Your eyes widen at him. “Yah, Baro! Why are you smiling like that?” Baro blinks, and then all of a sudden, he is struck with a bout of debilitating laughter and falls to his knees, covering his stomach with his arms. You stare at him, bewildered. “Cha Sun Woo! What is so funny?!” you shout, frustrated.

But that only made him laugh harder. You take a seat again and wait not-so-patiently for him to calm down. After a minute or two, he stands up again, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. “Whew… that was good.”

You try to glare at him, but seeing his goofy grin makes you crack. You return the smile and sigh, “Really, Baro. Why were you laughing?” He shakes his head at you.

“The look on your face! What did you think I meant? What’s going on in your mind?!” He chuckles again, and you blush. Baro’s face flickers with something you didn’t catch, but then he wears a completely different expression. He stoops down slowly, his face inches from yours. You avert your eyes, and Baro grabs your chin, making you face him. “Hmm, jagiya?”

“Ah. I don’t know…” You turn even redder and attempt to escape his grip. It’s true; you have no idea what he meant. But you don’t like where this is going.

Baro’s voice develops a new tone, low and y. He leans down to your ear. “Are you sure, Ae Sook? You don’t have any idea what you want to do? I mean – we’re all alone… No one will be back for hours. We could have a lot of fun.”

“I-I-I don’t know what you mean, oppa…” You don’t feel comfortable with the direction this was heading. You try to stand up, but Baro lightly pushes you back into the chair. You look him in the eyes, and your heart picks up its pace. “Sun Woo..”

“Yes, jagiya?” You don’t answer him. He raises a brow at you, and straddles your lap. “Hmm? Well, I have an idea…” You look down again. “Ae Sook…” His voice sent shivers down your spine.

You risk a glance at the man in front of you. “Yes, Baro?” He smirks at you, knowing he’s got you hooked. He leans down once again.

His breath was hot in your ear. “How about you and I… go back to the bedroom…” He teases you, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “Put on something a little more comfortable… and..” He stands up, takes your hand and shouts, “GO TO THE POOL!!” Once again he falls to the ground laughing.

Your jaw drops and you yell at him, “You idiot! What the hell are you thinking?!” He tries to sit up to face you, but you push him back down and pin him to the floor. “Babo! Why would you do that to me? Why would you mess with me like that?!” You pound on his chest with every word.

Baro chuckles at your attempts to hurt him, and he grabs both of your wrists with one hand. “You thought that’s what was on my mind, so I merely played along. Come on, silly. Let’s go to the pool~” He kisses your forehead and you stand, blushing.

“Baro! I don’t have a swimsuit,” you point out. He smiles, takes your hand and walks you to the boys’ room. You don’t enter, staying in the doorway. You can see the usual mess in some parts of their room. Baro opens one of the drawers and takes out a tee shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. He tosses them to you. “Ah! These are boy clothes!”

Baro laughs and shakes his head at you. “They’ll do, won’t they? It’s a pool that’s never busy, don’t be silly. I’m sure you will look adorable. Go on, the bathroom is down there.” He points and pats your back. “I’ll be here,” he drawls, giving you his most endearing smile.

You giggle and shake your head. “I remember where it is.” You walk in, laughing at all the hair and cosmetics piled haphazardly on the counter. You change into the baggy clothing and put your other clothes in your bag. Sure enough, Baro was sitting on the bottom bunk waiting for you.

You knock on the door lightly and smile. He looks up and stands, remarking “Yeppeo!” and walks past you. He grabs the car keys from the hook and spins around to face you. “Ready to go?” You nod and giggle, hooking your arm with his.

Baro hands you the keys to unlock the front door, while he gets everything out of the trunk. You do, and gasp when you feel a pulse of water hit the back of your head. You spin around. "Yah! You said the water guns were empty!"

"I lied," he smirks, and winks at you. You groan and go inside. You plop down on the couch, cringing at the feel of your wet clothes clinging to you. Baro soon comes in as well, shutting the door with his foot. "Help me out, please?" You jump up, and grab the towels from him.

He disappears for a moment, but comes back holding his hand out. You toss him a towel and he dries his hair. "What about these clothes?" you ask him. Baro shrugs and gestures towards the room.

"Just throw them in there, I'll deal with them, jagiya." He smiles at you warmly. "Go change." You nod, and go back in the bathroom. You switch into your clothes from earlier and enter the living room again. You hand him his wet clothes and sit on the couch. He walks into his room, and shuts the door.

You spot a shelf of DVDs next to the television, and go look at them. Who collects these? "Boo!" You jump and turn on your heels, having to pound on Baro's chest once again. "Whatcha doing," he says childishly, with a grin to match.

You hold up two movies in front of your face, giving him the most aegyo you can muster. "Can we watch these, oppa?" You had picked an action film and a rom-com. He chuckles, shakes his head, and takes them from you. He pops the action flick into the DVD player.

"You watch the previews, and I'll go make popcorn." And off Baro goes to the kitchen. A Few minutes later, he returns with the bowl of popcorn. He sits next to you, keeping the bowl in his lap. Baro points to the remote control on your arm of the couch. You pick it up and hit play.

Halfway through the movie, you notice a pain in your neck and you whimper. Baro looks over at you concerned and asks, "Are you okay?" You shrug and rub the back of your neck. He frowns in thought, and mumbles, "Stand up for a second."

You comply and he lays down on his side and sets the empty bowl on the little table at the end of the couch. He pats the cushion, motioning for you to do the same. When you've settled down, he wraps one arm around your waist and props himself up on his elbow with the other. You jump a bit but sigh appreciatively when he moves that hand to massage your neck.

"Ahh.. Thank you.." you reach back and pull all of your hair to one side. Baro chuckles and twirls a few strands on his finger. You giggle and he continues. You stop paying attention to the movie and focus on Baro playing with your hair. It isn't long before you doze off...

You open your eyes, at first not recognizing where you were. But then you feel him behind you, and you remember. "Mwuh?! I fell asleep?!" you said a bit too loudly. Baro stirs and you realize that he's taken a nap as well. "I'm sorry! You should have woken me."

Baro makes a sleepy little grunt. "Don't worry about it, arraso? I enjoyed it," he rumbles. You feel every one of his words and flip over, burying your face in his chest. He wraps his arms around you tighter. You both stay there happily for what seems like a long time. You almost go back to sleep, but...

"What time is it?"

Baro groans a little but you feel his arms move, presumably to check his watch. "It's almost six." Your eyes shoot open.

"What? No way..." You gently extricate yourself from him, and look at the TV. It was a blue screen. "What about the other movie? Did you watch it?" you ask, worried that you had wasted your time with him.

Baro shakes his head. "No, I felt relaxed and after too fell asleep I couldn't stay awake. It's okay."

You frown. "Baro... I have to go." You try not to let him see it, but you know your eyes probably look sad. "My sister will be home soon.."

He sighs, not hiding his disappointment. "I know. Come here, Ae Sook." Baro holds out his arms, and you step into his embrace. "How long will it be until I can see you again?"

You attempt to shake your head. "I don't know... Zico will know that something is up."

"But I will see you again... right?" It might be your imagination, but it feels like Baro tightens his grip on you just a little bit. You nod. "Good. If you said no, I might have needed to kidnap you." He gives a low chuckle, and then another sigh. "Jagiya.. Let's get you home." He kisses the top of your head. "Do you have your things?"

You shake your head and reluctantly let go of Baro and grab your bag from the bathroom, putting it on your shoulder. You stop a couple feet from him and stare him up and down. I've missed him so much... He raises a brow and you laugh, and give him another hug. "Let's go, oppa," you sigh, and take his hand.

You're back in your driveway. You've been sitting in the car for about five minutes now, both of you silent. All of a sudden, Baro grabs your hand again. You look at him, surprised to see tears in the corners of his eyes. "Baro? What is it?"

He mumbles, "Ae Sook.." and slowly leans in. You don't have enough time to really register the fact that Baro is about to kiss you, but you close your eyes instinctively and you feel your heart race. One of his hands moves to cradle your face, the other grabs your arm.

You feel a sharp pain, and flinch. He had put pressure on the large bruise Jiho had put there not too long ago. Your eyes open and see a look of hurt on Baro's face. "Wae? I thought you wanted me to kiss you."

"That's no--"

Baro lets go and buries his face in his hands for a moment. He grumbles to himself, "Babo.." He looks back at you and speaks very quickly. "Ae Sook, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. I know you're with Zico and that you too are probably happy, since you've been together so long. Forgi--"

"Baro! That's not it. You had just touched a delicate spot, is all..." He practically has a visible question mark on his face. He looks down at your arm, and his mouth opens, and then closes again. He very carefully aligns each of his fingers with the marks. You wince a little, and he lets go again.

"Ae Sook, where did that come from?" he asks you, speaking very slowly. You stare past him, at the house across the street. "Ae Sook. Look at me." You do. "Where did that bruise come from? It's very obviously from a hand, one bigger than mine. Who hurt you?"

You feel your eyes prickle. I can tell Baro. He knows what he's talking about. But I don't know what he'll do... "Jiho," you practically whisper.

Baro's eyes widen, and then squint. "Has he hurt you before?" You hesistantly nod, the tears flowing freely now. "How long has he been doing things like this?"

Your voice breaks when you say, "Almost a year."

By now, Baro was visibly shaking. "Ae Sook.. take my hands.. Please." You grab both of his hands, and you feel his whole frame trembling. "You can't stay with him. I wish I knew about this sooner. I would have come back, and helped."

You shake your head. "N-no, Baro!"

"It's a crime, Ae Sook. Domestic violence. You don't abuse the people you love." You don't reply. "End it with him.. safely. Please. For me-- not for me actually, for you. This relationship isn't healthy or safe... Please."

You stare at him, seeing the tears in his eyes and you know just how worried and scared he is for you. "O-Okay.. I will."

He sighs in relief, and calms down a bit. "Tonight," he breathes. You nod again. You both sit there the way you are until he has stopped shaking completely and his breathing is back to normal.

"Baro.. I have to go inside. I'll call you later tonight, arraso?" You give him a reassuring look and a faint smile. He returns it, but the smile seems forced.

"Okay, jagiya.. Ae Sook, I love you. Stay safe for me. Please." You nod and reach for the door handle, but then stop. You look back at Baro. You quickly lean over and give him a tender kiss on the lips, lingering for a moment. You feel him smile into it. You pull away and throw your arms around him.

"Saranghae.." you whisper, too quiet for him to hear. You open the door and get out. You wave to him, close the car door, and walk to your porch. When you look back, Baro has his head in his hands. What have I gotten myself into..?