Cold Tea

TW// Abuse

I wanted to run away but my feet wouldn't budge. Hye Su threw the rod aside, making me flinch, and slowly walked towards me. The man who was already panting like crazy dropped to the floor.

"Rim Jung Hwa," she repeated.

I stood there like a stone.

"You became more of a coward than I remember." She scoffed, "I saw you enter the building for the first time that day. You tried to approach me, didn't you?"

I was a bit reddened. When did she notice all that?!

"You also know it was me who was behind the manager's firing, don't you"

As if I was being controlled, I nodded.

"But you didn't report me. How… weird." She stared right into my soul.

She slowly walked towards me, making me even more panicked.

"I thought I had to take care of you… you know, clean the mess I made," She smiled creepily unlike the cute twelfth grader Hye Su. "Luckily, you're a nice guy, aren't you?"

I quietly whispered a yes and she seemed to have caught it.

"Nice to hear that! Now Jung Hwa, let's let the manager incident and what you saw today," She looked at the fatal man, "be a little secret between the two of us."

I gulped hard and realized the rod was right beside me.

She walked towards the man, "This man over here, he makes me angry." She moved him with her foot as if he was a piece of trash, "He's a homeless man who lives off of leftovers. Pathetic. And pathetic people aggravate me."

I couldn't believe someone could even say horrible things like that.

I picked up the rod- for my own safety and held it up vertically.

"I was pathetic back then too, wasn't I? Always trying to help people and then ending up in trouble in that process."

She scoffed and continued talking to herself, "You're lucky you weren't one of the people who... made my high school hell."

Noticing it was getting too quiet, she immediately turned around and got hit in the head with the rod.

I finally found my voice after she fainted, "Oh my god, what have I done?!"

I checked around her and thankfully she wasn't bleeding.

I ran towards the man, found his phone in his pocket, and called the ambulance.

After that, I put Hye Su on my shoulders and called a taxi.

I took her home and laid her on my bed.

"How and why did I get into this mess?" I asked myself, ruffling my hair.

I went into the kitchen and made myself some tea. I even made some for her.

Tea always helps with stress.

I was almost finished with the tea when I heard some crying.

"Hye Su, what's wrong?"

It seemed like she was asking for something, but what?

I ran to the kitchen and produced a glass of water in front of her.

She put a pill in her mouth then chugged the water.

There was complete silence, followed by my question when I noticed she was doing fine, "Did you just take an antidepressant?" I pointed at the box in her hand.

"Yeah… it's the least I can do to stay sane." She sighed, "I'm so sorry for whatever I did, I guess I really gave in to my… disorder, as I put it."

I already had a hunch of it, but she made me sure now.

Choi Hye Su was a psychopath.

"Thankfully, no one knows, except my parents, and well my dad is a psychiatrist so he fully knows how to keep me in control."

"It happened in high school… right? After…. the incident." I asked nervously, scared of what her reaction would be.

But she just nodded with no expression, "I was born with it and was doing just fine. The incident triggered it, then everything started going downhill…"

…

...

~A few years back~

"Hey, Choi Hye Su! Are you really that desperate to be the top student that you tore Ari's paper?" A classmate snickered.

"She probably begged Jung Hwa to give her the answers! No way she can top!"

I shut my ears with my hands and walked faster.

"What a loser!" Some people shouted.

I looked at the ground and tears started falling down.

I walked even faster, without looking up.

"What the actual-"

I looked up at the people who spread the rumour, the ones who changed my reputation in just two minutes and four sentences.

"First you try to harm my reputation, now you spilt coffee on my coat?" Ari, the one who led them around, sneered.

"I'm sorry." Was all I could say, perfectly aware her first words were incorrect.

"You've crossed the line." She shook her head.

The next thing I knew, I was being dragged by a rope tied tightly to my right hand. My wrist started bleeding, but no one cared.

They put the same hand in a vessel full of boiling water.

I could feel the burning pain, but it hadn't stopped until I passed out.

…

I woke up, covered in sweat, with my crying parents on my side.

My hand was hurting like crazy and when I looked at it, it was fully covered in a bandage.

My parents were shocked when they found out I was getting bullied for the last few days. But that didn't bother me. What bothered me was…

I stood in front of the piano, clutching my right hand, which was paining badly.

I couldn't even play some easy notes properly.

Tears flowed down from my eyes as I thought about my future, which meant nothing anymore as my only dream shattered and I couldn't do anything about it.

"Hye Su, stop, you'll just end up hurting yourself more." My piano teacher consoled me, patting my back. Well, ex-piano teacher now. "It's such a pity… you could've been such a great pianist…"

…

My life never went back to normal. My hand gradually got better over time- though it still hurt whenever I spent time doing something that requires handwork, but I had no courage to go near a piano again.

We moved away immediately after I got better. I started isolating myself, lost contact with my only friends- Kyung-mi, Daewon, Jung Hwa, everyone I knew.

I got over them and the whole situation after a year or so, or maybe my emotions disappeared. Everything about me changed drastically in those few months of isolation. Lying became second nature. I couldn't communicate properly with others. My dad caught on, and soon, I was eating pills to stop myself from being a crazy psychopath. Only when my parents were sure I was doing okay did they allow me to live alone if I wanted. And I accepted it and moved away.

The worst decision they ever made. I completely neglected my health and indulged myself in work. And sometimes my anger would take over and I would unintentionally… harm people. Emotionally and physically.

…

...

~Present Day~

I almost felt like crying.

Only if I had reached the school rooftop a few minutes back, I could've saved Hye Su.

"Well… I'll be going now," She put aside the blankets, "thanks for bringing me here."

Her cold gaze had returned.

I nodded as a farewell.

She reached the door, and turned around one last time, "The man… What happened to him?"

I just shook my head, "He'll be okay. And us too. You go home and take a rest."

I lied on my bed, sighing. I passed a crime and didn't report it.

I got up to make myself more tea. Tea always helps.

I saw a cup beside my bed. I had forgotten to give Hye Su her tea.

Well, she's gone so…

I took a sip and immediately spit it out.

"It's freezing cold!"

And for a second I thought of putting ice in it to make it Iced Tea.

"I've officially lost my mind." I ruffled my hair and collapsed in my bed, immediately falling asleep.