"You have such a pretty face. Why don't you look at me with those brown eyes of yours, beautiful?" The drunken boy slurs, and she takes into account how his breath reeks of alcohol and bad decisions as he leans closer to Nayeon and uses a hand to cup Nayeon's chin. A strangled sound dies in Nayeon's throat as she keeps her head down, not wanting to give the creep the satisfaction of seeing her face. "Now now, don't be shy," he croons, and tilts Nayeon's chin upwards, forcing her to stare him in the eyes. Nayeon's eyes burn with disgust and her face twists into a scowl, trying to mask the panic surfacing beneath the mask.

Seemingly unnerved, the guy giggles upon seeing her staring at him, and a pleased sort of smile tugs on his thin lips, eyes dancing with amusement. The sight of it twists something in her stomach and makes her feel sick - nauseous, even, and it's not only the alcohol speaking. "There you go! You're so much prettier like this, you know?"

"As a matter of fact, I don’t know,” deadpans Nayeon, gaze dull as she tries to think of a way to escape in her drunken haze. Where the hell was Jungyeon? "Frankly, I don't care either, so let go," stressing the last part, Nayeon struggles in his grasp once more, and his grip on her tightens when he senses her regaining her strength. It doesn't stop Nayeon from struggling with more force - as much force she can muster in her current state. "What the do you want, you son of a two timing ?" Baring her teeth at him, she hopes it's an intimidating gesture - she deflates when she sees the glee in his facial expressions and squirms when he brushes a strand of hair and tucks it behind her ears, resisting the bile that almost escapes her lips.

The stranger flashes a cocky smirk at her, lip curled and eyes darkened with something she can't quite place - lust? - and she shudders, feeling a strong sense of revulsion.

"You."

Eyes widening in panic, Nayeon chokes from the panic that bubbles in and thrashes in his grasp, tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes when she hears his chuckle and his breath nearing her face. His grip is strong and steady, and she tries to fight, but it's all useless. Futile.

"Why are you acting like that? Most girls get all blushing and stuttering when they hear that, you know," he murmurs, getting dangerously close and breaking her personal space. Nayeon turns her head away, not bothering to hide the revolt and disgust clearly shown on her face. "Can't say I don't like myself a challenge, though. But in the end, you'll end up in my bed anyway, so what's the use of struggling?" He chuckles, and much to his dismay, Nayeon doesn't seem to budge - instead, she rebels in his grasp even more, shoulders shaking along as she tries to free herself from him.

"Let me go. Please," pleads Nayeon, not liking the way her voice sounds choked and cracked and broken. No. She has to stay strong - she has to stay defiant, and letting the fire in her spirit burn down is exactly the last thing she needs right now. She takes a deep breath and tries to force herself to think clearly - she's not sober, but maybe with a little push in the right direction, she can get inch closer to sobriety - ignoring the massive onslaught of a headache or how her vision dances around her like little flames, the colours all weird and messed up and all too vibrant.

When his thumb starts her cheeks, Nayeon flinches in repugnance, shoulders starting to tremble. She bites down on her lip to stop a whimper from escaping, trying her best to not let him see her eyes, where all the fear is located. A yelp threatens to break out when he suddenly grasps her arm with a firm grip and starts pulling her through the crowd, and it takes whatever self control she has a grasp on in her state to not break out in a panic attack in the middle of a party.

"W-Where are we going? Answer me!" Nayeon slurs, inwardly hating herself for finding shouting or even screaming so difficult as they make their way to the crowd.

"Thought you'd want to go somewhere a little more private, sugar." A crooked grin makes its way onto his face and Nayeon feels the bile rising in at the disgusting sight. She keeps trying to break free from his grip, but he doesn't budge, and her heart pounds fast in her chest, terrified, when he drags the both of them inside one of the guest bedrooms in Dahyun's house.

/ / /

The sight of bodies grinding to the rhythm together or even the scent of booze, weed and cigarette smoke in the air only serve to rile Junhwe even more.

When he'd barged in the place only five minutes prior, the place had been packed with teenagers - mostly students from his school, as he'd gotten some passing looks of recognition or attempts to get him to have a drink with them (as if) - and amongst the gathered crowd of both familiar and unfamiliar faces, it all made everything more difficult to find his best friend.

"Nayeon!" He shouts through the loud music blaring from the speakers or even the buzzing chatter of the party, his eyes scanning around the room frantically and heart pounding in his ribcage. Instead of his usual swagger, Junhwe scampers around the room with a certain anxiety to his hasty limbs, mouth downturned in a scowl even nastier than his usual. When he feels a hand move to lightly touch his shoulders, he flinches a little harder than necessary and turns around in a rapid movement, the annoyance bubbling more when he sees instead of someone actually important, it's only one of the girls from one of his classes. "What?" He hisses, lips pressing into a thin line of annoyance and impatience.

The girl, not disturbed by his behaviour in the slightest, giggles and steps on her tiptoes to give him a bubbly smile. Junhwe scowls even more. "I was wondering if you wanted to grab a drink with me?" She offers with a coy smile, hand twirling a strand of her hair playfully as she looks at him through her lashes. "Nayeon doesn't have to know," the girl coos, obviously trying to convince him as she places a hand on his chest, but Junhwe pushes her away. "What the , Junhwe?!"

"I don't have time for this," murmurs Junhwe as he walks past her, not bothering to look back to her indignant and offended cries, instead choosing to look forward and trying to search for Nayeon, or at least someone familiar to the both of them. A sight of an assortment of colours on hair blurs past him, and eyes widening, Junhwe runs as he catches up to the owner of the hair - only one person would have hair like that, and that person would be the owner of the house and one of Nayeon's friends. "Dahyun!" Junhwe cries, and Dahyun turns around curiously, eyes widening when she sees who it is.

"Well, if it isn't the boy who broke Nayeon's heart?" Sneers Dahyun as she crosses her arms in front of her chest, staring up at Junhwe accusingly. Her eyes narrow as she takes in Junhwe's disheveled appearance, and seemingly against her will, the glare in her eyes soften slightly - just slightly. "What happened to you?"

"Look, I need to find Nayeon," explains Junhwe quickly, eyes twitching when he sees the hesitance in Dahyun's features and the way she eyes him with distrust. "I really can't explain it right now but I need to find her."

"Why should I tell you?" Dahyun retorts, casting him a tight lipped smile. "Look, I don't know if you know, but girls look out for each other - Nayeon came in looking pretty damn sad, and she wouldn't explain, but I know it's because of you." Upon finishing her sentence, Dahyun looks at her recently filed nails and blows on it, not bothering to look at Junhwe.

Feeling the frustration rising, Junhwe tries to say in his most restrained manner. "Maybe that's true, but I'm here to make it up to her, so where is Nayeon?" He presses the last few words, asking with a careful tone. Dahyun looks at him with a lazy gaze before taking a sharp intake of breath and shaking her head, a small frown on her face and a look of hesitance and regret in her eyes.

"I'm so going to regret this," mumbles Dahyun before tugging at Junhwe's sleeves and starting to walk. “The other girls are going to murder me later and it’ll be all your fault. Gee, Dahyun, so much for secrecy, your conscience is simply too pure, too kind…”

"Wait, where are you taking me?" Junhwe struggles in her grip, but Dahyun is a strong woman and she doesn't even flinch when he tries to tug his arm away from her in a particularly strong manner. "Dahyun!"

Shooting an annoyed look over her shoulder, Dahyun scowls as Junhwe continues to resist her grip. "I'm taking you to Nayeon, you idiot. I saw some guy leading her here, but be sure to knock before you come in," she mutters the last part, and Junhwe gapes at the information, trying to swallow to moisten his dry throat. "I... look, I care a lot about Nayeon. She's one of my closest friends, and I'd do anything for her. So if you're just here to hurt her even more, better tell me now so I can haul your out of the party, and if you freeze to death, well, there’s a risk in everything." There's something raw and honest about Dahyun's words as the two of them continue to walk in a steady pace - although Junhwe wishes he could just yell at the girl to hurry the up, something tells him that's not the best move to pull - and Junhwe sighs, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"If I didn't care about her, I wouldn't have walked through the cold, trying to find directions to your house just to see her."

"...Fair point."

Silence follows after the short conversation and soon after, Dahyun stops in her tracks when the both of them arrive in front of a wooden door.

"There's the room I saw him leading her to. Good luck." She gives him a small look of encouragement before striding away somewhere else, leaving Junhwe alone with whatever possibility might be behind the door.

A plethora of thoughts and possibilities rush through his head - what if it isn't Nayeon behind the door after all? or even worse (and he thinks this with disgust, envy, and also a pang of sadness) what if Nayeon's actually having with the guy who Dahyun had seen with her? - and a trickle of sweat begins to form on the back of his neck, despite the cold air that surrounds him. Rubbing his clammy palms against his jeans, Junhwe gulps in the remaining anxiety and, heart pounding obnoxiously in his chest, opens the door.

The sight that greets him causes the words he'd planned to say die in his throat.

"N-Nayeon?"

/ / /

Staring at the crumpled man on the ground, Nayeon's breath quickens in panic as her hands grip on the table behind her tightly, knuckles turning white from her tight grip. Her eyes dart around the room, searching for the door, but before she's able to move her sluggish feeling limbs and bolt the hell out of there, the knob turns and dread settles on the pit of her stomach. With sharp and quick intakes of breath, Nayeon scampers behind the table and crouches down, trying to hide from plain sight. Realizing her breathing being too loud, she quickly brings up a hand to cover , fingers twitching from anxiety.

"N-Nayeon?"

A voice that sounds so much like Junhwe - sassy, but all too loyal Junhwe - slips in the room, and hesitantly, Nayeon peeks from behind the table to the door, fear not resolved just yet. When she sees it's just Junhwe, standing there gaping like a fool and eyes darting around in panic, relief sags her shoulders and her breathing slowly returns to normal as she stands up from her spot, body swaying from the nausea. Upon setting his eyes on Nayeon, Junhwe takes a look at the fallen man and another look at the shaken Nayeon, brows knitting in confusion but he rushes towards her anyways, the worry obvious in his eyes.

"Junhwe," Nayeon whispers, hating how her voice sounds fragile and cracked, as if it could break at any moment. Before she's able to say anything else, Junhwe's warmth envelopes her as he buries her head into her chest, arms wrapping around her tightly in a hug. Stifling a sob, she leans completely into his embrace, shoulders shaking as she feels her tears of relief blur her vision, her hands curled at his shirt.

"Did he hurt you?" asks Junhwe in a wary tone, a hand instinctively carressing Nayeon's