Taekwoon slowly sat up, wanting to distance himself from his father as much as possible. 

"You smell like beer," his dad said angrily. He glared at Taekwoon, causing the boy to shrink under his blanket in fright. "Why?"

Taekwoon swallowed, knowing that trying to tell his father the real story wouldn't go as well as he would want. "Um...it's..." Taekwoon started playing with his fingers.

"Answer me!" His father commanded.

Taekwoon jumped and grabbed his head in pain, wishing his dad would bring his voice down.

His dad scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "And here I thought you were the boy who swore that he was too good for alcohol."

"Appa," Taekwoon said. "It's not what you think," he began to explain. Taekwoon swallowed again, feeling his hands start to shake. "It was Dohoon...Dohoon attacked me."

"And I suppose Dohoon brought those lousy friends of yours into my house without my permission," his father replied.

Taekwoon started shaking his head. "They found me after Dohoon left me unconscious," he started to explain. "I couldn't even walk myself home. They would have taken me to the hospital if I hadn't begged them not to." As if his body wanted to emphasize his point, Taekwoon hissed as a sharp pain suddenly hit his ribs after he accidentally moved the wrong way. 

"Why were they here?" the older man asked with absolutely no emotion, as if he was completely oblivious to how much his son had suffered the night before.

Taekwoon felt his eyes watering, hurt at his father's attitude. He was really frustrated that his father didn't ask how he was doing or asking what happened. Taekwoon felt an ache in his heart as he was yet again reminded of the little care his father had for him. "They wanted to take care of me because the person that was supposed to take of me wasn't there," he finally answered, the volume of his voice raised with each word. "Don't you get it?" Taekwoon asked, his voice breaking. "Every time Dohoon sees me, all he can think about is how he wants to kill me. He got this far last night. How far will he be able to go next time? I don't know what would have happened to me if they hadn't found me."

There was silence in the room and it made Taekwoon slightly uncomfortable. He tensed as his father slowly got closer to him, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"I've told you to never raise your voice at me," Mr Jung said softly, running his fingers through Taekwoon's hair.

Taekwoon nodded. "I'm sorry," he replied, hoping his dad really wasn't angry with him. He took a shaky breath. "I'm just...just a little hurt."

Taekwoon let of a gasp as his dad went from gently Taekwoon's hair, to angrily it. His father pulled Taekwoon by the hair, bringing the two of them closer.

"A brat like you wouldn't know pain even if it hit you in the face," the older man whispered harshly.

In other situations, Taekwoon probably would have found that statement to be hilarious, especially coming from his dad. But instead, hearing those words only made him angrier. "I know what pain is," he muttered under his breath. That statement couldn't be any more true. He wasn't a brat. He understood pain better than a lot of people. He lived the very definition of pain.

Sadly, his father heard him. 

Taekwoon didn't even flinch as he felt a hard slap across his face. He bit his lip, knowing that this was just the beginning. There was more to come from his father. 

He found out how right he was when he felt his father push him off the bed and onto the floor. Taekwoon didn't have any energy to scream as his dad began kicking him. So for the whole ordeal, Taekwoon was silent. Tears fell from his face, but that was the only sign of pain that his body gave. He didn't try to fight back. He didn't cry out in pain.

He just took every blow until it was over.

Because that's what he deserved. 

 "Are you sure you're okay, Hyung?" Wonsik asked in concern. "You were acting really strange as we left Taekwoon's house."

Hakyeon sighed into the phone. "I...I don't know, Wonsik," he answered. "I just had a few weird vibes. I guess I'm just really worried about Taekwoon. He was really hurt."

"Yeah," Wonsik replied. "We were all worried about him."

"It was really weird spending the night at his house too," Hakyeon confessed. "Something about his place was a little off."

"Ah," Wonsik replied. 

"It felt like Taekwoon didn't want anyone to be there," Hakyeon said. "Including himself."

"What makes you say that?" Wonsik asked.

"Taekwoon woke up a lot during the night," Hakyeon began. "I would talk to him until he fell back asleep and..." Hakyeon sighed, trying to figure how to word what he wanted to say. "I don't know. He just didn't seem to be comfortable with us spending the night."

"Do you have any guesses why?" Wonsik asked.

Hakyeon sighed as he thought about Wonsik's question. "He liked the fact that we were there for him," he finally said. "But he didn't seem to like the fact that we were in his house..."

"It was really clean," Wonsik added when Hakyeon trailed off.

Hakyeon let a confused expression cross his face at the random statement, glad Wonsik wouldn't have been able to see it. By now, he should be used to Wonsik and Jaehwan making irrelevant statements anyway. "What do you mean?"

"Every time you ask Taekwoon if we can hang at his house, what's the excuse that he always gives you?" Wonsik asked.

"He says...he says it's because his house is dirty," Hakyeon reluctantly answered. 

"Everything at his house was so clean... A little too clean," Wonsik explained. "We've never seen a place that clean even when Hongbin has one of his fits. Hyuk said that when he was roaming the house, every room he accidentally walked into was spotless." Wonsik cleared his throat. "But...that's just what I found odd. I know you're thinking about something else."

"Yeah," Hakyeon said with another sigh. "Taekwoon was really scared as he watched us leave."

"You know that means something," Wonsik stated as fact. He already knew what was going on in Hakyeon's head, because Wonsik was certain that he had the same idea.

"Could it really be possible?" Hakyeon muttered, thinking out loud.

Wonsik sighed. "I think we've been through enough to know that when we suspect somethi