Cherreads

Chapter 5 - The smell of the past

AVA

His touch, even if it was just to reach Rori, sent a shock through me.

Your skin remembers, those are sensations you can't forget.

But right now, what I feel isn't emotion.

It's anger.

For what was.

For what could have been.

For what he destroyed.

Rori is crying in his arms, and I feel like a trapped lioness.

I want to scream, to tear her away from him, but I have to weigh my words carefully.

"A touching encounter, but let's get serious. Since when exactly have you cared about her?"

I notice him stiffen.

"This isn't the time, Ava."

"No, it's exactly the time. After years of silence, this drama is really bothering me. And you, Rori?"

I sense his tension, and my sister pulls away from him with a jerk.

"Out. Now."

Min Jun's voice is like a dead branch snapping, but it has no effect on me.

"Why should I?"

My tone is sharp. Icy.

Like the grip of her hand on my arm, with which she grabs me and drags me from the room in deathly silence.

I can only catch the shock on my sister's face and then a door slams behind me.

The click of my boot heels echoes in the hallway.

It's a mournful sound, but not like her face when she turns to look at me.

I cross my arms, as if nothing could shake me.

"If you touch me again, I'll break your arm."

I'm poisonous on purpose.

"Do it. At least I'd feel something."

She tries to control her tone. Her eyes are sharp slits.

That face…

That perfect oval, the barely pronounced cheekbones, the full lips, and that dark iris in which I've lost myself so many times, now they're hating me.

Everything we don't say suffocates us.

An ancient complicity, made of glances, touches, whispered words, echoes our silent skirmish.

We study each other, they hate each other, we know each other all too well.

"What do you want to make amends for, exactly? I don't understand what you hope to achieve with this 'reunion' act."

"You're the one acting, playing Aura's champion. But I know you like to be in charge, deciding who deserves to exist beside her. And you're obsessed with revenge."

I laugh.

A sound like chipped ice.

"It's true. I've been waiting for this moment for years, and I don't want to give it up. But what about you?"

"I had to leave, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten her. But I knew you were there, watching over her. Fighting. And yet they managed to hurt her."

A sharp pain shoots through my skin and I feel suffocated.

What does he know about our pain? Where was he when Rori hid for days and I was driven mad with despair.

Coward. Slimy, hypocritical coward.

You can't judge.

You can't hurt me.

"Old Min came back to say hello."

The irony in my tone stings him.

"I'm no longer the boy you let go. And this time, I'm not going anywhere."

"As if that would make a difference…"

"Ava, this isn't about us."

Min Jun clenches his fists.

"There was never an 'us'."

I walk toward the door, place a hand on the handle, and turn to look at him for a moment.

"You have no idea what you're about to face, Min-Jun. You have no idea who I've become. But I'm sure you won't like it."

I look at him one last time.

Sharp. Lethal.

Then I go back inside. My sister needs me.

More Chapters