There was this constant beeping noise that woke me from my dream. My head felt heavy, extremely heavy like a drill has been shoved into the back of my head. It was hard for me to open my eyes at first. “Ugh…” my voice couldn’t really form words as I tried to move myself up on the bed. “Please, don’t move so much Tylie. Rest.” A familiar voice said to me while rubbing my hand. Using all the strength I had in my body, I shifted it to my eyelids and opened them wide; trying to refocus my eyesight.

“Am I in a hospital?” my voice was cracking from being exhausted.

“Yeah, you hit your head on the mirror and cut yourself.” Ilhoon petted the side of my head. I look around to see all the members but one, Minhyuk.

“Where’s Minhyuk?” I say as I’m coming back to my senses.

“You wake up asking for Minhyuk hyung?” Ilhoon gives me a twisted look, almost in utter disgust. “You remember that he’s the reason why you’re here, right?” Ilhoon says with slight anger.

“I’m guessing Changsub told you what happened…” my eyes look up at Changsub whilst he had a frown shown on his face. “I didn’t want him to tell you…”

“Why?! He tried to you then he hit you.”

“He didn’t hit me. My head hit the mirror hard enough to give me a concussion.”

“Now you’re sticking up for me?!” Ilhoon raised his voice at me; this made me want to yell back at him but I took a deep breath to stay calm.

“I’m not sticking up for him… I’m telling you how it happened.” I rub the back of my head as I feel a bandage around my forehead.

“Why didn’t you want Changsub hyung to tell me what happened?! You were going to keep this from me?!” he continued yelling.

“Calm down Ilhoon; yelling at her is only going to make matters worse.” Changsub suggested as he walked over to him to rub his back.

“NO! That rat bastard tried to my girlfriend!” he continued yelling. “I’m not going to let that pass! That’s why he’s nowhere to be found because I’m going to break his hands so he’ll never touch her again.”

“STOP!” I yelled with my hands over my ears whilst my eyes were squeezed shut. The doctor walked in and looked around at everyone. “What is with all the yelling? Please, keep it down.” He said as he made his way to the side of the bed.

“Ms. Kim, you have a slight concussion; nothing serious. You’ll experience some headaches but nothing some ibuprofen can’t fix. Remember to get some rest for the next day or so. Other than, you’re free to go.” He smiled at me then walked out of the room. I swung my legs to the side of the bed and shook my head to get rid of the dizziness. Ilhoon helped me stand up.

“You have to take it easy.” He said softly. I jerked my body away from him, causing him to take a step back. Changsub noticed the hostility building between us.

“I’m going to wait outside for you guys…” he said as he quickly walked out of the room. Ilhoon looked at me with a confused look.

“Why are you pulling away from me? Let me help you.” He reached out for me and I push his hands away as I get up. He raised an eyebrow. “Tylie, what’s going on with you?”

“I’m tired for all this. I’m tired of the drama. I told you to just… leave Minhyuk alone; he wanted all this to happen.” My voice cracked as if I were going to cry from so much frustration. I put on my coat and walk toward the door. Ilhoon puts his arm on the door; now standing in my way.

“How can I can stand by and let someone keep hurting you over and over again?” he tucked his lips in, forming a frown upon his face.

I pushed him lightly to move out of my way. “Let’s go home and talk about this. I don’t like hospitals.” He looked at me and nodded as we both walked to the car. Changsub drove us back to the house whilst the car stayed silent the entire time. Ilhoon and I walked into the house, me plopping down to the couch with a huge sigh, getting ready to have either a conversation with Ilhoon or our first argument. He sat down next to me and didn’t say anything. I took off the bandage around my forehead and placed it down on the table in front of me. Kurama proceeded to play with it as it dangled off the side of the table.

“Where should we start?” Ilhoon said while looking down at his rings, turning them slightly on each finger. I could tell he was nervous.

“Well, did you hit Minhyuk again after Changsub told you happened?”

“…I pushed him but I didn’t punch him in the face.” Ilhoon’s face dropped, knowing what I was about to say.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about; he’s doing all this to provoke you. I’m tired of being stuck in the middle of the both of you.” I explained to him calmly as I put my foot up against the edge of the table to lean back comfortably on the couch.

“You want me to ignore the things he says about you? How he blatantly disrespects you?!” he turns to face me. “I’m not going to do that!” his voice rose a little.

“That’s what he wants! He wants you to act like an and show your so he can look like the victim.” I rubbed my eyes as I felt a headache coming toward the front of my head.

“So you’re telling me to stand by and let him talk about you like your nothing?”

I shrugged. “Basically, yes. He’s a part of your group and you can’t keep bumping heads with him every other week!”

“I don’t let our personal life affect our work! He’s the one that lets it affect him! I’m not going to stand aroun-“

“Then that’s just going to create all this drama that you won’t need!” my voice finally rose from the frustration Ilhoon was causing me whilst I cut off his sentence. “You think people aren’t going to take pictures of him out somewhere with that black eye he has? There’s going to be all sorts of speculations about it!”

“We can cover that up! It’s not a problem. My problem is the fact you want me to stand around and listen to his bull!” his voice was becoming louder as he stared at me.

“That’s called being the better person, Ilhoon. It’s called letting it roll off your back until he learns it won’t affect you.”

“What about you Tylie? Doesn’t it hurt that he keeps talking about you like this? Why does it seem like I’m the only one in this room that’s offended?” he points to himself and I look at him.

“Because I don’t give a ! I do not care what he says about me! I’ve dealt with him before!”

“I give a what he says about my girlfriend!”

“Oh my ing God…” I rolled my eyes as I covered my eyes and rocked my foot up and down against the table.

“I love you but I’m not backing down from him.” Ilhoon continued. “We-“

“We might not be able to stand through this for much longer.” I blurted out as he gave me a shocked look at what my words.

“Don’t talk like that…” his tone lowered. “Don’t say we won’t be together because of that bastard.”

“You’re fighting over me! I got in between you and your best friend. I hate that I’m pretty much pulling you both a part from each other and you both don’t even care. You’re too focused on me; you’re defending me and Minhyuk is trying to hurt me. I want it to just stop.” I said tirelessly.

“I’m not going to stop defending you. It’s what I’m here for you.”

“I don’t need anyone to protect me Ilhoon. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. If you just stop listening to what he ing says, it’ll be done. But you keep going and going.” I said to him with harsh hostility.

“Maybe you do. You need to let someone take care of you for once instead of handling everything on your own.”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me!” I screamed at him whilst I held my face.

“Then why are you with me?” he barked back at me loudly, making Kurama run away in fear of our loud voices. I looked at him as he said that. He meant what he said; he wasn’t going to take it back. I could tell in his eyes that he was serious. We both fell silent for a while. He cleared his throat.

“If you can’t or won’t allow me to protect you, then why did you go out with me? You know I’m not going to hurt you. Just let me in, let me help you for once.” He said with a convincing voice.

“I’ve always been on my own when it comes to certain things so when someone, especially a guy tries to protect me from harm, it’s weird to me. I want you to stop playing into Minhyuk’s games… that’s all I want.” I kicked off my shoes then tucked my legs under me.

“What will happen if I stop reacting? Will that really make him stop Tylie? Think about it for a second. Do you honestly think he won’t keep provoking me or saying foolish things during interviews to make me look like some kind of player?” he grabbed my hand then I looked at him. “He’s not just hurting you, he’s hurting me too. His words are getting to you; it’s not hard to tell…”

“But violence isn’t going to help either.” I slowly pulled my hand away from him.

“And talking will?” Ilhoon barked back at me whilst I sighed.

“Then it looks like we’re at a deadlock. You won’t stop fighting him, he won’t stop running his mouth, and I’m the one stuck in the middle every single time.” I shook my head and got up from the couch.

“Tylie, come back.” Ilhoon said as he watched me walk away from him. “Tylie, come here.” He got up and grabbed my arm then I pulled it away from him.

“I don’t want to talk anymore. There’s no point since you won’t listen to what I have to say. You’re stubborn.” I pushed my bedroom door open and as I went to close it, Ilhoon put his hand out to stop it.

“I won’t let someone walk all over me nor will I let someone degrade you. Why don’t you understand that?”

My face turned from depressed to instant anger at what he said to me. “Why don’t I understand? Ilhoon, I’m not dumb! I know what you’re saying. You’re the one that doesn’t understand. You won’t let it go! You’re just going to keep throwing fuel to the fire until it ing explodes.” I pushed the door to try and close it. “Move.” I said coldly.

“No, I’m not done talking to you!”

“I’m done. I don’t want to talk anymore. It’s pointless because you won’t listen to me!” I pushed on the door harder to make him move.

“We’re not going to let it end like this.” He yells at me, letting go of the door slightly, giving me enough force to shut the door. I heard Ilhoon sigh as he stood behind the door. My head was ringing from the practically pointless conversation or argument or whatever it was that we had. All I wanted to do was sleep and try to get rid of this headache.

*****

When came to be morning, I was expecting Ilhoon to be holding me but as I rolled over, he didn’t come in last night. Maybe that was an argument. He probably left by now since it had to be at least 3 in the afternoon. When I moved to the edge of the bed, my vision was blurred and my head was still hurting. I rubbed the spot that hit my head it was still tender to my touch, making me flinch in hiss with pain. Kurama’s little claws and cries came from behind the door as he wanted to come in. I stood up, grabbed the nearby dresser for balance to get to the door. When I opened it, Kurama ran in with a little note attached to his collar by a string. I kneeled down and picked up Kurama. I untied the string and took the note, letting Kurama down. It still smelled of his cologne as if he just left it not too long ago. It read, “I’m sorry about last night. Maybe you are right; I should stop letting Minhyuk hyung get to me. Hopefully if you feel better and you forgive me, will you come see us perform at Music Bank? I love you. –Your Ilhoon”

I rolled my eyes and sighed at the note. A big part of me wanted to watch him perform tonight. He was completely different on stage but another part didn’t want to go because it would only give Minhyuk ammunition for anything else he had to say. When I was getting ready to get something for this headache, my phone rang. I looked over at it on the charger; Sunny. What in God’s name would she want? I wasn’t really in the mood for her to talk to me but since she was just about to go on break, I thought ‘why the hell not’. I unplugged the phone, answered it and put it on speaker.

“Hello?” I said deeply for a second, and then I cleared my throat and repeated, “Hello?”

“Hey Tylie, how are you feeling? I heard you were in the hospital.”

“Yeah, I’m fine now.” I rolled my eyes since she probably heard it from Minhyuk. I wasn’t mad at her; being mad at her for messing around with my ex would just show petty jealousy and that I still care; which is what he wanted. I shook the pill bottle to slide two of them out into my hand then shove them in my mouth and swallow.

“Are you upset with me…?” her voice was hesitating; she seemed frightened.

“Why would I be upset with you?” I paused for a minute. “Oh, the Minhyuk thing? I told you how I felt about it the other day; if that’s what you want to do, I won’t stop you. In other words, no I’m not. We’re still friends.”

“Whew, I’m relieved. I thought you we weren’t friends anymore.”

I sighed and tried to think of a reason why I wanted to get off the phone with her. She kept talking and talking; it was starting to make my head hurt worse. “Yah, I’m really tired. Can we talk later?”

“Yeah, sure! Get some rest~” she whined to me and I hung up the phone quickly. Maybe it was my head hurting that was making me frustrated and not want to talk anymore. I’m just not in the mood. My phone rings again, this time it was Ilhoon. I picked it up and put it to my ear this time.

“Hey Ilhoonie…” I said plainly whilst I lay down on the bed.

“You sound like you’re feeling better.” He gave a small giggle.

“I’m not actually but I got your note on Kurama.”

“Ah, good. I wasn’t sure if you would have gotten it.” He gulped, and then continued. “Is everything between us okay?”

I sighed into the phone and I heard Ilhoon take a seat. For some reason, I second guessed our relationship but I didn’t want to give up because of Minhyuk’s actions. If we were to break up, I want it to be because of something we did, not what Minhyuk did. “Yeah… yeah, we’re good.” He could tell I wasn’t sure. My voice was filled with angst as I said it.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” his voice was low, almost whispering to me.

“It’s just…” I sighed whilst looking up at the ceiling. “I’m tired of the drama. I’m starting to think if I stay away from you, you can live your life normally like how you were before you met me. It feels like I was better off admiring you from a far…” I rubbed my cheeks then my eyes as I was preparing myself for Ilhoon’s response.

“That sounded like you wanted to break up… I just moved into your house. You want to break up with me?” Ilhoon’s voice took to a whole new different tone.

“No, no I don’t want to break up.” Quickly I retorted, “But I feel like if weren’t together, you could live happier and you wouldn’t have the burden of Minhyuk.”

“But I wouldn’t have you…” he said sadly. I opened my mouth to say something but instead, stutters and a sigh came out. I played with my hair as I tried to reply back to him, but I couldn’t.

“Tylie… you won’t leave me because of Minhyuk right?” he broke the silence then I shook my head to his question.

“I’m not, I’m not. We’re not going to break up, all I’m saying is that if it weren’t for me, this wouldn’t be happening; all the drama. He’s now sleeping with my best friend in order to get to me so I’m kinda like… fed up with everything right now.” I sat up whilst I talked and shoved my mouth into my hand.

“I understand. We’ll get through this entire situation okay? Be strong for me.” He said with confidence and I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.

“Yeah… I’ll let you know; I hear music in the background.” I started rushing to get off the phone now, it was becoming too much of a hassle of repeating myself to him; in this aspect right now, he was a child. He understood how I was feeling but it’s like he wasn’t hearing my words that I was saying.

“Okay…” he said a little sad. “I love you…”

“I love you too.” I mumbled back to him. “Bye-bye.”

“Bye babe.” He hung up and I watched as the call ended. I threw the phone to the side of me and I sat with my head in my hands. My mind was running through the past months we were together. This was a starting relationship, only about two or three months into it and we already have problems. I went from no drama to lots of it in a matter for a week and a half time span. What should I do?

*****

Ilhoon’s POV

It was 7:00 PM and Tylie didn’t text or call me to tell me that she was on her way. ‘Hope she’s okay’ I thought to myself as I paced through the waiting room holding my phone. No one really talked to me since yesterday. Minhyuk hyung only gave me dirty looks and snickered. I don’t understand why he was jealous of me and Tylie when he was the one that ruined their relationship. I kept checking my text messages to see if she’ll at least send me an ‘I love you my cutie rapper! I’m your number one fan! Fighting!’ text but… nothing ever came.

“Are you alright over here?” Eunkwang said while he walked up to me.

“Yeah, I’m waiting for a message, that’s all.” I showed him a smile with a firm fist pump. “I’m excited to perform as well.”

“I know you’re worried about Tylie. You weren’t really into it today at practice. If you need to talk to someone, I’ll listen.” He patted my back whilst I nodded.

“Thank you hyung.” I nodded again as he walked away from me. All I wanted right now was confirmation from Tylie that she was going to make it to our show tonight.

It was nearing our time to get on stage as I sat in a corner staring at my lock screen displaying a picture of me and here over Valentine’s Day weekend. I didn’t want to do this but… I decided to call her; I needed to hear her voice….

“Hey! You’ve reached Tylie Kim! Sing your song after the beep! Beeeeeep~!”

“Hey Tylie… I… I don’t really know why I’m calling but I was hoping you’d at least pick up the phone. I was also hoping you’d come tonight but… as I can see, you didn’t. Are you feeling better at least?” I let out a sigh, “Whenever you get this, answer me this; are we starting to drift apart because of Minhyuk? I won’t come home until you answer that question for me. No matter your answer, we’ll work at this. Don’t shut me out because you hate drama. I love you.” I hung up the phone then put my phone down and told one of the hairdressers to watch this along with my iPad whilst I got ready to go up on stage.

 

**S/N: this is going to be ending soon. i'm thinking about 3 or 4 more chapters should wrap up all that's left in my head for this story~