The rest of the night passed by like a blur. Quietly, I followed the tall man, Dongwoo, from behind. Every now and then he would sneak a glance at me over his shoulder, like he was curious as to why he'd been asked to a high schooler home. He didn't say anything, however. I was grateful for that. With the shock, hurt, and a new feeling of emptiness that was inside of me, I wasn't sure if I could have given him any answers.

After another twenty minutes or so of walking, Dongwoo came to an abrupt stop.

"This is where you live, right?" he asked me. Startled, I raised my head to see a familiar-looking house right in front of us. Wow, were we really here already? I guess that I'd been so lost in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed when we'd walked out of the alleyway and towards my street.

"Yes," I answered in a funny way. It sounded almost robotic, even to my ears. "This is my home. Thank you for bringing me here." I tried to smile to show my gratitude, but for some strange reason, my lips trembled and cracked at the movement. It hurt more than it should have. So instead, I simply nodded at him, and started making my way inside.

I had only gotten a few steps away when a hand caught the edge of my sleeve.

"Wait," Dongwoo blurted out. Silently, I turned back to him, raising my brow at the expression on his face. He was biting his lower lip and scrunching his eyes slightly, like there was some sort of struggle happening inside him.

"I haven't known Sungyeol for very long," he finally said, "But it's been long enough that I can tell he's a good kid. Stubborn, and a little reckless maybe, but he's the type of guy who shouldn't be involved with this stuff. And if you're his friend, then you're probably a good kid as well. So let me tell you something." Dongwoo stepped closer until he was right in front of me, bending down to reach my height.

"Stay away from the warehouse." His tone was low and urgent, as if he were afraid of someone catching our conversation. I wanted to say not to worry, that people would be more suspicious of the fact that we were chatting in the dead of the freakin' night, but something in his voice told me to save my smart aleck remarks for later.

The Infinite member continued. "Don't come back to our hide-out after tonight. Even if Sungyeol is a part of Infinite, you won't be able to waltz in and expect everybody to be buddy-buddy. We're drug dealers, gangsters, mafia; however you want to say it, we're dangerous. If you're smart, kid, and don't want to get hurt, then you'll stay clear of that area and pretend we don't exist."

With one last look of warning, he released his hold on me and turned back the way we'd come from. Dongwoo began walking away, letting the darkness of the night swallow him up.

I watched until he had completely vanished from sight, then entered my house. It was as dark and silent as I had left it. Thankfully, my parents were both heavy sleepers, although only a part of me appreciated that. I still felt like I was in a daze, like I had walked all the way from the warehouse to my home in a strange sort of trance.

Quietly, I slipped inside my room and eased the door shut. The stuff that had been thrown off of my shelf was lying on the floor, making a cluttered mess of achievements. I ignored it. I didn't want to clean it up at the moment; I didn't even want to look at it. Instead, I just crawled into my bed, head throbbing, feet aching, and body still enveloped in Sungyeol's baggy cardigan.

According to my alarm clock, I had a few solid hours before I had to get ready for school. I was fully ready to accept the call of sleep. I didn't want to think anymore about Sungyeol, his involvement with Infinite, or my dark knight. What I needed was rest. Pulling my blanket up higher, I closed my eyes and waited for the sweet lull of sleep to come to me.

Please, let me lie here and fall asleep and forget that tonight ever happened, and when I wake up tomorrow, I'll think it was all a terrible dream-

It never did.

------------------

"Wow, you look terrible," was Himchan's lovely greeting to me. School was over, but this was the first time I'd seen him all day (not that I was complaining). I ignored my boyfriend, hoping he'd be understanding for once and leave me alone. After last night, I didn't have the energy to deal with him. Without a word, I carried on pulling books from my locker and dropping them in my bag.

Himchan, the oblivious person he was, didn't take the hint. Undeterred, he ran a hand through his carefully styled blonde hair. "What, did you stay up all night studying or something? I don't blame you if you did. You have a lot of work ahead of you if you want your first place back, Sooyun," he snickered.

Still not looking at him, I closed my locker shut. I didn't have time to waste on Himchan. I needed to look for Sungyeol. Normally, he would wait in front of my house and we'd walk to school together, arriving early or late depending on how much he fooled around. Then we'd part for our respective classes, only getting to meet up during lunch or after school.

The thing was, I hadn't seen any sign of my friend since our... encounter last night. He hadn't been there to walk to school together, and when I'd peeked inside of his classroom, his seat had been empty. I would have been fine with it, since we both needed time to cool off and nurse our emotional pain (I wasn't even sure if I was able to forgive him or not yet).

Still, I was worried. I knew that his absence had something to do with his gang. Sungyeol occasionally skipped school, but today, I had the worst feeling that he was caught up with Infinite. That just made me even more worried. After all, like Dongwoo had said, they were dangerous.

And, drug dealer or not, Sungyeol was still my friend.

I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and started walking away. Not letting up, Himchan followed suit and easily fell into stride with me. "You're leaving already? You haven't even given me a goodbye kiss, baby. Hmm... You know, I don't think you've ever given me a goodbye kiss before."

Turning the corner, I headed to where Sungyeol's classroom was. The students had all been dismissed by now, but I was hoping there was a tiny chance he'd somehow be in there. Wishful thinking, I know, but I was desperate.

My superstar boyfriend carried on. "But whatever. I suppose I shouldn't expect the doting girlfriend act from you. I'd be surprised if you even smiled at me, actually." He sighed heavily, as if the thought of it truly saddened him. "Himchan and Sooyun, the School Idol Couple. We used to be so perfect together, you and I. Whatever happened to us, Sooyun? Whatever happened to you?"

We'd arrived at Sungyeol's classroom. Glancing through the windows, I confirmed my previous suspicions: nobody was there. The lights had been turned off and everything was motionless inside. Just to be sure though, I opened the door anyway. Maybe my friend was sleeping on the floor or hiding in a supply closet. Anywhere but at the hideout of a dangerous and violent drug gang.

I hadn't given him a single response to work with, but Himchan continued talking as if we were having a proper conversation. "You used to be so sweet, Sooyun. So hard-working and intelligent. Cute, too. But look at you now. What happened? Your marks are dropping, you come to school looking like crap, and you contribute nothing to our relationship whatsoever. Sometimes, I feel like I'm dating a wooden doll."

"..." All of my emotions from the previous night were starting to come back to me. Anger, frustration, rage, but most of all, the overwhelming need to escape from this moment. I was a pretty patient girl, if I had to say so myself, but there was a limit to how much even I could take. It took all that I had not to punch Himchan in the face.

In an attempt to distract myself, I entered the dark and silent classroom. I swept my gaze around the room, pointedly ignoring the jerk following behind me. 'Look's like no one's here... Oh, God. Please, Sungyeol. Are you really back at the warehouse...?'

"You see, I've been thinking about this lately," Himchan went on. Christ, this boy just couldn't take a clue. "And I think I know why you've become like this. It's because of him, isn't it? That delinquent friend of yours, that Lee Sungyeol. I thought I told you not to hang around him anymore. He's not a very good influence on you, Sooyun." I could pratically feel his eyes raking over me as he spoke. "Looks like I was right."

That was when I snapped.

"Shut up!" I spun on my heel and glared at the blonde boy. "Shut your goddamn mouth, you egotistical, cheating bastard! Don't you dare talk about my friend that way. Sungyeol isn't a bad influence; he's a hell lot better than you'll ever be!"

"So, we're finally starting to fight back now, are we?" Not looking the least bit surprised, Himchan appraised my furious expression. "And here I was thinking that you'd lost your brain to your books. Good to see you haven't become a complete vegetable yet." He opened his mouth to say more, but I beat him to it.

"You have no idea how much I despise you, Kim Himchan. Not a day goes by when I don't regret agreeing to be your girlfriend. I want to hit myself for that, but want to hit myself even more for staying with you all this time. Every day I have to listen to you insult me and treat me like crap. You're right; I am a stupid girl. Stupid for accepting your 'confession', but even more stupid for not dumping your sooner." Squaring my shoulders, I gave him the coldest look I had ever given anyone before in my life.

"I'm not taking this anymore. Find someone else to push around. I hope you don't miss perfect Choi Sooyun too much."

By now, Himchan was wearing an expression of outright shock and indignation. "What the hell?" he snapped as I pushed past his figure. "You can't dump me! Hey, Choi Sooyun! Where do you think you're going?"

What a typical response. But I didn't bother to grace him with an answer. Anger leading me on, I continued walking away. I was still pretty pissed off. Without me noticing, Himchan's words had struck a chord within me- a very deep, painful chord. 

"What happened? Your marks are dropping, you come to school looking like crap, and you contribute nothing to our relationship whatsoever."

With a clenched jaw, I shoved the entrance doors open and stalked outside. The sun had already set by now, so it was quite dark in the streets. Not caring about that fact, I headed towards the school gates and made a sharp turn left. If anybody who knew me had been watching, they would have wondered where it was I was going. "Why are you walking that way?" they would have asked. "Your house is in the opposite direction."

But that was just it. I wasn't going back home.

I was going to where Infinite's warehouse was.

'Sungyeol, I'd better damn find you when I get there.' But deep inside of me, I knew that wasn't the only reason why I was going to the hide-out. I still needed that escape. That beautiful break towards freedom and away from reality.

Besides that, I kind of wanted to see my dark knight again.

Sorry guys; I know I'm terrible at updating this fic. But I really want to finish my Myungyeol story first, so I'm trying to focus on that more than my other stories. But I hope this makes up for it: Sooyun's finally dumped Himchan's sorry (but fiiiiine) behind! 8D