It was almost midnight by the time Kyungmi had reached Park’s Books. The lights were out and the door and windows were closed. She wondered how she was going to get in, or at least get someone's attention. She looked up to see a flicker of light from the highest window on the second floor – Chanyeol’s room. She opted for the simple solution of throwing something to catch his attention. She looked around the sidewalk, looking for a harmless pebble. She picked on up near the street and threw it up.

It missed the window, but hit the wall. Nothing happened. She repeated the action with another slightly bigger pebble, this time it hit the window. There was a moment of silence before the familiar head peeked out.

Kyungmi hissed, "Down here!"

Chanyeol looked down and his eyes widened, "M-Mi? What – What are you--"

"I'll tell you later," Kyungmi replied, "Will... er.... Will you let me in?"

"Hang on," Chanyeol's head disappeared and a few minutes later, she saw a shadow coming towards her from the closed shop door. There was loud click and the door squeaked open. Kyungmi let herself in as Chanyeol closed the door behind him, locking it again.

"What are you doing? And... what's with that bag?" He pointed at the bag.

"I.... uh...." Kyungmi glanced around in the darkness uncomfortably. "I had a little run in with trouble that's all. I just needed a place to stay. I – I hope this won't be too much to ask. I'll explain everything to your parents tomorrow morning if they--"

Chanyeol put a hand up to silence her and smiled warmly, "You're welcome here, Mi. Now, c'mon. That thing looks like you packed rocks in it."

Kyungmi chuckled, "I guess." She followed Chanyeol back up to his room where she finally dropped the load on the floor. Chanyeol was looking a bit unsettled and Kyungmi understood immediately why. "Oh, I can sleep on the floor. It doesn't matter."

“What?” Chanyeol looked like he was mortally wounded by the idea, “N-No way. You? Sleeping on the floor? Think of what my umma would say... or do actually!”

Kyungmi covered to hold back a loud laugh. Chanyeol was right; his umma was very fond of her, as if she was her own child. She guessed sleeping on the floor wouldn’t be a pretty safe option for the brown-haired teen. “Well, that’s true.”

“Anyway, we’ll think about that later.” Chanyeol chuckled rather nervously, motioning for Kyungmi to sit on his bed, which she did. Chanyeol sat beside her and leaned close, “So what happened? You look kinda pale. Want some hot milk?”

Kyungmi flushed but immediately controlled herself, “I-I’m all good, thanks. Well, it’s a pretty long story actually.”

“Story....” Chanyeol’s cheery voice dropped to a monotone level, “Right... Um, say Mi. I was wondering... about what you told me before...”

“Yeah?”

“The whole being followed thing...” Chanyeol was fiddling with his hands and looking doubtful. He turned away from Kyungmi’s brown eyes and looked straight at the window in front of him. “Were you just making it all up?”

Kyungmi blinked in surprise, “Wh-What? What makes you think that?”

“Well,” Chanyeol sighed, “I saw you... after you left. I tried to follow you, actually. But then you bumped into a pretty fierce looking guy, and then I saw your brother and... someone else.” The someone else immediately had Kyungmi’s mind flashing images of the pale blond, brown-eyed cretin – Jongin. She mentally cringed at the thought and pushed it all away as she looked at Chanyeol looking... what was it? Sad?

“Oh,” was all Kyungmi could manage at the moment and Chanyeol suddenly turned his head to face her, amber eyes darkened with an obscure feeling Kyungmi hadn’t seen before.

“Mi,” Chanyeol started, his voice lower than usual. “If you don’t want to visit here anymore because you’ve found other people to hang out with then you don’t have to lie to me about it. I mean, I know our situations are different, I know we’re both different. But... having you lie just to make me feel less – less pitiful... it’s just... wrong.”

Kyungmi bit her lip. What has Chanyeol been imagining? Was he thinking she and Jongin were best buddies? Well, he did say he saw them so he must’ve seen Jongin acting so familiar towards her. Kyungmi reached for Chanyeol’s hand, “Chanyeol, you’ve got it all wrong. That guy, his name is Jongin by the way but whatever, he’s a total idiot. I wouldn’t be friends with him. He was Luhan’s friend.”

Chanyeol’s expression didn’t change. There was still that obscure feeling behind his amber eyes. It was beginning to bug Kyungmi, so she continued, “And I would never lie to you. The whole spy thing is true. That man you saw? That was him. His name’s Siwon and he’s the head butler... and...” She shuddered as she remembered the near death experience she had with him, just hours ago.

“And...?” Chanyeol spoke gently, his other hand now moving to cover Kyungmi’s hand.

Kyungmi shook her head, “No, nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Mi, don’t give me that.” Chanyeol looked hurt and Kyungmi felt guilty.

“It’s... It’s just...” Kyungmi looked away and she could feel the tears rising up again. Oh damn, I thought I had cried enough already. I don’t want Chanyeol to see such a pathetic side. “Look, it’s nothing. Siwon just... he just bullied me, that’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

But Chanyeol tensed and his hand gripped Kyungmi’s hand tighter, “Bullied? He hurt you? What did he do?”

“E-Er...” Kyungmi stuttered, which didn’t help the situation as it made it look like she was purposely hiding everything from Chanyeol.

“Tell me.” Chanyeol stated, almost like a growl.

Kyungmi tried to pull her hand away from the provoked Chanyeol but it wouldn’t budge. She was beginning to panic again. This whole thing was starting to make her feel like she was in front of Siwon, when she felt so vulnerable, so weak, so... submissive. “H-He... I don’t know what happened, really. One second he was talking to me, and the next thing I know his hands were on my neck and--” Kyungmi stopped abruptly. She had said too much.

Damn! Stupid mouth! She clasped her other free hand on as she watched Chanyeol’s face contort with anger.

“He choked you?!” Chanyeol exclaimed, pulling Kyungmi closer. “That’s not normal! You should – You should have--” But no distinct advice was coming out from Chanyeol. His enraged eyes landed on Kyungmi’s collar, instantly realizing what it was hiding. He let go of Kyungmi’s hand and went for the buttoned up collar of her blouse.

Kyungmi gasped, “NO!” She pulled away but Chanyeol was quicker than her. The ruction had caused Kyungmi to fall back on the bed, Chanyeol looming over her. “Ch-Chanyeol! Stop!”

She heard a little intake of breath as she shut her eyes tightly. She knew the marks were still visible. Now, she feared that Chanyeol would finally see the danger she was in and would abandon her, hoping not to get his family involved in this kind of mess Kyungmi had inevitably created. But to her surprise, she felt Chanyeol inch closer, arms wrapping her securely in a warm embrace.

She could feel Chanyeol’s breath tickling the side of her face. She managed to croak, “Ch-Chan...”

“You should have come to me.” Chanyeol whispered, “You should have told me. Why did you wa