My name is Kim Heechul; only my closest friends call Heenim and (on rare occassions) Chullie. It annoys me to some degree but I've learned to live with it when it comes to people like Jaejong.

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I woke up in a bedroom that was not my own. Now, it wasn't like I had never been in the room before. Believe me, it was one of the places that I was most familiar with. It had been a sort of comfort for me over the past five years that I'd lived here. This was where I would come when all I needed was a bit of peace or inspiration to get over writers' block. 

Jae and I had been friends since we were kids. He's three years younger than me but even so, he was the only person I'd ever confided in. In fact, he was the one that first put a pen in my hands. Yes, I'm a writer. A writer and a reader. That's who I've always been; that's who I always will be. As for family, Jae is all I've ever had. He gave me food and a home when no one else would. He cared for me when caring was all I needed. He would never hurt me... never. He promised me he would never hurt me... 

At least that's what I keep telling -- reminding myself as I walk around the house, trying to ignore/relieve the excruciating pain shooting through the lower half of my body. No. This didn't -- couldn't have happened. 

I got dressed for the day in as normal of clothes as I could stand to wear and slipped out the apartment door before Jae could wake up, taking my laptop with me and leaving him a note explaining that I would be back later that day to fix his dinner as I always have. Walking the block to the local cafe where I did most of my writing is one of the easiest things that I do everyday. When I walked in, I greeted by the familiar face of the baristas, Yesung and Ryeowook. They were two best friends that owned the quaint upstairs hangout and lived not to far from Jae's and my apartment. I smiled as I took my usual seat in the far corner that allowed me to look out of the window and over the streets if I was in need of quick inspiration. 

"Your usual today, Heechul-noona?" Ryeowook asked from his position behind the counter. I nodded.

"Thanks Wookie." My laptop came to life in front of me, my latest document popping up along with the reminders of upcoming deadlines to my publisher and editor. I sorted through all of my emails and other necessary things on the desktop before setting to work on the latest chapter. Ryeowook put my coffee mug by my computer and pat me on the shoulder. I flinched slightly, my mind obviously not on the screen in front of me. Hopefully the gracious barista took my sudden movement as nothing more than he just startled me. Whatever his assumption was, he didn't say anything. 

Focus, Heechul. You've got to get this done today. I thought to myself, shaking off the unpleasant chill that ran down my spine and sipped at the hot black liquid. But no matter how hard I tried to focus on my writing, the memory of the previous twenty-four hours kept jumping to the forefront of my mind. 

I woke up in my room as usual, stretching the kinks out of my joints and muscles and taking in the sunlight peaking out from behind my curtains. I stood up after rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and trying to flatten my currently brown mane of hair and drew the black cloth back to reveal a whole other world below me. I love views over the street. I always have. Watching people as they walk by allows me to think of what their lives must be like and I can incorporate that into my own characters. At that, my thoughts turned to the white Mac I knew was sitting in my study. Well, it wasn't really a study. It was more of an extra large, closed-off window seat Jae allowed me to install in place of the breakfast nook of the apartment. I would be forever indebted to him for that.

I walked out of my room and into the kitchen in search of miracle black liquid. When I walked into the small room, Jaejong was sitting at the table drinking his own cup and reading the newspaper. 

"Good morning." I said, walking over and grabbing my favorite mug from the cabinet and filling it with  liquid caffine. 

"Morning." Jae answered, taking a moment to look up from the article he was reading to look at me. "Have you seen the paper this morning?" he asked. I shook my head, taking a sip of my coffee. He folded back the paper and handed it to me. "Your newest novel is apparently a hit." I put my mug down as quickly as I could without spilling its contents and eagerly snatched the paper away from my flatmate. I skimmed through the page trying to find the reference to my latest book. Finally, I found it in the center of the second collumn. I felt the smile break across my face when I read about how the readers found it enjoyable and a pleasant read that left them in tears. Overall, it had a very good rating. 

"YES!" I shouted, throwing my hands up as if I had just crossed the finish line of a marathon. Jae laughed at my reaction. I smiled even wider and handed him back his paper. He uncrumpled it, speaking as he did so.

"Congratulations! We'll celebrate tonight." He suggested. "Speaking of, Yunho's coming over today."

"Okay. Ryeowook and Yesung are expecting me at the cafe today anyway." I couldn't keep myself from smiling as I finished my coffee and left the kitchen to go get ready for the day.

I spent the rest of the day in the cafe with my two friends. We had our own little celebration over my recent good review and even had a couple of drinks with the cook from the Chinese restaurant next door who Ryeowook and Yesung introduced as Hankyung. He bowed politely when he saw me and I couldn't help but smirk. He reminded me of a puppy. And I'd always been a cat person. We had a few drinks that night and I left a little bit early to go back to the apartment, giving my excuses to my hosts that Jae and Yunho were planning our own celebration. They waved at me as I walked out the door. But before I got far, I felt a hand on my wrist. I turned around to find Hunkyung. He dropped his hand and bowed slightly again befor speaking in his thick Chinese accent and broken Korean that I had to admit was cute. He still reminded me of a puppy dog though.

"It's getting dark and a girl doesn't need to be out here alone. May I walk you home?" he asked. Yep, definitely a puppy. I smirked at my own thoughts. 

"If you want. I'm not forcing you." I told him, flipping my hair behind my ear and walking off, the Chinese canine in tow. When we finally reached my appartment, I looked at my to thank him when he beat me to the punch.

"Well, I hope you see you soon, Heechul-noona." He held a hand out for me to shake. I gratefully took it. "Come see me sometime." Hankyung turned and left me in shock at the sudden burst of confidence. I raised my eyebrows slightly and scoffed as I watched him turn the corner that led back to the cafe and the restaurant.

After recovering from the shock, I buzzed myself into the apartment and climbed the stairs to the all too familiar door, noticing that it was already unlocked. Oh great. Yunho is the only one who ever forgets to lock the door when he leaves. Well, at least I know that it will be only me and Jae tonight. For that, I'm kind of grateful. I'd had enough of being around people for one day at the cafe. A nice one on one would be appreciated and, in fact, encouraged.

I'm about to call out to my best friend when I see him sprawled out on the couch, the stench of alcohol rebounding off of the walls. Well... no celebration tonight. I walk up to him and take the vodka bottle from his limp hand, closing it and storing it in the liquor cabinet once again. Something must have happened with Yunho. I'm still not really sure what their relationship even is at this point. The three of us had grown up together but I had never been as close with Yunho as I was with Jaejong.

I shook this thought off and reached down to the drunkard on th couch.

"Hey, Jae!" I start shaking his shoulder until he stirs just enough so that I can walk him to his bed. This isn't the first time I've walked in and found him passed out. At least he's not UNDER the couch this time. I count my blessings. When he is finally awake enough to at least somewhat register that he needs to move, I help him off of the sofa and start walking/dragging him down the hall. By the time I swing his door open, he is surprisingly steady. Or at least I think so until I feel myself start to buckle under his whole weight. After having to literally drag him to his bed and lay him down to at least take off his alcohol soaked shirt, the atmosphere changes. 

Jae grabbed my wrist as I started to his shirt. I stood a bit befuddled at his actions. It wasn't as if I had never undressed him before. Maybe because he was in one of his drunken fits, he had suddenly become shy. Oh how I wish this had been the case. When I tried to pull my hand away from his tightening grip, he only pulled me closer. I could literally feel the burn of the alcohol coming off of his breath as he spoke.

"Heenim." was all he said. That's all he needed to say for me to hit the panic button. I tried to remain my cool, calm, and collected self and pull back to talk some sense into him but I officially lost it when I felt his lips against my neck, dry and rough. I shuttered, suddenly frightned. The harder I pulled back, the stronger his grip on me became.

"Jae, stop it. You're drunk." I tried to say. But my words fell on deaf ears. After a few more attempts to try and break free myself, I remember that the walls of the apartment are not as thick as they should have been. One good scream and someone will come running. Or at least that what I'm praying for. Ha. Me. Praying. That's a laugh. But then again, it's the only thing I can think of doing at a time like this. I open my mouth to let out the most blood curdling scream I had ever done only to have it cut off by hot, dry lips crashing into my own, an unwelcome tongue taking advantage of the opening. Before I had a chance to fight back, I was pinned beneath a heavy body, unwanted hands searching over my now bare skin.

All I knew now was that I had to get out somehow. There was no way I was going to be able to face who I thought was my best friend after what had happened. I was snapped out of my reverie with a jolt when the chair in front of me hit the wall. I looked up and tried to hide the flush in my cheeks and cover it with my typical arrogance when a familiar face from the night before stared back at me. Hankyung looked at me puzzled. 

That's when the whole game changed. I had been shocked one too many times.