(Warning: Explicit language ahead)

I feel his hand creeping under my tank top. His thumb draws lazy circles on my stomach before they slowly move up. My hands begin to move to try and stop him but he is too strong.

"You're such a ing tease, Soyoung-ah. Wearing that tight tank top and short shorts to show off your sinful body," Jaemin murmurs against my skin. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do."

We are in his room and his mum had just left to go the nearby grocery store. The plan is to do our assignments before I head home for dinner. However, twenty minutes later, I find myself in his lap. His hand keeps moving even though I am struggling to push it away.

"S-stop," I breathe out against his lips.

Instead, he ignores me and continues to kiss me deeply. His hand not anymore creeping up under my shirt but just lightly drawing circles on my skin. Annoyed that he is not paying attention to me, I bite lightly on his tongue, resulting in him pulling back abruptly.

I fall back onto his bed and glare at him. He returns me a glare of his own.

"I told you to stop," I hiss and add, "."

"What did you call me?" he asks through gritted teeth. I can see him trying to control his temper.

I roll my eyes, knowing that he clearly heard me. Purposely trying to annoy him back, I say slowly as though speaking to a toddler, "I called you an ."

With rough hands, he pulls me against him with one tug and i fall against him. His breath warm against my skin but goosebumps rise on the back of my neck. 

"Do not ing call me that," he speaks slowly in a low voice, as though threatening.

I swallow down my slight fear towards Jaemin's sudden change of behaviour. With trembling hands, I quickly pull away from him and grab my things, dumping them into my bag before running out of his house. The whole time, my head is thinking, "This is not the Jaemin I know."

A few days later, he comes to my house with a bouquet of flowers asking for forgiveness.

I forgave him.

I close my eyes and will myself to calm down. My hands clench and unclench at my sides. 

Breathe in, breathe out. Be calm, Soyoung. 

At least Jaemin is not looking my way. I try to reel myself back into the conversation. When I look at to my right, I see Jongin looking at me expectantly. Slowly turning my head, it is apparent that either one of them has asked me a question because Jaehee and Sehun are too looking at me as though waiting for me to say something.

"Erm, what?" I ask.

Cocking his brow, Jongin replies, "I was asking whether you wanted another milkshake because I'm getting another one."

"Are you kidding me? You just had one milkshake," I answer him, looking slightly appalled.

"Well then, if you didn't want one, you just had to say it," he then says and stands up to go order his milkshake.

I roll my eyes at that and turn to face Jaehee and Sehun. I definitely do not miss the look of amusement on both their faces. Just as I am about to tell them not to think of anything between Jongin and I, I get distracted by Jaemin. I can feel blood bumping in my veins and my heart palpitates. 

Lee Jaemin is looking right at me.

Oh crap.

No, no. Please don't come here. Please don't come here. Please don't come here.

I did not realise that I had been holding my breath until Jaehee asks me in a concerned tone, "Soyoung, are you okay?"

"I-I am okay," I reply with a shaky voice, my eyes on Jaemin the whole time.

I see a tiny smirk forming on Jaemin's face and he begins to strut towards me. My hand clenches around the frills of my shirt as I will them to not tremble. Averting my gaze to the couple in front of me, hoping that maybe he is just heading towards someone sitting behind me. However, my prayers were not answered when I feel him standing beside me 

"Well, look who we have here," Jaemin says in his low baritone voice.

Jaehee and Sehun both turn their heads to the stranger. Jaehee her brow at Jaemin and opens to say something but I cut her off. 

"H-hi," I stutter a greeting, not meeting his gaze.

With a tiny frown on her pretty face, Jaehee asks me, "You know this guy?"

Jaemin scoffs at that and says, "She doesn't only know me. She-"

"He disturbing you, baby?" Jaemin did not manage to finish his sentence because Jongin appears then beside him, a milkshake in hand. He is staring hard at Jaemin but then averts his gaze at me after.

Ba....by? I blink my eyes - once, twice. I honestly think I look like a deer in the headlights at the moment. I am not going to lie though, that term of endearment did send flutters in my stomach.

My ex boyfriend barks out a laugh and looks between Jongin and I (in fact, Jaehee and Sehun are doing so too). "Who's this guy?"

"He's-" "I'm her boyfriend. Nice to meet you," Jongin intercepts me and then adds softly, "Or maybe not."

Did he just call himself my boyfriend?

"Wow," Jaemin says, clapping his hands slowly while looking at me. "You sure move fast, huh, Soyoung-ah."

Soyoung-ah. Who is he to call me that now?

Jaemin continues and turns his attention towards Jongin. I see my ex sizing Jongin up before reaching forward to pat him on his back (I also definitely did not miss the way Jongin leans away slightly). "So, Soyoung's your girl, huh? No judgement here at all. We've been there, done that."

I flinch at what he said and avoid eye-contact with everyone. I feel ashamed at what he said, though they are untrue. 

"What did you ing say?" 

My head turns to look at Jongin. I am surprised at the hard tone of his voice. He sounded as though he is actually angry at what Jaemin said. Jaemin steps forward, his eyes hard. "In simpler terms, I said that Soyoung is a slu-"

Before Jaemin can even finish his sentence, Jongin is pushing on Jaemin's chest roughly, making him stumble backwards. "I'd watch what you say next. Unless I hear an apology to Soyoung, you'll be the one I'll be done with soon."

I am not sure why Jongin is acting all protective when we are not even friends. But I cannot help but feel thankful towards him.

My ex snaps at what Jongin said and faces Jongin head on. "I'm not exactly sure what you know about Soyoung, but I was her boyfriend for a long time. That was whori-"

"Whoa, whoa," Sehun intervenes, positioning himself in between them, hands on either one of their chest. "Play nice, guys. This is a public place. There's no need for all this."

I totally forgot that Sehun and Jaehee are with us, witnessing the whole thing before their eyes.

"Yeah," Jaehee supports her boyfriend and continues, "I think we're done here. Right, Jongin?"

She looks at my partner with a look that clearly says 'stop whatever you think you're doing and let's get the hell out of here before things get worse'. Jongin clears his throat and steps away from Jaemin before grabbing my hand and walking away from the table. On the way out, all kinds of thoughts swim through my mind and before I can stop myself, I turn to look behind momentarily. I regret doing so because I am chilled by the hardness of his eyes.