You let out a cry of pain as you hit the floor, holding your now reddening cheek in your hand as you look up at the man that loomed over you fuming in anger. Tears began to form in your eyes as they silently ran down your face; you were completely shocked at what had just occurred. 

Hyo stared down at you, fists clenched as if he were going to do more; it made fear for the first time spark within you. Never had you expected to be afraid of the very person you had loved. 

Suddenly you were engulfed in a bone breaking hug as you heard panicked sobs, "____! I'm so sorry; I don't know what got into me! Please forgive me, I promise I will never do it again!" Hyo pleaded with a sob.

You had been wrong, Hyo wasn't that kind of person it was all just a misunderstanding that briefly got out of hand. More tears rolled down your face as you wrapped your arms around Hyo's back and patted it slowly, "it’s okay, I forgive you." You say as you stare at the wall behind Hyo blankly.

It had only been a month since New Year’s and month since you told Hyo how you felt about him. It had taken that first month of dating after being friends for three years for you to realize how hard you had fallen for Hyo. It had only taken a second for Hyo to lay a hand on you in the form of violence, and only another second for you to forgive him. 

Yet it took you nearly five months to confess that you wanted and needed help. 

Kyuhyun stared at his cellphone as he leaned his head against the bed rest, for the past thirty minutes he had been having an argument with himself over whether he should click call or just put his phone down and play Starcraft.

It wasn't that he didn't want to call her; it was more like he was too nervous to. A month ago he had admitted to her that him along with Eunhyuk harbored feelings for her, and she had thanked him for liking her, but told him she needed to get to know him better first. Kyuhyun agreed to it, and they were getting along great, but he kept finding himself in a nervous state whenever he thought about talking to her or calling her.

Kyuhyun sighed to himself, "I guess it's better if I just do it." He decides ready to click the call button. Suddenly, there is a knock on his door and then it opens widely, revealing Heechul, "Yah, there's a hot girl at the door for you." He says before walking out of the room.

Kyuhyun's eyes widened, could it possibly be her? Jumping off his bed he practically runs to the door only to see Ji Hyun there with a worried look on her face. Kyuhyun looks at her confused, "Donghae isn't here right now." Kyuhyun says with a smirk.

Ji Hyun blushes before shaking her head, "I'm not here for Donghae." She explains as she shuffles her feet nervously.

Kyuhyun raises an eyebrow at her, "Oh? Then what are you here for?" He asks.

Ji Hyun looks up at Kyuhyun worry clouded over her face, "Have you talked to ____ recently?" She asks.

Kyuhyun looks at Ji Hyun confused, "I haven't, I was about to call her a minute ago, but why are you asking? She is your roommate after all." 

Ji Hyun sighs, "I haven't seen her in three days, Kyuhyun. I don't know where she is and she won't answer her phone. At first I figured she must have stayed at work doing designs and such, but now I don't know." She says looking down as her eyes begin to turn red.

Kyuhyun's eyes widen as his heart rate increased worry flooding through him, "Come in Ji Hyun, I'll go ask Eunhyuk if he has seen her." Kyuhyun says as Ji Hyun follows him into the dorm. Kyuhyun goes straight to Eunhyuk's room and opens the door surprising Eunhyuk who had been reading.

"Kyuhyun? What is it?" Eunhyuk asks as he sits up on his bed.

"Have you seen or talked to ____?" Kyuhyun asks getting straight to the point.

Eunhyuk shakes his head, "No, not since three days ago."

Kyuhyun clenches his fists together before leaving a confused Eunhyuk's room and walking straight out of the dorm and into the hallway. It was late and dark outside, but he had to find her, he had to know she was safe.

Walking down the hallway toward the elevator, Kyuhyun pulled his phone out and hastily dialed her number, clicking talk with no hesitance. All it did was ring and go to voicemail. He'd tried multiple times as the elevator opened. A ringtone filled his ears as he looked up to see a hooded figure with long hair staring at the phone in her shaking hand.

Kyuhyun's eyes widened in shock, "____!" Kyuhyun exclaimed as he went into the elevator.

Once she realized it was Kyuhyun's voice she looked down even more trying to hide her face the best she could, "Hey Kyuhyun, could we talk later please?" She asks trying to steady her voice.

Kyuhyun tried to look at her, but wasn't able to, "____? What's wrong? Where have you been? We were all worried." He says.

"I was out." She says wishing the elevator would hurry up.

"Out? How could you be out for three days and not contact your friends?" Kyuhyun asks.

"That's just how it worked out." She says as she walks out of the now open elevator doors.

Kyuhyun wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer, he knew something was wrong and followed her as she came to halt in front of the apartment she shared with Ji Hyun, "Can I come in?" He asks.

She shakes her head, "No, go home Kyuhyun." She says bluntly.

Now he definitely knew something was up, she never spoke to him that way, "I guess that leaves me no choice but to allow myself in." He says as he follows her in before she can close the door. 

With her back to him she stood there in the doorway, "Please, just not right now." She says with a shaky voice.

"Why?" Kyuhyun asks as he grabs her by the wrist causing her to flinch.

"Just because, okay?" She says giving him no real answer at all as she twists and turns her wrist trying to get it out of his grip.

"You're not looking at me, ____." Kyuhyun says becoming even more worried.

"I can't, not right now." She says as she tries to hide the shaky voice that is becoming more apparent every time she spoke.

Kyuhyun couldn't stand it anymore and pulled on her wrist causing her to turn around and land in his arms, what he saw shocked them both. Kyuhyun didn't have words for the state she seemed to be in. Her left eye was somewhat puffy as black and blue covered it, and her bottom lip was swollen and cut. A part from the injuries she looked drained, and appeared to have lost an unhealthy amount of weight since the last he had saw her. 

"____? What happened to you?" Kyuhyun asks.

She stares up at Kyuhyun with a terrified look as the shaking she had managed to calm down came back, tears filled her eyes as she looked away from him, "N-nothing, I just drank too much and had a series of unfortunate falls last night." She explains as she successfully pulls out of Kyuhyun's grip.

Kyuhyun didn't believe it, if it was just a few falls from being drunk why would she cry and shake like that? It worried him to the point that he was becoming irritated with himself. After battling with his own thoughts, Kyuhyun looked up to ask her a serious question, but she wasn't there which didn't make his already frustrating worry any better.

Suddenly his phone started ringing with Eunhyuk on the caller ID. Sighing Kyuhyun answered it, "Eunhyuk? What is it?" He asks.

"Yah, what's going on? Ji Hyun is here on the couch crying and saying she might never see ____ again!" Eunhyuk says.

"Tell her I found ____, and not to come back to her apartment for now." Kyuhyun explains quickly as he walks into the apartment in search of her.

"What's going on? Did something happen to ____?" Eunhyuk asks with worry in his voice.

"I don't know, I still need to find that out, but I need to go now." Kyuhyun says as he hangs up the phone. He had come to a stop in front of a closed door that he knew was hers, and on the other side he could hear crying.

Your hand slapped over your mouth as you tried to quiet your sob, dropping to your knees you lean on the side of your bed. Of all people he was the one who had to see the horrible things Hyo had done to you. The one person you found safety in, who made you forget about what you hid away from the world had now saw the reality of it all. 

Hyo had been especially angry this time. He had finally managed to locate where you lived, a thing you hoped he would never learn when you escaped his house in the middle of the night. He had waited in the parking lot when you were going to work to steal you away. When you had finally thought the nightmare was over, he'd made it even more real those past three days.

You couldn't even figure out how you managed to get away this time because you felt so drained and lifeless. Hyo had done the worst he could to you this time; hitting wasn't even the worst of it. 

You let out another muffled sob, he had done the worst thing you could have imagined and thought you escaped from. If only you had left the first time he laid a hand on you, if only you had told someone, asked for help then Hyo would have never done that to you. No matter how much you had cried for help, asked him to stop, even to the point of hitting him to get him off you, it didn't work it only made him angrier.

"I'm so stupid." You say as you hit your balled up fist against the floor, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" You shout with a sob as you continue to hit the floor. You didn't care if you were acting childish, you couldn’t hold it in anymore the anger you felt for yourself wouldn't stay bottled up any longer.

After your anger subsided you sat there for a while, slowly calming down. You began to move getting ready to stand up, but almost screamed when you looked up and locked eyes with Kyuhyun.

He looked at you with a gentle smile on his face but seriousness in his eyes, "So are you going to tell me how being a clumsy drunk equates to you crying your eyes out in here?" Kyuhyun asks you.

You look down trying to avoid letting Kyuhyun see the face that showed the evidence of Hyo's actions, "Don't look at me." You whisper completely avoiding his question.

Kyuhyun tilts his head to the side confused, "Why?" He asks as he puts a finger under your chin and gently lifts your head up to look at him, "Since when am I not allowed to look at your beautiful face?" He asks.

You look at Kyuhyun, trying to stop the tears that had already started again.

"Crying again? If I knew why maybe I'd be a better comfort to you." Kyuhyun says as he pulls you toward him wrapping his arms around you in a protective embrace.

You bury yourself into his chest as you grab on tightly to parts of his shirt, you hadn't felt this safe in months. "I'm scared, Kyuhyun." You say through a sob. It was time you told someone about something you kept hidden for so long.

Kyuhyun's grip tightened around you as his gentle smile faded to a look of absolute seriousness, "Who did this to you?" He repeats his question from earlier.

You sigh into Kyuhyun's shirt, for so long did you want to relieve it all to someone and you were finally telling someone you trusted someone who you had begun to fall for without even noticing it, "His name is Hyo, Kang Hyo." You say in almost a whisper. 

Kyuhyun plants a kiss on the top of your head as he rubs your back, "I'm listening," He says softly as you begin to explain everything from start to finish.

Kyuhyun laid there staring at the ceiling, he was still trying to process everything she had told him. It had made him beyond angry and he still was. She had seemed so relieved and finally exhausted when she told him, that soon after she fell asleep refusing to let Kyuhyun leave. Thus he laid there with his arms wrapped around her as she slept peacefully.

Kyuhyun sighed as he stared down at her sleeping figure, he'd told her the promise he had made to himself long ago, "I will protect you, I promise you this." He whispers to the air.

His deep thoughts were interrupted by a ringing phone; Kyuhyun looked over towards the sound to see her phone ringing on the side table next to the bed. Letting his curiosity get the best of him he grabbed the phone to see who it was. The caller ID read that it was Hyo, this caused Kyuhyun to freeze for a second as the anger in him rose.

He clicked the talk button and put the phone to the ear, but before he could even say anything was he startled by angry yelling, "YAH! You ! I didn't say you could leave! I'm here in the parking lot, so you better get out here right this moment!" The voice of Hyo demanded as Kyuhyun balled his fist in anger.

Kyuhyun silently unwrapped himself from her and left the room, "That's hardly the right way to speak to someone you've never met." Kyuhyun says sternly.

Practically hearing the surprise in Hyo's voice he shouts at Kyuhyun, "You're the one! You convinced her to leave me didn't you?! How dare you do such a thing! Splitting us up when we were in love!" He says angrily.

Kyuhyun does everything he can to keep himself from yelling at Hyo at this point, he takes a deep breath and talks as calmly as he can, "Huh, I wasn't aware that love meant abusing their other half." He says trying to sound casual.

Hyo immediately goes to his own defense, "W-what?! Who the hell are you to accuse me of such a thing!? That idiot of a girl got herself too drunk and fell one to many times!" Hyo sputters out nervously.

Kyuhyun's grip on the phone tightens as he struggles to keep his composure, "Enough with the excuses Kang Hyo, the police know your face now and what you have done, and I won't ever let you get away with it." Kyuhyun says having enough of this guy.

"Y-you bastard! You called the cops on me?! Aish, you'll regret this!" Hyo shouts through the phone before hanging up.

Kyuhyun lets his arm drop away from his ear as the phone hangs in his hand, breathing out a long sigh he leans against the wall letting the anger that was inside of him calm down. His thoughts were running wild after his unpleasant chat with Hyo, he just couldn't understand how such an amazing girl ended up with someone so rotten.

"I will never let him lay a hand on her again, ever." Kyuhyun promises to himself before walking back to the room she slept in. Kyuhyun was determined to do anything and everything to make her happy from that day on, no matter what happened.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello everyone~! :D

I'm so proud of myself right now, lol. I managed to get two chapters out in the same week! 

I hope you like this chapter though, it's a memories chapter so it doesn't really continue the story except for revealing a lot of things! 

Man it feels so good to not have any writers block at all, aaah I'm so happy! :D

Anyway, I will try my best on getting chapters out more frequently!

Thank you for reading my story even through my slow updates!

-Paige