Daehyun's POV~

 

I waited a few more days to see Youngjae to talk to him. After waiting for 3 days, I finally stepped out of my house and went straight to his. Once I arrived, I knocked on his door to have his mother open the door. 

 

"Oh, Daehyun-ssi," she said shocked. "What are you doing here?"

 

"I'm here to see Youngjae," I said as she furrowed her eyebrows. 

 

"Youngjae? He said was going to hang out with you? He left 3 hours ago," she said, making me furrow my eyebrows. "You two have been hanging out for the past 3 days, haven't you?"

 

"Eh? Oh, y-yeah," I lied with a uneasy smile. "I guess I must have forgotten about our hangout today too. He must have waited 3 hours."

 

"Well you should go before my son gets sick in this weather," she smiled and closed the door. I stood in my place, then slowly stepped down the steps. 

 

"Youngjae's been using my name for the past 3 days? Where has he been going?" I asked myself, walking down the alley. "Who exactly is he with?"

 

I continued to walk around when I met Yongguk heading to work. 

 

"Oh, hyung," I said as he looked up at me with his gummy smile. "You heading to work?"

 

"Yeah, you?" 

 

"I was just walking around like usual," I smiled. "Is Hanbyul home?"

 

"Of course she is, where else?" he  chuckled, but it suddenly died down. "But that's the thing, she's always home. She goes to school then comes straight home, she never hangs out with Krystal and Sulli anymore. Do you know if something happened between the 3?"

 

"No, they're still best friends," I assured him. He softly smiled and walked up to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. 

 

"Do me a favor," he said as I tilted my head for him to go on. "Take her out. Get her to be social again."

 

I snickered and nodded. 

 

"I will, but will you trust me alone with her this late at night?" I asked as he tightly squeezed my shoulder. 

 

"Who said I want you to take her out tonight?" he muttered through that gummy smile of his. 

 

"Okay, okay, okay," I said leaning downwards. "Ah, it hurts!"

 

He let me go and patted my back. 

 

"I'm going now and don't you dare take her out tonight," he warned as I nodded and he walked away. I massaged my shoulder and moved on in the direction I was going. Without having a particular destination, I ended up at the Han River with barely anyone around. 

 

I sat down on a bench and looked at the calm, steady water flowing by. The weather was colder than usual, but that was its sign saying that winter was on its way. 

 

"If only it wasn't this cold, I would've slept here tonight," I said hugging my body with my arms. 

 

I suddenly heard some men shouting at a distance. I stood up and looked around me to see no one in sight. The man's voice echoed in the night and his crew was near. I started walking towards the voice to hear it get louder and louder to be brought to the entrance of a dead end. I stood there to see 9 men gathered around one hopeless kid. 

 

"Yah, give me you money kid," the bigger man said, kicking at the kid. 

 

"I-I don't have any," the kid said, his voice was familiar. 

 

"Don't with me," the man said and kicked him harder as he groaned in pain. "Yah, check him."

 

2 men grabbed the kid and the others began searched, patting him down. From the moonlight, the kid's face was clear in my eyes.

 

"Y-Youngjae," I whispered with wide eyes. His face was covered in blood and his school uniform soaked in blood. 

 

"Boss," the thin man said pulling out Youngjae's wallet handing it to the big guy. He grabbed the wallet and searched it. 

 

"ing bastard lied to us," he muttered, looking through the wallet. He then grabbed Youngjae's shirt collar and smirked in the moonlight. "Why did you lie to us? Clearly you have money with you."

 

"Please, just take it," Youngjae could barely say. 

 

"Not until we finish you off," the big man said and curled his fingers into a tight fist. I clenched my jaw and charged at him, kicking his back, before he could lay another finger on Youngjae. 

 

"Who the hell-"

 

"Let him go,"I firmly said, glaring down at him. He scoffed and gestured his men to grab hold of me. I wasn't an easy target, so I escaped from their grips and punched the 2 closest to me, knocking them out with one blow. 

 

"I said to let him go!" I shouted with rage. 

 

"Dae...Daehyun," Youngjae softly said with a faint smile. 

 

"Youngjae, get out of here," I said, directly staring into his eyes. "Now."

 

Unfocused, the boss grabbed hold my me and pushed me against the brick wall. 

 

"You must be a friend of his," he muttered; his breathed reeked of smoke and alcohol mixed. 

 

"So what if I am," I muttered back, grabbing hold of his thick wrists. 

 

"Tch, we have a tough one here," he smirked and released me, but having enough experience with fights, he was going to do a surprise punch and as I correctly thought, he swung his right fist at me, but I ducked down to have him scrap his knuckles against the bricks. I quickly straightened myself up and kicked him in the stomach, then I went straight for the two guys holding Youngjae. 

 

I was able to get Youngjae free and so I pushed him away. 

 

"Get out of here," I firmly said before having someone grab the back of my shirt, pulling me back. I turned around and a fist met my cheekbone; I swear I heard something crack. 

 

I stumbled back and rubbed my cheek, glaring at the man who had hit me. I roared in anger and charged at that man, punching his jaw and kicked him to the floor. I noticed that Youngjae still hadn't gone yet. 

 

"Youngjae! Get the hell out of here!" I shouted. Because of the distraction, I felt a heavy blow to my head; a metal baseball bat. Everything had gone blurry and I could feel the thick, cold blood stream down my head. I swayed side to side before hitting the ground hard. I swear, the last thing I heard before blanking out was Youngjae shouting, "I didn't pay you to kill him!"