“Don’t worry,

I’ll always be with you from now on.”

– Yongguk –

Present time

                Seunghyun casually crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the doorframe. Daehyun’s breath was stuck in his throat. He couldn’t move his body, his mind went blank. Even though he had encountered the same situation for a number of times before, he definitely wasn’t prepared to go through it again.

               With his grip still on the knob, Daehyun hastily swung the door to shut it on Seunghyun’s face. But the man saw it coming and quickly kicked it back. The door slammed open, sending Daehyun flying to the wall in the process. His back collided with the hard concrete, causing him to screech with pain.

                Seunghyun didn’t really care. He walked further into the small apartment, ignoring Daehyun who was still grimacing in pain. His hand was shoved into the pocket while another one took off his cap for him to have a better look around.

                “So this is where you live now?” He stopped moving after reaching the living room and nodded to himself. “Nice,” He turned back to Daehyun and grinned. “You thought I wouldn’t find you here.”

                Daehyun just stayed in the same spot. He had gathered himself after the previous strike but gave up in finding a way out of this situation. Seunghyun was already in his apartment and he couldn’t do anything except to face this man. He couldn’t even run away since it’s his own place. He didn’t have to ask how Seunghyun found him here because he always did, just like before.

                Daehyun had his gaze fixed to the floor. His trembling hands clenched onto his pants. He could see Seunghyun was approaching him again from the corner of his eyes. The taller guy’s shadow was engulfing him bit by bit and he was fully shrouded when Seunghyun stood right in front of him after closing the door.

                Everything quieted down and Daehyun knew too well that thing was going to get ugly after his. He was proved right when Seunghyun suddenly smacked his side face using the large steely hand of his.

                “I warned you to not run away again!” Seunghyun yelled into his ear.

                Daehyun flinched, his whole body shuddered. The right side of his face was getting numb but he could feel his inner cheek had split in his mouth. His brain quaked in his head and with the sharp yell, he got even dizzier.

                “I…don’t have any money,” He mumbled, still having his head hung low.

                Seunghyun snickered. “Telling without me asking, huh? Good. Give it to me,” He held his palm out to the smaller man.

                Daehyun timidly shook his head. “I told you…I don’t-”

                “Lies!!” Seunghyun grabbed Daehyun’s body before slamming it onto the wall once again, all in a blink of an eye. Daehyun cried out, not only because of his throbbing back but also because of Seunghyun’s strong grasp.

                “It’s been a few months! I know there must be a lot in your saving. I know you do,” Seunghyun fumed.

                “B-But I’m short of money right now…I was fired and I’m currently looking for a new job,” Daehyun hissed in pain, weakly trying to free himself by pushing the larger man’s chest.

                Another hard slap landed on Daehyun’s cheek. “ing lies!! I saw you with another man!” Seunghyun released Daehyun to rest his hands on his hips.

                Daehyun frowned, not bothering to wipe off the blood dripping from his lip after the second hit he received. Instead, he’s trying to analyze the elder’s words. Seunghyun saw him with another man? But who? When? He took a moment to have a thought about it. But it’s easy for him to figure it out since he had only been around the same one man lately. And that brought him to recall about the incident at the gas station. His eyes widened in realization.

                “All relaxed in the nice car, huh?” Seunghyun continued. “What are you up to? Being a ?”

                Daehyun gritted his teeth in anger because of the other’s wild assumption. “That’s my boss. I work as his housekeeper. He just gave me a ride home,” He clarified, looking straight into Seunghyun’s eyes.

                “See? I knew you’re lying. Doesn’t he give you money?”

                “I’m just hired. I don’t receive any payment yet.”

                “What?!” Seunghyun exclaimed in extreme shock. “If you have a loaded boss who’s being that kind to you, you should just seduce him and go for his money, you dumb!” His clenched fists were hanging in the air, wandering around Daehyun’s head. He was trying so hard not to throw them at his victim again but Daehyun was already cowering in fear.

                Seunghyun managed to hold his irritation. He heaved a deep sigh before glowering at the shorter man. “Give me your wallet.”

                Daehyun’s stare lingered on Seunghyun for a short while. He knew that serious look too well. Seunghyun was now ordering him, not even asking anymore. Anyhow, he shouldn’t give up so easily. “B-But I-”

                “Give me!!” Seunghyun cut him off with a loud roar.

                Daehyun jumped in surprise. His body immediately obeyed the other man as he clumsily went to his bedroom. Seunghyun was closely following behind him. So when he picked up his wallet from the bedside drawer, he didn’t have enough time to hide the money inside.

                Seunghyun snatched the wallet from Daehyun’s hands. He had a thorough look of it before taking out all of the money to himself. The owner could only stare quietly at him. “I’ll take this as the advance,” He said while showing the little amount of paper bills to Daehyun and after that, putting them all into his pocket.

                “Next time I come here, you better have enough money,” Seunghyun returned the wallet by ing it into Daehyun’s chest. “And if you run again, remember that I’ll always find you and you won’t have any more second chance.”

                Daehyun got a hold of his now empty wallet. His hands were obviously shaking, his lips were quivering. Everything was so painful for him right now that even his heart couldn’t bear it. His eyes were getting cloudy but he had sworn to God not to cry in front of this man ever again.

                When he didn’t have anything more to say, Seunghyun decided it’s time for him to leave. He patted Daehyun’s cheek and pressed a kiss on the other side. He walked towards the door before opening it to finally left Daehyun in the deafening silence of the apartment. Only then Daehyun’s tears began to roll down his face.

###

                Junhong stepped down from the bus. He was the only person to get off at the stop since it was already so late at night. The bus he took was actually the last for today and he did that on purpose. He didn’t wait for Jongup to return when he left the older boy’s house. Instead of letting Jongup to drive him home, he insisted to Donghae that he would take a bus.

                He could have arrived home pretty early if he boarded a bus right after he reached the bus stop. But he just sat there, being immersed in his thoughts, as well as Donghae’s words. He sat there for a whole hour and his heart still couldn’t make a decision for his mother’s relationship.

                Junhong was slowly walking home from the nearest bus stop where he got off just now. His hands were in the pockets because of the chilly air. His mind was still busy thinking about the current situation with his mother. He wondered if Daehyun was worried for him right now.

                He was nearing his neighbourhood which often got very quiet at times like this. But oddly tonight, he caught a glimpse of a man getting on a motorcycle, right in front of his apartment building. His steps stopped on his own. He was now standing one block away from his home. His eyes strained to identify that man since he was facing his back. He recognized the motorcycle. And he definitely knew who that man was.

                Junhong’s feet started to move again, five times faster than before. He wanted to see him. He wanted to know if his guess was correct. However, the man left before he could call him out. As the motorcycle began to speed up on the road, his running slowed down to a halt on its previous spot.

                Junhong crouched to take a breath. But before his panting could subside, he dashed into the building, swiftly climbed the stairs and ran again to his apartment. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest at the thought of his mother, only if his guess was correct. He twisted the doorknob, feeling the blood rushed up to his head when he found it unlocked.

                Junhong abruptly pushed the door opened. He looked around the apartment but everything was strangely in their places. He then hurried to his mother’s bedroom and straightaway opened it without knocking unlike what he always did.

                After finally having a sight of Daehyun, Junhong could at least breathe out a sigh of relief. But he couldn’t keep calm when he saw his mother was sitting on the floor in front of the cupboard with a travel bag on his lap. Daehyun was frantically taking out his clothes from the drawers to put them into the bag.

                “Eomma?” Junhong called from the doorway. “What are you doing?”

                Daehyun snapped his head towards the boy. Only then Junhong could see the clear evidence on Daehyun’s face. His mother’s cheek was bruised and his lips were cut. But above them all, he could see how petrified Daehyun looked.

                “Oh thank god you’re back,” Daehyun got up and went to hug his son. He was so relieved to see Junhong right now. He closed his eyes tightly as he squeezed the taller body. He felt like crying his heart out but of course he wouldn’t do that in front of Junhong.

                Daehyun pulled apart from the other. He quickly wiped away the bits of his tears before taking Junhong’s hand in his. “Quick, pack your things,” He pulled Junhong out to the boy’s room.

                “Why? What the hell is going on?” Junhong asked anxiously while stumbling in following Daehyun’s fast steps.

                Daehyun stopped before his son’s bedroom and turned around to the boy. “He’s back,” He said, staring straight into Junhong’s eyes which sent shivers to Junhong’s spine because his guess was correct.

                “Your father was here. He found us again. We need to move out from here.” Daehyun was panicking and Junhong was getting irritated because of that.

                He hated to see his mother in that state. Daehyun was the person he loved the most in this world. He wanted him to only smile and laugh, not looking so vulnerable and scared. And he hated himself for not making that happen.

                Daehyun opened the door to Junhong’s room. He was about to pull his son inside when Junhong broke out of his grip. His wide eyes looked up confusedly at the boy.

                “No! I’m not going anywhere!” Junhong declared.

                “W-What are you saying?” Daehyun stammered. He didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry at his son’s lame joke. Or he was hoping that it was a joke.

                “I’m tired of moving here and there for the past five years! I hated it! I have to run away from my own father, change schools and don’t have any friends to stick with! We’ve just moved here for a few months and now we’re going to run away again? And then what? Wait for that man to find us again? Beat you up and take all of our money? Until when are we going to do this?!” Junhong burst out his bottled up feelings at once.

                Daehyun’s face was distorting in panic again. “But he’d come again and-”

                “Then let him be! There are two of us. We can fight him back. I’m big enough now.”

                Daehyun kept his eyes on Junhong’s, not wanting to lose at the boy’s burning stare. He tried so hard in holding himself to scoff at Junhong’s words. His hands formed tight fists as anger seeped through his veins.

                “Are you crazy?!” He furiously yelled at the boy.

                Junhong didn’t give an answer. His lips were tightly pressed while his nostrils were flaring in ragged breaths. He stepped aside from his mother before going into his room.

                “Junhong!!!” Daehyun turned around to follow him but the door was shut with a click and Daehyun realized his son had locked him out.

###

12 Years Ago

                The sound of a child crying filled the small space of the run-down apartment. Daehyun was walking back and forth in the empty room with Junhong in his arms. He was struggling to hush the three-year-old Junhong who had been whining and wailing non-stop since morning. While on the other side of the room, Seunghyun was lying on a futon with his arm resting above his closed eyes.

                “Hyung, I think he’s hungry,” Daehyun spoke up full of concern. They hadn’t feed their son properly for a few days. Junhong was only full when he’s staying with Donghae.

                “Well, he’s not the only one,” Seunghyun retorted nonchalantly.

                Daehyun ignored the other’s words because he always put his son before anything else. It didn’t matter if he also hadn’t eaten much for the past few days. “Hyung, we can’t let him be like this.”

                Seunghyun instantly sat up on the floor before looking up at Daehyun. “Well then maybe, he should stop eating and crapping so much. All my money’s used to buy his milk, his food, his diapers, his clothes, everything’s for him!”

                Seunghyun’s rant made Daehyun froze in his spot. Junhong cried louder at his father’s shouting voice, making his mother held him tighter in a hug. Daehyun knew what he would be getting if he made Seunghyun lost his patience. But he didn’t know what else to do when his son wouldn’t stop crying.

                Daehyun was aware that Seunghyun was working so hard to support his little family. Seunghyun paid the rent and bills using his small salary as a construction worker and many other side jobs. Daehyun was only helping a bit with his smaller salary. Of course, the money was never enough even if they added up their salaries together. And so Seunghyun had started to be stressed out.

                “This is not the life I’m supposed to live in!” Seunghyun bellowed.

                Daehyun cupped one of Junhong’s ears and pressed the other against his chest. “How could you say that?! Junhong is our son!”

                “No! He is your son! I was so stupid to listen to you and your stupid idea to raise him!” Seunghyun snapped back before standing up on his feet. “I’m tired of this! Give him to me!”

                He charged towards Daehyun to seize the toddler. Daehyun gasped, quickly turned around to give his back to the raging man in order to protect his son. But Seunghyun could easily spin Daehyun’s petite body back to face him. He got a grip of Junhong’s tiny arm while trying to tug Daehyun’s hold off the baby boy.

                “No!! Stop!!!”

               Daehyun was screaming at Seunghyun to let go of his son. Junhong was still crying, sometimes screaming as loud as his mother’s because of Seunghyun’s tight grip. His face was red and wet with the tears since his arm was in pain.

               Seunghyun thought this child had been nothing good to him so he better sell him off. Daehyun totally knew about Seunghyun’s intention and he wouldn’t ever give up his child to that man. He was striving to shield Junhong from Seunghyun’s groping hands.

               Daehyun had eventually moved to the corner of the apartment. He sunk onto the floor while facing the walls. He still had his weeping son in his arms and Seunghyun was trying to pull his body from behind. But Daehyun held on until the older man finally gave in to him.

                “ it all!” Seunghyun grunted before storming out of the apartment.

                Daehyun sat properly on the floor, heaving a sigh of relief after Seunghyun was gone. He looked down at Junhong. The boy was still crying but not as loud as before. Daehyun started to rock his child again, his hair and kissed his small forehead.

                “It’s okay, Junhongie. Eomma’s here. Don’t cry… Please…” He mumbled as tears began to flow out from his eyes.

###

Present time

                As soon as the sun was up the next day, Daehyun already went out of his apartment. He made some breakfast for Junhong as usual but a lot earlier than before. It’s not because he woke up early. In fact, he hadn’t slept at all. He couldn’t sleep. His mind was very much awake throughout the night, just thinking about his sudden encounter with Seunghyun and Junhong’s rebel.

                Since Junhong didn’t have school today, Daehyun wouldn’t have to wake him up. But he did check on Junhong to make sure the boy was okay. He opened the locked door using its key. After seeing Junhong was still fast asleep on the bed, he closed the door and locked it again.

                Daehyun decided to take a day off from his morning job. He called his workplace to inform them about it as he boarded the earliest bus that would take him to a different destination from the company.

                Twenty minutes later, he was pressing the bell of Yongguk’s house. Though he memorized the password, he couldn’t just barge in when the owner was in there. The door was still unopened after the first few rings. Yongguk must’ve not woken up yet.

                Daehyun began to have turbulent feelings. His chest tightened and his eyes started to brim with tears. He continued to press the bell, again and again that it wouldn’t stop ringing. He bit his lips, wishing for Yongguk to appear before him and Yongguk did.

                “Daehyun…?” Yongguk asked in his confused half-asleep state. His brows knitted together above his half-lidded eyes with his bed hair sticking out in every direction. He didn’t even put a shirt on, only having boxers hanging around his hips.

                Daehyun’s breath hitched at the sight of Yongguk. He stared at the man through glistening eyes, trying so hard to hold the tears from falling. But then his eyes were quivering, his lips were trembling, his whole body was actually shaking. He ended up in bursting out his tears.

                “I can’t do this anymore!!” He shrieked all of a sudden, causing Yongguk’s eyes to be fully opened in surprise. Only then he noticed how terrible Daehyun looked with blackened cheek and spilt lips. Now he was extremely worried about his lover.

                “I’m tired of everything!” Daehyun resumed his bawling. His legs were unexpectedly giving out on him and he flopped down onto the ground. “Why must it be so hard on me?! What have I done to deserve this?! I just can’t do this anymore!!”

                Never in his life had Yongguk seen Daehyun so devastated like this. His heat shattered to hear those words coming out from Daehyun’s mouth. “No, no Daehyun,” He knelt on the ground and held Daehyun’s damp face in between his palms.

                “Shhhh, calm down,” He pulled the sobbing man into his embrace. “I’m here,” He whispered while caressing Daehyun’s head. “I love you. I love you and you’re with me now. Everything’s gonna be alright.”

                Daehyun’s hands came up to Yongguk’s back. He hugged the older man firmly as he cried his heart out, wetting Yongguk’s bare shoulder unintentionally. Yongguk didn’t mind. He kept rubbing Daehyun’s back to calm him down. When he felt like it was getting cold to stay there, he lifted Daehyun up and brought him to sit on the sofa.

                A while later, Daehyun still didn’t stop crying. Yongguk realized that it was time for him to get ready for work but he knew Daehyun was far important than anything else. He wanted Daehyun to tell him why he was crying but the younger man was taking too long. So Yongguk braved himself to ask.

                “Why… Why are you crying? Tell me, please.”

                Daehyun promptly pulled away from Yongguk’s body, looking at him with red swollen eyes. “It’s Seunghyun! He came to my apartment last night, asking for money but I don’t have any and he said-”

                “Whoa, slow down a bit,” Yongguk cut him off. “Seunghyun? Didn’t you say you two are not together anymore?”

                Daehyun shook his head. “We are not. I ran away from him.”

                “What?” Yongguk had the biggest frown on his face.

                Daehyun gulped. He never thought that he would be telling about it again to someone other than Donghae and Hyukjae. But Yongguk was his lover now. Yongguk deserved to know about it no matter how painful it was for him.

                Daehyun wiped his tear stained cheeks before shifting his gaze to his lap. “I thought I could lean on him,” He muttered while trying to prevent his voice form cracking up. “I thought we could raise our child together. But he changed. He rarely came home. When he did, he’d be drunk, and turning violent to us…”

                “Wait,” Yongguk interrupted again. “Violent? He hit you and Junhong?!” He was getting vexed at the newly received information.

                Daehyun looked up at Yongguk with his doleful expression. “He didn’t have enough money to own a living. He’s angry with himself, with me, with Junhong. So he released it all on us.”

                Yongguk ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to control his overflowing anger. “ing bastard!” He grumbled. “How could he beat his own lover and his own child? How old was Junhong back then?”

                “Only three…” Daehyun answered, having a thought that the situation was taking a turn now. He was the one listening to Yongguk condemning Seunghyun instead of the other way around.

                “Damn it! I’ll kill him when I see him!” Yongguk mumbled quietly to himself, casting his gaze away from Daehyun while clenching his hand into a tight fist.

                “He… He said he’ll…come again soon…” Daehyun stammered because the thought of seeing Seunghyun again made the hair at the back of his neck stood upright.

                “What for?” Yongguk looked quizzically at Daehyun.

                “He asked for my money. I don’t know what he’s doing for a living now but he always said he’s short of money. And he wants me to pay back every single penny he spent on me and Junhong for the past three years and all the debts he had for supporting us.”

                “ing Seunghyun…” Yongguk cursed in his mind.

                “I thought I’d never see him again after I ran away from him for the first time. But five years later, he found us. He saw me on the street and followed me home. He beat me and took the money away. When he kept coming back, I didn’t have that much money anymore and he started to beat Junhong too. So I ran away again. Three years later, he still managed to find us. And I ran again. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past years. Run. Just run every time I saw his face.”

                “Why don’t you file a report on him?”

                “I’m afraid he’ll find out and act worse on us…” Daehyun hung his head low, wanting to hide his freshly formed tears from the older man.

                Yongguk placed a hand on Daehyun’s bruised cheek, rubbing it a little using his thumb before bringing up Daehyun’s face to look into his eyes. “You have me now. You shouldn’t be afraid of him anymore. You don’t have to run away from him again.”

                The tears were finally dropped from Daehyun’s eyes. “But nothing will stop him from getting what he wants…”

                “Then I’ll give him some money,” Yongguk suggested.

                “No! He’ll keep coming back if you do that,” Daehyun protested.

                “But we need to stop him. He’s hurting you and Junhong,” The other hand of Yongguk was holding Daehyun’s arm as he tried to convince the younger.

                Daehyun stared at the other’s pleading gaze. He contemplated for a moment before releasing a heavy sigh. “Junhong said…he wants to fight back,” He shook his head, more tears were spilling onto his cheeks. “But there’s no way he could do that. He’ll only hurt himself.”

                Yongguk removed the tears from Daehyun’s beautiful face. The rain needed to stop from falling so that he could see the sun again. “Then I’ll stand with him,” He said before kissing Daehyun’s forehead and wrapped his arms around the smaller body. “I’ll protect both of you.”

###

Even if you don’t turn around, I’m standing right here

So you can always lean on me, whenever you want

The person I want to embrace in my heart

The person I can’t let go

I’ll take away all your sad tears

The one person in the world who makes me smile is you

So don’t cry anymore

I will protect you

Song : I Will Protect You by Ji Chang Wook

Wow that's so corny but I like it because I'm that kind of a  person who is very sentimental (*´∀`*)

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