Kibum followed Tiffany through the neighborhood quietly, thankful that she had found him. He kept a tight grip on her hand, scared that if he let go then he’d run straight to the closest dealer and get or anything else that was available. He felt stupid for running back to this place, but he hadn’t really been thinking where he was going he just needed to get away.

“We’re almost to my house; you can stay with me for the night since my dad is out of town on a business trip. Jessica and Taecyeon were going to come over but I’ll tell them not to. Besides, they’d just end up making out on the couch again like last time, they’re so annoying,” Tiffany rambled on as they walked down the sidewalk together.

Kibum nodded and listened to her talk as they walked. Listening to her meaningless chatter helped distract him from the big problem he was facing, which was a good thing. Sooner or later she was going to ask him what happened and want him to talk about, but he knew from past experience that he could trust Tiffany. Sometimes he forgot it, but Tiffany was one of the only people to stay by his side through the entire ordeal this year. Tiffany was always so nice to him when everyone else was spreading rumors and calling him a murderer. She had stuck by his side and never once bothered him. He was glad that he could think of her as his friend and she felt the same way.

“Okay, here we are! Welcome to my humble abode!” She exclaimed with a laugh, pushing open the front door. Kibum smiled softly and walked inside with her and looked around. It was a nice house, medium sized and very clean and…perfect. It was the image of a happy family.

She let go of his hand and locked the front door and then led him into the living room and hopped on the white leather couch that was there and patted the spot next to her.

“So, you said you needed help. Care to explain? What happened to that brother of yours?” She asked him immediately.

Kibum opened his mouth to answer her but then closed it. He didn’t know what to say, because there was just so much to say. He didn’t know what he was thinking, feeling, or wanted; everything was all mixed up right now and he didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, Tiffany saw the turmoil that he was in and patted his hand softly.

“It’s okay; you probably need time to think first before I start bugging you. I’m going to go take a shower because walking in the damp air made my hair all frizzy and I probably look like some crazy right now. So I’ll be back in a little while, and don’t worry about leaving. I locked the door and you need the code to get out,” Tiffany told him with a smile. Kibum nodded and softly thanked her and then she disappeared from the room and left him with his thoughts.

He looked around the room he was in and studied all the pictures that were on the wall. There were a bunch of Tiffany and her father and the top of the fireplace held a bunch of pictures of whom he assumed to be Tiffany’s mother, who he knew passed away a few years ago. The whole house had a very homey feeling to it, just like Heechul’s did.

 That was part of the reason he ran away, it just felt too homey there and he still didn’t fully feel like he belonged. Yes, he saw Donghae as a good friend but they weren’t really that close. And Mir, he liked the boy, but he was just so infuriating and nosy sometimes, Kibum really wasn’t used to it. Even Dayeun hadn’t been that annoying and she had only been six. Then there was Heechul; just thinking about him made Kibum’s eyes water up with more tears. He felt completely betrayed by Heechul, hurt and unloved. Heechul had promised to be there for him, to love him, and not to leave him. But in the end, he wanted to send Kibum away. Kibum felt like it was his own fault because he was just so problematic. He was causing problems with Mir and of course Heechul was going to side with his own son rather than some kid he picked off the streets.

Then of course there was the issue with his drug addiction. Kibum thought he was doing pretty good since he hadn’t done any in two months. But maybe the withdrawal symptoms he was experiencing were just too much for Heechul to handle. Why should he be bothered with someone else’s problems? Because he loves you…loved you. He doesn’t love you, don’t be stupid Kibum. He wants to send me away and then leave while I’m going. He was going to break his promise and abandon me just like they did. I was right, I shouldn’t have listened to any of them. I can’t trust Heechul. He’ll just leave me, just like everyone else did. It really hurt him that Heechul had suggested to send him away after all that he had gone through. Kibum knew that even if he had agreed, rehab wouldn’t help him.

It would be just like his stay in the hospital a few months ago in the psychiatric ward. They would tell him they were going to help but no matter what they only made things worse. The doctors had said they could help him sleep again, but the medicine they were giving him just gave him gruesome nightmares. They said that they would make the hurt go away, but in the end they just kept talking about Dayeun’s accident and made him live it over and over each day. No one could help him. He had thought Heechul could, but in the end he couldn’t. Now all Kibum had left was Tiffany, but he wasn’t about to dump all his problems on her. No, he just needed help for tonight so he wouldn’t be tempted to go out and get drugs. Hopefully she would be able to help him, because Kibum knew how much Tiffany hated when he did drugs so he knew that she would stop him if he asked.

So when Tiffany came back out half an hour later, he did what he needed to do.

“I don’t want to do drugs, but I want to. I need help,” He told her as she sat back down beside him.

“Okay, just stay here tonight. You can sleep in the guest room down the hall. And like I said, don’t worry about trying to get out because you need the code to unlock the door. Just don’t try to me in my sleep, okay?” Tiffany told him with a smile. Kibum just rolled his eyes at her and gave her a smile. He didn’t know what he was going to do tomorrow, but at least he would be okay for tonight.

“Thank you,” He told her graciously.

“So are you going to tell me the real problem or just leave me guessing? And don’t tell me it’s just about the drugs, because I can obviously tell that you’ve been crying so you must have had a fight with your brother, am I right?” She asked him, pulling one of the couch pillows in her lap to hold. Kibum nodded slightly wandering if he should tell her everything or not. In the end he just decided to give her the short version.

“Heechul wanted to send me to rehab,” He told her softly. Tiffany stared at him blankly for a minute before frowning slightly.

“Is that bad? It means he wants to help you, Kibum. I don’t know anything about your situation, but I know enough to know that you’re probably going through hard times away from the drugs. You’re strong, I know it, it’s not easy to stop, but this is hard for you, isn’t it? I would say that it’s good that he wants you to get help, right?” She responded.

Kibum sighed softly and shrugged. She had a good point, had it been anyone else. But this was Kibum and his situation was completely different. She didn’t know that Heechul was going to leave Kibum and that it had all been a lie that he loved him.

“No, he doesn’t want to help me. Not anymore, I’m too much trouble to deal with,” He informed her sadly.

“You’re not too much trouble to deal with, you’re just really stubborn. So here’s what I