There was loud banging on her door; it was 11PM and she wasn’t expecting anyone. A bat in her hand and heart pounding under her pajamas, Sunhee slowly walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Taehyung? Quickly placing the bat down and unlocking her door, she opened it to find a torn up Taehyung, tears streaming down his face and blood on his hands and clothes.

 

“Sunhee-yah…” he choked out when he saw her. She quickly pulled him into her apartment, closing and locking the door after making sure no one had seen him in the state that he was in.

 

“Taehyung....what happened?” she pulled him onto the couch, holding his blood-stained hands, praying he wouldn’t say the one thing she was afraid of.

 

“Sunhee...I...I didn’t think I would do it...I...he’s...he hit my mom again, he slapped her so hard and I wasn’t thinking I just got so angry and his beer bottles were there and it just happened so quickly and --”

 

“Taehyung, breathe. You don’t have to tell me in one breath, it’s okay. Please, just take a few breaths, get your thoughts together. I’m here for you, I’m right here,” she pulled him into a hug, rubbing his back as he wrapped his arms around her. He began to cry, burying his face into her neck and pulling her closer to him.

 

“I think I killed him,” he whispered through his sobs, “I think I killed my father.”

 

Sunhee sat in shock. She had heard him say it before, that if his father hurt his mom one more time, he didn’t know what he would do. That he might hurt him in a way that he would regret, but she didn’t think he would ever do it. Taehyung hated his father but couldn’t bring himself to leave home for his mother’s sake. His father was a drunk and his mother always received the abuse no matter how hard Taehyung tried to stop it. There were days he would stay with Sunhee, his face bruised and bleeding, his mother having pleaded with him to not come home for a few days so his father wouldn’t hurt him.

 

“Taehyung…” she didn’t know what to say. He had blood all over him, she didn’t want to ask what he did. She didn’t want to know any more than that a beer bottle was involved.

 

“I killed my own father!” he cried, pulling back from Sunhee and standing up. “Right in front of my mother!” he held his head in his hands, his eyes widening.

 

“Taehyung, please,” Sunhee started, reaching out to him, but he cut her off and started pacing.

 

“I’m just like him. I tried to stop him from hurting my mom again but I used violence. Just like him. I even went a step further and killed him. Oh, my God, I killed him,” he ran his hands through his hair, staring at the ground, realization hitting him like a brick.

 

“Taehyung, no,” Sunhee stood and walked to him, holding his face softly, making him look at her, “don’t you dare start thinking like that. You are not your father; you’re nothing like him at all.” his eyes were shaking as he stared into her’s. The fear on his face was now mixed with confusion.

 

“I’m a murderer…how can you still say I’m nothing like him? I’m worse than him,” he placed his hands on her’s, gripping onto them as if he would lose all reality and hope if he let go.

 

“Because I’ve known and loved you far too long to know that you’re nothing like your father. You’re a kind and loving man; you’re always making sacrifices for everyone else. One mistake doesn’t define who you are as whole,” the tears began streaming down his cheeks. She pulled him in and placed a kiss on his lips, “You need rest, Tae. You should go get washed up,” she quickly changed the subject, leading him by his hands towards the bathroom, "I'll take out some clean clothes for you."

 

She gave his hands a quick squeeze before walking off to her room to grab the extra clothes that he always left at her house. Taehyung sighed, stepping into the restroom and, for the first time that day, looked at himself in the mirror. Blood. It was every where. He let out a shaky breath as he the shower and removed his clothes one by one from his body. He stepped into the shower and immediately began to scrub his whole body. His hands. His hands seemed to be stained with it. He couldn't seem to wash it off as quickly as he wanted to. He looked down at his feet and saw the blood-stained water running towards the drain and disappearing quickly. He started to scrub his face, his neck, his hair. He could smell the blood even within the scent of the soap.

 

"Tae? You okay?" Sunhee opened the door to the bathroom, snapping him back to reality.

 

"Mhm," Taehyung responded, not wanting to speak words in fear of becoming emotional and breaking down again.

 

"I'll be in the living room," she set the clean clothes on the sink counter and picked up his dirty ones from the floor, taking them to the laundry room.

 

Sunhee sat in the living room after changing herself and starting the wash with his and now her blood-stained clothes, waiting for Taehyung to get out of the shower. A few minutes later, he walked out, towel around his neck, his face still heavy with pain and guilt. He laid on the couch, resting his head on her lap, facing away from her. Sunhee began to run her fingers through his damp hair, something he had mentioned calmed him down and soothed him.

 

"What do I do?" he asked in a whisper, she felt his hand tremble a little on her knee.

 

"I don't know...I wish I knew..." Sunhee began to pray that his father was okay. All those years she hated him for hurting his own family, for causing Taehyung so much pain, she now wished he was okay, that he was alive and well. For Taehyung's sake. For his sanity.

 

"I'm....I'm scared, Sunhee-yah. I don't know what to do..." he closed his eyes, wanting to forget that it happened, wanting to go back in time and stop himself from even doing it.Sunhee let out a breath, looking up at the ceiling to keep herself from tearing up.

 

“Go to sleep for now. You’ll have a clearer head in the morning; we’ll think of something then, okay?” Sunhee tried to keep her voice steady. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, now drawing tiny circles on her thigh, distracting himself from his thoughts. She began to hum a lullaby that her mother used to sing for her when she was distressed and continued to play with his hair until he fell asleep and eventually, she did too.

 

Sunhee felt as though she was being lifted and her eyes shot open, seeing Taehyung’s face close to her’s. She sighed in relief.

 

“Did I scare you?” he asked, a small smile on his lips.

 

“A little,” she laughed, and wrapped her arms around his neck, “what time is it?”

 

“Not sure. I woke up and we were on the couch so I thought we should move to the bed. You weren’t supposed to wake up though,” he walked into her room and put her down to stand. Sunhee laughed and he gave her a smile before walking to the bed.

 

“Oh, its 2:30,” Sunhee stretched, looking at the clock.

 

“Come on, get in,” Taehyung said as he pulled back the covers and got in to bed, “you have work in the morning, you should sleep.”

 

“I called in sick for tomorrow while you were in the shower,” Sunhee said, climbing into bed and resting her head on his shoulder.

 

“What, why?” Taehyung looked down at her in confusion. Sunhee faked a cough.

 

“See? I’m sick,” she smiled at him.

 

He’d never want her to miss work for him. She was working to pay for school and every day of work was important. She moved to Seoul from the countryside to go to school and she couldn’t bear to ask her parents for financial help. She wanted to be able to live on her own no matter how many times her father tried to send her money. But work and money meant absolutely nothing when it came to the ones she loved. She was going to stay with Taehyung for as long as he needed someone next to him. Or for as long as she needed to be near him to feel okay with leaving him alone.

 

“Ah, I see,” he smiled, giving her an amused and almost sad smile, “thank you,” he pulled her into a hug, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

 

She had expected him to argue with her and tell her that she should go to work; that she can’t neglect her responsibilities. But she knew now that she had made the right choice. He didn’t want to be alone either. He wouldn’t be able to handle his thoughts if he was alone and would drive himself insane if he was.

 

“Good night, Tae,” Sunhee snuggled closer to Taehyung.

 

“Good night,” he murmured back to her, still holding her tightly.

 

Sunhee heard Taehyung’s breathing change and his grip on her loosened. She knew that he had already fallen asleep again. He had worn himself out so much. She pulled back from him a little bit to look at his face. His angelic, gorgeous face. All the pain and worry he felt were now tossed aside and he could sleep in peace. She watched him sleep, his chest rising and falling.

 

What were they going to do in the morning? There was no way that he’d be able to run from this forever. She wouldn’t be able to distract him from it for the rest of his life. He was going to have to face the reality of his actions sooner or later. She prayed that his mother would call him and tell him that everything is okay, that his father was fine, but she had little faith that it would happen. Taehyung wouldn’t have broken down that way if he wasn’t sure that he’d actually killed his father.

 

Sunhee shook her head from the thoughts, resting her head on his shoulder again. He instinctively tightened his hold on her before loosening up again. She had no idea what would happen in the next few hours, but seeing Taehyung sleeping peacefully for tonight was good enough to calm her. At least they could spend one more serene night together. Tomorrow’s troubles would have to wait.