It's Just A Picture (BL)
Chapter 28: A visit to the study

Chapter 28: A visit to the study

(WARNING: This Chapter may contain content irritable to the readers. Child abuse, child manipulation or child sexual exploit. As well as death. Readers discretion advised.)

The reason why I said I ruined their lives once before and the reason for my trauma was because of what happened in Mr Kim’s study.

I was already scared of the man after that incident where he carried that naked and frightened boy back to his study and I was even more on guard when my grandmother told me he wanted to tutor me.

A lot of time passed since then and I was older than the little boy he had brought with him so I felt it was okay. He wouldn’t target me anymore.

That’s what I thought.

Well, it was already confirmed that the twins had selective mutism. At first, I thought it was because they didn’t know how to speak Korean clearly but even when they got better, they still stayed mute around a lot of people and only talked to me.

Unless they really wanted to say something, their mouths were sealed tight at all times.

We played mostly in the garden and rarely stayed in their room.

For some reason, they didn’t like their own room. Probably because it was dark almost all the time.

One day, I went to visit them, like every other day. I was 17 then. Relatively bigger than I was when we first met.

Ugh, well, I wish. I didn’t grow much in height and it looked like the twins were already catching up to me.

They always kept saying they would take care of me when they finally grew taller than me and it became a challenge to me. I needed to grow taller.

But that aside, I was excited.

I was excited that day because I was going to show them the picture I had finally printed. Printing pictures cost a bit of money so I could only get one but it was my first printed picture so I was going to show it to them first.

They didn’t really have pictures of themselves. The day I visited their room, I noticed it was dark and dull with nothing but the furniture.

It contrasted completely with their bright smiles and shiny hair, but I couldn’t really do anything about it since it was probably their father’s design. Gulp.

But unfortunately, after entering the house, I met their father first. Gulp.

He looked at me as if trying to analyze my entire worth with his eyes and it made me uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. I decided to just greet him respectfully.

I bowed my head and said,

"Good day, Uncle."

Luckily, I didn’t stutter. I didn’t hear any response from him but decided to just go anyway. I had done my part and greeted him.

But just when I was about to take a step and go on my way, he said,

"They’re in the study."

I froze. The... Study? I looked at him. His study?

Something about that made me scared. Why would they be in his study? He... He wouldn’t do the same thing as what he did to that boy with them, right? I mean, they were almost at that same age but... No.

He couldn’t. They were his sons.

I gulped.

"I... It seems they’re busy then." I said, ready to make a full retreat. "I’ll go back for today and come back another day."

That was what I decided on, but then he added,

"That’s too bad. They’ve been looking forward to seeing you all day. Would you really want to disappoint them?"

His voice was icy and scary. It felt odd that the twins would be in the study but maybe they were searching for a book or something.

Well, let’s just take a look.

I tapped the picture in my pocket.

I just needed to show it to them.

"Oh, alright." I said and started making my way to his study.

I stood in front of it and took a deep breath. Are the twins really in there?

That question played in my head twice and I just decided to see for myself.

I opened the door and walked in.

It was a large room filled with books on bookshelves and there was a desk in the middle, as well as a chair.

"They... they’re not here?" I wondered out loud and decided to leave right away. Maybe they had already left the study without their father knowing.

But the moment I turned to head to the door, I found their father standing at the door. It frightened me. Or maybe they weren’t in here, to begin with.

"Um, u-uncle, they’re... They’re not here." I said, awkwardly.

"Oh? Maybe they left already." He said and entered the study.

And then, he closed the door, causing goosebumps to circulate all over my body. I gulped. Why did he close the door? I wanted to go out.

"Say, your name is Dongwoo, isn’t it?"

"Y-yes, uncle." I stuttered. My palms were already getting sweaty from nervousness and instinctively, I stepped back.

"Don’t be scared. Uncle just wants to play with you for a while. You’re always playing with my sons. Can’t I play with you as well?"

The word ’play’ coming from his mouth sounded very dirty and sinister. I couldn’t wash out the image of him forcing a young boy from my head so everything he did just looked and sounded dirty to me.

’I need to get out of here. My brain and every single cell in my body says that it’s dangerous.’ I thought but before I knew it, he had already closed the gap between us and placed his hands on my shoulder.

I started trembling because I was scared.

"Now, why are you like this? Uncle only wants to play with you. There’s no need to feel scared." His long and rough fingers slowly slid into the neck of my shirt and I closed my eyes.

’Please, let it not be what I think it is.’ I prayed but this man grinned, enjoying the sight of me tremble like a leaf.

"You’re so cute that this uncle has always had eyes on you." He suddenly said and my eyes shot open.

Then suddenly, he forced his lips on mine. I was utterly disgusted as he, a grown-up man, as well as the father of the boys I played with almost every day of my life, kissed me.