Jayoung was very uneasy in the car. She kept glancing around them, looking out the side window and the back window. There was no way that he would be able to follow the couple on foot, especially the speed that they were travelling at. Seunghyun glanced nervously at her at every stop light, hesitantly reaching over and grasping her hand. The girl trembled, pulling her hand out with his grasp difficulty. He firmly reprimanded her with a tutting noise, snatching her hand back.

“Stop it. Because of your current behaviour, I’m as scared as you. I need your touch to keep me calm and to make sure I keep the car under control” He heard mumblings, something along the lines ‘some bouncer you are’. He shot his gaze briefly at her, slightly astonished by the remark. “Wow she’s a little feisty one. But no, I am a bouncer because I get scared. The adrenaline does it. Apparently I turn into one hell of a fighter once the adrenaline kicks in” He chuckled softly, staring straight ahead with one hand on the steering wheel, the other holding her hand tightly. He could feel her body still shaking slightly, the vibrations carrying on through her hand. Seunghyun rubbed his thumb in a small circle gently on the back of her hand. After a few minutes, he finally felt her shakings cease and could hear her breathing slow.

“Are we almost there?” She asked quietly, gazing out of the window. Jayoung reached up to touch the gold chain on her neck, but soon realised it wasn’t there. She lowered her hand, choosing instead to clutch at the fabric of her borrowed shirt.

“Almost. I’ve just got to pull into my garage, okay? But I’m going to need both hands, just in case” He reluctantly pulled his hand from hers, returning to its rightful place on the steering wheel. “Can you press the button on that remote in the console?” Jayoung blinked, reaching out a finger to press the red button on the remote. An alarm started off and they both jumped, Seunghyun quickly moving into action and pressing the red button again, the alarm abruptly shutting off.

“I-I’m sorry you just told me to press the button so I just pressed the top button-“ She shook, terrified of doing something wrong. She held her hands to her chest; face screwed up and tensed as she waited for the abuse. It never came. She opened her eyes, to see Seunghyun was staring at her concerned. He cautiously reached out to touch her hand, but at the slight touch of his skin against her she jerked back.

“Sorry” Seunghyun mumbled, looking away and picking up the remote for the garage door, pressing the right button. The door went up slowly, and he gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I should have told you which button. I’m sorry if that scared you” He drove the car into the garage, parking his car and getting out, turning to watch her. She sat unmoving, staring blankly ahead. Seunghyun walked around to her side of the car, slowly opening the car door. “Jayoung, we’re here. Let’s go inside” He held out his hand, waiting for her to take it.

“D-Don’t. I can get up myself. I’ll follow you” She mumbled softly, brushing her hair back behind her ear. Seunghyun swallowed, standing straight and walked to his side door, unlocking the door. He turned his head, looking to see her standing three feet behind him. Nodding and satisfied with the actions, he walked inside, placing his keys in a bowl beside the door.

“Are you hungry? I know you still haven’t eaten. But you have to eat. When was the last time you ate?” He turned to ask her, staring at the female who was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Jayoung opened to respond to his question, but closed it against once she realised she couldn’t remember the last time she had a proper meal, aside from last night. Seunghyun noticed that, and pursed his lips. “You’re eating. I can’t cook that well, so we’ll order in. You are eating, whether you want to or not” He pulled out a chair for her, and sat across from the empty seat. He pulled out a few takeout menus, placing them in front of the seat. He looked up at her expectantly, arms crossed. Jayoung sighed as she knew he wasn’t going to give up, and sat down in the seat. Jayoung picked up the brochures, flicking through them slowly. He watched her curiously, using this as a way to find out what her favourite out of them would be.

Jayoung shifted through the options before pushing the other brochures towards him, only leaving the brochure menu for an Indian takeout in front of her. Seunghyun smiled to himself, packing up the brochures. As she looked through the options, she glanced up at him. “So do you eat out often?” Seunghyun looked up at the female, nodding with a soft hum.

“I normally eat at the restaurants, but you don’t seem that comfortable outside at the moment” He responded, watching as she shifted uneasily at the mentioning of her earlier behaviour. Seunghyun noticed it, and he leaned forward slightly. “Are you going to tell me about what happened? We can’t really protect you that much if you don’t. That’s why you’re here with me. I’m here to protect you” He watched for her reaction, and she seemed rigid from his words.

“I’ll have the butter chicken and plain rice” She pushed the brochure to him, looking down at her jeans. Seunghyun frowned, trying to grab her hand as she pushed forward the paper, but she managed to slip out of his grip, hands in her lap.

“Jayoung. I need to know this. How am I supposed to protect you if you don’t?” He protested, pushing the brochure aside. Jayoung shook her head, hands clasped tightly and shaking. “Why won’t you tell me? I need to know!”

The female was quiet for quite some time, before she quietly spoke. “I don’t trust you enough. I can’t tell you. You would think that he’s a bad person” Jayoung looked away, picking at her cuticles.

So it was a he that’s bothering her. Seunghyun thought to himself, picking up his phone. He lifted it to his ear after dialling the restaurant’s number, ordering their food for their breakfast – slash – lunch. It was quiet after he hung up, before she finally spoke up again.

“Do you live alone?” She asked, slightly curious about the male in front of her. He looked up, surprised by the fact that she spoke without being prompted first. He realised he hadn’t answered when she made it a point to look at him, one eyebrow slightly raised.

“Ah- no. Daesung – the other male that was in Youngbae’s apartment – he lives here too. We went there together, but I thought it was safer to bring you back straight away. He’ll either walk home, or more than likely one of the boys will drop him off” Seunghyun explained, and she nodded slightly in understanding. It explained why the two males were at the apartment at the same time that morning. Jayoung stared around her, looking at the white walls. She jumped when there was a knock at the door, Seunghyun frowning. It hadn’t been long enough for the restaurant to have their food prepared and delivered; so what could it be? Jayoung stared as the bouncer got up, striding to the door. He looked through the peephole, but no one was standing there. Unlatching the door and opening it, he looked down at the welcome mat, seeing a pristine white envelope with Jayoung's name scrawled on the front. Confused he picked it up, bringing it back inside.

“It’s. . .for you” He said confused, staring at the envelope before handing it to the female. Jayoung was just as confused as the male; who knew she was here? Could it be him? Pushing her suspicions aside she took the envelope, opening it with shaky hands. Slender fingers dipped inside and pulled out a gold necklace, a single opal dangling from the chain. With a quiet gasp she dropped it back in and threw it across the room, startling Seunghyun.

“Get rid of it!” She yelled standing and tangling her fingers in her hair, clearly distressed. “He can’t know! He couldn’t know! How could he know?” Jayoung yelled at the male, who was confused and slightly scared.

“How could who know?” He asked calmly, picking up the envelope and walking to the female. She backed off, shaky fingers pointing to the letter in his hand.

“Don’t bring that close! Chuck it! I don’t want to see it!” She had begun to sob, falling to her knees on the ground. “He can’t know. He couldn’t have known. How did he know?” Jayoung muttered, tears streaming down her face as she rocked back and forth. Seunghyun felt useless; he didn’t know what to do in the situation other than just stare and wait for it to be over.

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The man had hid in the bushes, waiting for the reaction. Creeping up to the windowsill after the male collected the envelope, he peeked through the open window to watch the exchange. He couldn’t hear that well, but he could hear the muffled yelling and could see the distraught on her face. The stranger smiled to himself; even when she wasn’t with him, he could still cause distress. He could still hurt her without having to touch her. And with that thought, he felt powerful. 

a/n : I'm considering finishing this fic and just abandoning it. . .sure I have subscribers, but it feels like no one is actually reading it. I'm getting no feedback about it. It would be helpful to have some constructive criticism.