III. Wicked.

I swiped the sweat on my forehead with the back of my arm before giving myself sixty more seconds of hits before calling it an afternoon.

1-2-1-2-3-1-1-3-3-2-3.

It was another minute where I was focused. Controlled.

My gloves pounding the 50-pound bag was a welcomed sound, much easier to deal with than the thoughts that had been invading my brain lately the last seven days.

3-3-1-3-3-2-3-3-3.

Nana in the hospital.

Dad on my back about law school.

Baekhyun.

Mom trying to set me up with every dude on the planet.

Baekhyun.

3-3-3-3-3-3-3...

I forced myself to stop. I pulled at the Velcro on my wrist with my teeth until I could slip my left hand out, undoing the other one and tossing both onto the floor to pick up later. While I ran a clean white towel over my face I silently thanked Shane for getting some exercise equipment for the basement in my duplex. There were days when I'd just returned from the inpatient psychiatric hospital where I couldn't bring myself to leave the building. Some days I didn't want to see anyone, some the thought of breathing fresh air physically hurt. And some days like today I didn't need anyone witnessing my workout that bordered on punishment.

Satisfied with the hard burn in my muscles I called it a morning, more than ready to have a soak in the tub and hopefully get something resembling rest. Sleep doesn't come easily to me. It doesn't take a genius to figure out it's because I was assaulted by my ex-boyfriend at night, so if I must be alone I stay up from sunset and sunrise, doing whatever I can get my hands on. Thousand-piece puzzles, anything that requires a glue gun. It's not quite as difficult to fall asleep during the day but I need to really wear myself out to do it. Two-hour workouts after an eight-hour shift usually did the trick.

Locking the soundproof door behind me I barely climbed up the one flight of stairs to my house, I was already cancelling the bath in my head in favor for passing out on my couch when the ajar door to the condo next to mine caught my attention. The place hadn't had an occupant in over a year and Shane said he was thinking about using the place as an Airbnb, so I figured he was there giving it a once over. I stepped inside past the kitchen to the living space that was identical to mine, but I didn't see him. "Yo, my dude! Where are you?"

I heard footsteps coming down the hallway and I turned to greet him. But it wasn't Shane. "...Miss James?"

It wasn't so much that I was surprised it was Baek instead of my friend; it was more so because the guy standing in front of me with a puzzled look on his face wasn't the same guy I'd seen around the bar the last week since he showed up. His hair was down from its usual ponytail, silky gol