Anxiety bubbled in my stomach. I felt terrible for lying to Jiwon but it was my only option. It was 6:55 pm, five minutes before I was supposed to show up for dinner; it was now or never. My index finger hovered over "Jiwon Unnie" in my contacts list. I took a deep breath and made the call. 

"Annyeong Minnie!!" Sungmin? "Can't wait for you to get here, we have toooons of food and I think Siwon is l--" I heard shouts as Sungmin's voice was cut off.

Siwon's booming voice could be heard in the background but was indecipherable other than a few "pabo-yah!"s and something about nicknames.

"Ah, Minhee-yah, sorry about that." Jiwon finally answered. "Anyway, what did you need?"

"Oh, Unnie, um." I stuttered. "I, ah, I'm not feeling well and I wouldn't want to get any of you sick so I won't be able to make it. I'm really sorry." My voice trailed off.

"Oh! Should I come over? I'll bring you some medicine--"

"No! I mean I really just need some rest and I'll be good as new. Don't worry!" 

"Well," Her heavy sigh echoed from the phone. "If you say so. Call me if you need anything, ok?"

"Ok, thank you!"

The call ended after a short farewell and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

The sound of giggling outside the door accompanied with the door knob jiggling grabbed my attention. Swinging open, the door revealed him with a short curvy girl attached to his side.

I stared up at him with a questioning glance.

"What?" He blurted. "It's nice to have a willing to lay sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I like the scared act too, but it's getting kind of boring." He winked.

My jaw dropped in both astonishment and embarrassment. He was talking about forcing himself on me right in front of this girl and she didn't seem to care at all. When I didn't move his lustful stare turned to me and transformed into rage.

"What the hell are you still doing here?! Can't you see I'm busy?!" His hand motioned me to the open door.

I choked back a sob before obeying. The door shut swiftly behind me, snapping me into reality.

This was my life. My conscience was yet again battling against itself. Was I a worthless prude who couldn't please a man? Or was a wronged pitiful little girl whose life was stolen?

Either way I wanted to forget everything.

---------

Siwon's POV

I couldn't deny that I had been thinking about Minhee throughout the entire dinner. I was worried about her. I kind of... missed her? Ugh, what am I doing?

"Yah!"

"Mwo?" I shouted.

"Aish, chill man." Donghae replied, his hands forward in a placating gesture. "We've said your name like ten times."

"Oh, sorry." I mumbled. "What were you going to say?"

"Since Jiwon already headed back to her place we were thinking about going out to get some drinks; you wanna join?"

"Yeah, sure." I could use some distraction.

We waltzed into the bar together and a friend of ours waved us over to their table. A chorus of "hey" and "how are you"s filled the bar. Conversation flowed easily between sips of liquor but our conversation was interrupted by shouting from across the bar.

A group of people were gathered around chanting "Shots!" at the top of their lungs; the thing that caught my attention though was who they were surrounding:

Minhee.

Several empty shot glasses were being refilled as she threw back two shots in a row. She held the now empty glasses in each hand, throwing her hands up in victory. From the looks of it, those had not been her first two. What the hell was she even doing here? Jiwon had said she was sick! I refocused eyes to Minhee only to see her downing another shot. I couldn't help myself from storming over and ripping the glass out of her hand.

"What are you doing?!" I whisper-shouted.

"Siwoonnn!" She hiccuped, swaying back and forth. I quickly grabbed her shoulders before she could tip over. "Wanna shot? Cuz I wannananotherrrr! Bartender!! Two more please~" I gaped at her incredulously as she did a "buing buing" aegyo to the bartender. He smiled, winking at her and prepared another but I grabbed her wrist before she could reach for it.

"Wae~?" She scrunched her eyebrows and pouted at me. I glanced overtop of her towards the bartender.

"How many has she had?" I sighed.

"I don't know 10?" He shrugged.

"You don't know?!" I roared. "10?! Do you see her?! She doesn't weigh enough for that! Are you trying to kill her?!"

"Hey man cool it."

I held back a growl and quickly paid for her tab while keeping my arm firmly attached to her waist. She whined as I pulled her out of the bar after letting the guys know I was taking her back to the apartment.

"I can walk just fine! I'm not even drunk see?!" She exclaimed and attempted to walk in a straight line. A string of giggles left her lips as she leaned onto a lampposts and slid down it, not able to keep herself up.

"I can't-" She cut herself off by giggling. "Can't. Can't. Can't. Can't." She repeated while poking her cheek continuously. "Feel my face!!" She finally finished.

I grabbed her hand in an attempt to help her up but she couldn't manage to get stable. I finally picked her up and continued walking back to the apartment.

I suddenly noticed she was struggling to focus her eyes.

"Minhee? Stay awake ok? We'll be at my place soon." My anger towards her was completely replaced with concern.

"Siwon." She mumbled out.

"Mm?"

"Help." She whimpered.

"What do you need?" I examined her pale face carefully.

"I can't move." She choked out; tears were now slipping out of her eyes. Her fingers twitched like she was trying to move her arm but her limbs remained limp as her inebriated brain failed to follow her wishes.

"It's going to be okay. We're here now." Somehow, I managed to get into the house while holding her then carried her to the bathroom where I propped her back up against the wall. As soon as my hands left her she began to slump over.

"Wah!" I immediately grabbed onto her again. "Minhee, you need to stay awake." I was starting to get really worried at this point. She suddenly lurched and I moved her quickly before she violently threw up into the toilet. I continued to hold her and she vomited over and over until I lost track. Suddenly the voices of my flat-mates could be heard throughout the apartment.

"Yah!" I yelled out, not caring if I sounded rude. "Come here quickly!" Heavy footfalls sounded down the hallway before several faces poked into the bathroom. I glanced up and saw that one was Leeteuk.

"Hyung! Come hold her for a minute." He did as asked without hesitation and I dashed out of the room and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sprinted back. Leeteuk me my eyes as I entered.

"Siwon... she's shivering really badly. Maybe we should take her to the hospital; it might be alcohol poisoning."

"No!" She suddenly shouted. "Please no, no hospital. Be in trouble. No, no, no, no! Please NO!" She started to become hysterical, gasping.

"Okay! Okay. No hospital. Shhh. Just try to drink some water." I tipped the bottle slowly but ended up having Eunhyuk hold up her body while Leeteuk held her head up so I could give her some. Barely any entered before she tried to force it away; I complied, wary of her choking.

We repeated the process several times but she was still shaking badly.

"She's really dehydrated... I don't know whether the shaking is coming for low blood sugar or hypothermia but either way..." Ryeowook spoke softly.

"I know!" I shouted. "Ah, I'm sorry." I apologized. "It's just that every time I mention the hospital she starts freaking out and I don't want her to injure herself."

Ryeowook's response was stopped by Minhee's sudden sobbing.

"No!" She screamed.

"What is it? Are you hurt?" I searched over her frantically.

"It's coming back." She managed in between sobs.

"What is? What's coming back?"

"I'm remembering again!" She cried harder. "Please get me some alcohol! Make it go away!"

"What are you talking about Minhee??" I was beyond confused.

"Why did he do this to me?! Oh God! Please give me something! I don't want to remember anymore!"

"The only I'm letting you drink is water, Minhee! Who is he? What did he do to you?"

"Why did he have to hurt me?!" Her voice was filled with misery.

"Who hurt you? I swear they'll never touch you again if you tell me."

Suddenly she gasped for air. "No, no! It, it wasn't his fault! He doesn't mean to! It's not that bad, really. It was my fault..."

"Look." I managed to say sternly, holding back my own tears. "I don't care who they are, NO ONE is allowed to hurt you. It IS NOT your fault. You don't deserve this from anyone. Ok?" She only responded with more weeping. I held her tightly against my chest.

Her sobs eventually subsided and I convinced her to drink more water. She was beginning to come to her senses a bit.

"Let me take you to bed, ok?"

She didn't responded but shakily tried to stand up. I stood up immediately to assist her and led her to my room before helping her into my bed. The look in her eyes before they closed was devastating. She looked so depressed yet completely blank at the same time. I piled blankets over her shaking form and held her hand as I slowly drifted into a troubled sleep.

Annyeong! *Twiddles thumbs* I know it's annoying when authors beg for reviews/comments but I would really appreciate it. I had a hard time writing this chapter and the next one is going to be just as hard. Your comments really encourage me. Anyway, kamsahamnida! *bows*