Taeyeon and Tiffany had a full schedule, but they were allotted two hours in between for lunch and prep-time for vocals training. After they were dismissed, Tiffany went to go buy them both a quick lunch from the stores close by. As she reached the lobby of SM she saw the backs of Sooyoung, Yoona, Yuri and Seohyun walking out. Her eyes naturally followed their trajectory of direction and spotted Jessica waiting outside. But before she could react, she spotted someone else. Someone she had not expected to see ever again.

What the hell is he doing here?

He had already spotted her and was resolutely making his way towards her.

“Short Round. I’m here to return a favor, nothing more. Word is you got hustled last night. Three men. Steel pipes. I can get you them.”

Tiffany couldn’t believe a man like Brian. He was trustworthy as long as you had money or threatened him with force. He had never struck Tiffany as the type to ‘return favors’. Not to mention the last time she saw him, she had shut down his operation, gotten most if not all his customers arrested and almost got him shot and nabbed. Brian must have seen her disbelief.

“You nailed Gura for me. You saved me from being nabbed, though most of that was your fault in the first place. But I’ve already found a new hovel and business is even better than before now that both you and Gura are out of the picture. I do this for you and then we call it even; this on the basis that I will never see your pretty face near my ring ever again. I need you to promise me that. You bring too much trouble.”

Tiffany thought for a moment. She really did need to know who those idiots were. She took out her phone to call Taeyeon and told her she got caught up with something and wouldn’t be able to buy lunch. Hanging up, she walked with Brian to the nearby café. They had some shady business to discuss.

That’s when Officer Choi came charging up like a bull who’s seen shiny red boxers waving in front of him, and the next thing Tiffany knew, he had slipped her behind him and had her firmly pressed to his broad muscular back. Tiffany was squirming and twisting every which way but there was no way she could get out of his iron grip.

She honestly should hate this. She hated being helpless, that feeling of being completely overpowered. It made her feel like a little girl again, like she was back at the foster home… No…more like…like she was cowering once more in their living room, covering every inch of Lexi’s small shaking body with her own as her entire back exploded in mind-numbing pain, that horrifying wild savage keening behind her ripping the bloody night in half.

No. This wasn’t hatred she was feeling. Tiffany was afraid.

She felt the haunting jolt of fear shoot through her, making her break out into a cold sweat. This was too real, too close to home. She shook her head as best she could, given that her head was pressed against Officer Choi’s back. Tiffany tried to rouse herself from her nightmare in broad daylight, but something kept her from waking up. Kept her from lucidity. Kept making her relive it that horrible night.

Officer Choi…he reminded her of Dom. Dominic. Sweet, loving, protective Dominic. Dominic who was always there to hold her, shield her, take the fall for her. Dominic who was mom and dad’s only biological child. Dominic who was perfect. Dominic who loved with the intensity of the blazing sun. Dominic who loved too much. He loved too much.

“SHE DOESN’T NEED YOU! SHE HAS ME! I CAN TAKE CARE OF HER!”

Officer Choi’s thunderous baritone voice finally cut her from the tangled web she was suffocating herself in.

“Well if you had taken proper care of her, she wouldn’t have been jumped by three idiot scumbags now would she?” Brian goaded.

“You’re the scumbag here! Men like you are a stain on society! Leave now before I smash your face through the concrete!”

“And you call me a human stain? How are you different from those men you claim to hate? You violent buffoon, I just want to help her get the guys that attacked her behind bars.”

“And you expect me to believe that? They’re your kind!”

“Why I’m doing this is between Short Round and me.”

“You think I don’t know your involvement in the underground?! You think I don’t know you were there that night of the roundup?! I DON’T CARE! She will have nothing more to do with you. You hear me?”

“Well I don’t care whether you want my help or not, you already have it. You see that pretty little brunette over there? She was so delectable when I bumped into her earlier, just wanted to grab her and do all sorts of unspeakable things to that delicious teenage body of hers.”

Tiffany’s blood boiled over in her veins when she heard Brian’s lecherous words. She glanced to where Brian was looking and saw Jessica standing there with Sooyoung, Yuri, Yoona and Seohyun. All five were staring back at her. She felt her rage rise up at the man’s audacity at having touched Jessica. Tiffany’s top was about to blow when she felt Officer Choi release one of her arms and grasp almost hysterically at his dress pants, wrinkling and strangling the cloth in between steel fists.

Another haunting jolt. This time it wasn’t fear, just wistfulness.

Jaxon had the same habit too, and Tiffany had eventually picked it up from him. He would clutch at the sides of his pants to keep from acting out his anger. Jaxon always had a bit of a temper and he got in trouble a lot when he was in high school. More than once Tiffany had cleaned and bandaged bloody torn knuckles as Jaxon solemnly promised her ‘there would be no next time’. There was always a next time. But Tiffany didn’t mind.

Jaxon was never the hugging type. He wasn’t Dom. These moments were the few times Tiffany could touch her second oldest brother. Jaxon would allow her to hug him out of guilt for making his younger sister patch him up and for letting her down once again.

Tiffany loved the feel of his body against hers. She never told Dom, but she much preferred hugging Jaxon to him, even if it was often one-sided and unreciprocated. Jaxon had a softer more subtly muscled and toned body, more supple and much less bulgier than Dom’s. Tiffany loved the way her body fit into Jaxon’s.

Dom was her safety blanket, but Jaxon was her guilty pleasure.

A low growl from Officer Choi snapped her back to her senses and Tiffany wrested herself free from his grasp, quickly moving between the two men. She placed her palms flat on the muscled chest of Officer Choi, unconsciously comparing his physique to Dom’s.

“I’m not a child who needs for you to baby her officer! Let me handle this before you are forced to arrest yourself!”

“I can help you too! You don’t need this !”

“Well do you have the information I need? No. You don’t. So just up your ego for a second ok?” Tiffany s