2 Chapter 2 - The boy and the cat
"What are you looking at? You little b*tch."
"...?"
Loads of thoughts began to swarm in Lily's mind, as she froze in place after being found out by the boy.
...???
'B*tch...?'
'Me?'
'Who are you?'
'You beat that man?'
'You seem dangerous, too...!'
I...
"I surrender!"
".....?"
There's no way that Lily could win against him in the warehouse, not without any weapons, especially after she saw his capabilities.
'I'll pretend just to surrender, then strike him in the back...! Or Maybe he'll just let me go, then it'll all be ok!'
"I won't do you any harm, you don't have to worry...! Or do you want to just go separate ways from here? I'll help you take care of the body, so you don't have to worry about witnesses and all that, too..."
"..."
The boy stayed silent for a moment, then spoke,
".....Do you promise to keep this a secret?"
'Just like that? I mean... that's good for me...'
"Yes, of course...! Uh... that's it. Ok, bye!"
Trying to get away as far as she could, Lily prepared to sprint again but was then interrupted by the boy's voice.
".....You have to pinky promise."
"...What...?"
Shocked by the boy's innocence, Lily's mouth hung over in shock.
Was this really the same boy who beat up the homeless man earlier?
"I mean, sure...! Uh... Do you promise not to hurt me, though?"
"We need a pinky promise for that as well."
"....."
One, two, three...
Taking careful steps, Lily got closer to the boy each moment while holding out her fingers as far as possible from her body, until it finally reached the boy's hands.
Right after the fingers intertwined, Lily pulled back as fast as possible, and quickly walked away backward, watching the boy's movements closely to ensure he wouldn't strike her when she wasn't watching out.
As soon as she got out of the warehouse, Lily started to run, while looking back a couple of times for extra security.
She didn't know where to go, but she ran, ran, and ran. The day has been very tiring. She needed somewhere to put her back to the ground and shut her eyelids for a good night's sleep.
After finding a random playground in an apartment area, Lily laid down and put her clothes over and under her to make more of a comfortable bed.
"Hahhhhhhhhhhhh....."
Sighing all the tiredness out of her body, she shut her eyes and flew off to dreamland.
...
....
........
"Lily...! Lily...!"
"Lily... you understand me, right...?"
"I'm sorry...! I'm trying my best-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
"MOM!!!!"
Blood. Blood everywhere. Bats. Wooden bats with nails. Nails, nails nails. Skin. Busted. Mom. Unknown man. House. Where? Where's Dad? Where's my dad? You said he was strong, Mom. Where's dad, with the so-called fist, when we need him?
Outside air. Air. Lung is shouting at me. Screaming at me to stop. My head is boiling hot and about to explode. My lung is dried up. Legs are screaming at me to stop.
Stop. Should I stop? I just want to end it here. Too tired. Just give in...
NO.
LIVE.
I have to live.
Live, live, live.
Run away, run away.
Far from my nightmare. Far from blood, from the bats. From the men.
I want to live.
........
....
...
*Buzzzzz*
"Ughhh...!"
"Sh*t."
Lily cursed out.
"Shit..."
Every time she was close to forgetting it, it always showed up... Like a constant reminder, that it was a chain holding her down and leaving its rusty marks on her for all her life.
Trying her best to think of other... peaceful things she could think of, she slapped herself after she thought of the boy. The memories of the boy were ones of nothing but negative. How dare he call her a b*tch? How would she sleep with those lines to her constantly repeating in her head?
*Buzzzzz*
Let's ignore the mosquito. Tis but a small life on her hands, which she could destroy at any time. Lily chose to give mercy, as she was but a kind soul in this wretched world.
Inviting herself to sleep again, she started counting sheep to sleep. Hopefully this time, she'll dream of eating all she wants at a fancy restaurant and becoming a non-streeter instead.
'One sheep... Two sheeps... Three sheeps... Four shee-'
*Buzzz*
"....."
'Four sheeps... Five sheeps... Six Sh-'
*Buzzz*
"..."
Lifting her hand out above and waving it around, Lily tried to get rid of the mosquito that she kept hearing buzzing.
How dare it interrupt her sleep, when she was finally able to get some rest?
*Buzzz*
"Ugh...!"
Feeling annoyed and frustrated, Lily was forced to give up the sweet feeling of:
["Oh I am going to sleep well today"]
To the annoying goal called, 'Extermination of the annoying mosquito'.
Getting up and rubbing her eyes, she met face-to-face with a boy holding a cat in his arms.
She rubbed her eyes again.
Perhaps she's gone off into her dream world already and is dreaming of the boy. The earlier experience must have been significant enough to even appear in her dreams.
The boy was still in her sight, causing her to pinch her cheeks to wake up.
"Ow...!"
It wasn't a dream.
It's not a dream.
'Oh no."
Quickly getting up to run away, Lily was only met with the result of banging her head straight to the ceiling of the slide.
*Bang!*
"AAAHHHHHH!!!"
Rolling around in pain, she was met with a very curious view of the boy and the cat, causing a wave of embarrassment and fear to wash over her.
"... Why did you follow me?"
She asked, gritting her face and frowning. Gosh, her head hurt.
"Ryan wanted to follow you..."
The boy answered, looking at the cat in his arms. So that cat's name is Ryan. The one who's caused her doom.
'I'll remember this, you demon of a cat.'
Surely, the cat was planning to cause her destruction. The boy couldn't be lying. He didn't have the look of dishonesty she'd seen all her life on his face.
"...So now you did... Uh... Nothing else, right...?"
After seeing the nod meaning yes from the boy, she was relieved and started to push him out of her sleeping spot.
"Ok, so off you go! Adventure to enjoy in the nighttime outside of the playground! How's that? it was nice meeting you! See you~!"
However, no matter how much she pushed, the boy would grab onto the slide and won't move a single bit.
"Hrrrrghh...!!"
"Meow."
Ryan meowed disproval as if to mock her efforts.
"Move! Why won't you move!!"
"...It's my first time meeting a person the same as me..."
"Huh?"
"No home... Out in the streets... Dirty... It's my first time seeing someone living like I am..."
It was true, but the way he phrased it made Lily upset. His words made her look back at her current situation.
"...You know what, I'm not homeless... I'm just... playing homeless... Because it's uhh... cool..."
To save her already-gone honor, she lied as easily as she breathed.
"You're playing homeless...?"
"Uh... Yeah! I know, my acting was so good, it almost made you think I was a dirty street person, eh?"
"Yeah."
The boy had an unknown talent for making her upset. If it was a job, surely he would have been a millionaire bathing in money by now.
.....
'Wait.....'
The boy wasn't trying to hurt her or cause her any harm. He also was pretty strong, too, judging from how he beat the homeless man earlier.
He also seemed pretty nice, except for the part where he unintentionally mocked her... Or did that for the second time... Or called a b*tch...
Shaking her head to get the useless thoughts out, Lily reached one conclusion.
"Hey, you wanna stick around for the time I play homeless?"
"Stick around...?"
"Yep! You'll hang out with me, teach me how to be a better homeless, street person, whatever... In turn, when I finish playing this, I'll gift you a home. The best home anyone can find."
"A home...? With Ryan?"
"Your little buddy can stick around, too."
Lily replied, smiling like a salesman at Ryan the cat only to receive a light hiss from him. He didn't seem to like the title 'Little Buddy' too much.
"My name is Lily Hyun. What's yours?"
She asked, letting out a bright smile of true happiness and wholesomeness, as she finally found a perfect host to leach on.
"...Eli Jang."
The boy replied. His look was so pure, that she didn't know what he was even thinking or feeling.
"My name is Eli Jang."
