(A day later)

—Yesung’s POV—

“Jongjin-ah! Let’s go!”

Jongjin emerged from his room, fully dressed in his uniform and ran to open the door. I grinned at him and we bid our parents goodbye before we went next door.

I knocked on the door and called for Wookie, but unlike other days, he didn’t reply. I raised a brow to myself and tried again, knocking louder this time.

“Wookie-yah! Are you in there? Kangin?” I called out. I didn’t hear any replies and I began to get worried. Did something happen to them? “Kim Ryeowook! Open up!”

I was more than startled when the door suddenly opened and I nearly fell, and even more so when the person who opened the door was Kangin instead of Wookie. Kangin NEVER opens the door, not when I’m the one who’s knocking.

Kangin violently shoved me aside and stormed into the lift without saying a word, completely ignoring Jongjin’s greetings as well. Did something happen to him? But he already got back together with Leeteuk.

“Wookie? Are you ready?” I asked. Wookie replied this time, but his voice sounds a little weird. I didn’t care anymore and just went into their house. I knew that their parents aren’t home – they’re overseas – so only Wookie was in the house now.

I barged into Wookie’s room and heard him gasp in shock before he turned to face me. Well, his body was facing me. He wasn’t looking at me though. He’s just staring at either his feet or the ground.

“Come on,” I told him. Wookie nodded and grabbed his bag before walking towards me. Why isn’t he talking? He walked ahead of me, looking back to see that I was still in his room, drowned in my thoughts.

“Sungie?” he called, his voice breaking in the process. I looked at him and smiled, walking out of the room and intertwining our hands together. I felt Wookie flinch and I stared at him, stopping dead in my tracks.

“That’s it. What’s wrong?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest and tapping my foot on the ground impatiently. Wookie refused to even look at me, let alone answer, so I had to tip his chin up and force him to look at me in the eye. Even then, he looked away.

Is that a bruise on his face? Wait, no… It’s in the shape of a hand. Did somebody slap my baby?!

Wookie seemed to have realised that I saw the bruise and smacked my hand away before looking back down at his feet. I sighed, knowing that this would take forever. I turned to look at Jongjin who was humming to himself while waiting for us.

“Jongjin, go to school first,” I instructed. Jongjin looked at me questioningly, but he didn’t voice his thoughts as he nodded and went downstairs. Once Jongjin stepped into the lift, I waved to him and turned back to Wookie.

“Don’t test me, Wookie. What. Happened?” I demanded. When Wookie still refused to speak, I grabbed his wrist. Maybe I was too harsh because before I knew it, I heard Wookie sobbing. I immediately let go of his wrist and quickly shut the door, bringing Wookie to the couch.

“Wookie, come on. You can trust me can’t you?” I asked him, my voice completely different from before. Wookie sniffled and looked up at me for the first time that day. Only when he looked straight at me did I realise another bruise on the other side of his face, but this one doesn’t seem like it was from a slap.

The moment I saw the other bruise, I inspected Wookie’s arms and as expected, I found a purplish bruise there as well. Looking back at Wookie’s face, I saw that the corner of his lips was cracked. Who would do this to my beloved boyfriend?

“Wookie, tell me what happened please? I can’t bear seeing you like this,” I pleaded. Wookie nodded slightly and calmed himself, wiping the tears away. He looked at me in the eye and I bit back a gasp as I saw his red and swollen eyes. Wookie cried too?

“This happened yesterday,” Wookie began.

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[Flashback]

Ryeowook looked at Kangin nervously, biting his lower lip as he contemplated about whether or not he should tell Kangin the truth. He eventually decided that Kangin deserves to know, so he drew in a deep breath before speaking.

“She’s my ex-girlfriend,” Ryeowook admitted. That earned him one slap from Kangin.

“How could you date someone like her?!” Kangin shrieked. Ryeowook held in his tears and continued.

“We broke up around five years ago and I spent quite some time trying to get over her. Meeting Sungie did that and I didn’t contact her. Only recently did she start to contact me again, after I met her at the bus stop the other day.”

“Why did you break up?” Kangin prompted.

“Her dad kidnapped appa and umma the other time to force us to break up. He’s a mafia leader,” Ryeowook admitted. Kangin took some time to absorb this new information and he grabbed onto Ryeowook’s arm, pulling the younger male up forcefully.

Kangin tightened his grip on Ryeowook’s arm the more Ryeowook tried to pull his arm out of Kangin’s grip. “HER FATHER DID WHAT?!”

Ryeowook sniffled and nodded, and Kangin flung his brother onto the couch. “Continue.”

Ryeowook whimpered as he touched the bruise on his arm but he did as told.

“Recently, she wanted to get back with me. She started with poisoning Sungie, then she kidnapped Sungie’s dog. When she realised that she couldn’t do anything to the two of us, she started to target the rest of the group. She started by getting Taeyeon to target you and Teukie umma. She threatened to kill Taeyeon’s parents if she didn’t agree. Please don’t blame Taeyeon,” Ryeowook begged.

Kangin stood still for a second before he pulled his arm back and landed a punch on Ryeowook’s cheek. Ryeowook fell back and just looked up at his hyung who was fuming. Tears began streaming down the sides of Ryeowook’s face as he cried. He could taste copper in his mouth too, so he assumed that his lips were bleeding.

“I don’t have a brother like you. How dare you get involved with somebody so evil and drag everyone to hell with you? Get out of my sight. GO!” Kangin spat. Ryeowook didn’t have to be told a second time; he ran off into his room and slammed the door shut, his back sliding down against the door as he cried.

He hadn’t been expecting Kangin to react that way. Heck, he’d thought that Kangin would understand his difficulties and help. He was so wrong.

[End of flashback]

By the time Wookie finished recounting the events from the previous day, he was a crying mess and I hugged him close to me, patting his back comfortingly while shushing him.

“Let’s not go to school today, ok? You aren’t in the condition to go,” I suggested. Wookie shook his head vigorously and I could only sigh. He looked up at me with fresh tears continuously spilling out of his eyes.

“I… want to,” Wookie said between hiccups. I nodded, and wiped the tears away, pressing my lips onto his forehead and helping him up.

“Come on then. We’ll take a cab today, alright?” I told him. Wookie nodded and we walked out of his house, my eyes never leaving him. I kept my arm wrapped around his waist, ensuring that he was as close to me as possible. I don’t want anything else happening to him.

We went downstairs and hailed a cab, climbing into it and telling the driver our destination. The cab sped off and Wookie leaned against me, obviously too mentally drained to keep himself awake.

When we arrived at school, we headed to the cafeteria. But before we entered, Wookie grabbed onto my arm and stopped me. I could feel him trembling, so I turned to face him and held him by the shoulders.

“What is it?” I asked gently.

“Don’t tell them what happened, ok? I don’t want them to think badly of me,” Wookie requested. I smiled lightly and nodded, but I really felt like just revealing everything. Sooyoung… how could she be like that? I never thought that she’d be capable of such evil. Nonetheless, I know that Wookie can’t be blamed for her behaviour.

“Hi guys,” I greeted, sitting down with them. Wookie sat down beside me nervously, looking down into his lap. The others just greeted us back and stared at Wookie, as if expecting him to say something. On the bright side, Kangin is with Leeteuk in the hospital so he can’t do anything to Wookie again.

“Ryeowook, did something happen to you?” Sungmin asked worriedly. Before Wookie answered, I spoke up for him.

“On our way home, this basketball flew in our direction and hit his face, causing him to fall and injure himself. Then he was slapped by some random drunk person,” I lied. They seemed to have fallen for it, with the exception of Heechul, and just nodded.

“Let’s go,” Heechul ordered, being the eldest after Leeteuk. We agreed and went to the auditorium for assembly. After that, we split up and went to our respective classes.

“Be careful, ok?” I told Wookie. He forced a smile and nodded, and I pecked him on the cheek before he left for his next class. The moment I was sure that Wookie was out of sight and earshot, I gritted my teeth and balled my hands into fists. I punched the nearest wall until my knuckles bled, and I still wasn’t satisfied.

Kim Youngwoon, you are going to pay for what you did to Wookie.

Well I finally updated! Who went to SMTown SG? IT WAS AMAZING!

Anws imma be going to Cambodia for a Service-Learning Trip and I won't be back till ten days later so my next update would be arnd two wks from now? I'm sorry! ><

Look forward to it and annyeong! ^^