Chapter 1

I remember seeing you for the first time.

We ran into each other on a busy street corner - I was going one way, you were going another.

It was September 8, 2011, a Thursday. 1:34 pm.

You bowed and apologized, and I did the same.

I remember what you wore.

A cream sweater and a long red scarf, with dark jeans.

It wasn't that cold yet, but you were bundled up like it was the dead of winter.

Your sunglasses almost covered your face, but I could still see the faint outline of a bruise on your cheekbones.

I gave you my business card, told you to find me. Kim Myungsoo, that's my name.

You took it with slender hands - was that a bruise on your wrist or simply my imagination? - and ran off down the street.

Days passed.

I waited on that street corner every day, hoping to see you again.

Immature, I know, but there was just something about you that intrigued me.

Weeks flew by, still no sign from you.

I'd given up waiting on that particular corner.

Now I simply wandered around a 3-block radius of that area for an hour every day.

Friday, October 21, 1:42 pm.

I got a text message from my brother, saying a strange girl had shown up at INFINITE LOVE, the little coffee shop my family owned and operated.

I ran to see you, didn't I? Ran down the block to catch you before you left.

Funny thing, that.

You were still sitting at the back table, remember that?

Your hair was covering your face, and you still had that huge sweater on, the sleeves practically covering your hands.

You were shy, you were.

It took you a while to open up, and you ordered an iced mocha shake.

Sungyeol put a chocolate drizzle smiley face on the whipped cream - and you cried your eyes out when you saw it.

I remember holding you, thinking how small you were, how light. Too light.

Your tears soaked through my apron and into my shirt.

I don't know if you knew, but my brothers were standing around watching us.

Sungjongie was near tears, poor boy. He always had the most tender heart out of all of us.

Sungyeol was stunned, never imagining that his innocuous smiley face could bring about such a reaction.

Your sobs were silent, the tears rolling down without so much as a by-your-leave as your shoulders shook and quivered.

I had the the cafe closed down for the time being... it was "downtime" and no one really came in anyways.

The tears flowing down your pale cheeks took half an hour to stop, and even it took me even longer to coax you into speaking.

I don't remember exactly what I said, but evidently it worked - you eventually told us just what was going on in your life to make you break down like that.

You were Park _______, just turned 20 this year.

You'd just married your high school sweetheart a few months before your birthday, a few months before mine.

He was 24, almost 25.

Everything was fine between you two... you loved each other so much.

Then everything went to hell.

He lost his job, then you lost your scholarship at your unversity.

Both of you were frustrated, both upset.

He got drunk one night and slapped you for getting a poor grade on a test.

Of course, he apologized once he realized what he did.

It was alright for a few weeks.

Then he slapped you again. Twice.

This time for burning dinner.

It got worse from there.

After that, even the smallest mistakes warranted punishment.

I remember you rolling up your sweater sleeve, to show us the lesser damage.

All of us had looks of horror on our faces, I know that much.

Sungjong let out a horrified gasp, and Dongwoo and Woohyun choked on air.

There was barely a patch of normal skin color anywhere.

Your whole arm was bruised up, red and green and purple.

A handprint was wrapped around your tiny wrist.

How could a man with such large hands even think of hurting someone as small as you were?

I remember...

Sungjong was trying so hard not to let his emotions show as plainly as they did, biting back his sniffles, his big eyes glistening with tears.

You... you just wrapped your arms around him, soothing him.

Like I did for you when you were crying.

You told us that marriage vows stated "for better or for worse."

But you were a smart girl. 

You knew that this was abuse.

Still, you didn't want to leave him - his mother loved you like her own daughter.

The news would kill her.

Besides that, you had known of his violent tendencies even when you two were going out, though they were never directed at you until now.

You thought you could change him, thought being with him would make him better.

How wrong you were.

Basically, there was no way out of this, aside from death.

Which wasn't such a farfetched option at this point, you said, laughing as though you hadn't just shown us your bruised arm as the tear trails glistened on your face.

None of us found that very funny. At all.

After a few minutes, you told us you had to go.

Back home to your abuser.

I remember us trying to talk you out of it.

You promised to visit every week, so we knew you were all right.

We shouldn't have let you go, but we did.

I should've kept you here with me.

With the rest of us.

You kept your promise, you did, even bringing us Christmas presents and New Year's gifts when the holidays came.

You started coming twice a week, updating us on your situation every time you visited.

Your husband found a good job a month after you met us, and you got an even bigger scholarship than the one you'd lost.

He stopped hitting you, and agreed to go to couples counseling with you to hash out your issues.

You didn't wear such heavy sweaters and scarves anymore, and you wore your hair pulled back from your face.

You were so beautiful when you weren't frightened.

Sungjong bragged that we were your good luck charm, and I was inclined to agree.

Somewhere in between your visits and updates, you became a part-time worker at INFINITE LOVE.

Sunggyu had been more than happy to hire you when he found out you didn't mind cleaning - something the rest of us rather disliked - and simply decided to welcome you into the family.

The boys were so happy when they found out, and threw you a party with Sungjong's cakes and Sungyeol's coffees serving as the refreshments.

In the midst of all this, I realized something.

I'd done the unthinkable.

I was falling in love with a married woman.

I was falling in love with you.