I calmly walked out into the café and headed towards the noisy couple outside; a couple in their forties or so, knocking on the doors and windows and shouting something inaudible at us. Behind me I heard Sehun begging me not to open, and I knew right away that this was his aunt and uncle, coming to get him back. As I approached the door, the man and woman calmed down slightly, and stared at me. I stared back for a while, before I turned around and ordered Chanyeol to take Sehun to the backroom and barricade the door – just as a safety measure. As soon as they were out of sight, I turned back and opened the door.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing,” the man shouted at me and pushed his was past me to go after the two boys, but Jongdae places himself in his way. Neither man was particularly tall or muscly, but no matter how angry the other man was, Jongdae still seemed braver, and he turned to face me again. The woman came rushing in past me and placed herself by her husband’s side.
“Seeing as they all seem to rely on you, you must be the boss around here then,” he questioned and looked me up and down.
“I’m the assistant manager, and the highest ranking present, Sir,” I replied as calmly as I could.
“So you’re in charge of the employees at this establishment?”
“That would be correct, Sir.”
“Then explain this; why is there a boy present at this establishment, who is no longer working here?” he crossed his arms over his chest and spread his legs trying to look more manly and scary, as if he was threatening me – or at least questioning my authority. I couldn’t help but mock him in response, so I casually put my hands in my pockets and began strolling over to where Luhan was standing.
“There isn’t,” I simply stated and smiled.
“…Sir,” I added as I turned back to face him properly, emphasising the word.
“Honey, do you think maybe he didn’t hand in the letter,” the woman asked and tugged at her husband’s arm anxiously. He looked at her as if the thought only struck him, before his eyes were filled with rage again and he looked in the direction of where he had last seen the boys.
“Oh no, yes he did,” I confirmed, still with hands firmly placed in my pockets.
“But, uhm…”
“But what,” the man snapped.
“I tore it up.”
“WHAT?” The man was about to lose his posture completely, and the woman gaped at me mortified.
“How dare you..?” she began.
“It would be in breach of contract,” I replied.
“He signed a six month contract with us, knowing fully well that he would have to stay with us for the entire time or else he would be liable for a lawsuit and he would have to pay for money lost on his training as well as for the training of a new employee to take his spot.” Despite never having actually kept anyone to their words on this subject, usually letting people go even if they didn’t finish the time stated in their contract, this was the truth – and I had never been happier to use it. With every angry word and movement from the two, I could see Sehun’s bruises in my head, and it please me greatly to add to their fury and frustration knowing that they would never get to touch the boy again for as long as I could help it.
“Then maybe,” the woman suggested.
“You don’t know what he does? Maybe you don’t know what sort of person he is?”
“Hmmmm,” I questioned, pretending to think for a while.
“Well, I did hire him rather quickly, but with time I would think that I have gotten to know what sort of person he is. Would you care to enlighten me though, on what it is he does that I should know about?” The woman smirked at what she assumed was my ignorance.
“Yesterday, I thought Sehunie was taking too long to get back home from work, so I came to find him. When I arrived here I was shocked to see him on his knees, standing in front of that other tall boy, right over there,” she said and pointed over to one of the tables.
“Suggesting they would partake in filth! And by the looks of it they had already crossed some sinful lines!” She looked at me challengingly, as if she just got the upper hand with this information. I set up the most puzzled look I could manage and stared at her questioningly.
“Filth? Sin? What are you talking about?” I felt like such a smug for making her spell it out for me, knowing fully well that she had no interest in taking such words in . Nothing like Sehun then, I would imagine, judging by the fact that she said he had been on his knees in front of Chanyeol. Her facial expression changed slightly, as if she was unsure if she should continue or not.
“He was…” she hesitated.
“They were touching each other inappropriately.”
“What do you mean ‘inappropriately’? Were there other people there?”
“No, you idiot, you know exactly what she means. They were touching each other in places they should not be touching,” the man shot in angrily.
“I see,” I mumbled, as if this was news to me. Encouraged, she continued her explanation.
“He was about to… To put it in his mouth,” she finished hastily.
“And this is not the first time he has acted this way!” This part caught my attention.
“It is not?”
“No Sir,” the man stated matter-of-factly.
“He was tempted by the Devil in his previous school and he strayed, so his parents sent him to us so he could find back to God’s way.” I couldn’t help but giggle.
“To God’s way??”
“Yes,” the woman glared at me, offended by my laughing.
“To the path our Lord has laid out for him.”
“And you know this path already? Did God dive you a map?” They both stared at me appalled as I laughed at their idiocy.
“If he did not give you a map or told you about this path, then what makes you think he has strayed?”
“THE BOY IS WILLINGLY SODOMISING, AND THE BIBLE CLEARLY STATES-…”
“THE BIBLE DOES NOT RUN THIS CAFÉ, FOR THE MOMENT I DO, AND THE BOY STAYES.” My sudden rage caught them both off guard, and I couldn’t help but stare at them, showing my anger with my entire body.
“I do not care about your God, I do not care about you or your ways. I have my own ways, and I have my own intentions. And nowhere in my moral and ethical code is it stated that it is okay to hurt a child, not intentionally, and definitely not by strangling!” They both stared at me, shocked at my sudden outburst.
“I want you two out – out of this establishment this very second. You are not welcome here, and I never want to see you anywhere close to here, or him ever again. Is that clear?!”
“What sort of ungodly establishment are you running,” the woman hissed.
“Where you ignore the works of Satan right under your nose?”
“I don’t think Satan is interested in love, if I’m honest. And I have seen your nephew with his boyfriend,” I emphasised the word as much as I could.
“And they are definitely in love.”
“What are you, one of Satan’s messengers?”
“GET. OUT.”
“You are a demon, I can see it in your eyes boy,” the man shrieked, as if he was suddenly scared of me.
“I’ve had enough of this,” I grumbled under my breath and grabbed a hold of Luhan by his collar, pulled him close and kissed him. At first he was surprised, but he quickly complied, pressing his lips and himself closer to me for a short, passionate kiss.
“I KNEW IT,” she screamed and pointed at us while her husband was dragging her out of the café by her other arm.
“THIS IS NOT THE LAST YOU WILL HEAR FROM US,” the husband yelled over his shoulder as he placed an arm protectively around his wife and mumbled begrudgingly in her ear as she began to cry. As soon as they were out of sight, Luhan and I stepped away from each other awkwardly and began brushing off and straightening our clothes.
“Ahem, eh, sorry about that,” I said embarrassed.
“That’s uh… That’s okay. I think.”
“Wow,” Jongdae let out from the other end of the room, and we looked up in surprise as we had both forgotten he was there, only to find him staring at us with stars in his eyes.
“That was hot.” Both Luhan and I froze in our tracks and stared at him in disbelief, before we eyed each other and smirked.
“Then shall we do it again,” Luhan suggested and wrapped his arms around my body, and I pressed myself against him while I kept my eyes on the mesmerized boy in the corner, before the two of us broke down laughing at his conflicted “yes! But no! But yes!” expression at the sight of us.
“Seriously kid, you have a problem,” I said as I walked over to him and punched his shoulder, to which he replied with sticking out his tongue and grinning.
“Let’s go find the others,” Luhan suggested and the rest of us nodded in agreement, and began heading towards the backroom. A sudden loud crash outside however, stopped us in our tracks, and we turned around slowly to see where the sound came from.
“WHICH ONE OF YOU ERS IS THE SODOMISING DEMON WHO VIOLATED MY MOTHER???” A tall boy, probably a few years older than me, were standing by a knocked over table, with four or five guys standing behind him. I straightened myself and calmly went out to greet them.
“Which one of us are you referring to?”
“YOU ING ,” he screamed.
“HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY MOTHER? AND WHO IS THE GUY SCREWING MY ED UP COUSIN? I’M GOING TO FLATTEN YOUR FACES!”
“I would strongly advice you not to,” I replied.
“As we have several witnesses present, and the perimeters are covered by CCTV.”
“WELL THEN YOUR DISGUSTING DISPLAY SHOULD BE CAUGHT ON TAPE TOO. I’LL TAKE YOUR ASSES TO COURT IF I HAVE TO,” he screamed and spat at my face.
“YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF !” I used my hand to wipe off the spit from my face and stared at him in return.
“You will not be getting Sehun, nor will you get any of us. Go home, and come back with the police if you want to take this further.”
“YOU HAVE NO JURISDICTION OVER HIM, HE IS IN MY PARENTS CARE AND HE WILL BE COMING HOME WITH US!”
“Will you please stop shouting, I can hear you very well. And though I may not have any jurisdiction over him, I am still his friend, employer and family. And he is of age, you moron. He can chose if he wants to stay or not!” His fist hit me square in the face before I even got to see it coming. He was strong and his punch sent me stumbling backwards, the left side of my face burning with pain. The other guys began approaching, and the first guy sent his leg flying into my stomach. They closed in around me, and for the next few minutes I was covered in punches and kicks. For the most part I was busy covering my most vital spots, but through the arms and legs surrounding me I noticed a slender boy resembling the first guy a lot, hiding behind a corner, watching with a concerned, apologetic face. They gave up quickly and left as soon as they thought I had learned my lesson, and the minute they were gone, Luhan came running outside with Jongdae following shortly behind.
“Are you okay? Oh my God. Minseok. You’re bleeding! How can I… How did they… Why?” He couldn’t finish a single sentence and his voice was so high pitched it almost hurt my ears.
“Just give me a minute,” I coughed and tried to find, and remain in, a position where things hurt less. After a while my body felt a little more adjusted to the pain, and a sense of numbness set in, allowing me to move a little more. I looked up at Luhan who was clearly struggling with tears, and then over to Jongdae who only extended his hand in a request to help me up. I grabbed his hand and felt myself be pulled up, but I lost my balance and sent my arm flailing until Luhan caught it and supported me. Slowly, they managed to help me inside.
“What are you doing,” I managed to get out as I noticed Luhan desperately tapping on his phone.
“I have to call for an ambulance!”
“And tell them what? That the guys who beat me up will pay for it?” He froze, remembering from the time I was sick that taking me to the hospital would not help at all.
“Don’t worry,” Jongdae replied.
“My mother is a nurse, so I know a thing or two – let me get a medicine kit.” He ran to the changing room and returned with some supplies from his locker, which he used to clean my wounds and bandage me up.
“Hmmmm,” he said thoughtfully as I did my best to sit up straight.
“What ‘hmmmm’? Don’t ‘hmmmmm’! You can’t just ‘hmmmm’!” Luhan was getting somewhat desperate and it made me smile. Thank heavens I was in love with him, because otherwise this would have hurt so much, and I wouldn’t have found him so cute. The cuteness sort of numbed out my own pain a little. Instead of responding, Jongdae whipped out his phone and quickly dialled a number, before he walked out of hearing range and spoke to someone on the phone.
“Shhhh,” I said, trying to calm Luhan.
“What are you smiling at, you idiot? You’re hurt!” I grabbed his hand and and squeezed it as my smile grew wider and I let out a little laugh.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry. I know, and it hurts like hell – really ing painful and all – but for some reason I can’t stop being amused by your reaction. For some reason I find it really adorable, and that must be so annoying to you too, but no matter how much I’m hurting – with you around I still can’t seem to stop smiling.” He stopped and stared at me for a second, before he slumped down on the floor, sighing and seeming a little offended.
“You think my worrying is cute,” he huffed at me and a slight pout appeared.
“Actually I think your everything is cute. But this too, yeah. …, I really can’t stop smiling! What am I, brain damaged??” He stared at me from the corner of his eye, still slightly pouting, before he leaned over and rested his forehead on my knee.
“I’m still mad at you,” he whispered.
“Okay,” I smiled.

I let go of his hand as I heard Jongdae approach us and he lifted his head again – but that may have been to be able to see the younger boy and not just to hide how close we were being.
“Someone is coming to take a look at you. I have to go get some stuff, but I’ll be back soon okay?”
“Wait, what? Who is coming?”
“You’ll get it when they arrive,” he said as he hurried out the door. Shortly after, Chanyeol and Sehun appeared from the backroom.
“Oh my God,” Sehun gasped as he saw me.
“Oh ,” Chanyeol said.
“Oh ,” I said and turned to face them.
“Sehun, don’t worry about it. This is not that bad. …At least we don’t think it is. But I don’t want you to think this is your fault or something stupid like that…”
“But they-…”
“Yes, they came because of you, but they did because of something else – I provoked them, so please don’t worry. I know that whatever I say is going to go in one ear and right out the other, but please listen to me. This is NOT your fault. You did well. You did exactly as I told you to, and for now you are safe again. And honestly, I think this may look worse than it feels. For the next couple of days I may not feel too well, but don’t worry. If you still feel guilty then pay me back by doing as I tell you to, do your job, and help me out if I need it. Okay? Is that understood?” I didn’t really know what to say to make sure he would feel better about this. The truth was that I had got beaten up because of him, it just got worse with my provocation. There was no way in hell he would feel okay about this, but there is no ing way I would let him beat himself up over this either.
“Sehun, are you listening? Do you hear what I’m saying? I chose to go out there and face them, so that is all on me. I knew what they wanted, but I still went. And you did nothing to deserve this either. Don’t go back to them, and don’t do anything else stupid. I did this to protect you – and to make a stand – so don’t make my efforts seem useless, okay?” As this he looked up at me, and I stared into his eyes for a while, before he gave a slight nod.
“Is that understood?”
“Yes, Minseok hyung.”
“Good. Good boy. Now, can someone-…” but before I got to finish there was a short, insecure knock on the door and we all looked up, only to be faced with the cute, curly haired young woman from the pub at the night of the Barcelona and Manchester United game. Luhan quickly looked at me, his eyes shining brightly, before he jumped up and ran over to the door to let her in.
“Minnam-ah,” Chanyeol explaimed excitedly.
“Hello cousin,” she chirped brightly, though her posture was that of a shy lady.
“Jongdae oppa asked me to come. Wow. He really wasn’t joking. Look at the state of you,” she said, and quickly lost herself in the world of medicine, while Chanyeol kept bombarding her with questions about Jongdae and how they were doing and if they were dating and whether she liked him or not, all until he was interrupted by someone clearing their throat by the door.
“Ah, Jongdae oppa,” she said and smiled brightly.
“Oh. Jongdae. Hi.” Chanyeol quickly backed away, knowing he was in trouble for pestering the girl.
“Hello,” he greeted the girl after staring intensely at Chanyeol, letting the giant know that he’d have to pay later on, and smiled brightly at her.
“Thank you so much for coming. How is our patient doing?” She blushed slightly and I could just barely hear her whisper “of course I would come,” before she returned her focus to me and began pushing and prodding and wriggling and twisting and pressing me all over, checking my pulse and blood pressure and applying ice and ointments to my wounds and bruises and cuts.
“He should be fine. I can’t find any serious damage, but you can never be too sure. Ideally I would want to take him for a scan and some blood tests, but,” she sighed. 
“You keep insisting I can’t do that. So for now I will say that he is fine, and we will give it a couple of days, then I’ll come back and check on him to see if there is any signs indicating anything else. Does that sound okay?” I tried to nod, but before she could even register my response, her eyes were glued to Jongdae’s hand, hovering a few inches from her face.
“Are you going to take it or not,” he asked and waved the pack of noodles and the single, yellow daisy in his hand in front of her.
“You… You remembered…” She looked as though she had fallen off the moon. He looked away shyly before he bent down, placed the gift in her lap and looked her dead in the eyes.
“I told you I would.” And then he got up and went to get something else from his grocery bag. He returned with soft drinks and ice cream mochi for all of us and handed them out without a word, only flashing his handsome, friendly smile at us as we accepted his gifts. The girl kept staring at the gift in her lap as if she couldn’t believe it, only looking up a few times to either blink away tears or stare at Jongdae. I had never thought he would be, but I had to admit; Jongdae was really cool with the ladies. I’m not quite sure what the present meant, but she obviously was overwhelmed by the importance of it, and I was impressed with the way he presented it. I felt slightly jealous, and wished I could be that cool too – but knowing myself, I would be reduced to a puddle of goo around Luhan the second I would try to do something like that and it would all fail miserably.
“Can I ask what happened,” she finally dared after we had all finished up our sweet snack.
“You could,” I said.
“But I’m not sure you would want to hear,” Luhan finished.
“I see,” she responded, toying with the empty can in her hands.
“Well, I guess I better leave – it is getting quite late,” she said as she lifted herself from the floor and brushed off her trousers.
“Let me walk you home,” Jongdae offered sincerely. She turned as if she wanted to say something, but as their eyes met she seemed to change her mind and nodded in reply.
“Okay.” She put on her coat, and he walked her over to the door.
“I’ll be back in a few days, okay?” She turned to look at me, and I gave her a thumbs up and a huge grin.
“Thank you so much,” I croaked after her.
“Don’t be brave,” she smiled and motioned for me to rest a lot.

---

“Are you comfortable?” I was tucked into bed and propped full of painkillers, staring up at Luhan who was hovering over me with a concerned expression.
“Yes, I’m fine,” I smiled, and felt really thankful that he was there.
“Can I say something bad?” I turned my head to look at him as he sat down next to me.
“Sure,” I tried, feeling curious and a little anxious.
“I just… You were really cool today.”
“What?”
“…The way you got angry with Chanyeol for letting go of Sehun, and with Sehun for giving up on Chanyeol… The things you said about being a family… About love being important… Even down to taking all those hits… I mean, I don’t EVER want you to do that again, don’t you dare do anything that stupid and let me know it because I won’t forgive you, but just… Just for today. You were really cool.” I pushed my arm out of my tightly tucked duvet and extended my hand, over his face.
“Thank you… And trust me, I’m never doing this again,” I said and made a show out of looking and sounding like I was in pain until he laughed and kissed my forehead. I stopped everything in surprise, but he continued like normal and just instructed me to go to sleep. It took a while, but when I finally felt the world go black around me, it was to the sound of Luhan unpacking his stuff and moving in to my apartment with me. And I couldn’t wait to get to wake up with him tomorrow.