The two had hardly made it down the road, Hankyung dragging a still shell shocked Heechul behind him, before he felt the woman start to slow down, her grip on his hand loosening. He slowed his own pace until he was finally stopped. Even still, he refused to look at her. He was afraid if he did, there would be nothing to prevent him from sprinting back to that apartment and kill the man he had just punched.

He had had a strange feeling when Heechul left his apartment earlier and followed her back to the room, then to her publisher's office. Well, at least he knew she hadn't lied. But soon it was dark and he saw her start to walk home. That's when he felt the need to make sure she got into the room okay. He was glad he did. He could only imagine what would have happened had he not been there. And from the sound of their conversation, it had already happened before. 

"Let's forget about it." she had said. He could barely hear the man's response before he heard the crash of something heavy hitting the wall. He had been so stunned that it took him a moment to figure out how to open the door. The punch had felt good and the only thing on his mind when he saw the woman sitting on the ground had been to get her out of there as quickly as possible. 

"Hankyung..." Heechul's voice was soft and trembled with the effort it took for her to speak. Without a second thought, Hankyung yanked her into his arms as he turned around. He felt her frame stiffen in shock for a moment before she finally relaxed, hands into his shirt. Not that he cared. She was safe now. That's all that mattered to him at that moment. 

"It's alright. You're okay now." he kept whispering along with anything else he thought would be comforting. He wasn't sure how long they stood there in the shadow of the buildings around them. But after a while, he slight frame in Hankyung's arms slowly stopped shaking and her breathing was evening out. No long the erratic sobs that kept escaping her lips. He dared to place a soft kiss on the top of her head before scooping the weakened girl into his arms, carrying her near unconscious body back to his apartment. By the time they reached it, Heechul was already asleep, one hand still fisted into the front of his shirt. 

He managed to get the door open and closed it behind him as quietly as he could without waking her. Hankyung figured he would just sleep on the couch again tonight. She could have his room until he was able to clean out the guest room. He would do that tomorrow. Realizing that it was too late to call Victoria to come change Heechul into proper night clothes, he settled for just removing her shoes and jacket and tucked her into his bed. He moved thick fringe out of a startling pale face and kissed her forehead before walking out the room and settling into his spot on the couch for the night. 

The next morning, Hankyung was content to stay where he was in his partially awake, partially dream-like state. The fluffy blanket around him was warm and comfortable and the mass wrapped in his arms only added to the warmth. He buried his face into the smell of shampoo and breathed deep. Mango. Hankyung's favorite scent. Slowly, he began to notice his surroundings. He felt the shoulder of his shirt move slightly. That was weird. He hadn't moved. He opened his eyes slightly, blinking from the amount of light that met them. He was greeted by a messy head of brown hair tucked securly under his chin. His arms seemed to unconsciously tighten around the small frame that moved slowly next to him due to the slow even breaths. Heechul moved closer to him, hands tightening on his shirt and head burying further into the crook of his neck. Hankyung smiled contentedly and kissed the crown of her head. He vaguely remembered coming to in the middle of the night to his blanket moving, letting in the cool air around him then being replaced with something warmer than the blanket to which he had no problem drawing closer to. 

Heechul had woken up and found herself in Hankyung's room again, still in her professional wear. She had changed into her pajamas and climbed back into bed, only to find that she couldn't go back to sleep. Without even thinking, she had walked into the living room, found Hankyung sleeping on the couch, and crawled under the blanket with him. Heechul hadn't even realized it but Hankyung was now her sense of security. He had rescued her, now she felt that she owed him. What Hankyung didn't know at that point was that Heechul had been awake for a while and was simply relishing being in his arms. She was merely acting as if she were asleep. Did she mention that she could act? 

She felt Hankyung's breathing change, signaling that the man was waking up. His arms tightened around her and she buried her face into the crook of his neck, taking in the scent of mint and bamboo scented shampoo. She felt him kiss the top of her head and couldn't keep herself from blushing. In all truth, this was the most comfortable she had been with anyone in a long time. It felt good to just be able to curl up and know that she was safe. Not too many things had ever been able to give her that relief. Her books had always been her means of escape. They let her into a world where she could control what happens to the characters unlike in real life. It wasn't as if she was disconnected from the real world by any means. In fact, these past couple of days had proved just the opposite. But she was glad that Hankyung's strong arms around her could definitely be added to the list.

Finally, Heechul decided to 'wake up' knowing that she needed to work more on her book. She had dropped off the required chapters at Leeteuk's office the previous night and gotten her next deadline for the next few chapters. She never paid attention to the deadline but always managed to somehow get everything in on time and avoid any scolding from her long time friend and publisher. Admittedly, Leeteuk was scarrier than Heechul when angry; and an angrier version of herself was not something Heechul wanted to face any time soon, or at all for that matter. Therefore, she needed to get up and start working. 

She took a deep breath, savoring the smell, and stretched as well as she could on the small portion of couch she was allowed. She felt Hankyung stifle a chuckle.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." he said, not letting her out of his embrace. She looked up and smirked at him. His face was still relaxed from sleeping and he was grinning.

"You look like a love-sick puppy." she commented, ignoring her own cliche. She reached up and ruffled his already messy hair. Another smirk. Hankyung leaned down and gave Heechul a quick peck on the lips. A light blush that filled her cheeks wiped the smirk off her face. She looked at him; no glare, no smirk, no sarcastic expression, just looked. He swore he could see the corners of her lips twitch into what would have been a smile if she hadn't gotten up and walked into the kitchen, muttering something about coffee and chinese puppies. 

Hankyung sat up and stretched trying to make his hair fall into some order as he watched her slim figure disappear through the door, his own victorious smirk on his face.