Warning: Some details here will be a bit graphic. I own nothing of Hey Arnold except the characters and elements I thought up myself.
"Geez, Hyunh, why ya gotta wear that again?"
Mr. Hyunh turned to Ernie in complete confusion.
Right now, the two men were conversing in the room they shared in the beach house Phil had rented for the week.
Hyunh hummed as if the answer were so obvious, avoiding direct eye contact to make sure his eyes did not betray his words. "B-because… I like this shirt very much."
The burly redhead in suspenders shook his head in genuine disbelief at the weak excuse.
"Ya wear that every time we come up here," the petite redhead pointed out in perplexity and slight irritation. "What's up wit' that?"
Almost immediately, Hyunh's lean body became as erect as a tombstone, his eyes widened and nearly blank. Ernie, however, (he wasn't too sure, of course) could've sworn he saw a spark of something almost...hostile in his friend's eyes.
That spark, if it really was there, didn't last long. Before Ernie could question any further, Hyunh's eyes regained their typical shyness, which seemed a bit forced this time in Ernie's opinion.
"I am not very comfortable with my looks. That is all."
Silence reigned for a few moments as the two men stood across from each other, one gazing at the other in confusion bordering on concern, the other with his face turned away, expression unreadable.
At last, one of them gave in—and it wasn't Mr. Hyunh.
"Whateva' ya say, Hyunhski. I'll, uh, meet ya in the living room when yur ready, 'kay?" muttered Mr. Potts in a defeated sigh.
With nothing more to say, the diminutive man stepped out of the room, closing the door behind quietly and leaving his buddy to his own privacy. Ernie simply shook his balding head as his chest heaved heavily from another sigh, this one as deeply melancholy as the last.
'You know, Hyunh, sometimes I really worry about ya.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ernie had every reason to.
Hyunh had lied.
The reason the Vietnamese man hid his back from him went deeper—and darker—than he admitted.
Steeling himself, Mr. Hyunh slipped two arms underneath his shirt and removed the article of clothing. With his upper body now bare, he took a deep breath before swiftly rotating his head to gaze into the mirror behind him.
He grimaced the moment his eyes finally landed on the reflection of his lower back, a few centimeters above the base of the spine…
Three, angry-red scars…lengthy…jagged…they looked as if an animal's giant claw had struck him there a long time ago…
Except...most animals strike when they feel threatened or need to fight for something essential for survival...
The animal that delivered those scars was having a good time.
And Hyunh still wanted to murder the animal responsible.
What kind of sick demon delighted in the pitiful writhing brought about by a sharp razor blade, only to be coupled with the merciless kiss of a whip?
Yet what could he, the victim, have ever done to resist?
To be so powerless… could you imagine…
Wondering where the howls begging for the pain to cease are coming from…only to realize the howls are coming from you…the blinding flash of something white-hot assaulting your nerves…the vibrations in your body that made you feel more rubber than human…the sensation of something hot and sticky flowing over your back…only to realize that that something is blood…your blood…
The blood…so much blood…
Sometimes he still recoiled sharply at the memory…almost as if anticipating that same knife to slice into his flesh once more.
There was purpose to Hyunh's reminiscence, though: those scars didn't destroy his pride. They destroyed the submissive man he had once been.
Even after the taunts, the jeers, the lies, the betrayals—all the horrors he had to endure those twenty long years...
Hyunh came out stronger than before.
That's why no one controlled him.
His strong will was his revenge. His payback...
So that monster would never be given the satisfaction.
'No one will ever dominate me. Ever again...' he reminded himself as he quickly slipped his shirt back on, the incriminating evidence to one of his darkest hours hidden away from the world for what he hoped to be forever.
'Besides,' Hyunh let a dark smirk stretch across his face as he turned and left the room, 'look at which one of us is still alive.'
My writing can get a little hardcore sometimes.