chapter iv. | ignite

part ii.

Hayi felt upset.

So upset that she had muster up an excuse to leave without waiting for a reply.

Her heels clicked against the pavement as she walked away, abandoning her original goal of grabbing a drink from the cooler. The taste of alcohol remained in , serving as a reminder of what she just witnessed. It was so stupid but she couldn’t help it.

So not only does he drink, but he also smoked?

Hayi would’ve never imagined it. It wasn’t as if she only saw Hanbin as a kid who had occasional tantrums. It was just throughout the years growing up together, he had always seemed like the type to not develop such habits.

He valued health over such impurities, playing sports and working out whenever he could. He drank water more than anything and only had energy drinks as a guilty pleasure, for god’s sake.  

Then again, perhaps Hayi was mulling over this too much.

She just didn’t expect Hanbin to grow up without her. To turn into this mysterious boy who effortlessly drank and smoked. She couldn’t deal with the changes. Not so suddenly.  

She squeezed back into her group of friends.

“Welcome back, Hayi.” Bobby’s voice roused Suhyun’s attention.

“Hayi!”

The growing smile on Suhyun’s face faded as quickly as it came. Hayi turned away but it was already too late.

“Hayi?”

“I’m fine.”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She could only shrug.

“Do you want to sit down for a bit?”

Hayi shook her head. “I rather go home, to be honest.”

Suhyun looked even more worried, making Hayi feel bad because of it.

“Sorry, Suhyun. it’s nothing, really. I just don’t feel well all the sudden.”

“Okay,” Suhyun nodded. “Do you want me to get Hanbin for you—“

“No.” The rejection was just a little too loud. Thankfully their other friends were too busy cracking up over what Junhoe had said. “I mean, it’s fine. Maybe I just need a bit of fresh air. I’ll go outside for a bit.”

Suhyun could only bite her lip and watch. Hayi gave her a comforting pat before disappearing back into the crowd. It would only be for a little while. Just to get her bearings together.

She slipped out of the front door and was back in the cold again. If she hadn’t driven here with Hanbin, she would’ve legged it ages ago.

She remained on the porch for a while, wallowing in her troubled thoughts until she heard more invitees making their way to the house. She instinctively hovered out of the way as to not disturb them as they waited for the door to open.

But it seemed luck was really not on her side that night.

The doorbell rang. They continued chatting. Hayi was relieved that she was being ignored until one of them decided to prove that notion wrong.

“Well, well,” a familiar voice sneered. “If it isn’t girlie from earlier.”

Hayi hadn’t realised it was addressed to her until she looked up and found Ki-Tae’s leering face. His threat earlier echoed in her mind and her walls instantly shot up, erecting goosebumps along her arms. And it wasn’t from the cold.

She ignored him and kept her eyes towards the front. Better not to provoke him, right? But it seemed the male was out for vengeance.

Her heart lurched to when a hot breath appeared next to her cheek. Somehow he had walked over to her as his much bigger body hovered just a few centimetres from her own. Panic blinded her for a second, heart thudding so much against her ribcage that she almost caved in. She inhaled slowly.

“What the are you doing?” she said in a low voice.   

“Didn’t anyone teach you manners?” his whisper felt disgusting against her skin. “You look when somebody’s talkin’ to ya.”

Despite the ball of fear in her gut, Hayi was becoming just as angry again. He really couldn’t take a hint.

“And didn’t anyone teach you not to invade people’s personal space?”  

There was a tsk before he laughed as if impressed. Then Hayi felt the weight of his eyes roam below her face and felt sick at the low chuckle that came afterwards.

“Wow. So even girls like you can look cute if they try.”

That did it as Hayi ripped herself away to slam a hand on his chest. Ki-Tae simply caught her though, causing Hayi to cry out in panic.

“Get the off me—!”

But it was ignored, his grip tightening until he was pulling her closer and closer much like he did back at school. And just like then, a gust of air swept over them. A force knocked him away, causing him to let go of her and Hayi stumbled back in shock.

By the time Hayi pieced the situation together, a sickening crack was heard not far from her. After that was a blur.

Shouts burst around her as she watched the entangled limbs of two men wrestle on the ground. The commotion caused a cluster of people to swamp around the area and flood out of the front door. She spotted Mino and his friends with some of her own friends among them.

Only a few seconds passed before Mino barked something and then, people were trying to break the brawl.  

A hand flew to as she recognised Hanbin getting hauled away by Seungyoon and Seunghoon. The look in his eyes was feral as he snarled and spat horrendous insults at Ki-Tae. It took three people to constrain him as he jerked around like an animal.

“Let me go! I’ll ing kill that son of a—!”

Ki-Tae’s face was bloodied by the time he was rescued from Hanbin’s clutches. He only managed a few swings at him but it was obvious who won and who lost.

At some point, Hanbin managed to jerk himself free as Ki-Tae was flocked to by his friends. Mino and Taehyun walked over them and demanded an explanation. One of Ki-Tae’s friends’ whinged.

“Our fault? That crazy ing kid over there nearly killed him when he had nothing to do with the situation!”

“es! That was his girl you guys were picking on!” Mino yapped.

“Your friend deserved it,” Taehyun added with a mean smirk. “Though the show was quite disappointing seeing as your friend got his handed to him. You guys messed with the wrong guy.”

Hayi would’ve blushed or even swooned at what Mino claimed, but honestly, she was more horrified at how proud Taehyun looked upon seeing Hanbin’s efforts. Like his display of anger and loss of control was something to be celebrated when it was the very thing Hanbin was ashamed of.

She had half the mind to go over there and give them a piece of her mind when a comforting hand landed on her shoulder.

“You should go to him.”

She immediately contained herself in a fluster as Jinwoo blinded her with a smile. She calmed and uttered her thanks. Right.

Hanbin was surrounded by their circle of friends when she approached him. Bobby was patting his back while Jinhwan scolded him. When she arrived they all directed a concerned gaze at her too.

“You okay?” Yunhyeong began, sounding more sober. She couldn’t speak and only nodded as she returned Suhyun’s embrace.

Hanbin was a mess; his hair tousled across his eyes and dirt marred his skin. A bleeding cut glistened on his lip and his j