You were on your way home very late one night after spending a couple of hours overtime in work to finish a project when the rain fell, and you had to wait an hour at the bus stop after getting off for the shower to slow down to a trickle. In your hurry to make your way home you had left your umbrella in the office and your phone died without you noticing, and so you couldn't contact anyone to pick you up. Consequently to that, Minghao was going to worry.

Needless to say, you've had better days.

When the rain finally eased up a little you were able to briskly walk home, and upon entering your apartment, you saw a familiar pair of shoes at your doorstep. By the looks of it, he was in a hurry to get inside and you could hear pacing across the floor. Your hair was damp from the rain and a blister had popped on your heel as you carefully inched off your damned shoes when you heard foosteps making their way toward you. As you turned, you saw Minghao peering at you, his face looking like that stormy sky that had haunted Seoul all day.

"Where have you been?"

"Sorry, I was--"

"Why didn't you call me?"

"My phone ran out of battery--"

"And don't you have an umbrella? You're soaked."

You breathed in noisily through your nose. "I left it in the office," you said as calmly as possible. All you wanted at that moment was to take a hot shower and jump in the comfortable confines of your bed. But apparently Minghao wasn't done with his interrogation.

"What did you do? Why are you late?"

"I had so much workload and the rain won't stop and can you just let me go! I just want to shower and sleep, damn it! I'm so freaking tired!"

As you brushed past him, Minghae reached out and grabbed your forearm in a firm grip. "I told you not to do that. Don't you dare walk away from me!"

You turned and looked at his face, and was afraid of what you saw. His eyes were burning and his fingernails were digging into your skin. You knew he used to often have explosive bouts of anger, but it's been so long since the last incident and he has gone through therapy religiously. He was really doing well in keeping his temper in control.

You wriggled under his grip and tried to claw his hand off, but he has always been so much stronger than you--a trait you once found absolutely romantic. But over time, unconsciously, it was the trait that made you afraid of him. He suddenly pulled you to him harshly and glared so hard that he would've burned a hole between your eyes.

"You don't answer me properly these days," he said in a low, threatening voice. "Why is that?"

"S-stop it..."

The stress of the day, the pain on your heel, the pounding in your head, the fear of him, and his fingernails on your skin all mixed together in one deep, dark swirl inside of you until you broke out in tears. It seemed to shake him off, and his eyes widened when he realized what he was doing. You took the opportunity to pull yourself away form him and run to your room, locking it behind you. You never took a step outside until morning, and neither did he try to knock or coax you out. The house was deathly quiet for the rest of the night, until you finally fell asleep with your pillow soaked through with tears.

You woke up to birds chirping and the sun streaming through your curtains, and you cheeks felt sticky against your pillow. For a moment you felt wonderful, waking up on a weekend, until you remembered what happened the night before. Peering at your arm, you could still see the reddened marks of Minghao's fingers on them, and while they didn't bleed, they stung.

Quietly, you washed up and wore a robe over your sleep clothes, and then slowly inched your bedroom door open. The house was quiet still, and you missed the mornings when Minghao would already have the water boiling and the air would smell of fresh coffee.

Before you could take a step out, you yelped and stepped back, because you almost walked all over Minghao, who was asleep across your doorway. The sound woke him up, and before he really knew what he was doing, he was already kneeling in front of you.

"Did you... Did you sleep here all night?" you said, aghast. "It's so cold! Come here, get up. I'll make you some coffee. Gosh even your skin is cold--"

But as you took him by the arms, he pulled them away from you and put his palms on his folded knees. "No, I... I don't deserve it. Please hear me out."

It looked very inappropriate to be standing while he was kneeling, so you crossed your legs and sat in front of him, prompting him with a look. He kept his head down and his eyes averted as he spoke.

"I'm sorry about last night... I don't know what got into me. I was just so worried about you, but I know that's no excuse for how I behaved. I'm really sorry..."

You bit your lip. He may just be the scariest person when he's mad, but you also knew that he didn't like that about himself either. You've seen how hard he tried to get over the temper, and you've seen how far he'd gone. You knew beyond his anger and you knew his heart, and that's why you always find it in your to forgive.

You reached around his neck and pulled him into a hug. After a moment's hesitation, he hugged you back. "It's okay," you whispered. "I'm okay. We're okay."

When he pulled away, he gently took the arm that had marks on it, and he gingerly ran his fingers over each one. "I'm really sorry... I hurt you again..."

"No harm done, love," you said reassuringly as you put a palm on his cheek. "Let's get through this together."

"You won't leave me? Not after everything I've done to hurt you?"

You shook your head. "It'll take much more than that to scare me away. You know me."

His lips finally cracked into a smile, and he said, "How lucky am I to have met you. I must have saved the world in my past life or something."

"You saved my world."

This time, he laughed. "That was so damn cheesy."

You laughed right back, then stood up, pulling him along with you. To your surprised, he ducked down and placed a quick kiss on your lips. His eyes twinkled--gone was the fire in them, replaced by stars. In a low voice that seemed to wrap you in a warm embrace, he said,

"I love you."