by the sidelines • haechan

twenty three

Blood...?

"Yah, are you okay?" Donghyuck finally grasped the situation as he grabbed my injured hand, inspecting the cut closer as I winced upon the slightest movement. "I told you to hold it properly!"

He scowled as he dropped my hand, causing it to rebound against my body and drawing more pain. But even that couldn't compare to what I was hearing.

"So you're saying it's my fault?" I scoffed. How can he still have this much pride even when someone is injured?

"Doesn't matter, go wash that wound," he dismissed as he ran off to somewhere, leaving me no choice but to rush to the bathroom as well.

Placing my finger under the tap, I let the running water wash away the blood while adding a stinging pain to it. Gosh, what are the odds of his toenail slicing through my skin in that split second of a kick? I must be running low on luck this year, nothing is going my way.

I dabbed around the cut with some tissue before heading back out, where Donghyuck was waiting with a first aid kit. Hesitantly, I sat down beside him as he whipped out a tube of antiseptic cream, but I snatched it away before he could open it.

"I can do it myself," I stated flatly, struggling to dab a swab of cream onto my finger as I winced with each touch. I could feel his eyes on my every action, causing a sudden wave of self-consciousness to surge in me.

After observing for a while, he snatched the tube away from me and took out a cotton swab, gently evening out the antiseptic cream so it covered the whole cut. I could only spectate in silence, astounded by his rather soft touch despite his rough behaviour, but it was not something I could get used to.

Pulling my hand away, I gave the wound a quick scan before hopping off the bench. "It's okay now, we can go back to training," I dismissed, but he grabbed me before I could head back to the mats.

"No. Your sweat will wash off the antiseptic. We'll just call it a day." He hastily closed the first aid box while I stood there dumbfounded by his sudden declaration.

"We didn't even do much," I protested, "Besides, Haknyeon isn't even here yet." I mentally cursed at the tardy boy, who could've maybe prohibited all these from happening in the first place. But who was I to blame?

"Being late for half an hour is as good as not turning up at all," he blatantly stated, "And if you held that target properly, we could've avoided this whole situation."

"You're pushing the blame back to me now?" I retorted as he passed by me with the medical kit, although I do have to agree with him to a certain extent; if I was concentrating, he wouldn't have kicked my hand.

"Remember to wash your wound before you sleep. See you tomorrow." With that said, he exited the gym, leaving me speechless by the bench. Pfft, it's my finger, who is he to advise me on what and not to do? I've been in worse situations, I can totally handle this. He's so looking down on me.

I stared at the door for a couple of minutes, but seeing how neither one of them was appearing, I was left with no choice. Well, that was 30 minutes of my time wasted.

---

I winced as I rinsed my finger under the cold water, trying my best not to scream and attract my aunt's attention.

"Tell me again how you got hurt?" My brother's exasperated voice sounded from my pocket, where I left him on speaker as I cleansed my wound. He couldn't have picked a better time to call me, now I just have to trust that he won't tell anyone.

"I didn't hold the target properly, that's all," I repeated again, but I could tell he wasn't convinced just by his silence. What else could I possibly say to assure him?