On Nari's side
Nari ran.
Ran without looking behind her.
Bare feet on the cold pavement, the towel now replaced by a too-big T-shirt, her hair dripping water, her throat squeezed so tight she could barely breathe.
The world was nothing but blur, light and shadow mixed together.
Cars, silhouettes, noises.
Nothing existed.
She pulled out her phone with a trembling hand and dialed 112.
— Emergency services, how can I help you?
Nari's voice came out distorted, strangled, unrecognizable.
— I… I… I need help, she stammered.
— My… my boyfriend… he… his father… he tried to… to… he tried to…
Her voice broke.
— Calm down, ma'am. Breathe. Can you tell me what's happening?
— He tried to rape me… Sion arrived… he… he's killing him right now!
Her voice rose, panicked.
— If you don't intervene NOW he's going to KILL HIM, do you hear me?!
— I… I ran out, I… I can't go back there!
— All right. Are you safe where you are?
— N-no… I… I don't know… I'm in the street… I'm cold… I'm shaking…
— Do you have someone you can go to immediately? A relative? A friend?
For a split second, Aera's face appeared in her mind.
Her smile.
Her arms.
Her voice.
Her fruity perfume.
— Yes… A-Aera… I… I'll call her…
— Very well. Go somewhere lit. Stay visible. We're sending a patrol right now. Do not return to your home.
— Okay… okay…
She hung up.
But her hand was shaking so much she nearly dropped the phone on the pavement.
She dialed Aera's number.
One ring.
Two rings.
Then—
— Nari?
Nari couldn't even answer.
Just a sob.
A torn sound, animal-like, ripped from the bottom of her throat.
— Nari?? Aera repeated, suddenly alarmed.
— Hey… hey… breathe, sweetheart. Breathe. What happened? Where are you? Are you bleeding? Say something!
— A… A-Aera… I-I… I'm scared… he… he tried… he tried to…
Her breath collapsed.
— I-I can't… I can't breathe… Aera I'm scared… I'm… I'm so scared…
Aera fell silent.
Not an empty silence.
A silence before an explosion.
— Don't move.
Her voice didn't shake.
Her voice was a blade.
— Don't move, Nari. You stay EXACTLY where you are. I'm coming. Right now. Don't hang up. Do you hear me?
— Y-yes…
— I'm there in two minutes. Two. Don't move. Don't cry alone. I'm here, sweetheart. I'm here.
Nari nodded even though Aera couldn't see her.
Then she leaned against a cold wall, slid slowly to the ground, the phone still against her ear, her breath trembling, her eyes empty.
She waited for Aera the way someone waits for a lifeline in the ocean.
The sound of cars made her dizzy.
Her heart beat too fast.
Her breath was too short.
Every second without Aera was a second she was sinking.
Then—
Heels.
Hurried footsteps.
Quick, breathless breaths.
Aera's silhouette appeared at the end of the street, running like crazy, hair flying behind her, her eyes already shining with rage and terror.
— NARI!
She rushed in, nearly fell to her knees in front of her, grabbed her face between her hands.
Her expression froze.
Horrified.
— My God… Nari…
Her voice broke.
— What did they do to you…?
Nari opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Just a tremor.
Just a silent sob.
Aera slid her hands behind her back and held her so tight Nari finally felt some human warmth return.
— Hey… hey, it's over my love… you're not alone… you're not alone… I'm here, okay? I'm here…
Her voice trembled.
But her arms held Nari like she was a child rescued from the middle of a battlefield.
She lifted her head, looked around.
Her eyes became blades.
— Was it Sion?
— …no… his… father…
— His father?! Aera repeated, her face instantly changing, softness replaced by pure hatred.
— I'm gonna kill him. I swear I'm going to KILL him. I'll take a damn kitchen knife and open his—
— Aera, no… no… please… Nari whispered, tiny voice.
Aera inhaled deeply, as if she was trying to swallow an entire volcano.
Then she placed a hand on Nari's cheek, gently wiping a streak of dried blood.
— Okay. We'll do this another way.
She took off her jacket and placed it on Nari's shoulders, tucking it around her like a mother tucks in a child.
— I'm taking you to my place. There you can breathe.
Nari burst into tears again — but this time, her tears carried something else:
gratitude.
Life.
A return to herself.
Aera helped her stand — gently, very gently — as if Nari were a wounded butterfly that might break in her hands.
— Come on, sweetheart… come on, we're going home…
— A-Aera… Sion… he… he stayed…
— Yes, he stayed, Aera answered firmly.
— And he's alive, from what you told me. That's all that matters. The police are on their way. You can't do anything now. It's not your job to save him.
She looked her straight in the eyes.
— Your job, right now… is to save yourself.
Nari nodded weakly.
Aera wrapped an arm around her — almost carrying her — and guided her to the car.
Before closing the door on her.
She slammed the door, rushed around the vehicle, started it, and drove off, heading to her apartment.
And while Nari clung to the seatbelt like a lifeline, the blue and red flashing lights began to light the street behind her.
The blue and red lights spun across the buildings like lightning.
The whole neighborhood seemed to breathe faster.
Two police cars screeched to a stop.
Officers jumped out, hands already near their weapons.
They ran up the stairs two at a time.
At the shattered doorway, they froze.
One second.
Two.
As if even the air had become too heavy to breathe.
Then—
— Police! Stay alert!
They entered the apartment.
And there…
Chaos.
Total.
Blood splattered on the walls, on the floor.
Thick, dark droplets, like traces of a beast.
Sion's father lying on the floor, half-unconscious, barely breathing, his face destroyed by punches.
Zipper open.
Hands covered in blood.
Glassy stare.
And Sion…
Sion sitting in the middle of the room.
Pale.
Panting.
Bare-chested, covered in blood — not his — knuckles split open, fingers trembling.
He looked like a man torn from a nightmare.
Or a nightmare made man.
His gaze lifted slowly toward the officers.
Slowly.
As if it took him hours to return to his own body.
— Sir, hands behind your head!
Now!
He didn't move.
Not a muscle.
He looked at the floor, the blood, the emptiness.
And at last… a single sentence slipped from his lips, almost inaudible:
— She left…?
The officers stepped closer, cautious, surrounding him.
Sion jolted when an officer touched his shoulder, like someone had pressed a burning knife into his skin.
— Mr. Sion, stand up slowly.
— …She left… he repeated in a whisper.
— Where… is she…?
He tried to stand.
His legs gave out.
He fell to his knees, hands trembling, drops of blood falling onto the floor.
The officers exchanged a look — torn between arresting him or helping him — then one of them slid an arm under his shoulder to support him.
— Sir, listen to me. We're taking you out. You're injured.
"Injured."
The word seemed to hit him in the chest.
— Not me… her.
His voice broke.
— Where is Nari? Where is she?!
The officer clenched his jaw.
— We can't tell you anything for now. You have to come with us.
Sion's eyes turned wild.
A mix of confusion, fear, pure terror.
— No… no!
He tried to push the officer away, but he was too weak.
— Let me go… she has to be here… she would never leave… never…
Two officers restrained him — not brutally, but firmly.
He had already stopped resisting.
He lowered his head.
Like a lost child being dragged away from home.
As if he had just realized he had broken everything.
Lost everything.
— Nari… he murmured.
— Come back… come back…
They led him out of the apartment while others photographed the scene, collected evidence, sealed the door.
The door shut behind him.
On Nari's side — a few minutes later
Aera was driving fast, very fast, her hands trembling on the wheel.
She didn't speak.
She just kept glancing at Nari every thirty seconds, as if to make sure she was still breathing.
Nari, curled up in the seat, stared at the rain on the window.
She couldn't feel her hands anymore.
Her brain was buzzing.
She murmured:
— He… he's going to go to prison…?
Aera inhaled.
For a long time.
— Nari… what he did… it's…
Her voice shook too much to finish the sentence.
— We'll see. For now, you are what matters. You, okay?
Nari nodded.
Very slowly.
But her lips whispered despite herself:
— I abandoned him…
Aera turned sharply toward her, rage in her eyes.
— You didn't abandon anything.
— You saved yourself. And I'm going to protect you now.
Nari closed her eyes.
A tear fell.
Then a second.
Then her body collapsed completely against the seat, exhausted, emptied, burned from the inside.