Page 69 of Scarbound

The single word silenced him.

The rest of the journey passed without another word.

Several minutes later, the car finally stopped.

Noeul looked through the window, and the color drained from his face. His body began to shake.

“No…” he whispered, shrinking against the passenger door. “Why here?”

Tears filled Noeul’s eyes as he stared through the window.

“Please… anywhere else. Just not here.”

He pressed himself farther into the corner of the seat.

“Please, hyung.”

CHAPTER 28

A cold laugh escaped Chung-Hee as Noeul cried. He knew the truth beneath his anger: Duri had awakened the fear that Noeul could heal, choose someone else, and leave him. Calling what followed punishment allowed him to turn that fear into control. He chose the lie and stepped out of the car.

The moment the passenger door opened, Noeul scrambled toward the center of the seat, searching desperately for something to hold on to. Chung-Hee grabbed his leg and pulled.

For a brief moment, Noeul resisted. “Why fight?” Chung-Hee asked almost conversationally. “Isn’t it reasonable to bring you here? You need to reflect on your actions… to repent.” For that single moment, he understood that he had become the danger Haneul had asked him to protect Noeul from. Chung-Hee buried the recognition beneath cruelty before it could stop him.

***

“Let me go! I’m not getting out! What do I have to repent for? What did I do wrong?”

He pushed against the seat with both legs, fighting with everything he had. It wasn’t enough. Chung-Hee was stronger, healthier, relentless. He pinned Noeul down with his legs before grabbing a fistful of his hair and dragging him from the car.

Noeul’s screams shattered the quiet night. “Stop! Why are you so cruel? I didn’t do anything, hyung!”

Chung-Hee never answered. He dragged him deeper into the cemetery, past the last row of graves. By the time they reached Haneul’s tombstone, Noeul had no strength left to resist.

Chung-Hee threw him forward. His forehead struck the corner of the stone. Warm blood ran down the side of his face as the world tilted beneath him. Dazed, he remained half-lying across Haneul’s grave.

Without a word, Chung-Hee shoved Noeul’s face sideways against the cold granite and held it there. Pain shot through his forehead. His healing hands scraped helplessly against the stone.

“Apologize.”

Noeul couldn’t answer. His sobs echoed through the cemetery, guilt from the past tangling with the humiliation of the present.

“I said… apologize.”

This time, Chung-Hee leaned down and bit into Noeul’s shoulder until he cried out. Only after the sound faded did he speak again. “Have you forgotten what you did to my brother?” His grip tightened. “Answer me. Who gave you the courage to seek intimacy with another man? To pursue happiness?” His voice remained calm. “Do you really believe I would allow you love and joy after forcing my brother to his death?”

Noeul’s answer came as little more than a whisper. “I’m… still unworthy?” His shoulders trembled. “After all this time… hasn’t my suffering been enough to atone?”

Then Chung-Hee spread his legs beside him and slid one hand beneath the waistband of Noeul’s trousers.

Noeul froze, his eyes widening. “No…”

He twisted violently, trying to crawl away. Chung-Hee caught him with ease, forcing him back down against the ground. His breath brushed Noeul’s neck.

Chung-Hee’s hand moved lower, deliberate and unyielding, while Noeul twisted desperately beneath him.

Without another word, he violated him.