He manages to catch Joonmyeon when his knees give away at the doorway and his student is trembling so much that Yifan is shaking too. Questions fill his head but he knows he has to stay calm for his student and he reaches for the knife slowly before sliding it away under the shoe rack. He can only wrap himself around the scared student as he doesn't know how to make him tell his story.

"She was... she was hurting her..."

He looks down at his chest whre Joonmyeon's head is resting agianst it and he breathes out, arms wrapping tighter around the trembling body.

"She... I had to... I just... my Sophia..."

The soft sobs slowly turning into muffled cries against Yifan's clothed chest and he knows they can't stay there anymore. He slides an arm under Joonmyeon's knees as the other supports the small back and rises to his feet, heading towards the bathroom.

He places the student on the toilet seat for a moment and quickly turning on the hot water to fill the bathtub before returning back to Joonmyeon. He peels of the hands that are covering the crying face and lifts the bloody T-shirt off the small body, revealing old scars and fresh bruises all over the pale torso. More questions pop up inside his mind and he ignores them, proceeding to the torn jeans, leaving only the boxer before piling it together with the T-shirt. He will think what to do with those later.

He carries Joonmyeon like before to the still filling tub and lowers the student gently into it. He needs to be calmed down if he ever going to tell Yifan anything but the trembling shows his student is far from that. He takes off his own shirt and jeans that too got stained with blood and steps inside the tub. Sitting in it with his boxer on, he pulls Joonmyeon on to his lap, hiding the wet-teared face at the crook of his neck before circling his arms around the shaking body while letting the hot water slowly covering their bodies.

"I'm here."

-----

He doesn't expect to see the house on fire.

Joonmyeon had fallen asleep without the chance of telling him anything and he decided to find out what really happened on his own. He knows it is already too late for him to do anything as there was too much blood on Joonmyeon's T-shirt and the knife if it was just from a small injury.

He didn't know what to expect but seeing people surrounding the house while the fire department tries to put out the fire that is consuming Sophia's house and the one on its left is certainly something that would never crossed his mind.

It is almost two in the morning and he can see among the crowd a few people wearing worn out clothes staring at the fire without an expression. He doesn't want to make any assumptions but he can tell they won't say anything about what had happened if he asked them.

He moves to another side and stays there as he eavesdrops the two women that are whispering to each other. How they have expected somthing like this would happened from how the woman treated her daughter and the arson was done by those men that always came in a black car to meet her.

Yifan starts walking away from the scene as he doesn't know what to think. Maybe there are truth in the residents' words but he can't conclude the definite answer based on that alone. He needs to hear from Joonmyeon's side of the story before he can decide what they should do.

-----

He wakes up to the sight of his student sitting on the floor of the living room, holding Yifan's hand that is dangling off the couch with his head resting against Yifan's knees. He curls his fingers in, trapping three small, cold fingers inside it before being greeted by a swollen pair of eyes and he nods, silently asking Joonmyeon to come closer and he meets their foreheads together, breathing in at the warmer than usual touch.

He carries him back to the bedroom, laying him carefully on the bed and wanting to get a soaked towel to put on the burning forehead but Joonmyeon is pulling his hand and is shaking his head and Yifan obliges. He pulls up the blanket over the student's neck before sitting down on the floor beside the bed, one hand inside the blanket being hold tightly.

It is only seven fifteen in the morning and his own eyelids are heavy but he can't bring himself to sleep, not when Joonmyeon is awake even though he has his eyes closed. He pushes back the bang covering the sweaty forehead and that makes the student turn his head to look at him. He caresses the tear-stained cheek and his heart sinks when Joonmyeon starts sobbing again.

He has always been clueless about this kind of situation but he knows Joonmyeon need him the most right now and he slips inside the blanket, holding the student closer as the bed never meant for two people laying on it before the shaking back up and down as Joonmyeon starts telling his story between sobs.

How he and Sophia parted at a corner when they saw her mother was smoking and pacing outside the house. How he heard Sophia's scream coming from inside the house a few minutes later and barged right in. How he saw Sophia laying on the the floor with blood pooling around her head and pushed the mother away. How he tried to wake Sophia up and the mother ame back and almost stabbed him with a kitchen knife.

He fought her and the knife ended up in his hand. It was pointed toward her to prevent her from coming closer to him and Sophia but she suddenly lurged forward and in panic the knife was pulled out as soon as it was strucked in. Blood dripped off the knife and the mother fell on her knees and on to the floor. His focus alternated between Sophia and the mother and then, a face he had missed.