Another loud bang against your front door had you cringe on your couch. “Open the ing door you ! Open it now!” his voice was booming like thunder. No way would you open that door, not if he was like this. Another series of banging against the door started, slightly muffled by his screams. Jinso, your ex- boyfriend, obviously still didn’t make peace yet with the fact that you dumped him a week ago. Little did he know that by reacting like this, he was confirming every reason why you dumped him to begin with! The beginning of your relationship had been more than pleasant; he was sweet, considerate, charming and a more than exciting boyfriend. He was everything you wanted and it didn’t matter that friends told you there was this shady, suspicious side of him they couldn’t quite trust. Naturally you didn’t see any of that; love makes blind, right? Yes, obviously it did. The hard truth had to hit you in the face a week ago, showing you he wasn’t exactly as loving as you thought he would be. Which man would beat up someone just because he looked at his girlfriend? What kind of man would laugh at his victim when it crumpled to the floor, bleeding and crying? Certainly not the man you would want in your life, you realized that moment. You dumped him that instant and, thanks to the people around arriving on the ‘crime scene’, managed to save the man he attacked. You had no idea that it would lead to this.

“___-ah! Let me in! Now!” he yelled again, followed by a lot of nasty things he now decided to call you. Ugh. How in your life had you ever been able to love him? This man was just …horrid. He knew very well he was frightening the crap out of you by showing up and making a scene. It was more than obvious that opening the door would not be a good idea, not with that kind of anger. A nice little chat with him certainly didn’t seem possible at all. “Go away!” you yelled back, slowly edging closer to the side of the door. It was silent for a few seconds. “You ! You can’t tell me to go away! Open this ing door!” he went off again. You sighed loudly, how in the world would you be able to get any sleep like this? It was the middle of the freaking night and he had been here for almost twenty minutes now. Would he ever leave?

Another stream of not-so-lovely nicknames for you came from behind your door before a loud thud and groan had you freeze in shock. What just happened? “J-Jinso?” you asked, unsure if this was a trap or if something really happened to him. “What happened? Jinso?” you said a bit louder, still hiding inside your own apartment. “Jinso? That’s your name?” a new, yet familiar voice asked, followed by another groan that was unmistakably coming from your ex-boyfriend. You carefully opened the door; peeking through. The scene you saw before you made your mouth drop open in surprise; Seunghyun, the guy that lived across the hall, was holding Jinso against the wall with a firm look upon his face. You didn’t know him that well. Then again, he was Big Bang’s rapper TOP so in a way you did know who he was, you just didn’t know him personally. Unless you would count the times the both of you stood in the same elevator or crossed each other in the hall. But apart from casual greetings and smiles, the both of you never actually talked; which was a shame.

Though all of that made it seem even more surprising that he was now holding your ex-boyfriend against the wall in what looked like a very uncomfortable pose. “Let go of me, dickhead.” He cursed. “Now, now, your language really is terrible dude.” Seunghyun said in his low and strong voice; you had trouble to keep yourself from laughing at the sight of all of this. “Is he yours?” he then asked, looking at you with a strange look on his face. “Aniyo, he was. Now I’d rather see him leave.” You replied, trying to sound cold and distant, instead of scared by what just happened. “You heard her; she doesn’t want you to be here.  Go.” He hissed at Jinso, releasing him and pushing him into the direction of the stairs. For a second Jinso turned back, making you take a few steps backwards instantly, but one look from Seunghyun was enough to make him stumble through the door that lead to the stairway. A relieved sigh escaped your lips before you turned to thank Seunghyun. “Don’t say it, it’s okay. Goodnight.” He said shortly, disappearing into his apartment before you actually had the chance to let words come out of your mouth.

The next few days seemed too much like the usual. No Jinso was to be found around your apartment, not even a single text from him. You started to believe TOP must’ve really scared him off this time, so you couldn’t be happier. Since that day you also began to notice Seunghyun’s presence more. All of a sudden you felt a bit giddy when he stepped into the elevator and you subconsciously started to over analyze the smiles he gave you. Often you found yourself secretly looking at him from the corners of your eyes and you could’ve sworn you saw him look at you for a second too. There was even one day, while sitting on your balcony and reading a book, you found him standing in front of the building, staring at you from where his car stood. Of course from the moment you looked into his direction he had casually nodded towards you and walked off in no time. It made you feel weird and nervous, but the good kind. And though you were sure he wanted to, just like you did, he never even said anything else but ‘hi’ to you. Quite the mysterious guy, wasn’t he?

Anyway, any mysterious behavior coming from Seunghyun was hardly that terrible to let it ruin your good mood. You no longer worried about Jinso bothering you at godless hours or stalking your phone. In fact, the fear you felt at night started to go away and soon you were able to walk back home late after a night out with the girls.

After going up, you stood in front of your door while searching for your keys in your purse. Suddenly a hand grabbed you from behind. Instinctively a scream wanted to escape your throat, but it was easily muffled by his strong hand covering your mouth. “Open the door jagiya.” The voice of your ex-boyfriend hissed, making shivers run down your spine as you tried to open the door. Once inside, he made sure to keep a firm grasp on your hands and mouth, keeping you from putting up too much resistance. ‘For now’ you thought, refusing to give up like this. Yet, you had to admit this fear was nothing like the fear you felt when he had been standing at your door. This was that fear times three; accompanied by the strong need you felt to fight back. Safely standing behind a closed door had been something completely different; now you felt sure you had to fight if you wanted to get yourself out of this messy situation.

With a harsh push against your back, you fell down on your bed. He grinned at you, obviously not expecting you to do anything against him. He couldn’t have been more wrong. The second you felt his arms release you and your body hit the mattress, you crawled back up. Edging away from him, you got off the bed and tried to head for the door in order to escape. It was a long shot, nothing would guarantee the fact that you would make it, but you had to try. You did have the element of surprise, but as you tried to slip past him, that surprise wasn’t enough to keep him frozen for long. A loud scream escaped your lips as a wave of pain flashed across your body. It was as if your whole body was being electrocuted, everything going black in front of your eyes for a second as he pulled you by your hair. Another scream came from your lips. It seemed so much like something that couldn’t be real, this couldn’t be happening... A desperate cry for help… yet another scream… A blubbering cry while he pulled you up and harshly dragged you back to the bed. “What’s your big stupid rapper friend now going to do huh?” he whispered into your ear. Disgusting. “Let me go.” You snapped trying to push him away from you, but he was too strong, too violent for you to keep him away from you. A flash of bright light made you dizzy yet again, your mind digesting the fact he had just slapped you across the face. You gasped for air while covering your cheek. “Yep that’s right, I can do whatever the I want with you and no one’s gonna stop me now.” He chuckled; his laugh a filthy, cold sound. “Aniyo. Aniyo.” You said again and again, desperately trying to crawl away from him. Though he easily stopped you, pressing his warm lips against yours harshly; those wet lips you had longed to feel about a week ago, those warm hands over your skin that used to make you writhe in pleasure… They only made you feel ice cold and disgusted right now.

“Get.off.me!” you managed to yell; in the heat of the moment jabbing your nails into the side of his neck as you tried to push him away. It wouldn’t do him much harm, but the hissing sounds he made were pleasing nonetheless and helped you to crawl off the bed once again. He pulled your arm, ripping half your sleeve off and twisting your limb in an angle that made you scream. You turned around, hand balled and ready to punch whatever you could reach. With a small thud your fist struck his arm, unfortunately pissing him off even more. You screamed as his open hand made another burning red spot appear on your cheek, making you sink to your knees. The buttons of your shirt flew in all directions; he had ripped your shirt open. “ing .” He hissed in reaction to a punch you gave him; this time hitting his chest. Your head harshly pounded against the floor after his push. Kick. Kick. Kick. Sharp jabs of pain were coming from all sides. Your vision started to get beyond blurry; it just seemed like a mix and match of colors to you now. You tried to make yourself as small as possible, protecting vital parts of your body. But the pain was more than overwhelming. No longer, you seemed able to experience anything else besides the burning of your skin. You wanted to scream, you wanted to fight, but your body was simply covered in pain, it’s darkness dragging you deep into nothingness. “YA!” a loud voice sounded and the pain stopped, yet somewhere far away you heard the sound of a fight. Was this it? Was it over for you and were you beyond feeling anything?

No, there was still something, a voice… the smell of your own blood… the feeling of someone slightly pulling you up and searching your neck for a pulse. “___-ah? ____-ah?” the voice asked, colored with worry and fear, fear for your life you realized weakly. That was what made a slight moan escape your lips. “___-ah! The ambulance is coming, you’ll be fine. Stay with me…stay…” you heard, unfortunately that moment everything went black, no matter how badly you wanted to stay.

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Too much pain and too much light. That was enough to describe how you felt the moment you woke up and tried to open your eyes. Your eyes weakly fluttered open; staring at the ceiling of the white room. Where were you? “She opened her eyes sir.” A female voice said. Who was she? Carefully, trying to avoid the pain, you managed to look to your side, meeting two dark, worried eyes. You inhaled deeply, feeling the jabbing pains hit you the moment you did. “____-ah.” He said, pushing a strand of hair out of your face. “Seungh-…” you mumbled, too stunned and too tired to say anything else. “Shhh, no need to talk.” He said sweetly, giving you a small smile that made your heart flutter. He saved you… Seunghyun had been the one to save you. You couldn’t quite believe it. “Wha…” you tried to produce a sentence, but even talking was painful. “I heard you scream.” He sighed, pulling his chair closer to your bed. “At first I thought it was just my imagination playing a trick on me. You know… I had been worried all week that he would come back. But then I heard it again… together with your cry for help.” He made a face that resembled a guilty look. Why was he feeling guilty? He was your hero! “If only I came a bit sooner.” He said, shaking his head in disapproval for himself. He was actually feeling guilty? If you could’ve, you would’ve already embraced him and told him how thankful you were. You were forever in his debt; he didn’t need to feel guilty. The thought seemed ridiculous, but he didn’t give you time to say something. “Then I barged in, luckily he left the doors open. I found you on the floor, him kicking you and after a small struggle I managed to knock him out and called the police.” He continued his tragic story; a story you had dragged him into. Only now you realized his lip was a bit swollen and blue, obviously he took a few hits too. It was your entire fault. “I’m sorry.” You breathed weakly. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He said, angrily shaking his head; you shut up right away and continued with just looking at him; your savior, your knight in shining armor.

There was a pleasant moment of silence between the two of you. It seemed like your eyes were locked together, deeply staring into each other and understanding everything the other wanted to say without actually talking. Then a small buzz came and the intercom played. “All visitors should leave. Visiting hour is over.” The female said. Instantly you felt your heartbeat kicking up to a heavier rhythm. He couldn’t leave, you didn’t want him to leave, you couldn’t be... alone. The thought seemed more than terrifying right now. It made you ignore the pain in your arm as you reached out to take his hand that was next to you on the bed. Your eyes were wide as you tried to signal to him that he couldn’t leave. Suddenly another wonderful smile of his flashed across his face in reaction to what you did. “No worries, I talked them into letting me stay here.” He grinned, your heart slowing down again from relief. You wanted to thank him, say something meaningful to him. Though upon opening your mouth, only one thing came out. “Don’t… leave...me.” you said slow, but understandable. “Never.” He replied. “I am never leaving your side again.” He added with a deep, longing gaze into your eyes as he gently squeezed your hand.