Baekhyun's POV.

    When I left the party, I didn't even bother to say goodbye to anyone. How could I? If I stayed they would have wondered more about why I wasn't acting normal. They would have been asking me so many questions that I didn't want to answer. I didn't feel like telling everyone my business. They don't need to know anything. I could handle it myself. So I ran off and out the door. I only focused on getting back to the SM building safely.

    Soonhee followed me to the front yard after I left. She was calling out my name, "Baekhyun!! Byun Baekhyun!!!" Hoping that I would turn around and talk to her.

   A girl on the other side of the street was sitting on her front porch when she heard my name being called out. She jumped up immediately when she saw my silouhette walking away from the porch light of Soonhee's house. "BAEKHYUN OPPA!" She screamed.

    "Great. Just great," I thought, "Like I need this right now." I ran as fast as I could to get away from the crazy fan. She followed me for about 2 1/2 blocks, but then gave up when I eventually disappeared into the dark alleyway of two closeby buildings. I pressed my back against the brick wall and tried to catch my breath, all while sliding down to the ground. My legs couldn't hold up my body any longer. The night went on and I just sat there in the alley, trying to think of what to do next. I hoped that the crazy girl wasn't coming back. What if there were more of them? I'd never be able to get back to the SM building. Hell, I didn't even feel safe there either to be completely honest. It was like I was trapped everywhere. Sadly, the alleyway felt like the safest place for me at the time. Nobody was there to hurt me, it was okay.

    Just when I thought it was okay to finally relax, I heard a car drive by the alley. It stopped right after it passed by. Curious, I peeked around the corner to see who it was. It strangely looked like Taeyeon sunbae getting out of the car from behind. The figure walked closer to me, and I whipped back behind the corner. She noticed me, and came over to the alley. "Baekhyun-ah?" She quietly called out. It was Taeyeon sunbae. She got closer and I flinched. "It's okay," she assured, "You can come out. I won't hurt you."

    I stepped into the light, allowing her to see me without my mask on. She saw my injury and gasped in horror. "I didn't want  you to see me like this. I was afraid of what you would do."

    "What do you mean?" She questioned with worry, "Who did this to you?"

    I hesitated. "I don't think I'm allowed to say."

    "That's ridiculous! I have to know! Did the fans do this to you?" She looked over my bruised lip worriedly. "I saw you running from one while I was driving by and noticed that you came to hide over here. I want to help you."

    I quickly covered my mouth with my face mask. "There's nothing you can do. I'm sorry, sunbae but I-"

    "You can call me noona, you know." She cracked a smile, probably to make the situation better.

   "No way," I shook my head. "I have way too much respect for you to do that." Even though deep down inside I was a genuine fanboy of hers, and would absolutely love to call her noona. I just couldn't.

    "Well that's okay," she smiled again, this time more warmly. "Come to my car with me please? I want to at least help you."

    My mask slipped down to my chin as I nodded and then proceeded to walk to her car. She opened the passenger door for me and I sat down on the seat waiting for her to sit next to me. Taeyeon adjusted her rear view mirror and looked behind her, then on all sides around the car. She must have been looking out for suspecting stalkers with cameras. I heard her ruffling through her purse for something. "Aha, here it is," she said quietly, almost like a whisper. In her hands was a tube of make-up. "This should take care of it for a while." She twisted off the cap and put a little bit on her fingers, then tapped my bruise with it. I flinched a bit. "Ah, sorry Baekhyun. Does it hurt?"

    "A little bit, but it's okay." I replied. She finished applying the make-up by smoothing it out onto my chin. Her fingers were so small and felt cold on my skin, but it was a good feeling. I didn't even care that it hurt.

    Taeyeon sighed, "Well, that should be good for now. At least no one will notice."

    I looked into the mirror from the sun visor. It was hardly noticeable anymore, at least for the time being since it was dark out anyway. "Wow, it looks great," I expressed my gratitude, "Thank you noona!"

    She smiled when she heard me call her noona. She must have liked it. "Anytime," she replied.

    There was a long silence in the air for a while, except for rustling in the trees. I coughed and Taeyeon looked at me. I urged myself to speak, and trusted myself with anything that would come to my mind first at that very moment. "Noona," I began. Taeyeon turned to me and raised her eyebrows. "Were you curious as to who actually did this to me?"

    "It's your own business isn't it?" She asked, "Besides, I thought you didn't want to tell me. You said you weren't allowed or something, right?"

    I sighed and looked at my feet, "But I want to tell you. Out of anyone I know, I feel that I can trust you the most."

    She didn't say anything to me right away, because she must have felt touched by what I said. I glanced at her and she gave me a faint whisper to continue.

    "Well," I started, "You know how Kris... Uh Yifan left? He filed for termination of his contract with the company. I was the first to find out about it. When Youngmin President confronted us that we weren't allowed to speak with Yifan, he took away our phones and he must have done something with our SNS accounts. I know he did. Even if he didn't, someone else did, because it's all over the media that most of us "unfollowed" him from our SNS accounts. Youngmin president didn't know that I had another phone and I was contacting Yifan. Somehow he found out about it. Later that same day, one of the managers tried to talk to me about it and when I refused to cooperate with him, he and some of the other staff hit me. Some fans even recorded the staff hitting my hand in an attempt to take my phone. They sent people later that night to hurt me. They actually beat me, as you can see on my face. But I won't show you anywhere else where there are even worse bruises. I'm already having a hard time talking about it," I had to stop to take a breath, "This is getting too much for me. They've already started threatening me. I'm getting so sick. How much longer will they hurt me?"

    Taeyeon just sat there with agape, probably trying to comprehend everything. "I can't believe it. I won't believe it," she said.

    "Noona please," I begged, "You have to believe me. If you won't, nobody will. You're the only person I can turn to now. We have to do something about this. What if someone else gets beaten or hurt?" Tears started to roll down my face and my heart clenched up. It was getting harder to breathe. It felt like everything was spinning and I couldn't keep up with it.

    Taeyeon abruptly hugged me, tighter and tighter with every gasp of air I took while I sobbed uncontrollably. “Shhh,” she comforted me, “everything is going to be alright. I promise. I won’t let this get any worse. I’ll do something about it. Mark my words.” Her fingers my hair and my breathing started getting softer and calmer, even after she hugged me. I didn’t know why, but I felt so safe with her. It might have been a bit awkward for the girl to protect the guy. After all, I felt like I should be protecting her because I am a man. But it didn’t even matter to me. I liked it this way; a noona protecting her dongsaeng.

    She wiped away my tears and I stared at her, admiring her beauty in the moonlight. She looked more and more beautiful each time I saw her. Even if she came to meetings and practices without make-up on, she was still a natural beauty. Ever since I was a trainee, I have always been in love with her. I have always admired her, her talent, and who she was as a person. People have asked me in interviews who my ideal type in SNSD is, since they all knew I was a big fan. I would always tell them “Kim Taeyeon sunbae.” I’ve always been so sincere about it. Looking at her at that very moment, feeling her comfort and compassion, made me fall even more in love with her. If only there was some kind of alternate universe where she would feel the same way about me too, just like in my dreams. Maybe then all of the pain and sorrow that I currently felt would suddenly disappear forever.

    The silence in the air broke again when she spoke, “Baekhyun-ah, did you want me to drive you to the entertainment building?” She already had her hand on her keys in the ignition. “I’ll make sure you get there safely.”

    My breathing started to jump along to the beat of my heart, “N-no,” I answered quickly, “I mean, no thank you. I can’t. I don’t feel safe there anymore.”

    “Oh,” she looked down at the steering wheel, nodding slowly in response, “I understand.” Then she lifted her head back up in surprise and looked around to the buildings around us. “What was that?”

    I looked around, “What was what? Did you hear something?”

    Taeyeon turned her car back on, muttering, “Let’s get out of here.” Before backing up out of the parking space and driving us off to who knows where. I should have been scared of whatever or whoever could have been watching us, but I was more confused and probably frustrated more than anything. All the while, I kept asking myself, “When will this nightmare end?”