S I X T Y - F O U R
.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

"So it was him." Thomas muttered.
We sat on the couch now, staring straight forward.

"Yeah."
My voice was hoarse from crying.  

"That's... a coincidence." He sighed. "How long have you known he's Minho's friend?"

"Pretty much since the Netherlands." I blinked a few times, shame now hitting me.

"What?" Thomas immediately shot straight up. "And you didn't tell us?"

I looked down. "It wasn't that easy."

"Right." His mood changed fast. "Sorry."

A few seconds of silence before I asked, "Where are they now?"

"They brought Minho outside to calm down first, then he said he wanted to be alone, so we allowed him to stay outside if he promised not to do anything stupid." Thomas explained. "Kay knows how to do this doctor shit so he's patching Aiden up under Fry's watch."

"Okay." I nodded.

Thomas waited a minute, biting his lip. "I think we should go to the cops."

"What?" My eyes widened. I didn't want those problems!

"My dad can help. Abuse is illegal, Quinn. And we can't let Aiden get away with three years of beating you up and whatever other shit he did!"

"But Minho—."

"Ah, shut up about Minho! I don't care what he might think of this. It's not about him or the fact that Aiden has been his friend for years. For fuck's sake! This is about you and Aiden. About what he had been doing to you for years and how he deserves to be in jail or something for that, not about how broken Minho will be after this. I mean, I love that boy, but seriously, it's about you. He'll be fine."

I was very thoughtful about that. So eventually, "What will I have to do with the police, then?"

"You and I go there, tell the story. They're gonna investigate. Most likely will interview you and then Aiden. I suppose he gets days in jail and community service."

"Won't I need proof or something?"

"No offense, but I think your scars are proof."

"The diary." I blurted out, looking up in realization. "In there is most stuff."

"Okay, awesome." Thomas didn't ask any more questions about it. "I'll call my dad, okay? He'll make sure they pick Aiden up and when we get back home safely, we'll see about you. Is that alright?"

I nodded. "I guess that's okay."

"Awesome." He took my hand, intertwining my fingers with his. "We can fix it, all right? It'll all end up fine."

I nodded another time. "Okay."

As if it was timed, Newt and Teresa walked in on that exact moment. Teresa had tears standing in her eyes and in a second, she had hugged me and whispered 'sorry' a million times. Newt gave me a poor smile, then also a firm hug I enjoyed.

"Is Minho okay?" Was the first thing I asked Newt, more curious about what he was feeling. Betrayed? Angry for sure. Sad?

"Yeah. I mean, there's been times where he was doing better, but he'll be fine." Newt touched his chin, a habit he owned.

"What happened?" I wondered. After they dragged Minho away I didn't pick up one single thing of what he said or what they did.

"Took some effort to calm him down. Bloody hell, anger makes him blind." Newt exhaled deeply. "I personally couldn't really see what he was feeling. He didn't want to talk either. Just told us to 'leave him the fuck alone before he would...' and that's when I quickly interrupted him."

"Wow." I leaned my head on my hand. Talking to Minho would be hard after this. He was feeling stuff I hadn't seen him feel before and honestly I had no idea how to help him with that. "Where are the others?"

"Well, when Thomas was the first to hear screams, he didn't hesitate to rush inside. I followed, and then Frypan and Winston. Frypan appeared to have told the rest to stay in the pool so whatever was happening wouldn't get worse. Winston might be explaining them what happened right now."

All this information made me slightly anxious. I chewed on my fingernails, which were normally long. "So everyone knows now. That's lovely."

Teresa gave me a squeeze in the hand. "Maybe it's better we all know. We can keep it in mind and will know what are sensitive triggers. Like, we all are aware that Minho's dad isn't the best and that Winston's parents are divorced. We make sure not to mention it too much, so with you, we will probably try to distract you and make you as happy as possible... so you can forget about it and feel safe in our group." She summarized. "And you don't have to feel ashamed for this, Quinn. No one's judging you."

"Thanks." I managed a smile at Teresa. They were honestly the best friends you could wish for.
"Do you think Minho will be okay with me checking up on him?"

Newt shrugged a bit. "Yeah, I think so."

"Not you think so!" Thomas threw his hands into the air. "That boy would probably jump off a cliff if he made Quinn cry. Of course he's okay with her checking up on him! So go!"

Newt chuckled slightly, his eyes betraying how desperately he was in love with Thomas when he looked at him. "He's at that lake, ya know? On the pier."

I knew where that was, so nodded. "Thanks. See you."
They all smiled at me.

Nervously I started making my way to the pier, my stomach doing flips and my palms getting sweaty. I didn't think Minho would scream at me or something, but he still could've been angry.

He indeed sat there, at the edge of the pier. His legs hung over it, head lowered. Luckily Minho noticed me coming before I even said something. He scooted aside, gesturing for me to sit right away. That gave a slight feeling of comfort.

"Hey." I said, my voice suddenly high-pitched.

"Hey." He said. I couldn't read his face. He was hiding his emotions... and he was pretty good at that.

Just as I was about to apologize, he spoke, "You know, I've always found the way he talked about girls weird."

Surprised, I watched him talk. He just stared at the water in front of us. The sun reflecting into our eyes. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He his Adam's apple moved. "He acted as if he could just insult and touch them anytime he wanted." A pause. "So I didn't trust him when he had to go to the bathroom while you got dressed... such a coincidence, I thought. That he suddenly has to go."

"So you heard everything." I nodded at myself.

"No." He was still talking in a low voice. "I only heard Aiden reading some shit out loud. I refuse to believe anything that comes out of his filthy little- sorry." A pause. "I want to hear it from you. Everything. Every single moment you remember spending with him. I don't even care how long it'll take, I want to know."

"Right now...?"

"Yeah."

I shook my head. "First, I wanna ask if you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"Fine as long as you're still breathing? Thought so." I watched my own reflection in the water. "No, just tell me how you feel."

"I'm not good with emotions." He grumbled under his breath.

"Just try to describe it to me." I grabbed his hand.

"I feel... betrayed." He started. "And furious. Sad."

"And... does that make you want to hit something? Or scream?" I carefully asked, not sure what to say, even though I had a desperate need to make sure he felt good.

"It makes me want to cry." Minho said.

"Then you cry." I replied, but he shook his head.

"Later, maybe." His eyes kept focused on the water sharply. "Did you know Aiden was one of my friends? Know it before I said his name?"

"Yeah." The shame came back. "I knew since the Netherlands." 

He tensed up completely, the grip on my hand tightening. "And you didn't even bother to tell me?! I thought— shit. I thought I made it so clear you could tell me anything, Quinn!"

"I'm sorry." I said fast, able to feel his anger in the air. "But what was I supposed to do? Hey love, so your best friend abused me for three years and now he wants money?" 

Minho wasn't holding my hand anymore. "Money?" He asked quietly at first, but then louder with a straightened back. "He wanted money?"

"Has been calling me the whole trip long. Threats." I mumbled.

He pulled his hand away from mine and roughly got up. "Fuck's sake! The one that stole in Switzerland all bad to do with him, didn't it? That random time in the car when I came back from fueling and you were so upset?" He shook his head. "God, I can't— can't even..."

And he stumped away with saying anything else. I had wide eyes from surprise, but wouldn't allow myself to cry because he was angry. He had all the right to be angry. At me, Aiden... anyone.

If I placed myself in his situation, it was understandable. Imagine I found out my best friend hurt Minho for three years long, and he didn't even tell me. I would feel betrayed too. Angry at the best friend because she somewhat ruined Minho in those years. But sad because it was still one of my best friends.

Later, I got up and walked back to the house.

Most people were still in the living room when I sat down, muttering that Minho needed to get rid of some steam first.