“Hyukjae… I love you.”

The words echoed in his head repeatedly. At once he felt himself getting stronger and stronger. He could feel his muscles regaining power and flexing angrily knowing that someone else was touching and molesting Donghae.

Hyukjae stood up at once with a loud roar, shocking the other immensely.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m taking back what’s mine,” he growled. “Nobody messes with my first love and gets away with it.”

With a puff of smoke, Hyukjae disappeared into thin air.

Donghae woke up the next day in his own bed with a massive headache, loosely wrapped in a bathrobe, tucked in properly under his blankets. It took only a second for his memories of the night before to suddenly descend on him and turn him into a sobbing and blubbering mess.

It was real.

He recalled having been nearly in a hotel by someone who looked like Siwon – the scars and hickeys left on his body was a clear indicator of that – and he’d almost gotten strangled to death. Donghae lightly touched his badly bruised neck and whimpered painfully. He felt so violated. Curling up in his bed, Donghae cried harder under the blankets.

“Hyukjae!”

His eyes widened in realization when he recalled hearing a faint voice calling out his name before he passed out in the hotel – and finally recognized the person who had been calling him. Hyukjae had saved him, but he was nowhere in sight. Donghae let out a scream and scrambled out of the bed, tripping over the sheets and taking a tumble but nothing was stopping him from finding Hyukjae.

Donghae started yelling, screaming and crying for Hyukjae, but no amount of hoarse pleading made Hyukjae reappear anywhere. Donghae even tried opening the window and yelling for Hyukjae, but there was absolutely no answer from the person he knew he owed his life to.

“H-Hyukjae…” Donghae sobbed, collapsing onto the bed in regret. He wept steadily for a long time, until his eyes were swollen and painful that he could barely open them anymore.

A soft knock sounded on the door. Donghae sat up and pulled the sheets and bathrobe tighter around his body and answered with a soft sob. The door opened to reveal Yesung’s face, whom Donghae suddenly decided was a really nice person after all.

“Hey, Donghae.”

Donghae sniffed softly and nodded. “Did he save me?” Donghae’s question was not above a whisper, and yet Yesung h