It was the Monday after the Fall Ball, and rumors were buzzing around Shinhwa Academy. 

When Suzy made her way to her locker, she caught eyes with Wooyoung and the two exchanged knowing glances. For once, the rumors weren't about Suzy and Chunji.

Suddenly, the doors opened and both Samdong and Jieun walked into the school at the same time. Jieun saw him first, so she quickly turned the other way, mouthing to Suzy, "Help me."

Suzy quickly struck up a conversation with Samdong to help out her friend.

"Hey, how was your weekend?" she began. Samdong laughed. 

"It was good. I didn't see any of you though. What's with that? We all need to get together more often."

"I think we already did too much," Suzy blurted. Samdong gave her a confused look. 

"Look," he whispered. "About the kiss... I.. isn't it better if Jieun didn't find out? I don't want her to get hurt by both her boyfriend and her best friend." 

Suzy nodded knowingly. 

"It was all my fault. I was deranged in the head." Suzy tried to brush off.

"It was nothing, right?" Samdong clarified. Suzy's heart sank.

"Right." Suzy answered.

Samdong curtly nodded and went to his locker across the hall. Jieun took the opportunity to dash next to Suzy and hide behind her open locker door.

"What did he say?" she hissed desperately.

"Nothing. I asked about his weekend." Suzy fibbed. 

"Should I not tell him then? Will he be mad?" Jieun fired these questions at Suzy. 

"Look. I'm not the best person to ask these questions." Suzy tried to escape Jieun.

"You're exactly the perfect person! You were cheated on before!" Jieun whispered as Suzy shut her locker, getting rid of Jieun's hiding spot. 

"Eek!" Jieun ducked behind Suzy. 

"Soo? Chunji cheated on you, too! How did that make you feel?"  Suzy shot back. 

"That was like.. in 8th grade. We were children!" Jieun whined. Samdong suddenly appeared. Jieun's eyes widened. 

"Hey guys." Samdong said nonchalantly. "Bell's about to ring. Want me to walk you to your homeroom?" Samdong directed towards his girlfriend.

"No thanks. Uh, I'll see you during lunch!" she quickly ran off. Samdong look confused but shrugged it off. He gave Suzy a smile before leaving as well.

* * *

And so 2 weeks passed like this. Everyone in their circle would act awkward around each other. So awkward, in fact, that Eunjung even took notice that Suzy wasn't hanging out with them. 

"You guys are so dumb." she had said to Suzy before leaving to another Friday night party.

Suzy shrugged it off, thinking that things would soon go back to the way it was. It was all her fault for stepping out of line. She knew her place, and that certainly wasn't with her best friend's boyfriend.

November was fastly approaching and before she knew it, Suzy was growing accustomed to her lifestyle with her dysfunctional family and equally as awkward friends. Miraculously, Samdong never heard the rumor about Jieun and Wooyoung, and all their friends kept quiet about it.

She was leaving to walk home from The Mug when she first saw it. Jieun with Wooyoung. Under normal circumstances, she would have approached them and join them... but these weren't exactly normal circumstances. Suzy decided to hide behind the street lamp and watch them. If they caught her, she would simply say she was just leaving her job. 

As they walked behind her, she heard them laughing loudly and chatting happily. As they passed, Suzy turned around to see Jieun plant a kiss on Wooyoung's cheek. Suzy's jaw dropped open. Are those two on a date? Suzy didn't want to jump to conclusions but this looked really, really bad. 

* * *

When Suzy got home that day, Paul was a drunken mess. 

"Comeee hereee babyyy, " he drawled on, stumbling towards Suzy. Suzy looked at him, disgusted. 

"Not surprised to see you like this." She made a break for it, sprinting towards to the stairs, but even in his drunkeness, Paul lunged for Suzy. He managed to grab her leg and they both stumbled to the floor. Suzy quickly tried to scramble to get on her feet but Paul was especially brutal that day. 

"Trying to get away? Huh? I. Don't. Think. So!" With each word came a harsh slap to her body. Suzy grimaced in pain and willed herself not to cry. She pushed Paul back in an attempt to get away but he fiercely grabbed her shoulders and pinned her to the wall so she ended up slamming her head against it. He landed a punch in her gut that knocked the wind out of her. Suzy tried to fight back, but her attempt really was just wild thrashing.

"Stay still!" Paul slapped her hard across the face. Suzy could feel the bruise already forming. Mustering all her strength she punched him square in the jaw and as he took a step back to clutch his face, she tried to get away.

"Not so fast!" Suzy so desperately wanted to give up, but she would never let Paul get the best of her.

She opened the front door but Paul was relentless. He quickly slammed it shut, getting Suzy's arm caught in the process. She yelped in pain as Paul continued to slam the door on her arm again and again. Suzy tried to use her leg to kick at him and finally succeeded. He stumbled backward and Suzy took this opportunity to escape. With tears streaming down her face, she fled into the night.

* * * 

Suzy quickened her pace on the sidewalk, simply just wanting to get away from that wretched man. Being a cold November night, she was already beginning to freeze. Her tears had now dried and she assessed the damage Paul had done this time. A simple movement from cased her to wince in pain, so she knew a bruise would soon form there. Her arm wasn't broken, but it was certainly severely bruised. Her stomach hurt from the punch she got and her body in general was sore from the physical fight.

It had been 2 months of this already. When was Paul leaving? In her eyes he hadn't even landed a stable job yet.

She kept walking until she heard heavy breathing. Suzy looked ahead of her. On the bench at the sidewalk sat Samdong. He can't see me like this.. he'll definitely go after Paul. Luckily, the street lamp was farther down the sidewalk, so it would be nearly impossible for Samdong to see her in her current fragile state. 

When she got closer to him, she realized that Samdong had a depressed expression planted on his face.

"Hey.. what's wrong?" Suzy asked.

Samdong looked up and swallowed. "Jieun's moving."