Page 223 of Scarbound

Ji-Woo’s jaw trembled. “And if…”

Duri couldn’t finish that sentence either.

He put one hand on Ji-Woo’s shoulder. “Let me go first.”

Ji-Woo looked toward the closed bedroom door. Then, finally, nodded.

Duri turned. His hand shook as he reached for the handle. He opened the door. The room lay in near darkness. For a second, his eyes struggled to adjust.

Then the smell hit him.

Blood.

Something else he refused to identify.

His stomach turned.

“Hyung?”

No answer.

Duri stepped inside. The room felt unnaturally still.

His eyes moved toward the bed. And stopped.

Noeul lay on his side beneath the weak light, naked and bruised. One wrist was still cuffed to the bed, the skin around it raw and bloodied.

His eyes were open. But they weren’t looking at Duri. They were fixed on the wall, distant and glassy, as though whatever part of Noeul normally lived behind them had gone somewhere far away.

Duri forgot how to breathe.

Then he saw the faint rise of Noeul’s chest.

Once.

Again.

Alive.

Noeul was alive.

CHAPTER 54

His wrists were bloodied, one hand still cuffed to the bed, the skin around it raw from desperate attempts to free himself. His head was wrapped in a bandage. There was blood on the sheets beneath him. More on his body.

Duri’s gaze dropped farther and immediately snapped away. Cold sweat broke across his forehead. He had to remind himself to breathe. To stay calm. To keep moving. “Hyung?”

No response. Duri took one cautious step closer. Noeul didn’t even look at him. He searched the bed and nightstand for the handcuff key, careful not to touch Noeul. Nothing.

“Okay,” he whispered, though he wasn’t sure whether he was speaking to Noeul or himself. “I’m going to get you out.”

Noeul continued staring at the wall. Duri backed out of the bedroom. The moment he stepped into the living room, he heard Chung-Hee’s voice.

“No one will ever love him the way I do.”

Duri stopped. For one dangerous second, rage overwhelmed everything else. “This is what you call love?” His voice shook. “Look at what you did to him.”

Ji-Woo moved toward the bedroom, but Duri caught his arm. “No.”