She was angry that she had stuttered in front of him, letting him witness that he had that effect on her. She immediately slipped off of her seat as he moved closer, wanting to get as far away from him as she could.

Jiyong had saw the angst on her face as he immediately climbed to his feet in concern at the intruder who had dare uttered the word ‘’ in relation to Yoona.

“Don’t come near her” Jiyong’s voice was low and dangerous, something she has never heard from him. He immediately turned to her, leaving a warm touch on her arm. “Who is he Yoona?”

“That…. He… That night…” Her blood boiled when she saw that her hopelessness in front of him only made Taecyeon smile wider yet she was frozen. She couldn’t act on her anger, she was left standing there while images and pain flashed past her in a daze that Jiyong had not been able to break through to. “Dreams”, she whispered to herself, not knowing that she had provided all the information Jiyong needed to figure out his identity.

“He was the one in those nightmares that kept you up?”

“Oooh she has dreams about me?” Taecyeon piped up, “I guess she did like the way I touched her.”

The sliminess of his tone had goosebumps crawling up her arms and she trembled, grabbing onto the hand Jiyong had laid on her. He however did not notice it, for all he saw was red in his vision, hot anger and blood, as he prepared to lunge forward and knock the guy out. She beat him to it as she tightened her grip around his hand.

“No don’t leave. Please don’t leave me” she whimpered. He had no idea where any of this was coming from, her eyes never once looked at him making him come to the conclusion that she was reliving memories in her mind.

“Yoona, snap out of it, he’s not going to hurt you. He can’t” he shook her.

She didn’t know what was happening to her but she made it out to be a panic attack that was shutting down her body. The room was shrinking and her chest heaved for air at a pace that was twice as fast as it should be yet she wasn’t getting anything to her lungs. It was getting to her brain, making her feel light-headed. She knew there was someone with her, there was Jiyong but he felt so far. She had to focus on her breathing, on anything that will calm her pounding heart.

Seunghyun. She took a deep breath. “Seunghyun” she muttered, loud enough for Jiyong to hear and shattered him who was still frantic as he cupped her face and spoke to her. He tuned out the manic laughing of Taecyeon as he stood perfectly amused by Yoona.

“What the hell?” a deep voice growled.

Just the sound of his voice had helped her air into her lungs and her vision had cleared a bit.

He raised a threatening finger to Taecyeon’s face, “I thought I made it clear to never show your face again!” he barked angrily as he started towards Taecyeon, fists white from clenching as he prepared to hit the smug smile off his face.

“Seunghyun, calm down” Jiyong had immediately moved in front of him, blocking his intentions.

“Get out of my way Kwon!”

“She needs you more right now” heh had used his might to push Seunghyun back, causing him to stumble and having the words register in his head.

He immediately whipped around to look at Yoona, his murderous rage dissolving as he rushed towards her, pulling her to his heaving chest. Her fingers splayed across them as she inhaled his scent and immediately relaxed. It brought back images of him rescuing her. Those were the last images that flew past her eyes before she blinked and came back to her senses. Her breathing had slowed as she felt his warm heat. She held on to him just a while longer before she felt calm enough to let go, flashing him a sincere smile before she glanced over his shoulder to glance at Taecyeon properly. Seunghyun followed her line of sight and was forced to let go of the only thing that kept him sane from his anger.

“Why are you here?” he managed to ask before getting violent.

She noticed how he had stepped beside Jiyong, forming a small wall in front of her intended to guard her from Taecyeon. She wasn’t ever one to need protecting. With the two acting like she would break anytime in front of that man, it made her straighten her shoulders and raise her chin. She didn’t like them thinking that just because of one moment of weakness that she wasn’t the strong girl she used to be. She didn’t like the idea that she had started relying on people ever since she stepped into Seunghyun’s life. She was no longer a part of that world and she needed to find her independence again.

“Well originally, I came to show you that you didn’t ruin me” he opened his arms wide as he began laughing, definitely drunk. “Good for you Seunghyun, buying out all of my shareholders to pull my company right out from under me. Mission accomplished right? I’ve gone bankrupt.” His voice had shifted from calm to frantic. “Did you want to show your girl your power? I haven’t been defeated, I’m still here. I’m standing strong because you haven’t brought me down yet! Just remember that! Just remember your girl’s face. Her reaction when she saw me, I will haunt her forever. I’ve defeated her. If I had known I had that kind of power over her, I would have stalked her to see those panic attacks every hour of the day.”

Both of them had grown rigid and she knew that they were about to pounce. She grabbed both their arms just as they had taken a step and their heads turned confusedly to her. “Stop it.”

“What? Yoona do you hear what he’s saying about you?” Jiyong stated incredulously.

“I do hear what he’s saying. That’s why I need to be the one to deal with him. Please let me do this.” The determined edge in her voice had caused them to part involuntarily as she stepped in between and in front of them, coming face to face with her nightmare for the first time since that night.

“Taecyeon” she whispered more to herself than to him

“Cat got your tongue sweetheart?” he asked amused.

Her eyes lifted to search his face sincerely, strength from the two men behind her surging through her as well as her desire to be freed from the man in front of her. The smile on his smile was wiped as she continued her assault, as if she was trying to peer into his soul.

“You look horrible” she pointed out matter of factly. She saw his eyebrows twitch as if she had hit a nerve. She briefly wondered if his eyes burned as much as they looked like they did, bloodshot and puffy. His under eye bags were surrounding them while his face was shadowed by his stubble. His face had hardened and she knew that whatever he was about to say, he was about to twist it into something rude and vial so she opened first.

“I didn’t know that Seunghyun did that to you” she glanced behind her at a fuming Seunghyun. “If he had asked me beforehand, I would have told him not to. Whether or not you believe me is not my problem, but unlike you, I never wished ill on you. Even when you made me bleed and hurt and cry, I wasn’t going to haunt you the way you haunted me.” She had taken steps closer to him as closed up and her tears emerged. “I didn’t want you remembering me for anything, so I would never put my name on revenge against you.”

He was about to speak once again yet she raised her hand stopping him. “No, don’t say anything. I don’t want to hear anything from you. I just wanted to tell you that…” she took a deep breath, a sudden calm enveloping her, “that I forgive you”

“What?” came all three unison replies from the men in the room.

“I forgive you for what you’ve done. There’s really no place in my heart anymore to carry around this hatred for you, and seeing you today made it clear. I don’t ever want to feel the way I did when I saw you earlier tonight. Carry on with your life and know that I forgive you and that I thank you.”

“For what?” were the only words he managed to croak.

She glanced back at the two standing tall behind her, a smile infectiously spreading onto her lips. “Thank you for showing me that I have two absolutely out of my lead men who care about me. To show me that I was worth more than the way you treated me that night.”

Her tone was dismissive which brought Jiyong and Seunghyun to her side knowing exactly what she was thinking. “Please take my forgiveness and turn your life around. You’re not a bad guy Taecyeon, just a little mislead”.

She stood at the entrance of the room, watching Jiyong and Seunghyun to make sure that they didn’t start anything unnecessary. She was relieved as they released their ticking jaws and made their way to her. Just as she was assured and started to turn around from the corner of her eyes, she saw Jiyong quickly backtrack and before she could voice her objection his fist had connected with Taecyeon’s face. Her jaw slacked, questioning his actions as he shrugged nonchalantly.

“I promised myself that I would do that if I ever met the prick.” He walked past her with an innocent smile while Taecyeon lay groaning. “Let’s go” he gestured to them as he walked past her, followed by a smugly smiling Seunghyun, before she followed with the smallest hint of a grin and a shake of her head.

The only things that got her through this night? The delectable food, Jiyong, and halmeoni who sat at her table which was shared by relatives who were all but strangers to her. She was also glad that their gang of friends was sitting at a table not too fat from her. Not much conversation was exchanged between them however because the moment the three of them stepped into the main room again, everyone was seated waiting for dinner, speeches, videos, and all the festivities of an engagement party.

“Tell him to make it not so obvious” halmeoni had whispered, causing her to drag her dazed eyes away from the screen showcasing a video of the two company’s successes to her hands on the table that held halmeoni’s. Then she remembered her comment and chanced a look towards the table placed in front of the room. She swore she heard a gasp and hated that it came from her when her eyes connected with his. She hated that look. The look that asked her to leave this place with him, just the two of them. It did silly things to her heart, things she couldn’t afford to feel when she’s sitting as a guest at his engagement party.

She couldn’t recall how much longer she had to sit there, eyes glued to the screen trying to ignore his gaze and halmeoni’s prodding grip, telling her to give up the fight. She most definitely didn’t until finally everyone was allowed out of their seats. She made a mad dash to their group of friends with Jiyong following closely behind.

“This so tragically boring” proclaimed Sooyoung as she neared close enough to hear their conversation.

“Who airs a half hour video about their companies at an engagement party? I wonder if people have clued into how fake this is” Taeyeon groaned.

As she stepped into view all eyes zeroed in on her, giving her sad smiles as their conversation died down.

She gave them reprimanding looks. “Here I was, thinking I was the only one not enjoying myself” she told them lightheartedly, hoping they would stop looking at her like that.

As if they knew her for the longest time, reading into her emotions, they all toasted to how bored they were, easily lifting up her spirits. Seungri slung his arm around her shoulders playfully as he declared to the group, “Let’s give this thing another half hour out of respect before we head to my place for a real celebration for friendship and Yoona’s freedom”

The whole group cheered in agreement before the lights dimmed and they saw people gathering towards the dance floor. They must have missed the announcement that music was about to begin and to partner up for dancing. She was thankful that the group of friends stayed rooted to their spots to prevent any awkward pairing up scenarios until a very excited Yuri came bumbling towards her.

“Yoong! There you are! I need a favour from you!” she asked with pleading glittering eyes causing her to hesitantly nod. “Seunghyun’s halmeoni said she would like to talk to me but I don’t just want to leave Seunghyun, who knows what he will go off to do. So will you please keep him company by dancing with him just until I come back?”

She could already feel herself shaking her head as the voice in her head screamed in retaliation to Yuri’s request until she saw her friend’s eyes grow wider pleading. She looked behind her for some kind of support but everyone shrugged with indecision.

They looked split with the request. Either it could be really good for she could get some closure with Seunghyun from this moment, or it could be really bad in stirring up feelings.

Her head raised from the nod, spotting Seunghyun with eyes only on her once again. Heat and want shot through her tired body and stirred in her stomach.

This was going to be really bad.

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It's finally here my lovely subbies !!! <33 I hope you guys didn't forget any of the storyline. If so, take read through the fic again as you wait for the next update (which will have lots of Topyoon and Gyoon *squeals!!*). I do have to warn you that it will take awhile. Do stick by my side and be patient. See ya soon :)