Chapter 1
498 Words
Pain shot through my knees. I had bruises and cuts all over from struggling. The nail on my left index finger had cracked in half, and blood still trickled from it.
"Here, let me clean your wounds, Sally." Yuna Scott held out a tissue and reached for my arm.
"No need." My eyes burned. I drew a slow breath and brushed her hand aside.
Yuna stepped back until she was pressed against Aaron York's chest.
Tears spilled down her face. "This is all my fault, Sally. I only wanted to help your relationship. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed with you. I'll move out tomorrow. Please don't argue because of me anymore."
"Enough. How much longer are you going to make things hard for Yunie?" Aaron barked.
I gave a bitter laugh. He was always the same. Every time Yuna stirred up trouble, she cried, promised to leave my house, and Aaron turned around and blamed me.
Yuna's boyfriend of 10 years had cheated on her. After they broke up, she sank into depression and almost jumped off a rooftop. I was the one who took her in.
Aaron hadn't wanted her living with us because he worried her state of mind would affect me. But I treated Yuna like family, and I was the one who asked Aaron to be patient with her and look after her feelings.
Yet somehow, I had become the unreasonable one in Aaron's eyes.
This time, when she offered to leave, I wasn't going to hold her back. "You said it yourself. Then..."
Aaron cut me off before I could finish. "Will you give it a rest?"
His expression hardened. Holding Yuna's hand, he glared at me. "She did this because she cared about you. Why do you keep making such a big deal out of it? You know she has nowhere else to go. You keep calling her your best friend. Looks like you were only pretending."
His eyes swept over my wounds before he spoke again. "Besides, if you hadn't fought back, you wouldn't have gotten hurt. Yunie was trying to help you. Stop acting like you can't appreciate it."
He walked away with Yuna without looking back. My heart went cold.
I went to the hospital by myself to get my injuries treated. From start to finish, neither of them sent me a single message.
That night, I dragged myself home. The second I opened the door, the sharp smell of alcohol hit me, making me wrinkle my nose. Then I saw the scene in front of me.
My head buzzed, and I froze where I stood. Aaron lounged on the couch with his shirt off. Fresh hickeys covered his collarbone, and his face was still flushed.
Yuna peeked out from behind him with one strap slipping off her shoulder. When she saw me, she frowned. "Why did you come home so late? You were out there by yourself all night. Didn't you know we would be worried about you?"
- Writer
