“What are you doing here?” Jeno asked Somin who was standing on the bridge. Two single lamp posts lit the bridge but provided little light. The park that surrounded the bridge was empty, giving that it was already night out and raining, no one wanted to be outside. The water underneath the bridge continued to steadily flow, faster than usual thanks to the rain. The light rain from earlier had stopped but she was soaked head to toe, her hair was matted to her face and she slightly shook from the cold. She looked up at the tall male, his eyes inspecting hers, seeing the void in them. Jeno was out for his nightly stroll, wanting a breath of fresh air to clear his mind, something that he always did whenever he just wanted to empty his mind when he saw Somin alone.

“I was waiting for someone,” her voice cracked as tears began to fall from her face. She had gone to the familiar bridge where Felix had found her before when she had a breakdown. She hoped that if she had gone there he would find her again, apologize for what happened, hold her tight and tell her that it wasn’t what she thought it was and mend their relationship, then take her home or at least back to Stray Kids’ apartment. An hour had passed since she waited and she thought that he would be there by then, but he didn’t come, instead, Jeno stood in front of her.

Without saying anything Jeno pulled her into his arms, the warmth radiating from him and she began to sob. Not caring that he was getting snot on his clothes he held her. After a few minutes of just letting her cry, Jeno pulled away from her and took his coat off, draping it over her.

“Let’s go,” he then pulled her arm and led her off of the bridge.

Just as they were leaving a figure had run up to the bridge, seeing the two figures getting off in the opposite direction. Somin’s bleached blonde hair became more distant even as they got closer to the bridge. Felix let out a groan in frustration and kicked the railing of the bridge angry at himself for not coming earlier. He had gotten into an argument with Jiyun once Somin had left the practice room, straightening out that their relationship was nothing, that whatever they had was purely out of lust and spark of the moment, and that he only had feelings for Somin. He went to Somin’s house right after to be greeted by Sohun who said that Somin hadn’t come home yet. He kicked the railing again in frustration that he hadn’t thought of checking the bridge first to find her.

“Put this on,” Jeno held out a helmet for Somin. She looked up at him to take the helmet but as she did another tear slid down her cheek, sighing into the cold night Jeno pulled her into his embrace again, “Stop crying, you’re with me.”

“Yea, I’m with you,” she repeated after him, taking in his warmth.

When Jeno pulled away he slid the helmet over her head for her. Jeno put on his own helmet before getting onto his motorbike and waited for Somin to get on. Softly, he grabbed her hands and wrapped them around his waist. Starting his engine he took her to the one place he knew she would be safe at.

“Jeno,” Chenle opened the door to his loft apartment, his eyes wandered from Jeno to Somin who was blankly staring at the floor.

“Can she stay here?” Jeno asked the younger male.

Chenle nodded his head, opening the door wider for the both of them to come in. Jeno didn’t hesitate to pull Somin into the large apartment.

Chenle closed the door behind them and stepped to the side, “I’ll make you both some tea.”

Jeno held out a hand to stop the male, “I have to leave now, but take care of her for me,” he let go of Somin’s hand and took one last look at her. “Stay here for now okay?” he asked her to which she didn’t respond. Jeno gave her a brief hug before leaving.

“You can take a seat, I’ll get you some clothes,” Chenle gestured for her to sit on his red sofa, but she merely stood there. Chenle rushed over to his room to get her clothes, all he could find that would fit her were a pair of shorts that no longer fit him and a loose t-shirt. “Somin,” he called to which she didn’t answer. He sighed and went over to her, grabbing her arm and leading her over to his bathroom, “Shower first and get dressed, I’ll make us something to eat,” he placed the clothes onto the counter and exited the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

“AHH,” a scream resonated from the bathroom followed by a shatter. Chenle was peacefully asleep when the shrill filled his room, instantly he shot up from the bed and bolted out of his room to the source of the sound. He rushed to the bathroom and struggled to open the door that was locked, “Somin open up,” he called, “Somin?” he shook the doorknob as though it would help open the door. “Somin is everything alright?” he didn’t hear anything but dead silence and panic began to course through his body, “Somin open the door,” he ordered. He continued to shake the doorknob before he remembered the master key he kept in his room. Dashing to his room he fiddled with the keys, his hands shaking to open the door, as soon as the key turned he burst through the door. On the ground, Somin sat, her back against the bathtub, hands covered with blood and a sharp giant piece of the mirror was next to her on the floor.

“What went wrong?” she muttered. In front of the sink, the remains of his shattered mirror littered the floor. Somin gazed up at the boy in front of her as she continued to cry. “Was it something I did or said?” Her thoughts had flooded her head that she reached her breaking point. She thought that although she had problems at home she would be able to lean on Felix no matter what, but it never occurred to her that she depended on him too much.

“Somin,” Chenle softly called out to her as he carefully stepped over the mirror shards, “Somin,” he called out again. Slowly he got down to meet her eyes at eye level, “Will you come with me?” he held out his hands to her. She sniffled and shakily put her blood-stained hands into his. Carefully he led her out of the bathroom making sure that she didn’t step on any of the shards and took her back into the guest room he had prepared for her and sat her down on the bed. He then left to get a bucket of warm water and a towel before coming back in, sitting next to her he gently took one of her hands into his and wiped off the blood. Seeing the giant gash she had made he frowned but didn’t question her and just continued to clean her hands. Once he was done cleaning he went to grab a first aid kit and wrapped her wrist in gauze. Just as he finished Somin fell into his arms catching him off guard. Chenle was startled and didn’t know what to do until he felt her forehead and how hot it was compared to his own hands. Shifting her onto the bed he tucked her in and hurriedly grabbed her a cold compress from his freezer. After making sure that Somin was soundly asleep Chenle closed the door to her room and dialed Jeno’s number, explaining to him what happened and how he would be taking the day off from school to take care of Somin. It was only 6 AM and usually, Chenle would go back to sleep as he wasn’t used to waking up so early, but he was afraid of not being there for Somin when she woke up, so he stayed up just in case.

At school, Jeno’s aura was more menacing than usual, students stepped to the side in the hallways to not be in his way in fear of what would happen to them. Even Haechan was at a loss as to why Jeno was icier than usual. Chan and Minho looked over at Somin’s desk that was vacant, worried about what happened to her, usually Somin never skipped school even if she was sick.

The next few days were the same, Chenle took off school to take care of Somin in his own home, who was slowly recovering from her fever she got from standing in the rain. Even though Chenle wanted to ask her what happened, he knew it wasn’t his place to and suppressed himself from the urge of asking.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, he had brought food to her room along with medicine.

She sat up in the bed and gave him a small smile, “I’m doing better now, thank you,” she spoke. Chenle stood in shock, it was the first words she said to him since she arrived a few days ago. “Um,” he cleared his throat, “Your fever’s nearly gone, you can go back to school tomorrow if you feel like it. You don’t have to, I can let the school know you won’t be coming if you don’t want to.”

She looked up from the food, “I’ll go tomorrow.”

“Oh I washed your uniform for you,” he rushed over to the wardrobe in the room and took out her uniform that was washed, ironed, and hanging. “I’ll put it back in here for now, but it’s ready for you.”

“Thank you,” Somin said.

“Well then, I’ll leave you to eating,” Chenle waved at her and left her room. Outside of her room he silently cursed at himself for being so awkward.

“Thanks again,” Somin waved at Chenle. After having dinner with him she decided that her time staying at his apartment expired and that she would go home. Chenle offered to take her home, or at least walk her to the nearest bus stop, but she declined his offer, saying that she would be fine on her own. When Somin got home she quietly sneaked into her room to see Sohun under her covers. Upon seeing her the boy jumped up from the covers and hugged her.

“I’m sorry for not being home Sohun,” Somin apologized, afraid to imagine what might’ve happened while she was away. “Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?” she pulled away from his hug and carefully inspected him up and down.

Sohun nodded his head, “Are you okay?” he asked.

Somin gave him a small smile and nodded, “Did anything happen while I was gone?”

Sohun shook his head before remembering, “Oh Felix hyung came by to see you but you weren’t home.”

“He did?” Somin’s voice cracked.

The younger boy nodded, noticing how his sister’s voice wavered, “Is everything okay between you two?” he asked as a tear escaped Somin’s eyes.

Quickly Somin wiped the tear away and nodded, “Is Mother alright? Did Father hit her?”

Sohun shook his head. Somin let out a sigh of relief, for once nothing had happened to her mother or Sohun while she was gone. It was why Somin was afraid of going on school trips or staying out overnight without knowing that at least Sohun was somewhere safe, she knew that her father would eventually take his anger out on the younger male and didn’t want him to go through the same experience she had gone through.