~ Choi Minho.

I watch as my fist comes into contact with someone’s face, and he tumbles sideways into the wall with a grunt, blood pouring from his nose. How dare they...how dare they touch him. I can’t tell what they look like right now because my eyes are too blinded by anger. I hear a lot of yelling and swearing ringing in my ears and two or three men including the one I just punched scramble from the floor and run around the corner quickly, and out of sight. Just as I am about to run after them I hear Jonghyun shout my name and I turn my head to see a punch aimed to my face, but I quickly dodge and land one hard into their stomach. The remaining man swears and doubles over in pain, but then staggers off hurriedly, desperate to get away. Just as I am boiling with anger and about to go after them, planning a possible murder in my head , I am stopped for a second time. But this time I turn to see Jonghyuns arm blocking my way. He looks at me seriously.

I know this expression.

Stop Minho.

Stop.

“Minho. I’ll deal with this,” he says sternly. His expression changes to concerned as he looks at me, I breathe deeply and calm down, controlling my anger pretty well. His gaze turns to somewhere by the wall.“Besides...there is something more important right now.”

I follow his gaze to the wall and down...and there’s Taemin. Sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and his face hidden by his knees, shaking violently. Kibum is crouched down beside him, whispering gentle things, attempting to calm his friend. But as soon as he reaches out to comfort him Taemin flinches away and breaks down crying. Taemin...

No. Please no. If they’ve...

I walk slowly towards him as he sobs quietly into his arms. As I get nearer Kibum looks up, his eyes watering, and he rises and walks straight past me and quickly around the corner, breathing deeply. I guess he’s started crying too.

I slide down the wall and land at Taemin’s side, not too near but not too far away. I don’t say anything, I just spread my legs out in front of me as I listen to his quiet cries, and eventually they tone down a considerable amount. And then he’s just breathing heavily. I wait a few moments. But I can’t take it anymore. So I shuffle to face him and slide my left hand across his back slowly, and my right hand  rests on his knees, his hair tickling my hand.

He tenses and moves his head to look up at me. His bloodshot eyes and tearstained cheeks imprint on my mind, and I make a promise to myself to never make him like this. He looks up at me, straight into my eyes, and he moves his hands to my shirt gingerly. I expect him to push against me, and run away. But instead he clings onto my shirt and pulls himself into the hug, I wrap my arms around him protectively. All thoughts of once murdering and fighting those men erased completely from my mind, and all I can think about is you, Taemin. Please be alright. I met you yesterday, and I already can’t bear if anything happens to you. Is this love?

I notice that he’s stopped crying completely, and his eyes are closed calmly as he leans his head against my chest. He’s not asleep though, as he opens his eyes slowly when we hear the muffled sound of a bell from behind us, signalling the end of lunch...

I’m not leaving.

~ Lee Taemin.

I sigh into the hug. My thoughts and fears swimming around in my head at a million miles an hour. I just...don’t want to think. I can’t...the school bell rings. I’m guessing that means the end of lunch...which means...Minho has to go. He can’t skip his lessons, then he’ll get bad grades and get scolded and...I’m such a burden.

Why did this happen to me?

Their faces and voices lurk back into my mind. What should I do? What if they are around the corner? What if they recognise me now? What if they see me again someday and decide to finish what they started? What if there are more of them? What if...what if he isn’t around to save me from them.

Them.

I feel violated.

I feel disgusting.

I stir in his arms and avoid his eyes as I pull away and stand up. He stands up with me though, refusing to let go of my arms and he steadies me when my legs begin to shake.

“Did they...did they do anything to you?” he whispers, but I can hear something else in the tone of his voice.

I look down, then look at the wall where I had been shoved at only minutes before.

“They just t-touched...they just....they...no...I’m still a-” My voice broke and I felt the heat rise up my face as tears threatened to take over once again. But I held them back. Be strong Taemin. So he will think that you are alright...and he can go to class and get on with his life...I breathed heavily then looked up to see his dark orbs staring sadly at me. My breath actually hitched, but I regained composure almost instantly.

“You n-need to go back to c-class.” Damn. I didn’t mean to stutter that...it must be the shock...the shock of...those...

“No.” He immediately replies. His deep voice feels like it's rumbling up from the ground.

“You-”

“No.” He repeats almost angrily. And he lets go and I immediately feel lost and afraid and...but then takes my left hand and holds it firmly. I know I’m not going to win this. “Okay...” I squeak at the floor, and I let my hair fall down over my face.

“You’re homeschooled right?” he asks as he leads me out the alleyway, I notice him walking a little faster than usual. As soon as we step out and onto the pavement it feels like a huge heavy weight has lifted and I feel suddenly very dizzy. “I’ll walk you home.” He tells me. We stand silently for a few moments, hand in hand, until I speak.

“Honeybourne Manor.” I tell him quietly, and he quickly shakes off the shock that sparked for a second in his eyes. Since it’s one of the three gigantic expensive manors in the area...he probably thinks I’m a rich spoilt brat and- Oh my god what if we see those men on the way and-

“I know where that is! I’ve always wanted to go there,” he smiles softly and squeezes my hand. My thoughts zoom out of my head and my heart beats slightly faster. But not like it did...when they...no.

Now, this is a nice feeling. I smile at him.

Thank you Minho. I feel safe with you.

You really did save me, didn’t you?

~ Kim Jonghyun.

“Hello?...yes, hi. I’d...I’d like to report an attempted ...yes, my friend. Four of them...just now, late twenties I guess, wearing black hoods. They can’t have gone far. Yeah...yeah okay we’re looking after him. Oh...I don’t know much...he works at the Ballroom Café on...yeah, that street...yup...you will? Ok, thank you...We will, thank you.”

–beep-

As much as I want to, I’m not going to go after them. Unlike Minho, I’m not that reckless to take down four on my own...and surprisingly I’m not that much of a fighter, despite my strong appearance. In fact I’m not really a fighter at all. I stand in the middle of the alley, next to the opening. I can’t hear the others – as I’m around the corner, and the wind has picked up a bit. I just stare at the ground...zoning out...Who knew that that something like this would happen around here? This is known to be quite a quiet area, dignified and all that. Why were those thugs out here? And in the middle of the day, at that? So many questions...I sigh loudly. I hope that Taemin boy is alright...because Minho likes him doesn’t he? Well...obviously. I’ve never seen Minho completely flip out like that. That was kind of terrifying, even if he is my best friend.

THUD

“O-oh I’m sorry!...I-I-I’m sorry!” someone stutters as I regain my balance from the slight stumble.

I turn to look at the figure that had just sprinted around the corner and ran into me. And I‘m faced with familiar dark brown almond eyes. Except pouring with tears. Wait a minute. Kibum?

Oh god no. He’s crying.

“Ah y-you’re-”  I blink at him, stunned, and at a loss of what to do. I wanted to hold him so bad but there’s something I keep forgetting. We only met yesterday.

“Jonghyun?” he says nervously, as if to make sure it’s me.  He probably can’t see me very well...

“..Yeah,” I say and I use my fingers to gingerly wipe away some of the tears on his cheek. But they are only replaced by more...please...stop crying...

He suddenly throws himself into my arms. It’s a bit awkward since he is a tiny bit taller than me, but only a bit. I hug him back and the back of his neck soothingly and eventually his tight grip on the front of my blazer relaxes. I can’t actually believe how close we are right now...but after a few minutes he breathes shakily and lets go.

“I’m...sorry about that...I just can’t believe something like that would happen to him...” Kibum rubs his forehead with his fingers, then looks at me, the pain in his eyes says it all.

“Yeah...It’s really suspicious. I mean, it’s broad daylight as well.” I begin to walk back around the corner to the main bit of the alley, Kibum follows me slowly.

“Now you mention it-YAH! Where is he? Where’s my baby?!” his voice raises and become panicky and I instinctively turn around to face him and grab his shoulders so we are face to face. He seems a bit shocked by my actions. I guess that by ‘baby’ he means Taemin, so I just tell him what I am definitely sure of.

“Breathe. He’s with Minho.” I don’t even question it myself. He was with Minho when I left. He will be with Minho now.

“M-Minho? But-”

“Trust me. He will protect Taemin with his life.”

He stays silent as he looks at me up and down. Probably deciding whether he should trust me or not. Oh god...his eyes...no. I push back my hormones, I don’t need this now. I let go of his shoulders and shove my hands into my blazer pockets.

“So he’ll be ok with Minho?” he asks, sounding a bit brighter and more cheerful.

“Yes.” I tell him.

“Hm,” Kibum hums as he nods his head and walks around me, and I automatically turn to follow him. Kibum stops and looks over his shoulder at me, and he smirks. “So will you protect me?”

“I’ll...try.”

“You’ll try?” he raises his eyebrow.

“I’m not much of a fighter.” I admit as I catch up to him and walk alongside him out the alleyway.

“What!? You look like one.” He stares at me incredulously then grins.

I glare at him as he attempts to hold back his giggles, he turns away from me as he presses the button for the pedestrian crossing.

“That’s ok, fighters aren’t my type anyway.” He whispers to himself. I mean...I think that’s what he said. Did he really say that?

My brain chooses the best moments to zone out I’m telling you.

“Repeat that?”

“What?” He blinks at me, as if he’d just zoned out as well.

“What did you say before? I didn’t quite get that.” I reply. Though by now I’m pretty sure I heard him correctly the first time.

“Nevermind it,” he blushes as we cross the road when the green man lights up.

This time it’s my turn to grin at him as he blushes, looks away and buries his chin into the scarf he’s wearing. Did I mention that he’s still wearing my scarf? He’s wearing my scarf...

After a while he looks at me again nervously and squeaks at me,“What? Stop grinning like that!”

I think I’m beginning to understand now.

~ Kim Kibum.

Stupid .

Stop staring at me.

Damn it Kibum! Why are you blushing so obviously?!

We walk for a few seconds in silence. It’s sort of awkward, but that may just be me, until he finally speaks again.

“So where are we going?” he queries as he pushes his hands into his trouser pockets. I think for a moment before answering. I don’t really want to go back to school...so where to? Oh, of course. “The café.”

“The café?” he says, looking kind of confused. I guess he doesn’t realise how much I actually go to the café, from an outsiders point of view I can see that it may be extremely weird for a employee to always want to be at work even out of working hours.

“Yeah,” I confirm. I don’t care if it’s odd. It’s better than my dreary flat that would just shoot my mood right down. I look over at Jonghyun and notice that he looks fidgety and sceptical, so I just adjust the scarf around my neck and wait for him to speak again.

“The...owner won’t mind?” he worries topping off the sentence with a nervous laugh, probably at himself...so cute...It makes me chuckle. I clear my throat awkwardly.

“No, Onew won’t mind,” I shake my head and smile gently at him. And he beams back. I feel a familiar fuzzy feeling- NO. GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF KIBUM. Think of all those guys at school that you’ve rejected because you don’t want ‘another fling’...but dear god this guy right here...

Bzz~

I take my phone out of my pocket, totally forgetting that it was on vibrate, and I flip it open. I have a text from...oh god.

From: Dr. Hwang

Hello Kibum, just dropped the most recent off at the café.

Good news this time. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.

Good news.

Good news. He said good news. Could this mean...could it be that-?! No! Kibum don’t get your hopes up...there’s probably only a small improvement...He could just be...oh I can’t believe this. I need to get to that café. I NEED TO.

“Kibum...are you okay? You look really panicked.” A voice breaks my thoughts and I remember that I was walking with Jonghyun. He stops and looks at me, worried. He probably thinks I’m still shaken up about Taemin being attacked, well I am, but I know that he’s safe now so I don’t feel as sick. Those sick bastards...

And now this.

“I-I’m fine. I just...it’s cold, let’s just get to the café quickly.” And I quicken  my pace, and so does he. He still looks a bit worried for me, but I’m fine.

...

I’m fine.

~*~*~*~*~

A/N FINALLY THIS CHAPTER IS DONE

I'm truely sorry for you guys having to wait so long for this. I've got SUCH a writers block at the moment I'm not even kidding.

It's not even funny anymore. Not that it was funny to begin with.

~*~*~*~*~