“Kyungsoo, we need to go now.”

Kyungsoo heard the booming tone of her suddenly quivering voice. It was outstanding how large her voice was, but at the same time oozing some kind of weakness from her, from Mina. Her eyes were wide and locked so obnoxiously close to her phone screen— her face turning into a dark shade of blue, as if she was getting sick and she was fighting off the vomit quickly gathering in . Kyungsoo just stared, awkwardly and in simple stupefaction at such a severe reaction from her. He opened and closed his mouth, every kind of thought and ‘what to say’ spluttering and whirling around his head. In the end, he managed to ask a question which, once again, came out of his lips sounding like a statement.

“What happened.”

He winced, realizing that his attitude did not help in such a situation. Mina was scared and she looked close to breakdown. She continued to press on her phone’s keypad repetitively and in a drunken haze, which was strange because she wasn’t close to drunk. She didn’t even smell like alcohol and Kyungsoo knew she was just terrified. Of what, he didn’t know— she didn’t look like she was willing (or ready) to share. Nonetheless, she tried. 

“I’m... I... I don’t know... but we need to go, right now.” She started to walk, a sudden strength going through her previously shaky legs and urging her to walk. Her mind told her that she came with her own car, that she ought to find it and drive in it, but her legs were heading toward Kyungsoo’s car unconsciously, not obeying the thought her head threw at her. A part of her knew she was in no right mental state to drive a car, not when she wad drizzled from head to toe with fear; the aching type of fear. The fear which made your head turn into a pile of mush, your legs nothing better. 

She vaguely heard Kyungsoo’s feet rushing behind her, but she didn’t stop. She was forcefully pulled to a pause, however, when Kyungsoo went ahead and reached for her elbow, twirling her around to face him. His annoyed facial features about being semi-ignored softened when he saw her wide, vulnerability-driven eyes. He then, as if it was an afterthought, looked down at the state her body was in, and what he realized made him pause.

“Mina, you’re shaking.” He said, voice soft and mellow, almost completely un-Kyungsoo-like. Mina looked at her own arm which he held, her eyes falling to the tips of her fingers, her toes and her calves. He was right; she was undeniably shaking, and it wasn’t the normal shake she usually faced when going through a day without breakfast or lunch. It was the type of shaking which rendered her absolutely hopeless, a shudder of exhaustion sparkling in her spine too. 

Although, she didn’t care about that, because nothing about her body and the changes that was occurring in it was as important as the dad she just received a text about. Absolutely nothing in this world would make her hesitate about rushing for him. She gave Kyungsoo a look, twisted the arm in his hold inward, and then snapped it away from his hold in a single jerk. Kyungsoo yelped at the fast gesture, letting her go just as quickly.

“Kyungsoo, we need to go now! Did you bring your car?”

“I—I did.” Kyungsoo answered nervously, her shaking body gestures transferring over to his own body as he began to shake as well. 

“Good, lets go.” She was the one aiming for his arm this time, and she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, guiding him toward his supposed car. She was going to yank him out of the parking lot and search maniacally for the car with her eyes, but Kyungsoo tugged her toward the left side, the white car of his flashing as it reflected the harsh beam of the sun. 

He unlocked the car and she quickly went to the passenger’s seat, leaving Kyungsoo gaping at her like an absolute idiot. He shook his head out of his surprise and entered the car as well, the driver’s seat. He turned the car on quickly because she looked like she’d collapse over the seat and turn it on for him if he didn’t do it himself. He waited to exit the parking lot of the university’s building to give her a look, pursing his heart-shaped lips into a a thin line, disclosing his true feelings: he had enough, now he wanted answers. 

“Can you at least tell me where the heck we’re heading to?” He asked her in a semi-harsh voice, unable to control his natural tone at her being so vulnerable. Mina nodded her head, swallowed thickly, and intertwined her shaken fingers together in hope to retrain their movements. 

“**** hospital, it’s right across the corner, right?” She gave him a hopeful look, her big eyes small and worried, a pinch of massive hope in them, wishing he’d agree. However, she drove a car herself, and she knew the location of the hospital was anywhere but close. Still, she hoped like a silly little girl that it’d magically be close, or they’ll be any other cause to make the road stretch less. 

“Are you ing with me?” Kyungsoo blinked his eyes at the monstrosity that came out of her mind, not hypersensitive to her condition. “That is at least two hours away?”

She winced, flashing him her bright, wide and scared eyes, knowing that secretly Kyungsoo couldn’t resist them. She didn’t know how she was able to conspire some ideas in the state she was in.

“Please Kyungsoo, I need to go there, like right now.” She fake-whimpered, and she wasn’t sure if it was really fake or real. 

“Why?” Kyungsoo asked the question which was yet unanswered, bushy eyebrows lifted in question. She grumbled, but answered anyway. 

“Because my father’s in there. The  sent me a text message saying so.”

The two of them knew who ‘the ’ was, so Kyungsoo didn’t bother asking. He twisted his head away from her eyes to the road, his jaws clinching in sudden infused anger and fury at hearing her words, his fingers wrapping around the steering wheel of the car. He was afraid of this surge of anger in him, this... upset-ness which overtook him. He wasn’t afraid because he knew where it was coming from: caring for a friend to the point what upset them upset him, but he was still afraid of it, knowing himself and knowing how harshly he reacted to it. He was worried he’d punch a hole in the wall because of it. Trying to reel it in, he took deep, soothing, and calculated breaths inside and out, Mina watching him silently. 

Then, with gritted teeth because taking deep breaths only reduces a small fraction of that anger, Kyungsoo mumbled. “What if she was lying? You know she’d do such a thing to lure you in.”

He meant her mother, ‘the ’, and she knew that.

“I know, but at the moment, I don’t care,” Mina sighed, driving one of her hands through her hair. “I just wanna see my father and make sure the hasn’t done a whole number on him.”

“You think she was the one responsible for putting him in the hospital?”

The two of them knew that she was the one who had caused such mistreatment to her dad, and it was that same reason why she was reduced to anger. Kyungsoo didn’t need to hear what she did to know exactly what, knowing that hearing the word ‘’ would tell him exactly of what happened. However, he still asked in hopes she’d tell him she believed otherwise.

“I know she was the one who put him in the hospital— she does that kind of thing.”

Kyungsoo stayed silent, not knowing what else to say, especially since she was drizzling with anger at what the hell was happening. Kyungsoo knew what kind of a past she had. She wasn’t proud of it, and she didn’t mention it a lot because of that. She believed she should have done something about it, the abuse and the hate and the mistreatment, especially in the latest year when Mina grew up a little. Secretly, the boys knew she was blaming herself for being helpless back then, even when eventually she managed to kick herself out. It was that about her, that him and the boys knew they couldn’t rid her of. 

“I hope she’s not there when I arrive.” Mina continued to say, blabbering really, in the hopes her speech would stop her heartbeats from increasing even more in her chest, reacting negatively to that cursed message which she was sent from that crazy mother of hers. Kyungsoo, knowing this, indulged her in her little game. 

“There’s a high chance that she will be.” He said statistically, eyes on the road. He didn’t smile or smirk. 

“I ing hate her.” Mina blabbered more, eyes now growing steel-like as she stared at the road ahead. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, but finally his plump lips were curling. 

“I know.”

“I want to smother her and suffocate her while she sleeps,” Mina growled. “I wish I did that when I still lived with them. Dad probably wouldn’t be around to witness more of her abuse anymore.”

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t mean that because then you’d be in jail,” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes again, this time without any smile on his face. “Not in university finishing your degree.”

“Let me rant, you .” Mina grumbled, and hearing her curse word he knew that for now, she was back to being the usual snarky Mina he grew up beside, and not this fearful version of her. 

Kyungsoo choose to stop tormenting her by keeping his mouth shut, but still, his lips were curling despite himself into an amused smile, so he bit on his lower one to stop the curl from spreading across on his face. Mina, noticing this, didn’t comment on it or about it. She kept her eyes solely focused on the passing street lamps with attention divided between her dad, her abusive mother, and the boy beside her. A part of her was glad she was with Kyungsoo even if he wasn’t in good terms with her. It seemed that all of their fights were thrown behind their backs now that they were in a more serious situation than their fights, which she didn’t even know what was all about to be honest. She was sure Kyungsoo felt the same, too, because seconds late, her offered her his large hand, and she stared at his fingers close to her body while blinking.

“Here, take my hand.” 

He must’ve noticed her still shaking, even though she was slowly getting back to the usual track of hers. Feeling oddly comforted, Mina didn’t deny him this nice gesture of his, and went ahead to lock her hand with his. Noticing his skin touching hers, Kyungsoo pulled his eyes from the road to stare down at their hands. In a spur of the moment, he intertwined their fingers together.

He missed her. He suddenly realized. 

He was thinking about that the entirety of the ride— how he missed her, where he didn’t even notice their car reaching wherever they intended to go, two hours later. Kyungsoo couldn’t believe himself, had he been thinking about her for two hours straight? Is this what their long fight had pulled from him? She was like a drug, his friend, she was always absent from his mind the last weeks he had been ignoring her due to his own stupid reasons, but now while she was around, it was instant how hard his head was back to thinking about her, for a long time too. 

She exited the door quickly, her pace fast; she didn’t even wait for him. She unlocked the door, kicked it open, and was out running the next second. Kyungsoo came out of the car himself with a surprised yelp, taken aback yet again by her rash actions. He stood in front of his open door w