▲▼ CHAPTER 35

     He furrowed his eyebrows unknowingly. Looking at his confused expression, you asked again. "Are you helping me out of pity?" He lowered his head, sighing and biting his lower lip. You knew it. He was doing all of these because he pitied you. Oh how foolish have you been, you should have known a long time ago that he only pitied you. He felt sorry seeing how distressed you were in the first place. Your eyes were stinging again and you hated it. You hated crying in front of people, especially Daehyun. No matter how many times you had cried right in front of him, you felt terrible. Daehyun let out a small laugh, breaking the awkward silence. "Why are you even asking this?" You kept quiet. You just had to know. "How can you think that I pitied you? You know, I don't think you're that low for me to pity you." He turned to face you, his hands clasping the other.

         He leaned towards your body and placed both of his hands onto your shoulder. Don't, you told yourself. This not the time for you to be crying. Your eyes glittered through the darkness and Daehyun let out an effortless sigh. "You can cry if you want to." It was as if Daehyun was able to read through your thoughts and you hate it, yet you liked it too. You hated the fact that he would easily identify your weak expression but yet you liked it too because it showed you how much he cared. He was an angel sent from above. Before you knew it, he took your head and placed it directly onto his hard yet warm chest. A small tingle wiggled right inside your stomach. The way he rubbed your back soothingly somehow soothed your troubled heart. You listened to his steady heartbeat, wetting his jacket with your tears. The tears continued gushing out from your eyes and you knew it was stupid to cry. Maybe Daehyun did pitied you all these while. He then released his grip onto your shoulders, placing his palm onto your chubby cheeks.

         "It's not that I pity you. I think that it's more of my job to protect you. In case you didn't know, I want to be that guy who can make a difference in your life. I want to be the one who can cure your troubled heart. Most of all, I want to be the one who can let you find the word happiness again." Those words kept ringing in your eardrums and it warmed your heart. You stared into his brown pupils while he stared at yours. Just looking at his face and feeling his presence beside you made you feel at ease. He was something. He knew the right words to warm your heart and you admired it. It was something that nobody had ever done it to you. Daehyun then smiled to himself, his cheekbones wrinkling slightly to show his not so visible dimples.

         "You know, I'm a pretty stupid guy." He scratched the back of his head. You let out a small laugh, shrugging your shoulders. "More like a dumb one actually," You while he gladly accepted the joke. The thin air filled the silence again and your stomach was pulled into a knot. A small sigh escaped his mouth and Daehyun fidgeted in his seat. "I'm just so dumb. All these while I have been feeling so much affection towards you that I needed to protect you. Like being your knight in shining armour, you know?" You stood still, not really sure where this conversation was going. "At first it was just a feeling of kindness but oh man, was I wrong. Seeing how you broke down made me feel so important. Well, I tried to put these feelings into denial but it just does not want to lose. Like I said, I'm a pretty stupid guy.... and maybe a crazy one too."

         Your eyebrows furrowed into a straight line. Then you bit your lower lip, are you think what you're thinking? Is this conversation going to lead to something.. even different? You shook your head slightly, maybe Daehyun was just trying to prove his intentions towards you. The thin air surround yourselves and amazingly, everything started to quieten down. You turned to face Daehyun's angelic face, "Crazy?" In return, he gave you a smile and a nod. His shoulders shrugged up and down while he turned to face you. You stared at his face for a long time, trying to figure out what he meant but it was hard. His flawless face was completely distracting you. He then opened his mouth slightly. "Yeah, I'm crazy over you." The words that fell from his mouth was mindblowing.

         It took you a solid minute to put the words back and understand it. You blinked, surely enough this may be a dream. "It took me awhile to keep this from you and I thought you sort of knew how I felt about you but I guess not. Just so you know, it's hard for me to contain these feelings." You blinked yet again. You somehow recalled the moments you had with Daehyun - the times that he would sit beside you and whisper advices, telling you that everything would be alright -  and you smiled to yourself. He really did liked you. He was genuine about it too. "So, all of these weren't out of pity..?" You spoke, slowly looking up tkwards his glinting face that was reflected by the moonlight.

         He shook his head and flashed his pearly whites and the usual charming smile that never fails to give you a slight tingle. He laughed and sighed, thinking that maybe his confession came out too early. Daehyun bit his lip, squeezing his palm every now and then. He turned to face your tensed face. "Can I... kiss you?" He blurted out, his palms sweating like crazy.

         You tried to contain the blush that was hiding underneath your fat cheeks. You looked up to see how your face was so close with Daehyun's. You nodded, taking a huge breath before Daehyun was able to place his warm and silky fingers behind your neck. The kiss was so fast. Your heart was fluttering the whole time. The way Daehyun tilted his head to meet your lips felt so surreal. After a very long time, you felt the sense of love again and you were not afraid to show it. You allowed him to lead the kiss and he did it passionately. His tongue twirled inside your mouth while the two of you fought for dominance in between the kiss. Your hands then travelled slowly to cling onto the back of his neck. You felt Daehyun's sweet smile in between the kiss and it was difficult to put it into words how meaningful the kiss was to you. The night came to an end as the both of you managed to find your way back home.

         As usual, the temperature in the area started dropping as soon as the moonlight rises from it's hiding spot. The both of you were trudging your way back home when you found your path being blocked by a few blurry mens. You could not get a clearer vision of them because there were hardly any streetlights in the neighbourhood. All of them were huddling onto one corner, each holding what seemed to be a cigarette. Unknowingly, one of them craned their head towards your direction and you stood rooted on the spot. The glare that each of them gave off meant business.

         You shuddered as the group moved towards your direction, your grip tightening onto Daehyun's arm. He held you close, right beside you and gave a reassuring squeeze on your palm. As the group got closer, the moonlight was able to reflect their faces. You gulped as soon as you saw the familiar rugged face. He had a thick beard that was almost covering the lower part of his face. And he also had a scar, a very prominent one. He was one of the guys who attacked your grandmother's house and also the one who visited your cafe. He threw his cigarette aside while the rest followed suit, squishing it onto the ground using the sole of their shoes. The group came to a halt when they were approximately a feet away from the both of you. A small smirk was pulled onto the end of the rugged guy's mouth. Before any of them were able to speak, all of them moved aside while one of them pushed a guy right to the front.

         This guy in particular had a black hoodie over his head and had his hands clenched into a tight fist where his veins were very prominent. Your stomach dropped as you saw Ilsung's familiar silhoutte. Unlike the usual confident Ilsung, his shoulders were slumped and he looked weak. "I'm sorry... They knew about you.." Ilsung weeped as you heard his small voice calling over to you. The rugged beard guy - whom you believed was the leader of the group - let out a low and raspy laugh that sent shivers down your spine. He moved towards Ilsung as he pulled away his hoodie, grabbing Ilsung's hair with all his might. You whinced as soon as you heard Ilsung groaning in pain. A sudden anger came bubbling inside of you. "Your grandma wasn't able to pay the full deal of payment." He growled, throwing Ilsung to the ground so easily with just one arm. "Coincidentally, I got to know you two knew each other." He pointed to you and Ilsung.

         Daehyun's grip onto your palm tightened as he gulped a huge ball of saliva, "Please leave us alone." He begged but it was not that easy. Without any warning, the leader grabbed you by your hair which instantly broke your grip with Daehyun's and pushed you towards the bricked wall. On the other hand, s were able to grab Daehyun by his arm and pinned him down onto the cold floor. You whinced, his grio was so tight that you felt as if he was pulling apart the roots of your hair. "Oh dear me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Jaewook, probably your worst nightmare." His glare bored right into your soul while he pushed your head towards the wall, still gripping onto the roots of your hair.