Chapter 28: Scars

Fahami's POV:

' Oh My God! Who did this?'

I was shocked to see his back. There were scars, all over his back. Scars that told stories. Few of them were burn marks but what caught my attention were the vivid long vertical and parallel scars on his upper back. It looked like someone cut his shoulder blades with something very sharp like knife. Was it the reason he didn't let me see his back last time? I didn't know. Only Taesung himself could give me these answers. But one thing was clear to me. He was abused. I didn't know if these scars were new or did these happened during his childhood.

I traced each scar with the pad of my fingers. I could feel their intensity; I could feel how these burns and cuts had hurt him. Taesung flinched every time I traced his scars. He must felt uncomfortable if someone touched his bare back.

I didn't realize when I started crying until my tears rolled down my cheek and I could taste the saltiness in my mouth. He meant so much to me. I didn't even get the time to stop or control the feelings I had for him. Was it simply because I considered him as a younger brother? Or was it because he reminded me of Nabil? Perhaps, both. Perhaps, what I felt for him was stronger than I thought. But I wanted to hurt that person so much who dared to hurt Taesung. I felt sadness, anger, pity, hatred. It was too much overwhelming for me. Unintentional sobs came out of my mouth.

"Noona. Are you crying? Why are you crying Noona?" He whispered weakly. I looked at his face, at his half closed eyes as they tried to stare back at mine. I couldn't hold back anymore. I wrapped my arms around him and placed my head on his shoulder as I cried. He softly stroked my hairs.

I remembered an incident of my childhood. I was twelve years old and Nabil was seven. One day, ma was making hot chocolate for him. Hot chocolate was his favorite. Ma was talking to someone in phone and Nabil was getting impatient. I was drawing on the ground beside the kitchen. Suddenly Nabil screamed and cried out. Ma and I sprinted to the kitchen and saw hot chocolate was spilled all over the kitchen floor and some mixture also fell on Nabil's leg. He was crying and yelling, "Ma, help me."

That day I rubbed ice cubes on his wound and constantly wiped his tears, pecked him on his cheeks, and I was cooing him the whole time. He cried until Papa came home and took him to hospital and later to a nearby park. Time passed away but his scar remained on his leg. I still remembered how much it bothered me. How much worried I was. That day, I could feel his pain, and I was there for him.

I felt anger and sadness as I realized I wasn't there when Taesung needed me. I wasn't there when he needed ice cubes for the burning, I wasn't there when he needed first aid for the cuts. I wasn't there to tell him, 'Don't cry. It will be okay. You will be okay.' I wondered if there was anyone for him. He gave me his mother's chain but if his mother was with him, how did he get these scars? These scars were the clear evidence that all of these were not accidental. Someone definitely did this on purpose. I wished I could gift these scars to the person who dared to treat him like this.

' What if his mother did this?'

No, it couldn't be. I noticed sorrow, some kind of longing when Taesung gave me that chain. He loved his mother. Then who? All of this happened when he was vulnerable, when he was a child because Taesung was a trained Taekwondo fighter. If he could squeeze adults like squeezing ants, there was no way someone hurt him in his adulthood.

' Someone closer to him.'

If it was just someone who was closer to his family and treated Taesung like this, where was his mother? She should have been there to stop, right? Nothing was making sense Maybe his mother couldn't stop that person, someone she couldn't control. Who could it be?

My eyes widened when the realization hit me, ' Of course, it was his father.'

My hold automatically tightened around Taesung. His father was the one behind all of this. Father was supposed to be affectionate, understanding, caring. Father was supposed to be the one who protected and provided his children. What would a child do if the man who was supposed to be his superhero was the supervillain of his life?

Papa was Nabil's best friend until he had to work harder to provide us the bests. Even when papa got busy in his career, he was affectionate to us. When he returned home late, he would give us goodnight kisses even if we were sleeping. I noticed it many times when I faked sleeping just to read my story books. Father was supposed to be like this.

I had a great father when on the other hand Taesung had a monster instead of having a real father. When papa gave us goodnight kisses, his one used to give him pain. I couldn't explain how I was feeling.

I cried until my heart felt hollow, and I was tired. Taesung didn't push me off. He held on to me tightly as if he could sense my sadness. When I calmed down, I felt Taesung's temperature increased under my hold. His fever was getting high.

I freed him from my embrace and gave him a sponge bath again. He was shivering when I was wiping. He groaned slightly whenever I touched his back.

I laid him down to bed and quickly covered him with a duvet.

' He has to eat something. But what can I make for him? He won't want to eat anything when he is burning with fever.'

I went to kitchen and made flue buster garlic soup for him. Ma used to make it for us especially for me whenever I was sick. I tended to get flue easily and every time I suffered from a fever, I didn't want to eat anything. Garlic was my worst enemy during my childhood. However, Taesung didn't dislike garlic in fact he made garlic bread for breakfast. I hoped it would be easy to make him eat this.

When I came back from the kitchen, I found him sleeping. He had a slight frown over his eyebrows as if something was bothering him.

I didn't want to wake him up, but he needed to take medicines. When I bent down to wake him up, he caught my wrist and whispered, "Don't Go."