Sana had never come inside Tzuyu’s room. And she had never thought she would be in her room because of this kind of situation.

Tzuyu closed the door, back facing her. Sana saw the heave in her muscle, knowing she was also struggling.

“This is our main work. You don’t have to...be sorry.”

Slowly, Tzuyu turned, and Sana winced again when she met her eyes. They were full of some kind of emotion, though Sana could not read what emotion it was. Trembling, she raised one hand, and began to her shirt.

It took Sana at least a minute on the first three buttons. Tzuyu was gazing at her and that did not help at all. When the fourth button untied, before her chest fully exposed, Tzuyu strode forward and grabbed her hand.

Sana flinched, not just because of her sudden move. But also because of the warmth from her skin.

“I drew some new characters yesterday.” Tzuyu murmured, buttoning up Sana’s shirt. “The editor was surprised because I usually don’t draw cute things. But they came out well.”

Tzuyu fixed Sana’s collar. “You wanna see them? Maybe you will draw a better one.”

Sana had been gulping down tears since Tzuyu talked. “You...You are not helping me. Now I have to suffer that m-man...”

“I’ll call your madam later.” Tzuyu’s voice was low, and promising. “You will be with me the day after tomorrow. And every time that man asks for you.”

None of Tzuyu’s words and actions were what Sana had expected. She was once curious about Tzuyu’s purpose, scared of her inwardness. But none of the concerns seemed to be mattered now. Sana could not hold back anymore. She gripped onto Tzuyu’s T-shirt and burst into tears on her chest.

Tzuyu did not know she would react like this either. She thought she was simply doing a right thing that she wanted (had) to do. She hugged the weeping girl, clumsy but soft.

“H-How much are you gonna spend...”

Tzuyu couldn’t help but snicker. She patted Sana’s back, comforting her.

“Don’t worry about it.” 

With that, Sana cried harder.

***

“Damn...DAMN!”

“Shh...” Sana stopped Dahyun with red cheeks. “Why are you yelling?”

“You’re in love. She’s definitely in love, too!”

“What? No!” Sana defended out of instinct, but right after that, “...Am I?”

“Yes! Yes!” Dahyun held her own cheeks. “My, my, this is like a fairy tale! Bumping into love by accident, falling for each other day by day...Sana, I’m so jealous!”

“Hey, hey...you watched too many romantic movies.”

“I never go wrong about love. In my experience, people like you two would have a hard time admitting your true feeling to each other, and when you finally admit it, there’s always a bad guy trying to interfere, either the parents or the ex...”

“Knock knock”, the sound outside Sana’s room door interrupted their conversation. She did not get the time to open the door, a girl barged in and looked at her with anxiety.

“Sana, you’d better find a place to hide. He is here.”

“What?”

“The other guards were out and only one left, he couldn’t stop that guy, he definitely came for you!”

It’s him. The man who was turned down twice, or more. Sana remembered hearing the other girls talking about him being mad at the madam and the girl she sent to replace her. This was not the first time he tried to break in here either.

“You like to play!?”

The loud voice startled all three girls in the room. He was right down the stairs. “Fine! I’m gonna get you and let’s play!”

“Oh , no time to get out.” Dahyun looked around. “Sana, go hide in the wardrobe or under the bed...I will stall him, and Jisoo...you call the madam!”

“The girls are calling already!”

There were a few times that some grumpy clients came and caused troubles, Sana had never thought she would become the center of the storm one day. She could only grab onto the only mind that was in her blank head.

“What are you doing? SANA!! Come back here!!”

Dahyun could not stop her in time. As the man stepped onto their floor, Sana pushed her room door wide open and faced him directly.

“No need to involve the others.” Sana forced herself to look him in the eyes. “We can talk.”

“Oh. Alright.” He smirked. “In private?”

If Sana wasn’t eyeing them to leave, to get help, there was no way Dahyun would leave her with him. Jisoo dragged Dahyun out and the man locked the door without looking at it. Sana’s heart was bumping, she was scared, but she did not regret to face him alone.

He came because of her. He wanted paybacks. So if anybody had to stall him, it should be her, not one of her friends.

“He did well, didn’t he?” 

The man approached slowly. “Must be so good in bed...makes you stunning and vigorous....and dare to blow me off again and again. I wonder how you please him.”

Sana tried to hear something from the other side of the door. Anything. Anything that showed the help was coming.

“You little monster...” He smirked. “You look exactly like your mother.”

“Don’t you dare mention her.”

“Oh? Acting angry now? I still remember how she came close to my father and crawled into his bed...”

“Shut up, Kim Sungwoo.”

“I’ve always loved the way you call my name. Always arouse me.”

Sana felt sick. “So...you haven’t answered me. How was he like? He has had you for so many nights, right? In fact...just the day before yesterday?”

Kim Sungwoo spotted the laundry bag and picked up a shirt on top. He sniffed it with a wry smile at first, then his face changed.

“I saw you that day. I was here to get you, but your guard was faster. You were wearing this shirt.”

It was the shirt that Sana wore the day before yesterday, at Tzuyu’s apartment.

“You don’t use perfume.”

“Put it back...”

“Men...don’t use this kind of perfume.”

He grabbed over Sana’s coat from the chair and sniffed again. “Either your habit changed, or...you were not with a man.”

The expression Sana was trying to hide had already sold her out.

“A woman. You were with a woman!?”

Hurry up, Dahyun. Sana’s head was a whole blank. She was sure she could not get out of this room safely if no one came to help.

“You and your madam blew me off because of...a woman?”

He laughed, hoarse and mocking. “Are you kidding me? ARE YOU ING KIDDING ME?”

Sana was wrong thinking that staying put would reduce the chance of provoking him. Before she could react, Kim Sungwoo was already 2 inches in front of her, clenched her arms and threw her to the bed.

“How was she like?”

He putted a knee on Sana’s chest and pinned her wrists beside her head, trapped her completely.

“She pinned you to the bed like this? She touched you everywhere?” His hot and disgusting breaths puffed on her face. “You think she did better than I did!?”

“Get…off me…” Sana tried to fight and the next second, he sat upright and slapped her harshly across the face. He scoffed when hearing her low whimper.

“She liked playing hard on you?” He slapped her again. “ you till you screamed your lung out? I can do both right here, right now!!”

Half prostrating on the bed, her vision was spinning and her cheek was burning, but Sana heard the tearing of her clothes. She was pushed to lie on her back again.

“No woman had humiliated me like this…No one but you.” His nails jabbed in her skin. “NO ONE BUT YOU!”

The cold air hit Sana’s abdomen, she flinched, her T-shirt was torn apart from the bottom. Kim Sungwoo’s hands were like hooks, digging in her jeans waistband and pulling it. Sana tried to curl up and hit him. Her strength could do nothing but got herself another slap that nearly made her lose conscious.

“Bang”, Kim Sungwoo turned to the broken door abruptly, and the next thing Sana saw was he disappeared in her vision. Dahyun rushed over and held her, almost fell face down on the bed.

“Sana…oh my god, Sana…are you ok?”

Sana got up sluggishly with Dahyun and Jisoo’s help. Her ears were buzzing, something warm and wet soaked her lips. She saw Kim Sungwoo, being pressed on the floor by three guards, coughing roughly and hands twisted to his back. He was still glaring at her.

“This is not over…” He spitted, “I know where you are. I know where she is. I’ll find you both and…”

A guard stepped on his back, made him groan and cough again.

“Say this to the big guys in the police station, you motherer.”

Kim Sungwoo’s expression changed. The guards sealed his mouth with tape and dragged him up. He kept struggling in vain as they pulled him out.

“I shouldn’t have left you alone…” Dahyun was about to cry. “I’m so sorry…”

Sana just gripped her hands. Suddenly, she thought of his words. The pain she was enduring became no longer important. Her heartbeats rose again and she felt more panic than earlier.

“I…I have to go.”
“Huh? Where are you going?”

“She doesn’t…I need to…”

Ignoring Dahyun’s worries and questions, Sana grabbed her coat and threw it on. Her head spun a little, she ignored it too.

“W-Wait…”

Before Dahyun could even say a complete sentence, Sana already rushed down the stairs and even out of the main door.

“She might be hurting now, but I guess she’s ok.” Jisoo patted her shoulder. “Let her be.”

“Where is she going?”

“Oh, Dahyun. You silly.”

***

This year was the 5th year since she started living in this apartment, but Tzuyu never thanked much about it having elevator. The door opened and she walked out, hand pressing on her left abdomen. She fished out her key, but seemed like everything was against her today, the key dropped and caused a few metallic sounds in the hallway. She hissed, bent down with her teeth clenched.

“Tzuyu?”

The tall girl looked up surprisingly. She recognized that voice even before looking up.

“…Sana?”

Sana ran over. “You’re hurt? Did he do this? He came to you already?”

“Who…” Tzuyu’s eyes widened as she saw Sana’s face. “You are hurt! Who did this? This is definitely not a fall…”

“I’m fine, let me look at your wound…”

“You’re bruised! And you lips…t-they’re b-bleeding! How could you care someone else first…”

“I’m fine! You can’t even walk properly!”

“How could you say you are fine with this terrible…”