When you got to work you were greeted by your aunt Yumi and your mother. The latter quickly rushed you to the back and asked you to check up on the muffins in the oven. After a sigh you headed towards the back and took a peek in the oven, they looked delicious and your stomach started to growl.

“They smell sooooo good Noona” said Minho, your younger cousin.

“Don’t they? You want the first bite?” you grinned.

He nodded, jumping up and down with excitement.

“Don’t tell aunt Yumi okay?” you laughed, putting a finger in front of your mouth as if to say ‘shhh’.

“Got it! Shhh!” he mimicked.

You smiled and took out a steaming hot chocolate chip muffin and placed it on a plate; you let it sit for a few minutes before letting Minho take a bite.

“You two better not be snacking on those muffins!” you heard your mom yelling from across the bakery.

“Were not!” you and Minho said in unison while snickering amongst yourselves.

After Minho finished his muffin you took a wet cloth and cleaned his face and told him to go help aunt Yumi in the front. You gathered up the garbage bags by the back door and headed for the back alley. As you threw the bags over the large garbage bin, you felt a pair of eyes on you. After turning around you observed a man who was standing beside the recycling bins wearing a black jacket and black pants. It was difficult to see his face because it was starting to get dark outside and he was wearing a hat. Also, he was  standing quite a distance away from you so you weren’t sure if he was even staring at you or something else. You narrowed your eyes, trying to get a better look as curiosity overcame you. 

“Hello?” you called out.

No answer.

“Umm, hello??” you said louder this time. “This area is personal property, you can’t hang around here.” You said in a ‘matter-of-fact’ tone.

The man didn’t move.

You felt the hairs on your neck stand up and you shivered.

Who is this person?

You opened your mouth to say something in order to scare him off but you were cut off.

“____-AH! What’s taking so long?!” you heard your aunt say. You briefly turned your head and opened the back door to give her an answer, and when you turned back around, he was gone.

Your eyes lingered in the area where he was once standing and you shrugged.

You headed back inside meanwhile tapping a curious finger to your chin. Who was that person and what was he doing.

After noticing the rush of customers at the front, you quickly disregarded all thoughts, and that was that. 

Once the rush was finally over a yawn escaped your lips as you stretched your arms over your head.

“Tired?” you a familiar voice asked.

You glanced over to see one of your regular’s; Do Kyungsoo, smiling at you.

“Oh, hi Soo.” you smiled. “The usual?” 

He nodded.

You grabbed a brown paper bag and fished out a dozen oatmeal cookies from inside the display counter. Adding an extra chocolate chip cookie and two blueberry muffins because you knew he loved those too.

“Stopp! I’m getting fat because of you.” he laughed.

"Nothing wrong with that" you smiled.

He tried to pay you for the extra goodies like always and you declined like always. Although Kyungsoo was one of your customers, given the fact that he was a regular you had become quite good friends. He was a psychology student at UBC, and he always loved listening to other people’s problems. Therefore, whenever you needed advice he was the person you went to.

“Ohh, Kyungsoo-yah, nice to see you again!” said your mother, running out from the back.

“Anneyeonghaseyo Omoni” he said, giving her a small bow.

“Is _____-ah giving you a hard time again? This girl seriously….” she trailed off.  You sighed and wished this shift would be over so you could just go home and sleep.

While leaning on the counter, you glanced to your left. Your mom was still chatting it up with Kyungsoo, though he looked like he had made a big mistake. He caught your eyes and mouthed ‘help’ in English and you shook your head. Poor guy, he was really suffering. You let it go on for a few more minutes until you swore you could see a dark aura of despair around him. You suppressed another laugh.

Fine I’ll help him.

“Ommaa! The store’s closing soon Kyungsoo has to go” you yelled from across the bakery.

“Ohh, is that so? Time really goes by fast these days” she said, while staring off into the distance.

You saw that Kyungsoo let out a breath of relief and you almost snorted due to the laughter.

After Kyungsoo left, you locked the front door and flipped over the ‘open’ sign to ‘close’.  You looked at your watch that read ’10:00 pm’ and you took off your apron and released the elastic that was holding up your high pony. You said goodbye to aunt Yumi and gave Minho a little kiss on his forehead, you did the same to your mom. Your mom said she’d drive you home but you declined, as your apartment was not far. Plus, you loved walking around at night, the city lights and cool air really helped clear your mind. Walking out of the bakery, you reached inside your bag to grab your headphones. You put them on and played some random soundtrack from a drama. You were humming along with the tune when you heard footsteps behind you. You took out one ear bud and looked around, there was no one. You were suddenly reminded of what Cindy said this morning; ‘rapists always attack people who aren’t paying attention’. You started to feel a little unnerved so you decided to stop listening to music altogether. You stuffed your headphones in your bag and continued walking, but then abruptly stopped when you heard another noise. It sounded like somebody was shuffling behind you. Now you were really scared, you knew someone was following behind you but you were too afraid to look back. You slowly reached into your bag to try and find something to defend yourself with; you didn’t care what it was. Your hand latched onto an umbrella and you gulped, slowly turning around.

Your eyes landed on a lengthy man that was standing right infront of you. It was that same man you saw in the alley earlier, but this time you could see his face. Your mouth almost dropped when your realized who it was. Your palms started to get sweaty and you slowly began backing away. The man responded to your actions by walking closer towards you. Your hands starting shaking and you felt the grip on your umbrella loosen.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” you screamed, hurling the umbrella towards the man while running in the opposite direction. You ran as fast as you could, your bag flopping all over the place in the process. Looking over your shoulder you saw that the man was sprinting; he was starting to catch up to you. You turned your head just in time to see a large rock and you tried to avoid it but you tripped and scraped your knee hard on the concrete.  Tears starting flooding your eyes and your vision became blurry.

You were scared.

So. Scared.

You frantically looked around you to see if there was anyone, anyone at all who could help you.

But there was nobody around.

You hadn’t realized it while you were running, but you had basically lead him into a deserted backalley.

Your entire body began shaking as you felt the man approach you. Behind him you could see two other men who were had smirks plastered on their faces.

“Well well well, look who It is” the man grinned.

You were speechless for a few moments and tried to collect yourself before you spoke.

“Park Kwangchul… what…what... do you w…ant” you barely let out. Your body was gasping for air and you thought you might pass out.

“What I’ve always wanted” He smiled malevolently. “You.”

He took another step towards you and you looked down at the rock that you had just tripped on. You grabbed it and threw it hard at his face while throwing your bag at the other two men. You heard him curse and you took this oppourtunity to run. While you were running, you desperately pulled out your phone from your pocket and dialed the number of the first person who was in your history.

“Come back here you !” yelled Kwangchul from behind you.

You looked down at your knee that was gushing blood and you started to feel lightheaded. You heard a voice from the other line and you tried to speak but nothing came out.

“______! What’s wrong! Where are you!” yelled Sehun from the other line.

You tried to balance yourself by placing an arm on the brick wall next to you and brought your phone up to your ear.  You were about to say something into the phone when you suddenly felt Kwangchul grab your wrist. Your phone slipped out of your hand and landed on the ground with a thud.

“You can’t get away from me this time you ing ” he yelled. His grip around your wrist was so hard you let out a small cry.

“Please… just let me go” you pleaded; your voice was barely audible due to your crying.

You noticed that his forehead was bleeding and you assumed it was from the rock you hit him with. He took a few seconds to breathe before moving closer to you, you could tell he was in pain. You mentally gave yourself a pat on the back for your rock throwing skills. But then quickly began to regret it because now he seemed a lot angrier. 

“Not this time” he said. He moved his face close to your neck and inhaled deeply. You tried to fight back by kicking his crotch but he pinned you against the wall and trapped your legs. You had no strength left and there was no way anybody could hear your quiet cries.

“You look so ing y when you’re playing hard to get” he smirked. You felt his hands roam down your body and land on your chest. You cried out but you knew it was hopeless. He smirked and placed his rubbery lips on your neck. Your eyes were full of tears and you were on the verge of completely blacking out; you were so disgusted, so utterly disgusted.

His face briefly appeared in your mind. Then you unconsciously let out his name, far too quiet for anyone to hear;

Jongin.

“I think it’s time I hire you as my own personal- URGH”

Kwangchul was pulled away from you and you almost fell over due to the force. You gasped and looked up.

“WHO THE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE TOUCHING!” he screamed so loud that it made you flinch.

Jongin was holding Kwangchul by the collar, repeatedly assaulting his face with his fist. You stood their shocked as Jongin pushed him down and got on top of him. His punches were so full of anger you had never seen Jongin this furious before. His teeth were clenched; his eyes, full of rage and hatred.

Kwangchul had stopped fighting back a while ago, and you were sure Jongin knew this too, but it didn’t seem like he was going to stop anytime soon.

“Stop” you tried to say, tears overflowing your eyes.

He didn't stop.

“Jongin… STOP YOU’LL KILL HIM!” you screamed in horror.

Jongin instantly stopped his fist when he heard you scream. Almost like your scream knocked him out of his trance. He looked over at you, his knuckles were bloody. You stood there terrified, your body was still shaking and you felt your lower body give out as you fell to your knees. Jongin got up off of him and rushed over to your side, catching you just before you hit the hard concrete. He quickly pulled you into a hug and your head fell to his shoulder. You couldn't move, your body was frozen. You began to shake furiously into his body.There was no strength left in your body, you couldn't stop yourself. You broke down and cried hard into his chest.

✥✥✥✥

You had been sobbing for a while now. Your hand was gripping his shirt tightly and you knew you couldn’t let go even if you wanted to. Jongin’s arm was wrapped around you firmly, while he used his right hand to gently caress your hair.

“I’m sorry” he whispered.

You sniffed and looked up at him and then froze. His eyes were glossy; he looked like he was just about to cry.

“I’m... so... sorry” he said again, his voice cracking. You were at a loss for words. Jongin looked back down at you and pulled you into another hug, a tighter hug. You were shocked.

“Jongin?” you patted his back. You heard a soft sob leave his lips and your eyes widened. You began rubbing his back harder. “Jongin! Jongin?!” you tried pulling away but he pulled you back into his arms.

“Just, stay still.” he said.

You complied and rested your head in its previous position on his shoulder. You looked over and noticed that Kwangchul wasn’t there anymore.

His friends must have taken him. You thought. You were too tired and weak to care at this point though.

After a few moments in Jongin’s arms you felt his arms loosen and you pulled back to look at him. He didn’t have tears on his face but you could tell that he did at one point. He caressed the side of your face and ran his thumb along the marks on your neck. You flinched under his touch.

“I’m so sorry he did this to you… that ing bastard” he growled.

You were having a hard time forming words. Your throat felt dry and coarse from the crying and screaming.

“I… “ you began to say, but you couldn’t finish.

Jongin noticed you having a hard time and got up from his crouching position. He offered you a hand and you took it weakly. He pulled you up and you stood up, stumbling into his chest. He was a lot stronger than he seemed. Your eyes fell to your phone that was lying face down on the concrete; you could still hear Sehun’s voice on the other line. Jongin met your stare and crouched down to get it, he handed it to you.

You took a deep breath before putting the phone to your ear.

“Hello?” you tried to say in a happy voice, but it was hard. The last thing you were right now was happy.

“_____-AH?! WHATS HAPPENED, WHERE ARE YOU” Sehun yelled.

“Nothing’s happened, I’m fine” you lied. You couldn’t tell Sehun what happened, at least not right now. You knew he would freak out. Jongin almost killed Kwangchul and you were afraid Sehun might do something worse. You decided you would tell him when the time was right, and this wasn’t it.

“I just accidentally dialed your number, sorry!” you said, knowing how unconvincing it sounded.

“But what were those voices and-“

“Sehun, sorry I’m really tired; I’ll call you tomorrow. Bye!” you said.

“But-“

You hung up, almost dropping your phone in the process. You felt bad about hanging up on Sehun, but it felt like you had no more energy to spare. You started to stumble and Jongin grabbed you by your shoulders. His eyes lingered on yours for a while, then he slowly kneeled down infront of you and picked you up bridal style. You let out a small gasp and impulsively wrapped your arms around his shoulders to balance yourself.

“You’re too weak to walk” he said, almost as a justification for the skinship.

 “Let’s go home” he added, giving you a small smile.

You nodded, blushing in the process.

A/N: 

Angst alert! How was this chapter?