He held your hand as the two of you walked along the beach, admiring the sunset. You appreciated this moment with Daehyun; it was rare that you and your boyfriend ever had time together like this, especially with college ang jobs getting between you. It felt like it was just the two of you in the world, right now, in this moment.

You smiled, contented, and leaned into him as you walked. "So, how long has it been since we've actually spent time together?" you asked.

He laughed. "Don't be so melodramatic. It's been at most a week."

"That's a long time!" you pouted.

Daehyun laughed again and ruffled your hair. "Hey, it's nice here. Let's sit."

The two of you sat and you fussed over him, just because you could. "Aw, you wore a white shirt! Don't get me wrong, I love the way you look today, but we're at the beach and the sand is pretty wet, and--"

He draped an arm around your shoulder and pulled you to him, laughing. "Alright, alright, mom. I'm sorry."

You laughed too and adjusted his cap. "There. Now you really look all gangstah~" you joked. But instead of laughing, his face hardened and he froze up.

You replaced the cap to the way it was before. "What did I say?"

After a moment, he relaxed again and leaned back on the sand, laying down. "Nothing. Don't worry about it, I was just zoned out."

You knew he was lying, but you let it go; if he wanted to tell you, he would tell you. You didn't want to push him. "Alright." You laid down next to him and he laced your hands together.

You closed your eyes, enjoying this moment. When you opened your eyes again, you nearly screamed and instead slapped Daehyun jokingly. He was directly in front of you face, staring into you. "Yah! What the heck? You want to give me a heart attack?"

He laughed, and you grinned. You loved the sound of his laugh, warm and inviting. Suddenly someone called out to him. "Yo, Daehyun! That you? 'Sup, homie!"

He froze and turned around. You looked back along with him to see a tough-looking guy. "Oh, uh, hey, Yongguk," he greeted somewhat nervously.

"Who's this? Your girlfriend? Ohhhh~ you never told me you had a girlfriend. So pretty, too. Classy. From a nice family?" Yongguk turned to you. "Anyway, nice to meet you, I'm Yongguk."

You shook his name and introduced yourself, rather hesitantly.

Daehyun eventually pushed him away, saying, "Man, lemme spend some time with my girl."

Yongguk walked away laughing.

You turned to Daehyun. "Who was that? I never knew you had such friends."

"Oh, uh, well...I just have a few classes with him at school."

You raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

~ ~ ~

A week later; you were sitting in your room, doing homework. Your phone rang. "Hey, it's me," Daehyun said, breathing hard.

"Oh, hey!"

"Listen, can you...open the door?" His voice was sounding weak.

"What?" you asked, taken aback.

"I'm in front of your house, could you open the door?"

"O-Oh, okay, I'll be right down!" You hung up and opened the door to find a sweaty, dirty Daehyun clutching his arm. He stumbled into the house and collasped on the floor, gasping. You saw something red gushing from where he had his hand. "Is that...blood? Omo, Daehyun, what happened to you?!"

You ran to get your first aid kit, and disinfected the area and put bandages on it. As you worked, Daehyun talked--or, well, rasped. "____-ah, I'm really sorry about this. I should have told you sooner." He hissed in pain and took a breath. "I'm in a gang. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to get you involved in all this."

"Why, though? What made you want to join a gang?"

He looked at you with a mix of relief that you didn't question other things, and regret that he had talk about this in this situation. "I wasn't satisfied with my life. I felt like I had no control, no power, over my own life. I moved seven times in the span of two years; my life was just spiralling out of control." You knew this, so you nodded and sat back to listen to him, looking at his face.

"So I joined this gang, B.A.P. It gave me a sense of freedom, of sorts. I felt like I belonged, for once, and I could decide how my life went. So I liked it."

He gave a humorless laugh. "Until we started getting into fights with other gangs. And today this happened. I obviously couldn't go home; my parents would have a heart attack. I knew your parents were out, so I came here." Daehyun looked directly into your eyes. "I'm sorry, I really am. But don't worry, I've already decided: I'm going to leave the gang. This can't continue, if I want to have a future with you. If I want to have a future at all."

You smiled faintly. "That's good, but...I thought if you're in a gang, you can't just suddenly leave? You're in until you...die?"

His face darkened. "Yeah. But I'm sure they'll understand; they all are pretty much in the same situation as me, anyway. Anyway," he said, trying to smile and wincing, "don't worry about it. Just be sure of this: I'll leave the gang, and we'll have a future together. Okay?"

"Okay."

He reached out for you and pulled you in for a kiss, tasting and smelling like blood, but you didn't really care. He was alive, he was okay, and he was going to leave the gang.

~ ~ ~

Three days later:

You waited nervously on the park bench. Daehyun had called a few hours ago to tell you to meet him here, but he still hadn't arrived yet. Could anything have happened to him? The gang...?

Suddenly a pair of hands covered your eyes. You grinned and looked up to look at a smiling Daehyun. Your smile faded when you noticed his face was covered in bruises. "Goodness, what happened to you? Are you okay?" you grabbed his shoulders, inspecting him in every angle.

He laughed, and winced slightly. "I'm okay. They said they understood, but still had to follow protocol. They can't just let people leave whenever they want; they have to have order. So they did this, instead of the alternative, which is..well, to shoot me dead. But I'm done, and I'm free. As of now, I have no affiliation with B.A.P."

You hugged Daehyun gently, careful not to hurt him even more. "I'm proud of you. And thank you." You looked up at him with tears in your eyes. "And...I love you."

His eyes softened and he smiled at you. "I love you too."

You buried your face in his shirt as you whispered, "I know. That's why I said thank you. For doing all this. For putting yourself in danger. For your family and friends. For me."

His only response was to hug you all the tighter.

A/N: Oh my goodness, how long as it been since I've updated? I'm so sorry OTL

Anyway, this was inspired by a book I had to read for English, called Always Running by Luis Rodriguez. It's a memoir dedicated to his son, talking about his life while he was in a gang back when he was younger. He managed to get out, but his son then became involved in a gang, and he wrote this for his son.

You all should read it, but it does contain graphic descriptions, so I'd say this is a 13+ book...

LOL so my little section here suddenly became a book advertisement section.