The way you flinched when he swung his arm over your shoulder was the last straw. Gently, Woobin steered you away from your bus stop and instead, down the street he takes to walk home.

"Um…Woobinah, we don't have plans today, do we?" You asked timidly.

"We do now. I need to talk to you. My parents won't be home until dinner time, so we can talk comfortably." He felt your shoulders sag beneath his arm.

"Do we have to talk today? I have a lot of homework to do and I'm supposed to help mom cook dinner and I should be home incase Taehyun calls me.."

"We have the same homework, auntie will understand and I don't care. We're talking about this." He tightened his hold around you and urged you on a little quicker.

After walking in a very uncomfortable silence that felt like it lasted hours, you finally arrived at Woobin's house. You weren't sure if you were praising God that you'd arrived or if you were wishing the walk had actually lasted hours, because now you had to talk and you knew what Woobin wanted to ask you.

You kicked off your shoes in the mud room, pausing to arrange them neatly, and then place Woobin's neatly next to yours, he never did it himself, messy boy. Turning around, you saw that Woobin had wandered off, you briefly considered making your escape but you knew that Woobin wouldn't forgive you for it. And that he'd just hunt you down anyway, your house was like his second home. You heard some clanking from the kitchen and tip-toed towards it.

"You don't have to act so afraid…" Woobin said as he put the kettle on. 

"I'm just.. I.." You trailed off, not knowing what to say, how to explain your nervousness to him.

"We'll talk when the tea is done. Are you hungry? Do you want a snack or something?" He said, with his head in the fridge.

"Um.. maybe a little? Actually, no I'm starting a diet. I'll just stick with the tea, thank you though."

You heard a snort from inside the fridge, a rustling and then Woobin emerged from the depths of the fridge. "Why on earth would you think you need to diet? You're perfect as you are. I have some leftover ddeokbokki, I'll just heat it up."

You sighed, knowing he would look at you with those eyes of his until you ate with him. "Fine. Thank you."

He smiled victoriously and you forgot for a second that you really don't want to be here.

The tea and ddeokbokki were ready at about the same time, packing them up on the tray, you followed Woobin up to his room.

After setting up the snacks on his desk, you burrowed into his bed, as close to the wall as possible, half hiding in his comforter. This was going to be a painful conversation and you weren't sure you could handle it.

"Okay, now I know this isn't easy…I don't even really know how to start. You're my best friend and you know I love you and only want what's best for you right?" He said, his eyes finding yours and silently imploring you to believe him. You nodded, knowing it was true.

"You've changed a lot in the past few months, you've gotten quieter, you look tired a lot, you have this absurd idea that you need to diet.. and the other day, I saw something on your wrist, it looked like a bruise. Like a bruise from fingers..? Today, when I put my arm around you, you flinched away, like it had hurt, and just like I thought, there's a bruise at the nape of your neck there." You worriedly fiddle with the collar of your sweater at his words.

"Ah~ I'm just tired from school and staying out late, dating oppa. It's been making me clumsy and.. ah, I'm embarrassed. It's nothing to worry about Woobinah. I'm fine."

"We've been friends for a very long time now. I know when you're not being honest with me. I love you more than life. What I think, is that Taehyun isn't treating you like a boyfriend should and I think he's hurting you. I need you to tell me the truth because I need to help you, I need you to be okay."

The plea in Woobin's face and in his words broke your heart. You'd thought you were strong enough to handle this on your own. You were embarrassed but not that you'd gotten clumsy, you were embarrassed that after everything you've heard about abuse you'd managed to get yourself into this situation. You'd heard somewhere that sometimes being strong was knowing when to ask for help. Maybe this was one of those times?
Tears started spilling from your eyes as you final confessed the truth to your best friend.

"It wasn't always like this. He was so sweet to me in the beginning. I don't know what happened, I don't know what I did to make him change and start acting like this. But I thought, maybe if I lost a little bit of weight and acted really good and took care of him well that he'd forgive whatever it was and go back to the sweet boyfriend he used to be. He used to love me... I just want him to love me again." By the end of your spiel, you were sobbing and having a hard time forcing the words from your lips.

Woobin sat across from you, at his desk with a look of panic on his face. Maybe he hadn't expected you to give in so easily, maybe he wasn't expecting to be right or maybe it was that you were crying, you can't remember if you'd ever cried in front of him before.

"I.. Is it okay if I hug you? I don't want..if you just want space… what can I… how can I comfort you? What do you need from me?" If you hadn't been friends with him so long, his words would have been incomprehensible. 

"I think I'd like that hug…?" You asked, suddenly feeling shy and a little bit after having revealed something so difficult.

Woobin slowly stood up from the chair and crawled onto the bed and over to where you were still nesting. You had to grab his arms and carefully wrap them around yourself because he was suddenly so timid. But then he seemed to realize that you were okay with the skinship and he pulled your head so that it was resting on his shoulder. He your hair and allowed the room to fall into silence, the only sound being your quiet sniffles as you tried to get your tears under control.

"This is the first time that I've seen you cry." He said after a while, finally breaking the silence. "I don't like it. I don't like what it does to my heart. It hurts a lot. But even more so, I don't like that you are being hurt and that you think it's somehow your fault. You know it's not, right? You are a wonderful, sweet, smart, and beautiful girl, he's your boyfriend;  he should be making sure you know that, not making you question it. It is NOT your fault. He obviously has problems and he needs to get help for them and you, you deserve someone who will make you feel as perfect as you are. I don't want to sound controlling, but I can't let you continue seeing him, you understand, right? He'll only hurt you more." 

You started crying again at his words, fuelled by disagreement with his too high praise and mixed feelings about breaking up with your first boyfriend, who you had once thought of as your prince charming and disbelief that this was actually real life . 

"We're going to have to tell your parents too. I'm sorry, but they need to know. " You whimpered. Telling Woobin was one thing, telling your father was something else altogether.

"I'll go with you if you want, I'll even tell them but we need to. They have a lot more power in this situation, they can make it so that he can't bother you, not even at school."

"Okay" you whispered into his shirt "but I need you to tell them. I can't." You felt him nod in agreement.

"I'll ask my parents to drive us over to your house when they get home, okay?" This time, you nodded. Silence fell once again, both of you too busy reflecting on the conversation and thinking of the even more difficult conversation yet to come.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you. I wish I could go back in time and un-do it all. Stop you from dating him. I don't know. It breaks my heart thinking about how he treated you. I don't know of I want to cry, or track him down and beat him up."

You laughed half-heartedly at that. "Woobinah, I love you…but Taehyun would the tar out of you."

"Probably" he agreed "but my fury and the need to defend my princess would ensure that I got a few good hits in at least."

"You'd end up in the hospital"

"Anything for you."

"I have never seen you hit anything in your life."

"…I don't usually believe in using violence but right now, I would really, really like to break his nose or something. A man that unattractive inside doesn't deserve such a deceptively handsome face. A crooked nose would help…" 

You looked up at Woobin's face and your heart softened at the look in his eyes. You could see how deeply he cared for you and it made your heart ache all over again.

"Why couldn't I fall I'm love with someone pure and sweet like you Woobin?" you said, wrapping your arms around his waist and snuggling into his chest properly. 

His chest moved under you as he laughed. "There's still time for me to win your heart."

You weren't sure if he was joking, trying to keep things light but you fell asleep listening to the beating of his heart and imagining what it'd be like if you and Woobin were in love.

[[AN: Um... I don't know guys...This is a difficult subject, I'm not sure if I should have even approached it so green.
I love you and I hope that none of you ever have to deal with abusive relationship but if anyone has or does in the future, it's not your fault, there is NEVER an excuse for abuse. It is NOT your fault. And as difficult as it is, please tell someone. Please.]]