After taking a deep breath I slid the door to Sungjong’s homeroom open, I don’t think he heard me coming because he didn’t turn to look. I carefully crept over to him before I childishly put my hands in front of his eyes. “Hyung, I’m not in the mood.” He stated flatly and I sadly withdrew my hands before crouching down and placing my chin against his desk. I gave him a smile as he looked at me, surprise shone in his eyes.

“Why are you here all alone?” I asked him and his gaze left mine as he stared down on the desk. He didn’t need to say something because I already knew the answer. Gently I let my hand slip into his as I asked him if he wanted to do something fun. Curiously he changed his attention to me as he wondered what I meant.

“The game arcade down the street.” I tugged on his hand, wanting him to get up on his feet’s so we could go. Apparently I weren’t the only one who needed to be cheered up. “But I don’t have any money.” He stated low but I brushed it away as I told him that I had more than enough. It wasn’t a complete lie, but not either the whole truth.

It took a while to get Sungjong to co-operate, he’d told me to not waste any money on him. But I wouldn’t listen to him. Why was he worrying so much? We headed down the street, our hands attached to one another. This would be the first time in a really long time that I would go to a arcade, I don’t even think I can remember the last time I were at one of those places.

Once the two of entered we were greeted by voices, laughs and occasional screams from all the people present. I gave Sungjong a reassuring smile before we headed down the line of machines. “Is there something in particular you want to play?” I wondered as I started out on all the different kinds of games, “Dance Dance Revolution.” I let out a laugh after he told me, of course. He was a dancer so why wouldn’t he want to play that game.

After putting some money we jumped up on the small ‘dance floors’ before the music started. It took me some minutes to get a catch on how to do it, Sungjong on the other hand pawned me completely. He was dancing with such ease that it made me jealous, and then again I were out every other day dancing. I noticed that a few people had surrounded the machine as they watched the two of us dance. Or more, I think they were watching Sungjong dance.

When the music stopped a while later, the two of us were panting hard and my throat felt like a desert. Something to drink wouldn’t be all too wrong right now. I looked over at Sungjong, he weren’t breathing as hard as I was, but you could see that he hadn’t gone easy on when playing.

“I’ll go get something to drink.” I pointed in the direction of where the vending machines were standing. After receiving thumbs up I headed over and plopped some money inside one of them. It started working immediately and soon enough, a bottle of water landed down in front of me. I brought it up in my hands. Would he be fine with sharing?

I stared at the bottle in my hands as I made my way back to Sungjong, if he didn’t want to share then I could go and get another one. “Sungjo –.” I stopped mid-sentence as I spotted three guys standing in front of Sungjong. The boy looked utterly terrified and an alarm sounded in my head. As I came closer I took notice that they were at least a couple of years older than Sungjong. But why they were bothering him I couldn’t understand. It wasn’t like he’d done something.

With the water bottle tight in my grip I walked over and placed myself on Sungjong’s right side. One of the boys before me raised his eyebrow as he stared at me. “Is something wrong?” I wondered as I stared in-between Sungjong and the guys. But Sungjong avoided my gaze; he was blankly looking straight ahead.

“Little bro, why don’t you introduce me to the girl.” the boy standing closest to the two of us spoke as he pointed at Sungjong. The guy was Sungjong’s older brother. I blinked my eyes as I took in the new information precisely thrown in my face. I looked at Sungjong before changing my gaze to his older brother. Why did it feel as if Sungjong was afraid of him?

“It’s okay, I can introduce myself. I’m Hwang Doram; Sungjong’s girlfriend.” A fit of laughter echoed in my head as I saw the look on Sungjong’s older brother. I don’t think he expected me to be that straight forward and especially not tell him the part about me being Sungjong’s girlfriend. I know, it’s a lie, but he doesn’t know that.

“Why would a pretty girl like you want to be with someone like him?” I looked at Sungjong as I took in his features to the fullest before I turned back to his brother. “You mean, why wouldn’t anyone want to be his girlfriend, he’s more beautiful on the inside and outside than you are.” I bluntly stated and I could see how his face fell. I snickered in my mind as anger flashed in his eyes. Though, I weren’t completely prepared for what happened next. The guy before me harshly grabbed my wrist and then pulled me towards him.

I let out a low yelp as his grasp tightened harder and harder the more I tried to free myself. “Hyung let her go.” Sungjong’s voice was heart wrenching. His always so sweet voice had been replaced by a really scary one. Though, his older brother didn’t budge and I cried when it felt like my wrist was going to snap in half.

“Hyung, I don’t care of you hurt me, as long as you don’t hurt her.” Sungjong spoke and there was a second of total nothingness before I felt him slowly letting go and then pushing me away. I stared down on my wrist. That was going to be one fine bruise. I looked up just in time to see Sungjong’s older brother glare at Sungjong as he let his hand slid along his throat in an horizontally line, as if he was going to kill him later.

Silence filled the air between the two of us as we watched his brother and those two other guys walk away. I closed my eyes in a mixture of annoyance and fear. The guy was actually beating his own little brother. No wonder that he didn’t want to go home. Such a jackass, it made Hoya look like a saint in comperance, almost. Once the guy was out of sight I turned my fully attention to Sungjong. He looked so scared that it made my whole heart ache.

He may be a boy, but he’s more fragile than anyone I know. On the other hand, I didn’t want to pity him either, usually that would only make the person feel worse and that was the last thing I wanted him to do.

Hesitantly I let my hand slid into his before I gently squeezed it. He turned to look at me; I could see how his eyes were watery and couldn’t keep myself from wrapping my arms around him. Normally this was something I never did, comforted someone. But then again, these guys have made me do things I never thought I would’ve done.

We stood like that for a while, my arms tightly around his frame and my head against his chest. He didn’t let those tears of his slip but I knew that he was terrified and scared over what was going to happen. For once, I actually shared the same feelings. “Come on, let’s go.” I pulled away and then picked up my schoolbag from the ground and let the bottle of water slid inside it before slinging it over my shoulder.

“I don’t want to go home.” Sungjong’s voice was low, almost inaudible. I didn’t know if it was because he felt embarrassed over the fact that a girl had stood up against his older brother when he couldn’t do so. “Then sleep at my place.” I was equally as shocked as Sungjong seemed to be over what I’d said. Did I just tell him to sleep in my house? But deep down, it didn’t feel wrong and I found myself nodding my head when he asked if it was okay to sleep over.

Once we were standing outside my house Sungjong let out a chuckle, just like MyungSoo had done. I can’t understand how they think my house and where I live is so funny. Okay I do. “Can you wait here for a while, I have to do one thing, okay?” I told him to wait just outside the door as I slipped inside, it was pretty late. Still I didn’t exactly know which time Soo Ni would come home and her mother, her I never knew where she was. To my luck, the whole house was quiet, meaning that none of them were home.

I opened the outer door and let Sungjong inside, his gaze wandered around on the things present. Come to think of it, he was the first one to ever get permission to step inside this house. “My room is upstairs.” I said as I headed towards the kitchen. A note was lying on the table. It was my step mother’s sloppy writing telling me that she and Soo Ni had left town for the weekend and that they would come home on Monday. Why they had left I had no idea, probably to get away from here. But what about school, it was Friday tomorrow.

I crumpled the paper into a ball before I tossed it into the trashcan. “I’m going to make something to eat so you can watch TV in the meantime.” I half yelled at him so that he would be able to hear as I scanned through the refrigerator in search for something to eat. After getting everything needed for Kimchi fried rice I started preparing it. Not really my favorite dish but definitely eatable.

After stirring everything in the pan I divided it onto two plates before bringing it to the table. “Sungjong, food.” I filled two glasses with water and then brought out two sets of chopsticks before placing it all next to the plates. Soon enough he entered and sat down in front of me. His always so cheerful and carefree self had been replaced by a saddened face.

I knew that he couldn’t stay here forever, but even if it was just to ease his pain for one night then that was more than enough. “Does the other know about you getting beaten by your brother?” I had no clue of I actually had the right to ask that. Somehow I didn’t even believe that I would get an answer back from him. “No, the only thing they know is that I live with my mother and brother.” The grip around my chopsticks hardened as I thought about what had happened earlier today.

“They would help you if you told them, do you guys seriously think I’m that stupid that I can’t see how much you care for each other.” I stated but this time he didn’t reply. Once we were finished I brought the dish to the sink and then told him that he could shower if he wanted to. “I don’t have any clothes.”

Dad must have some clothes that are too small for him. I told Sungjong to wait before I scrambled up the stairs and inside the master bedroom. I didn’t have to look long before finding a complete new set of clothing and a pair of boxers. I could still remember when he bought it, saying that he would wear it once he lost weight. Yeh, two years later the only thing he had done was to gain weight.

I skidded down and handed the clothes over to Sungjong who stared at the expensive clothing’s in his hands. “Don’t worry he’s not going to miss them.” I reassured him before gently pushing him towards the bathroom downstairs. He looked hesitantly to use the clothes but there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

“I’m going to take a shower upstairs, so you don’t have to worry if I’m not down here when you’re finished.” He gave me a small nod in acknowledge and I watched as he entered the bathroom and locked behind himself.

The hot water brushing against my worn out body felt nice, even though it stung slightly when it came in contact with my sore wrist. At least my knees had somewhat healed completely and I truly wanted it to stay like that as well. Especially since tomorrow it was time to introduce Seo Won to the seven of them. I smiled to myself as I thought about how the guys would react.

As I was drying myself I could hear Sungjong call for me. I couldn’t hear what he said more than he was yelling ‘noona’ over and over again. I hurried to dress myself in my sleeping attire before I unlocked and stepped outside. Startled I took a step back when Sungjong suddenly came into my view. “Is there something wrong?” I wondered in haste as I scanned his body for anything that might be wrong. His answer to me was a yawn, he was tired. But where should he sleep? Definitely not in Soo Ni’s room, she would notice it right away, dad’s room? No because then my step mother would notice, I don’t know what was wrong with those two but they could literally sense when someone had been inside their bedrooms. I have no clue how though.

The couch, no that was not pleasant at all, I’ve experienced that far too many times after getting home drunk and passing out on it. Then it was only down to one room and one bed, mine. I stared at him, he wouldn’t do anything right? One more yawn escaped his lips and I shook my head. He wouldn’t do anything; he weren’t like those three other erts.

I grabbed his hand and led him inside my room before closing the door behind. “You’re sleeping here.” I pointed out to him. “Where are you sleeping then?” he asked as he slid down under the cover of my bed, “here.” I saw how his eyes flickered in surprise over what I’d just said. “I’m not going to do anything to you so don’t worry. And therefore I’m hoping that you won’t do anything either, okay.” I stuck my tongue out at him as he blushed.

After taking a deep breath I placed myself next to Sungjong in the bed, my gaze were fixed on the ceiling before I turned around to face Sungjong. His rose red cheeks made me giggle. Our eyes met, his dark orbs piercing into mine and I found myself blushing as well. I leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek before telling him to get some sleep. It was after all school tomorrow.

He shifted around so that his back was facing me, it didn’t take long for me to understand why he’d done that. Low sobs could be heard and I instinctively let an arm wrap itself around his waist as I brought my body closer to his, I buried my head in his neck.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”