“Taekwoon, my friends will be here any minute!” you shouted from the living room.

“Thank you!” your older brother shouted back from the kitchen. He was cooking dinner for you and your friends and you had promised to tell him when they were almost there so he could avoid meeting them. Your brother was painfully shy and although you felt bad whenever you asked to have friends over he never said no. He would even offer to cook for your friends or order pizza if you wanted.

You walked into the kitchen to see what your brother had made for you and your friends and were not surprised when you found an entire buffet of food. You crossed your arms and stared at your brother until he finally turned to look at you.

“What’s wrong? Do you not like something? I’ll take it away if you like and I think I still have time to make something else quickly. Let’s see what else we have in-“

“Taekwoon! You promised you would stop doing this!” you interrupted.

“Stop doing what?” he asked playing dumb.

“I told you my friends and I don’t need a buffet. There’s only four of us! Plus we’ll be studying so we don’t have time to be snacking.”

“Oh come on you don’t have to eat all of the food. Now you all have options. What if someone is allergic to something and there’s only one option for food, huh? I’m only trying to keep all of you safe.”

“Ugh fine. Thank you Taekwoon, but next time will you please just- Taekwoon?! Taekwoon!” you started to shout as you brother ran out of the kitchen. You turned around to see that your friends were standing in the doorway, looking like they had just seen a ghost.

“He’s really shy.” You told them.

They nodded at you and shouted “Thank you!” in unison as they approached the delicious display of food. A quiet “you’re welcome” was heard from where you could only guess was Taekwoon’s room. You smiled at your brother’s actions. He might have been extremely shy but he still made sure you had everything you needed and more.

~

You sat at the coffee shop waiting for your brother and his friends to show up. Normally, coffee shop dates were strictly between the two of you but today was a day of celebration, you had graduated high school and were elected valedictorian. Unfortunately, Taekwoon was unable to make the ceremony because of work so he promised to make it up to you when he got out. He knew you enjoyed spending time with his friends and although he is hesitant to allow any men around you, he decided to make an exception for today.

You were still dressed in you formal graduation attire minus the cap and gown you gave to your parents when they dropped you off. You had on a pale lavender summer dress and your hair was in delicate waves. You had even redone your makeup so everything about your appearance was on point.

Unfortunately, there were a group of guys that noticed how great you looked and took it upon themselves to swarm up to you and start giving you “compliments.”

“Hey baby, you got all dressed up for me?”

“I love that dress on you. I bet you look even better with a little less on.”

“So why are you here by yourself? Waiting for us to come by and take you home?”

He reached out to grab your arm and you slapped it away. By this point you were in tears because you felt humiliated due to the attention you were getting not only from the creeps but from the other people in the coffee shop. You could hear the degrading murmurs and whispers and immediately wished you were anywhere but there.

The creep reached out to grab you again but this time someone else’s hand slapped his away. You looked up to find a furious Taekwoon standing protectively in front of you. You were startled when a pair of arms grabbed you by the shoulders but relaxed when you looked back and saw it was just Hakyeon and Jaehwan, two of Taekwoon’s friends. As they led you away you saw that Wonshik, Hongbin, and Sanghyuk were standing with Taekwoon, ready to fight the group of creeps that had harassed you. Hakyeon and Jaehwan were trying to make sure you were okay but you weren’t paying attention to them. Instead, you paid attention to Taekwoon and his friends who were ready to fight.

“If you ever dare touch my little sister like that again, I’ll-“

“What will you do pretty boy? Throw flowers at me?”

Taekwoon turned around to see your frightened expression. As much as he wanted to destroy these guys, he wasn’t going to do it with you watching.

“Look, you’re just really lucky we’re in public and my sister’s watching. Although I don’t think she would mind me breaking your nose.” Taekwoon turned around and left the creeps smirking. He walked towards you and immediately put his arm around you to lead you out the door. You were about to reach the car when a hand suddenly grabbed you by your hair.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going ?! We weren’t finished talking to you.”

Taekwoon saw red. He didn’t even hesitate to punch the guy right in the nose.

“What?! You broke my nose! Ow! Someone teach this guy a lesson for ing!”

His friends tried to advance towards Taekwoon, but Wonshik and Hongbin were fast and stopped them in their tracks. In no time, all three boys were on the ground bleeding and although you didn’t approve of violence, you smiled at the sight. It was too pathetic.

You knew once Taekwoon started, it was hard to get him to stop so you made sure to lead him back to the car before he could do any more damage. You pushed him in the back seat and sat next to him. You held his hand while he took deep breaths, trying to calm down. When his heart rate slowed down, he opened his eyes to find you staring at him with a worried expression. He let out a scoff, it was amazing to him that no matter what happened to you, you were always more concerned with his wellbeing than your own.

“Are you-“

“Are you?” he cut you off.

You nodded and put your head on his shoulder. He sighed and let his head fall on top of yours.

“Thank you” you whispered.

“I love you” he responded.