Junho stood in the elevator, smiling as he thought about the pout that was on Taecyeon’s lips when the older man sent him away to do the simple little errand. He now clutched a stack of legal documents to his chest as the elevator bell went off and the doors opened.

   What he stepped into was something he could now have been prepared for.

   He saw Taecyeon across the office, and standing next to him was . . . was Chansung. Both of them looked heated, like they were arguing. Taecyeon’s gaze shifted, and Junho’s eyes met with his just in time for him to see Chansung raise a fist. Before he could warn his lover, his ex-lover punched the older man dead in the nose. “Taecyeon!!” Junho dropped the papers in his arms and ran towards the two, fear coursing through every inch of him as he watched Chansung throw another punch.

   This time, Taecyeon caught the younger man’s fist and twisted his arm behind his back.

   “Stop it!” Junho pleaded to Taec he slammed Chansung, face first, into the wall – a light trail of blood left behind from his mouth. “Taec, let him go!!” Junho pushed his way between the two, and with some effort, pried them away from one another. He grabbed Chansung’s arm and pulled him back towards the elevator, glancing back to see the confused look on Taecyeon’s face. The betrayal that masked the usually happy face burned Junho beyond the point of pain; he would have to explain everything . . . soon.

   “Yah, get your ing hands off me~” Chansung jerked his arm free of Junho’s grasp and glared at him. “I can’t believe you left me for that guy, Junho . . . You’re ing stupider than I thought you were.”

   “How dare you come into my job and do this?!” Junho snapped, unable to listen to the deadly words from the other, unable to hear the things that would normally break him and force him into submission. His voice teetered on the edge of an angry scream and a helpless sob, filling the air with a dead silence as he yelled. “How many times do I have to say it to you? How many different ways must I spell it out . . . I. Don’t. Love. You. Okay . . . You lost your chance, you threw me away over and over again . . . You destroyed every sense of happiness in my heart and never stopped to give one single about me, until now. Of course I don’t love you anymore, you’re nothing to me. Not even a memory anymore. You’re just some that I used to date.”

   “You’re a , Junho . . . I don’t even know why I bothered.” Chansung hissed and then turned to talk away.

   Pain and self pity. The shrouded every inch of Junho’s heart as he watched the figure turn away from him. It was unfair, being called such a disgusting word, being treated like he was filth, like he was less than nothing. Loving Taecyeon didn’t make him less than nothing. Loving Taecyeon made him greater, stronger. Frustration and hate. It clouded his judgment and he reached up, placing his hands on the retreating figure and pushing as hard as he could before the taller man could step into the elevator.

   “Yah!” Junho yelled as Chansung stumbled forward. “Don’t ever talk to me again . . . Don’t call me, don’t even raise your head if you pass me on the street . . . I never thought I would ever say this to you . . . but I hate you, Hwang Chansung. I really do.” He was angry, but he was also hurt. And even though he had made it so far, he couldn’t hold back the light tears that dampened around the corners of his eyes. “You’re an evil person, and I hate–”

    Chansung silenced him with a slap to the face. “I’ve heard enough of your ing self pity . . . if you wanted to leave, you would have walked out a long time ago, it’s not my fault you don’t value yourself enough to not take from people . . . and it’s not my problem when you act like a and sleep with your boss just to keep whatever office perks and benefits he gives you . . . But that’s all you’ll be, Junho . . . a nice piece of . Remember that.” 
 

Taecyeon watched. And with every word spoken back and forth between the two, another shard from his heart broke away and shattered on the floor. It was numbing, it was stomach turning, pain inducing. But he couldn’t look away. So he watchedhis lover, his friend, his Junho . . . He watched him plead with the man that wasn’t him.

   It was clear they were an ‘item’, or were an item, or maybe . . . He didn’t know.

   But he listened, and he learned about the man whose name was Chansung. Chansung. Taecyeon didn’t even have to know anything about the man, but he knew that he hated Chansung, just by looking at Junho’s eyes; they now held that sadness Taec would often catch a glimpse of from time to time.

   It infuriated him to finally know and understand the cause behind that sadness.

   Taecyeon was past the point of hearing words, it all sounded the same to him, but he watched Junho get angry and scream something at the other tall man. He watched the pain in Junho’s face and watched to step between them, but what kept him where he was? Was it that faint sense of betrayal?

   And then, for the first time in minutes, he heard something.

   The stinging sound of Junho being slapped in the face echoed through the now quiet office and the only thing that could be heard was the shuddering gasp of the assaulted. Taecyeon barely registered anything other than Junho. Junho’s eyes watering at the force of the blow to his face. Junho reaching up in shock, touching the red mark that painted itself on his cheek like a battle scar. Junho’s broken expression as he stared at the man that was not Taec.

   Taecyeon, without thinking or knowing, lunged.

Junho stared at Chansung for a moment – only a moment – before suddenly, the tall, venomous face before him vanished, tackled and pinned to the wall in an instant.

   He watched as Taecyeon laid blow after blow to Chansung’s face in a flurry of fist meeting skin and breaking cartilage, the younger man completely taken off guard and unable to retaliate. Junho didn’t even feel sorry.

   Only when he noticed the blotches of red that painted the floor and wall in light speckles here and there, he realized what was happening. He ran over and laid his hand on Taecyeon’s shoulder. That was all it took.

   Taecyeon stilled, looking at Junho. “Please stop.”

   “H-He hit you . . .” Taec frowned.

   “I know,” Junho sighed and closed his eyes, nodding, mostly to himself. “I know, I’m okay . . . just let him go.”

   Confusion spread over Taecyeon’s face again, but the giant’s hand loosened on Chansung’s collar and finally let go. “I don’t understand.” Taec said, staring Junho in the eyes before his face fell and he sighed. “I don’t understand you.”

   Junho could only watch as Taecyeon quietly sulked into his office.

   As if the elevator was simply waiting for the drama to die down, the doors opened and two of the building’s security guards stormed out, seeing Junho standing by a bloody Chansung. Jo Kwon ran over and pointed to the later. “That man came into the office and started attacking Mr. Ok and he hit Junho-ssi in the face . . .” Junho couldn’t hear the rest, everything just trailed off into a fog as he stared at the closed office door down the hall. He barely even noticed when the police showed up and placed Chansung in handcuffs.

   “Excuse me, Mr. Lee?” A voice pulled Junho away from his fog and he looked up to see a tall police officer standing before him. The man’s expression softened a little. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to take a statement from you, just a few questions. Do you plan to press charges?” The officer spoke a bit too quickly.

   “What?” Junho blinked and realized that the entire office was filled with police and all of his co-workers being questioned. He glanced around, noticing the single office door that was still closed and probably locked. “I-I’m sorry . . . What was the question?”

   “Would you like to press charges against Hwang Chansung?” The officer repeated.

   Junho thought about it, but inevitably sighed and said. “No . . . no, just . . . no. I don’t want anything to do with him anymore.”

   The officer took a note. “Can you tell me, in your words, what happened today?”

   “I came up from the accounting firm and saw Chansung talking with my boss, and then he punched Mr. Ok in the jaw, I broke them up and pulled Chansung away.” Junho looked down, tears already gathering as he remembered the things that happened only minutes ago. “We argued for a minute and then he turned away, I pushed him and so he slapped me . . . That’s when Taecyeon jumped on him and . . .”

   “It’s okay, I know what happened after that.” The officer said as he wrote a bunch of things down. After a moment of silence he looked Junho in the eyes. “How long have you and Chansung been together?” Junho’s eyes widened at the police officer. “Has he been abusing you the whole time?”

   He couldn’t deny it. This policeman, he was sly, he asked Junho all the right questions that made him sigh and look down and suddenly he realized that he probably looked like an abused wife right now, making her first official statement against the abuser. How embarrassing.

   Because he couldn’t deny it, Junho gave in, and told the officer everything – leaving out obvious details that were a bit too personal, of course. In the end, he stood by his decision not to press charges. “He’s only hit me twice,” he reasoned with the officer. “Today and the night before last . . . those were the worst fights we’ve ever been in. He’s really not a bad person– I know I called him some horrible things, but . . . I don’t know. I hate him and I don’t– I know you don’t understand anything I’m saying . . .”

   “No, I understand.” The policeman smiled reassuringly, his eyes showed Junho a genuine ‘I know what it’s like’. The man wrote something down on in his notebook before tearing the small page off and putting the book away. “Mr. Lee,” He said, taking his hat off. “I usually don’t do this, but here’s my information. If you ever need anything, I’d like to help.” He handed Junho the small piece of paper.

   Junho stared at the yellow lined paper and then took it, reading the name. “Thank you, Mr. Im.”

   “Just call me Seulong.” Seulong smiled and put his hat back on. “If he bothers you again, please let me know. I have to get going now. Take care, Mr. Lee.”

   “Alright,” Junho bowed. “Hopefully I won’t have to call on your services.”

   Seulong smirked as he walked towards the elevator. “Don’t let the uniform fool you, I’m actually a cool guy . . . call me if you need to talk to someone who understands– or just talk.” He stepped into the elevator, putting his arm in the way before the doors could close. “By the way . . . you should go talk to Taecyeon-ssi~” Seulong smiled and nodded, knowing that Junho knew who he was talking about.

Taecyeon sat at his desk, staring ahead at the dark office. The invisible clock ticking, filling the silence with the annoying sound, every second. The hushed murmur of voices talking outside, he was sure all the commotion had completely died down and now the officers were leaving. The couch on the other side of the room; his eye scanned the black leather and he remembered the first time he made love to Junho on the piece of furniture.

   Junho.

   He closed his eyes and sighed. Such a strange feeling, the feeling of being hurt by someone you love. Despite the pain he was feeling, it was nothing. This pain was like a drop of lemon juice in a pool of water, tasteless, without feeling almost. The only reason why it hurt, was because he knew it was there. But Junho.

   He’d already forgiven Junho. Maybe that was stupid, but he couldn’t help it.

   Junho was . . . still beautiful. Flawed, like he’d always been, and beautiful.

   There was a knock on the door. Taecyeon looked up and used his voice for the first time in a while. “Come in.” He almost commanded, sitting back in his chair.

   He knew the figure that opened the door, he knew it well, so he didn’t have to guess. He watched as the black outline of the person reached to the wall by the door and flicked the lights on. “Mr.– Taecyeon . . .” Junho’s voice was a whisper.

   “Yes, Junho?” He forced a smile at the younger man.

   Junho’s face dropped and he looked down, closing the door and stepping over to the desk. “I . . . I’m sorry.” The young one said, clearing some papers away and sitting on the edge of the desk. “I have a lot of explaining to do.”

   “You don’t say~” Taecyeon laughed humorlessly. Numbly.

   He looked up at his lover – was he still going to be his lover? He desperately hoped so – and after a few seconds of looking into each other’s eyes, the floodgates opened up, and Junho broke into a sob, mumbling words that Taec really couldn’t understand most of.

   “I should have told you about Chansung,” Junho reprimanded himself. “I shouldn’t have kept that secret form you but, I was . . . I was free. I-I was being happy and . . . I was scared.” Junho looked down at himself. “I was so scared because I’d never felt this, I’d never been allowed to be . . . to be myself, and everything with you was just so wonderful and I felt open. I’m sorry . . . I’m sorry if you hate me.”

   Taecyeon raised an eyebrow. “Junho,” Junho looked at him. “I assure you, I don’t hate you . . . For multiple reasons. The most obvious being, it would be quite difficult for us to be collogues if I hated you.” Junho nodded. “And also . . . I love you.” He couldn’t help but smile as he spoke the words for the first time, he couldn’t help but smile at the look on Junho’s face. The normally small eyes grew wide and Junho snapped his head up, looking at him in disbelief.

   “You . . . ?” Junho blinked.

   Taecyeon rolled his chair back and stood up, Junho watched him as he stepped closer and then took the smaller one’s face in his hands, kissing him gently. “I love you, Lee Junho.” Taec said again, as if making it more official. “So stop crying. Please.” He kissed him again, kissing away the drama and the sadness and everything of the day, the past few days. There was nothing that would stop him from loving Junho. 

   Junho looked up at him, his eyes dry and his face content. There was that beauty again, there was that happy Junho that made his heart race, even now. Taecyeon looked at the other, fear rising from the pit of his stomach as he waited for Junho to say something – anything. Junho’s soft lips curled into a smile. “I love you too, Ok Taecyeon.” The slender arms tightened around Taec’s waist and the tall man smiled. “I love you so much.” Junho said, clinging to him.

   Taecyeon held him closed and relished in the satisfaction of everything setting in place. He didn’t hate his life. The ball and chain that once held him down was feather light, the burdens and pressure of being perfect were no longer an issue. Junho was his, and he was Junho’s, and nothing else in the world mattered.

   Junho was his.

The End.