Quickly taking off his jacket he handed it to her, but when she didn’t take it he put it around her then frowned. Tilting his head to the right he glanced at her bloody nose.

Whether to take her to the police station or the hospital Eunhyuk wasn’t sure. In the end he found himself sitting inside the clinic ward watching the doctor observe her nose while she sat on the unoccupied bed with the long sleeves of his jacket hiding her hands inside them.

“You could have broken your nose.” the doctor said after heaving a sigh. “But everything seems to be alright. One of your blood vessels is broken inside but it should be fine after a few days.”

“Thanks.” Eunhyuk thanked the doctor before he left then walked over toward Victoria whose eyes remained heavily concentrated on the floor. “What happened? Are you ok? Did he do anything to you?”

All of a sudden tears prickled her eyes as she gritted her teeth and not even a frown overcame her face. Victoria lifted her hands up to her face and held her face into the sleeves of his jacket. For about 10 minutes he watched her cry her fear out.

When they left they ward Eunhyuk paused by the elevator.

“I have a stop to make.” he told.

Victoria eyed him and looked away without walking toward the front doors. When they reached the third floor Victoria waited by the side of the door while Eunhyuk stopped in front of Donghae’s door.

“Aren’t you going in?” Eunhyuk asked.

“Why are we here?” her voice still shaky questioned without looking at him.

“The quickest way to get to the cops is to get to Chief Kang and I don’t have his number. I swear I won’t make you stay here,” Eunhyuk said. “Just step inside for a moment.” He was silent then added, “I know it’s not a good idea to leave you alone right now. And I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be alone too.”

Victoria didn’t turn toward him but Eunhyuk opened the door anyway and met with Donghae’s curious stare.

“Didn’t you say you were going back?” he asked.

Eunhyuk turned to his left where Victoria was standing still hidden from view, “Something came up. Can I talk to Chief Kang?”

“What happened?” an expression of concern immediately grew over Donghae’s face.

“Come in.” Eunhyuk turned away from his friend. When Victoria didn’t he gently pulled her into the room and he watched Donghae become surprised.

“What…” he started when he noticed her grass streaked clothes.

“Chief Kang.” Eunhyuk repeated.

“Yea…” Donghae reached into his drawer and pulled out his phone.

Victoria refused to meet Donghae’s gaze. She didn’t want Donghae to see her like that. It only told him that she needed more security, more watch put on her. As she focused on her thoughts Eunhyuk spoke aloud with Chief Kang on the phone. After a minute Eunhyuk handed the phone to her.

“He wants details from you.”

Victoria hesitated before taking the phone from him and stepped toward the open door in order to muffle her voice from Donghae.

Donghae struggled to sit up in the bed and when he managed to get up Eunhyuk immediately rushed to him as Donghae immediately bent over.

“What are you doing!” Eunhyuk exclaimed.

“What in the world happened! Why aren’t you saying anything!” Donghae said as Eunhyuk forced him back to laying down. “You said you were going to return to Incheon and return but all of a sudden you return with Victoria!”

“I don’t know what happened either!” Eunhyuk tried. “I was just driving by when I saw her fall forward onto the ground and someone run away. That’s it. That’s all I know.” Eunhyuk stared at his friend and clenched his jaw together.

Donghae stared at his friend flustered with the sight before him. He wasn’t angry with Eunhyuk’s lack of information because clearly Victoria hadn’t spoken to him about what had happened, but what almost…no what irked was that Victoria was covered in Eunhyuk’s oversized jacket. What was with that!

Victoria turned back to face them but again she avoided Donghae’s eyes. Eunhyuk took the phone from her and placed it on the table beside the bed.

“What happened?” Donghae asked in a calm manner.

“Nothing.” Victoria’s voice was almost unheard.

“How can nothing have happened when your eyes are clearly bloodshot red!” Donghae raised his voice.

Victoria turned to retaliate but instead Eunhyuk spoke up, “Just leave it alone, Hae. She’s not in a good mood right now.”

“And who are you to know her so well?” Donghae asked almost angry at why Eunhyuk was speaking to him this way.

Eunhyuk frowned, “What’s wrong with you? Don’t get angry at me for nothing.”

“Why are you so moody?”

“You’re the one who’s moody!”

Silence filled in on them and it felt as if a dark shadow was overcastting the room with its gloom creating tension between the light and the dark. Victoria glanced at them feeling that something was amiss. Yet, nothing came out of .

The two friends stared at each other without turning away for a split second. Victoria suddenly felt Donghae’s gaze on her and finally turned to look back at him. She waited for him to go on.

“I heard you came by earlier.” Donghae said quick and short.

“I did, so what?”

“Were you going to apologize?”

“I’m not in the mood to do that now.”

“Don’t go yet.”

The first two words sent millions and millions of flashbacks into her head. She had called out the same words to In Seol so many times, so many countless times when he was in his coma, when he was in his casket, and when she was by his graveyard. But he never returned. That aching, that empty ache in her heart became conscious once again.

Victoria turned away from Donghae and walked out of the room.

“Sorry Hae, my feelings are a bit slurred right now because of Hee Sun. I’ll come back later.” Eunhyuk apologized and added before closing the door after him. “I’ll take her back safely.”

Eunhyuk found Victoria mindlessly walking down the hallway as if she were a lost soul in the middle of a dream. She paused in her steps and he stopped behind her.

“I want to go home.”

“You want to go back?” he asked as if he couldn’t believe her. “When you don’t even know if that bastard’s still lurking around your area? You live alone, he could come back anytime.”

“I’ve always been fine.”

“You don’t know that from now on.”  

Victoria stared at the floor below her, “Then…I want to go somewhere. I don’t know if you’d want to go though.” Victoria turned to look at him as if she were challenging him to a fight.

“Where?” he asked.

“I want to go see…my boyfriend.”

Eunhyuk found himself driving down the highway trying to recall something Donghae had told him just very recently, but it wasn’t coming to him. He’d spoken something about graveyard then said something about boyfriend. Boyfriend, graveyard, boyfriend, graveyard… When he had drove into Incheon it finally came to him. Pulling over to the side of the road Eunhyuk turned to Victoria.

“Your boyfriend?” Eunhyuk questioned.

Victoria turned to look at him very coldly, “What?”

“Your boyfriend…the graveyard?”

“So you know?”

Eunhyuk turned away, “You’ve to be crazy going there at this hour.”

“Then it’s also fine if I go by myself.” Victoria said beginning to unbuckle her seatbelt.

Quickly debating between the choices he had Eunhyuk quickly locked the doors automatically, “Lets go get something to eat and drink. There’s no way that what just happened didn’t scare you, so lets go get something to eat to warm you up. Ok?”

Victoria didn’t take her eyes off his face and even her cold stare began to make Eunhyuk feel like he was seeing things.

“Things happen, true, but it’s all over now.” Victoria said. “Didn’t you say I couldn’t go home?”

“Well…that is…” Eunhyuk turned away then turned back. “I promise I’ll take you at dawn when it’s a little lighter out, but we can’t go now.”

Victoria found herself sitting in the large tent with a bowl of soup, some other goodies in front of her, and two bottles of soju on the table. Victoria ate and gulped down the drink greedily. When she reached for the bottle Eunhyuk placed his hand on it to stop her.

“Don’t,” he said in a warning manner. “You’re not a good drinker.”

“How would you know? Give it.” Victoria managed to lifted it off the table a bit but Eunhyuk pushed it back down.

“You got drunk last time, don’t you remember?” Eunhyuk asked.

“That…was then.” Victoria said trying to get it again but Eunhyuk persisted.

“Hae would get angry.”

“Hae?”

“Donghae, Lee Donghae.”

“Oh.” Victoria laughed. “I forgot for a moment.”

“You’re really out of it, aren’t you?” Eunhyuk asked.

“You…just mind your own business,” Victoria muttered and pulled the bottle of soju away drinking the last of it.