A/N: Some swearing in this chapter. :)

I help Khun finish off his shopping and we soon return to the restaurant, with high hopes and optimistic thoughts of lots of customers walking through the doors. Since I had witnessed him stand up to Alex, and I had reassured him that he did just fine, Nichkhun seemed to cheer up considerably. It is almost as if that confrontation was necessary for him to be able to stand strongly on his own two feet.

I tell him so many times on the walk back that I’m proud of him, but in true Khun fashion, he rebukes the compliment. I swear he doesn’t like to hear them, as if he gets embarrassed by his good qualities, but every single thing I notice is always totally true.

“I’m just not used to being treated so wonderfully,” he points out as we enter the entrance to the street the restaurant is on. “Alex wasn’t the most caring person, after all…”

“You can say that again,” I chuckle, shifting the bags I’m holding onto one hand so that I can sling my arm over Khun's shoulders casually, “He’s certainly challenged in the feelings and tact department.”

Khun shakes his head in disbelief. He shrugs this shoulders and says in such a nonchalant manner, “No, he’s just an .”

“Khun!” I gasp, telling him off. He doesn’t usually insult people like that unless they’ve truly wronged him in some way. One time, a customer tried to run without paying but Nichkhun soon caught him and gave him a formidable scolding. He swore a lot then, too. I suppose this situation is justified enough to warrant it.

“What? It’s true!” He exclaims loudly. I’m glad that somewhere in this absolute mess of a situation, he can find some kind of humor. I think we’d both be lost without it unable to find a way out - like being lost in a labyrinth without a map.

We’ve reached the restaurant now, and I relinquish my hold around Khun’s shoulders as he pushes open the door. A clink of the bell above the door announces us, as we enter amidst laughter.

I suddenly hear Khun’s laughter stop however, and he pauses briefly in the doorway. I hear him exhale, and he sounds shocked, but the door and his body is in the way of my line of vision so I can’t figure out why.

“Oh my God,” he breathes; he pushes the door open wider and further enters the room so that I can see now. I mirror his exact words when I finally observe the utter chaos inside.

All around us is the restaurant, in a great deal of a worse condition than it was when we last saw it. I turn my body in a full circle, eyeing the furniture that lays strewn in places it doesn’t belong. Glass shards lay scattered on the floor near the bar, I can only presume from a cup or bottle shoved harshly to the floor in rage, and one of the nearby tables has been upturned.

Sat right in the corner, in the doorway to the kitchen, is Ji-eun. She’s got her head in her hands, concealing her face, but it whips up quickly when she hears us enter. Her petite frame shudders from her tears, which have streaked down her face and reddened her eyes so she must have been there for quite a while. Quite frankly, she looks terrified.

There’s no time to dwell on the matter however because I hear Khun repeat his earlier words, only quieter this time. His voice takes on a weaker, more vulnerable quality and I swear I see him sway on his feet. I approach him from behind, about to ask him if he’s okay, but he suddenly slumps.

His body goes slack, his knees buckling under him, and he starts to fall to the floor. Instinctively, I reach out and grab him. I catch him, groaning with the strain on my shoulders as I hold on tightly and I let us slowly descend. I gently lay him down with his head on my lap. For a moment I’m dumbfounded, unsure of what to do, but it doesn’t last long.

“Khunnie?” I say loudly, tapping his face with my fingers. I don’t want to hurt him, but I want to make sure that he is okay so I’m a little harsher than my usual ways with him. “Wake up Nichkhun, come on!”

I can feel there are tears in my eyes now, I’m still processing the destruction around us. I pay them no heed as my attention is solely focused on the man whom I love who’s lying knocked out cold in my arms.

Ji-eun must have reacted quickly too, because I spy her trembling hands laying a blanket over his body from the corner of my vision. I try to ask what happened, she ignores me, shaking her head.

“I’ll tell you later, let’s make sure he’s comfortable first,” she says whilst trying to replace my lap with a pillow. It’s my turn to protest now and I insist that he stays where he is - I can keep a closer eye on him this way.

I’m not too worried because I know he most likely only fainted from stress, not some strange medical condition that appeared miraculously from nowhere. It must have been building up for a long time, like pressure in a corked bottle that explodes and overflows when it all gets too much. I can’t help but wonder if I could have spotted it sooner.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself,” I hear Ji-eun warn sternly, “There’s no way you could have known, Wooyoung.”

It's almost as if she knows what I’m thinking. I sniff, hoping to hold back the rest of my tears and brush my fingers through Khun’s hair, swiping his fringe off his forehead and away from his closed eyes. His hair is so soft, like it usually is.

“You cause so much trouble baby,” I chuckle, trying to make myself feel better. I caress the side of his face with my hand, smoothing over it with my thumb. I can practically feel Ji-eun staring at me weirdly without even having to actually look at her.

Oh. She doesn’t know yet, I remember. We haven’t seen her since we officially started dating.

“Are you two…?” She trails off, gesturing between us to illustrate what she means, pointing out the way I’m protectively holding him. I look down at his face, which seems so peaceful, though I know that there’s still turmoil in his mind.

I nod, and I can’t help but smile a little, “Together? Yes, we’re a couple.” Despite the situation, it's still satisfying to say it.

Ji-eun surprises me when she laughs quietly. “I knew it,” she said. She doesn’t give me time to ask, because she elaborates, “Well, I knew you two would eventually become a thing anyway. I could see the way you look at him, Woo. It’s like he’s your whole world.”

He practically is.

I feel him stirring all of a sudden, and glance down to see that his eyes have opened. Despite that he's just fainted, he’s still looking at me with that loving gaze again, and he groggily croaks, “Is it true, Youngie?”

He must have heard what Ji-eun had said, and he punctuates his question by searching for my hand. He squeezes it weakly.

“Of course it’s true, idiot,” I say with a grin. I lean down and place a kiss on his lips - only a light one, to show that what I say is true. I feel his warm lips press against mine, but only briefly because I remember that Ji-eun is still here too. Still, every time it happens it feels like bliss, regardless of the length.

I pull back, playing with his hair again, and say, “Never terrify me like that again.”

He shakes his head and now he’s crying, so I try my best to wipe away his tears but they keep pouring out at such a fast rate that I can barely quell them. I pull him up slowly from my lap, supporting him in case he faints again, and wrap my arm around him.

I notice that Ji-eun is sobbing again too, and I’m sure that she suffered something traumatic earlier judging by her position when we entered the carnage of our restaurant. I motion for her to come close and wrap my other arm around her. I feel like a mother hen looking after her children, but I don’t care if it makes them feel better.

If anyone walked past the window they would be in for a shock - two grown men and a young woman sobbing on the floor surrounded by utter destruction. It's not just the restaurant; our lives just got a lot messier too.

A/N: I was literally thinking about this chapter when I woke up this morning (like, before I opened my eyes), but I didn't have a chance to write it down all day so it was driving me mad hahaha. Thankfully though, here it is! :)