moon.

Everyone was done with their dinners including Jimin that genuinely surprised you. He was all silent eating the dinner made by you without giving you an angry glare.

Jungkook was again late today. Taehyung informed you he might arrive late in midnight because of some important work.

But you had an idea what important 'shady' work he must be busy with.
And honestly just thinking about that made you feel disgusted.

Him killing people like it's a normal thing and then you have to share the same room with that murderer made you felt a sinner as well.

As you were lost in your thoughts, your fingers reached near the scar on your neck after feeling the need to scratch because of itching and you didn't even realized this until your nails digged into the scar, scratching the skin off.

"Fuck!" You yelled in pain as the plate fell off from your hand scattering onto the floor into peices.

Your eyes quickly filled with tears as you pressed your palm onto the neck, biting down the lower lip tightly as pain spread like a current in your neck region.

Tears fell with a grunt as you closed shut your eyes to bear the pain but your body jumped at the sudden cold touch on your hand that was pressed against the bleeding scar.

"Leave it."
Your breath hitched when you felt a presence behind you, his chest pressed agaisnt your back

You hesitantly removed your hand which was now stained with blood as you felt his hot breath near your neck, inspecting the wound.

"You need to be patched up again."

As he moved back, you turned around to find Jungkook picking up the shreds of broken plate off the floor and throwing them in the garbage while you untied the knot of apron and tried to take it off from your head but Jungkook held your hand, stopping you instantly.

Your gut churned up in disgust at his hold as you quickly snatched your hands away. This made him scoff in irritation as he held both of your shoulders and forcefully turned you around.

Your body instantly went into fight mode as you tried to resist him but he hissed in anger, tightening his grip on your shoulders.

"Stop being stupid and reckless."
An angry tone entered in your ears and this time you dared not to move a single muscle as you were already in pain and didn't wanted him to hurt you more with his tight grip.

He carefully while making sure the strings don't touch the wound, took off the apron from your head.

"Bedroom, now."
He said two words and you wasted no time just following him behind to the upstairs leaving your unfinished work in the kitchen.

You both entered inside and you were about to go and fetch the first aid box yourself but Jungkook signalled you to sit on the bed.

He brought the first aid box from the drawer and sat beside you, taking out the cotton and ointment from it before he started cleaning off the blood.

You clutched your gown tightly in your fist, bearing with the pain because he was being a little harsh while cleaning the wound.

But somehow Jungkook noticed you secretly hissing and flinching at his touch on wound, so he slowed down and dabbed the cotton more softly.

"You have scratched half the scarb off, so this has become fresh again. Be careful with it now." He mumbled under his breath and finished the dressing after few minutes.

There was an awkward silence from your side when he kept the box back into the drawer and turned around to look your figure for a minute without saying anything.

"I....will bring your dinner."
You informed him and stood up to quickly leave the room and be away from his uncomfortable gaze.

"Let it be. I am not hungry. You can sleep, Yuna will clean up stuff tomorrow morning." He said finally looking away from you.

Your eyes widened when he started removing clothes while walking towards the bathroom making you instantly turn your back to him.

But you accidentally caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror leaving you surprised.

His back was filled with scars.
Too many- Ugly old scars.

The door closed cutting your view to his naked back as you blinked your eyes in confusion and turned your face towards the bathroom as your heard the running water from shower.

'That looked painful.'

~To Be Continued

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