Jonghyun let out a sigh of annoyance when he heard a knock on his door, and his mother entered shortly after without waiting for a response. Jonghyun hurriedly closed his sketchbook’s pages before his mum could see what was drawn, and laid his pencil down.

“What do you want?” Jonghyun asked in a tired tone, knowing what was coming, and stayed on his chair, facing the window instead of his mum. He didn’t need to look at her to know what she was thinking though. Right now, she was probably looking around in his small, dusty room, at his piles of clothes thrown random places, his mess of discarded drawings and the several books he was reading all at once; then wondering how she ended up with such a failure of a son.

His mum sighed like talking to her own son was a great effort. Then she adjusted her tone to put up a friendly tone, which they both knew was fake.

“Jonghyun, you should go out. Get some fresh air and look around the neighborhood. Maybe you’ll even meet some kids your age”, she suggested. Jonghyun remained in his position, back facing her, and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m just in the middle of a drawing”, he rejected her offer.

“You’re always in the middle of a drawing, Jonghyun. They’re not going to get you anywhere”, his mum said.

“Well they got me to college”, Jonghyun retorted. In Jonghyun’s senior year of high school his art teacher finally discovered Jonghyun’s skillls with a pencil, despite the fact that Jonghyun rarely said a word. Jonghyun had been the quiet kid all through high school. It wasn’t like he didn’t have an opinion, he had several actually, but he just never found anyone to share them with. And when you’ve sitten in the back of the classroom without talking to anybody for enough time, people seem to come up with the idea that you don’t want to talk to anybody.

“Focusing on your studies is a good thing, Jonghyun, but don’t you think you’re taking this a bit overboard? It’s summer break. You’re supposed to be outside, laughing on the beach, drinking with your friends, meeting some nice girls… Not sitting in your room with those drawings of yours.” Jonghyun’s mum pronounced ‘drawings’ with such disgust that it made Jonghyun let out a dry chuckle.

Jonghyun didn’t reply; there wasn’t much to say. Every day it was the same old things his mum complained about. The same rants about how much he missed by sitting in that room. Jonghyun knew that he missed out on all the things kids his age enjoyed, but it wasn’t like he could just walk out on the street and force the first stranger to be his friend.

Behind him, his mum continued her flood of trivial words but Jonghyun zoomed her out; a great quality Jonghyun had spent many hours developing in his classroom .

“Jonghyun, are you even listening to me?” His mum asked after a while.

“What?” His mum sighed and turned his chair around, so he was facing her.

“I said-”, his mum repeated, her voice now harsh and annoyed, “-that Kibum’s mother suggested that you can come live with them for a while on the country side. Doesn’t that sound great? It’s such a nice place they have”, his mum said, a dreamy look in her eyes just by the thought the peaceful sceneries and the silence of nature.

“I’m not going”, Jonghyun said. Kibum and Jonghyun used to be something near friends in the first years of elementary school. They actually connected surprisingly well, considering the entire friendship was a set-up based on their parent’s agreements. But as Jonghyun and Kibum grew older their interests split. Jonghyun became interested in drawing and reading, while Kibum found  a sudden passion for fashion and other ridiculous things that Jonghyun just couldn’t find the slightest desire to talk about. Their friendship stopped completely when Kibum moved back to the countryside with his parents. Now, when the two boys finally got to see each other, the time was mostly filled out by a thundering silence and irrelevant small-talk.

“Come on, Jonghyun. He’s such a great boy. Very talented too. It could be such a great experience for you two”, his mum said.

“Mum, we don’t have anything to talk about, okay?”

His mum sighed. “Is this because of all the things Kibum went through during his time here?”

Jonghyun raised his brows. “You mean, being gay?”

“Homoual”, his mum sharply corrected him. “And yes. It was hard on him.”

Jonghyun shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I don’t have a problem with it; we just don’t have anything to talk about. That’s it.”

His mum looked at her son, her brows raised; still doubting that Kibum’s uality wasn’t the reason for Jonghyun’s lacking friendship with the boy. Jonghyun obstinately stared back at her, proving that what he said wasn’t a lie.

“Well”, his mum said after an intense moment of glares and unsaid words, “at least go out tonight.”

Jonghyun was so impatient to get her out of his room that he just agreed in the end. He could just take a walk and that was it, right?

The cold night air met Jonghyun’s skin as a cloud of cold ice, making Jonghyun shudder as he hugged his coat tighter around his body. The night was unusual silent. Rain had just poured down from above and the heavy clouds hadn’t disappeared yet, probably being the reason why most people where hiding inside. Jonghyun wasn’t afraid of the rain though; he had met several people way worse. At least the water just soaked your clothes.

A little ‘splash’ was heard every time Jonghyun’s soles hit the puddles covering the pavement. The streetlamp’s light fell down on the water, glistening on the pavement, creating a swirl of light .

As Jonghyun wandered further around in the neighborhood, closer to the center, a buzzing sound of shouts and loud cheers became more and more clear. Jonghyun followed the sound by instinct and somehow found himself in front of a bar. The inside were stuffed with people and the cheers broke the before silent night like thunder.

Jonghyun pushed down the door handle and stepped inside. It was an old, worn bar. The surroundings weren’t near cozy, so the reason for the many customers must have been the sign bent in neon, blinking above the desk, “Free beer.”

 Jonghyun forced his way through the many drunkards and made it to the counter. “One beer please”, Jonghyun ordered. The man behind the bar nodded and pressed down the beer tap with his elbow, letting a golden liquid fill the glass.

Jonghyun let out a small sigh of satisfaction as his lips made contact with the fizzy surface of the draught beer.

“J-Jonghyun-ssi?” Jonghyun’s heart skipped a beat as he recognized the careful voice next to him that clearly did not belong to one of the many roaring men in the bar.

“Ae Ri-ssi?” Jonghyun’s eyes widened as his eyes met the girl next to him. The familiar girl noddded and smiled at him.

“Wow, I haven’t seen you since high school”, she said and let her eyes wander over Jonghyun.

Jonghyun was confused. Very confused. How did this girl even remember his name? Yes, they spent most of their high school years together in the same classroom, but Jonghyun still didn’t expect her to take notice of him. After all, he did spend his time, hiding in the back, avoiding all social relations. Ae Ri, on the other hand was popular. The gender didn’t matter, she was admired by them all. Maybe it was her kind character, her pretty looks or her humor. No matter the reason, even Jonghyun fell into her trap. If only he could count the times he had found himself dreaming of the day where he would have enough courage to approach her.

“You remember my name?” Jonghyun blurted, completely unconnected with the last sentence Ae Ri  just spoke, and a really late reaction to the fact that she started the conversation with his name.

Ae Ri let out a small chuckle. Jonghyun was still the same odd boy she remembered from her high school years. “Of course I do. I have never seen anyone work with a pencil the way you do.”

Jonghyun nodded, not sure what to respond as silence drifted in between the two. In his mind, Jonghyun cursed at himself. Why couldn’t he just carry on a conversation without always creating an awkward atmosphere?

“So”, Jonghyun finally said, determined to keep Ae Ri around. “Why are there so many people in here tonight?”

Ae Ri nodded towards the big flat screen, showing a green grass field covered with men, hopelessly trying to snatch the ball away from each other, only to score a goal and get loud cheers as a reward afterwards. Also known as soccer. Jonghyun suddenly understood the huge amount of shouting men, all facing towards the TV screen.

"The big game is tonight. Half of Korea's population is stuck to the television right now", Ae Ri explained.

"Oh", Jonghyun said. "You're here because of that too?" Somehow, Ae Ri being intrestred in soccer didn't seem to fit her character. He couldn't help but feeling a little disappointed. That meant they had one less interest to talk about.

Ae Ri let out a laugh. The idea of her liking soccer was close to comical. "Oh god, no", she chuckled. "The game is about as intresting as math to me."

"Why are you here then?" Jonghyun asked, slightly confused.

Ae Ri's gaze fell and her fingers suddenly took her interest. "I... Um", she fiddled with her words. "The same reason as you, probably", she muttered, not sounding very honest.
Jonghyun raised his brows. "I highly doubt that."

"How would you know? You don't even know my reason."

"And you know mine?" Jonghyun asked. Ae Ri shrugged her shoulders, still not meeting Jonghynu's eyes. "Okay, so you've been forced outside of your mum because she thinks you spend way too much time in your rooom, which you do, and you just wandered around your neighborhood until you found this bar and got curious?"

Ae Ri's eyes flickered towards Jonghyun, shocked of his sudden honesty. "Actually-" She started but was interrupted of a tall guy, barging towards the bar.

"Yah! What do you think you're doing, !? I can barely turn my back to you, before you throw your body at some stranger!" he roared. The guy's body was muscular and his face was handsome too, but something about him made Jonghyun want to cringe. Jonghyun could recall his face from earlier times, but he couldn't point his finger on where or when. He just seemed so familiar. Like that nightmare that keep returning when you close your eyes; the nightmare you've forgotten until the next night when it haunts you all over again.

"W-we were just talking", Ae Ri stuttered. Her voice turned small and scared. She looked up at the guy with so much fear that it made Jonghyun question what the guy could've done to her that had made her so scared. Her eyes darted around, looking anywhere but into the guy's eyes.

"He's an old friend of mine", Ae Ri said with a pleading voice, trying to calm down the angry-looking man hovering above her. His expression did not turn milder though.

"Old friend, my ", he snorted. He sent Jonghyun a glare that he swore could kill, then turned around and joined his drunk friends in front of the TV screen again.

"Who was he?" Jonghyun asked after he left, eyes still focused on the guy that already seemed to have forgotten about his anger in the blur of beers and soccer cheers.

Ae Ri looked down. "My... Boyfriend", she mumbled.

"Boyfriend?" Jonghyun gaped. First in shock and in disappointment over the fact that she had a boyfriend, which he later realized wasn't that big of a surprise since it was Ae Ri, the girl everyone loved, then because he wondered how a rude bastard like him could've earned the glorious prize of being her boyfriend.

"It's a little bit complicated." Ae Ri uncomfortably shifted on her chair and looked like she mostly wanted the conversation to end as fast as possible. The soccer match ended and the roars soon died out. Many of the watchers stumbled out the doors into the cold night outside.

"Ae Ri! Come here!" Ae Ri's boyfriend yelled from the door. Ae Ri looked towards the guy from before and nodded.

"I'm coming."

She then turned to Jonghyun and gave me an apologitic smile. "I'm sorry about Minho. He's a little off tonight. Anyway, it was nice talking to you, Jonghyun. I hope to see you around soon."

Before Jonghyun could answer, her boyfriend, Minho, marched to our table and harshly pulled Ae Ri's arm, which made her stumble over her own feet. She landed on the floor with a 'crash', shortly followed by the sound of a beer glass hitting the floor. A piece of glass hit Ae Ri's forehead and the blood trickled down her face.

"Are you done!?" Minho roared. He bent down to Ae Ri's level, and in a naive moment Jonghyun actually thought Minho was going to help her up, but instead he let his palm slap her across her face, leaving a large, red mark. Ae Ri flinched in pain and turned her head away in shame, not doing any objections.

"Yah!" Jonghyun finally yelled and stood up from his chair.  "Is that any way to treat a lady?"

"Jonghyun, no", Jonghyun heard Ae Ri beg from the floor beneath him while she pulled his wrist to calm him down, but Jonghyun was only focused on Minho's furious face in front of him.

"And who are you to tell me that, huh?" Minho demanded to know.

"No one, but I just don't think that you should-" Jonghyun's words were cut off by an arching pain in his jaw as he was slammed to the floor by Minho's fist. Minho hovered above him and let his hands hit his face again and again.

"Minho, stop!" Ae Ri screamed as she rose from the floor. Ae Ri desperately pulled Minho's sleeve, but Minho just shook her off and continued hammering his fist into Jonghyun's face, meanwhile Jonghyun sqeezed his eyes shut and hopelessly tried to cover himself from Minho's blows.

"Someone, help!" Ae Ri shouted. Shortly after, the bartenders seemed to realize what was happening and ran to them. Two of the biggest men managed to hold Minho back. Ae Ri kneeled down beside Jonghyun and looked at him with an worried expression.

"Jonghyun", she called his name. "Jonghyun, can you hear me?" Jonghyun blinked his eyes, trying to focus, but Ae Ri kept floating around in the air as a blurred shadow above him. You could still hear Minho fighting in the background with the men, shouting curse words at everyone around him. Mostly Ae Ri, though. The tears started to run down Ae Ri's cheeks and she desperately tried to call Jonghyun back to earth. His state was worrying when he lied like that, knocked out on the floor, eyes rolling around in his head.

"Jonghyun!" Ae Ri shouted and slapped his cheek just to wake him. Finally, Jonghyun's eyes managed to find focus. Ae Ri let out a relieved sigh and pulled Jonghyun up as she could see the men were having trouble holding Minho back.

"We need to get out of here", Ae Ri said and dragged the still groggy Jonghyun after her. Ae Ri looked back at Minho in the bar, tears soaking her cheeks. "If only..." She thought, wishing Minho just had kept away from alchohol that night.

The door to the bar slammed shut as Jonghyun and Ae Ri ran out in the cold. "Taxi! We need a Taxi!" Ae Ri shouted, the panic rising in her voice as she could see Minho fighting his way to the door inside of the bar. She managed to wave a orange cab over and the car made its way to the parking lot. A loud slam was heard from the bar and Ae Ri turned her head to find Minho running across the lot.

"Come back here, !" He yelled, coming closer and closer.

Ae Ri cried while pulling the handle to the taxi that wouldn't open. If Minho caught them now they were dead meat.  They needed to get as far away as possible from Minho. Fast. Jonghyun was finally coming back to himself, and pushed Ae Ri's fumbling fingers away from the car door and opened it himself. Jonghyun and Ae Ri threw themselves in the car as Minho was dangerously near.

"Drive, drive!" Ae Ri shouted at the chaffeour. Jonghyun pressed the car doors locked while Minho was hammering his fists against the glass on the outside of the glass.

"Ae Ri! Don't you dare run away from me!" His voice got muffled through the glass but the threat in his voice was as clear as ever. The driver pressed down the speeder after what seemed like eternerties.

"Where to, Miss?" The driver asked.

"The train station, please", Ae Ri answered.

Jonghyun's head jerked towards Ae Ri by the mention of the train. "The train station?" he asked.

"We need to get away, Jonghyun. Quickly."

"It can't be that bad", Jonghyun said.

Ae Ri shook her head. "You don't understand. Minho's dangerous. He's going to kill you if he catches you. He'll contact his friends and they're going to search for you until they find you. You're his target now, Jonghyun. It's too late to redo. We need to run away to a place where he won't find us."

"But..." Jonghyun trailed. Something in the way she spoke, made him realize that Ae Ri had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Then he understood; it wasn't just Jonghyun that needed to get away. Ae Ri wanted to get away from Minho, and Jonghyun was her chance to fulfill that wish. She was caught in a dangerous game of feelings that she weren't brave enough to get out of herself.

As the car drove further away from the bar, Ae Ri looked back at Minho through the rear window. He looked so helpless, so alone, standing there, that a small part in Ae Ri almost wanted to run back to him. Throw her arms around him and tell him that she was fine. Then wake up the next morning to an apologizing Minho, gently kissing her skin, being that boy she once fell in love with. But then she reminded herself that it would only take a drop of anger in Minho's blood  again and he would once again turn into a monster.

Jonghyun watched  Ae Ri  from the corners of his eyes, wondering how he ended up in a taxi with a girl her barely knew, running away from her violent boyfriend. But despite the many questions rummaging in his mind, he was sure at one thing;

He was not going to let Ae Ri fight this fight alone.