As soon as the door closes behind Charity and Kwang Soo, Jong Kook jumps into action. He carefully sweeps up all the glass on the floor, disposing of it in the kitchen trash before walking the bag down the hall to the trash chute. He hurries back to the apartment before the door has time to swing all the way shut, slipping his hand in the gap to keep it from latching. While he said he would listen for Zoe, he is really, really hoping she won’t wake up. After taking care of the trash, he gathers cleaning products from beneath the sink in the kitchen and tackles the front of the fridge. The sight of Charity’s red handprints all over the surface make him cringe, instantly bringing to mind her frustrated screams and the look on her face when he walked into the apartment to find her face to face with her mother in law.

He shakes his head and devotes more energy to scrubbing the fridge than is strictly necessary. When he finishes, he moves on to the stove top, then the oven, coming close to breaking a sweat with his forceful cleaning. He dedicates equal energy to the counter tops, focusing all his thoughts on the frustrating crevice where the sink meets the counter top. When he runs out of surfaces to clean, he tosses the rag in the sink, then lifts his hat to run his hand over his hair, looking around for something, anything else to do. Grabbing the broom still leaning against the counter, he moves across the small kitchen space to replace it in the utility closet. Spying a mop and bucket, he drags those out as well to tackle the entire tiled floor of the kitchen and entryway. Every few moments, he stops and tilts his head, listening for any sound coming from the room at the top of the stairs.

When the front door beeps open several hours later, Jong Kook is aggressively fluffling all of the cushions on the couch. He lifts his head as the pair enter the apartment. Charity’s hand is heavily bandaged and Kwang Soo’s hoodie hangs limply around her shoulders. She toes off her shoes and shrugs off the sweatshirt, handing it back to Kwang Soo. Jong Kook watches and tries to make eye contact with Kwang Soo to get an idea of the temperature of Charity’s mood, but his efforts are ignored.

“Zoe didn’t make a sound,” Jong Kook volunteers from the living room.

Her head low, Charity gives him a nod without making eye contact. She mumbles, “Thanks” to Kwang Soo, then trudges up the stairs to her room as Kwang Soo kicks off his own shoes and heads toward Jong Kook, looking around the apartment as he does so.

As Charity’s door clicks closed, Kwang Soo says, “Well, you’ve been busy.” He takes in the details of Jong Kook’s overzealous cleaning, flopping onto the newly-fluffed couch.

“How is she?,” Jong Kook asks, taking up a position on the opposite couch.

“All right. Eight stitches in the end. I think it looked worse than it was.”

“That’s good. But… how is she?”

Kwang Soo shrugs and sighs, stretching out on the couch. “Fine. She seems fine.”

“She didn’t look fine when I came in earlier.”

Kwang Soo sighs again. “From what I gather, her mother in law is hard on her.”

“I saw that.”

“I wish I’d been here.”

“I was supposed to be here,” Jong Kook objects. “I said I would be.”

The two men are silent for a moment.

“Yes,” Kwang Soo agrees finally. “You were supposed to be here. But what could you have done, really?”

“I could have… I don’t know. I could stopped that woman from speaking to her like that. I mean, if she basically called Charity a and suggested her own son was better off dead than with his wife when we were standing right there, what do you think she said when we weren’t around? I could have spoken up for her. I could have told her that Charity is…” He trails off.

Kwang Soo waits a beat, then says, “That Charity is what, hyung?”

Jong Kook doesn’t answer, lost in thought. That Charity is what? That Charity is what? He wracks his brain, trying to come up with the words for the nebulous, undefinable thoughts swirling through his mind. She’s what? What would he have said? The harder he thinks about it, the more the words slip from his mental grasp, eluding exact definition. There’s something he wants to say, but he can’t pull the something from his mind to his mouth. He finally shakes his head, realizing that Charity’s parting shot was correct. It’s not like they’re friends. He doesn’t know anything about her. He doesn’t know how he would have fashioned himself into an effective human shield between Charity and her mother in law. He feels like he would have, though. While the exact words and methods escape him at the moment, he strongly believes that if he’d just kept his word, he could have helped.

He clenches his teeth and his jaw works in frustration at his own actions. If he’d just told Charity about Hannah, she would have understood. If he’d let her know he wasn’t going to make it, she wouldn’t have been blindsided. Flashes of the previous few days flit through his mind. Kwang Soo lecturing him about thinking of nothing but Hannah. Charity hesitantly asking him to help her not feel alone. Hannah’s brilliant smile and warm, welcoming manner that made him totally ignore all other obligations. Thinking back on it now, though, it’s suddenly much clearer where Kwang Soo was coming from and much harder to remember what was so special about his time with Hannah that he couldn’t remember he’d made a promise to a friend. Well, to a friend of a friend. The harder he thinks, the more everything hazes over with static, finally leaving him to give up with a frustrated grunt.

“Hyung?,” Kwang Soo questions at the sudden sound.

“Nothing.” Jong Kook shakes his head to clear it and leans forward with his elbows on his knees. “Is she angry with me? Did she say? I should probably leave in the morning,” he says ruefully, mostly sorry for hurting Charity but also a little bit sorry to lose the quiet and privacy of the spacious luxury apartment as compared to his own home.

“No.” Kwang Soo shakes his head. “I mean, she didn’t say. We mostly talked about Zoe, actually. She didn’t mention you and I didn’t bring it up.” Kwang Soo stands suddenly, unfolding his long form from its boneless puddle on the couch. “I’m going to bed. I have an early call before filming tomorrow.”

“Ah,” Jong Kook stands as well. “Do you need a ride to the shoot or anything?”

“No, my manager is coming for me.” He stretches then crosses to his room.

“Kwang Soo,” Jong Kook calls just as the door is about to shut. Kwang Soo sticks his head back out, raising his eyebrows questioningly. “What should I do?”

“I don’t know, hyung. I honestly don’t know.”

Jong Kook nods. He hadn’t expected an answer, really. Kwang Soo gives a small wave.

“See you at the filming.” He pulls his head back into the room and closes the door softly.

Jong Kook lets out a long breath and sinks back down onto the couch. He’s tired, but not ready to sleep. For a moment, he stares up at the room at the top of the steps, trying to focus on the woman behind the silent door and why he keeps messing up with her over and over and over. Once again, the more he thinks about it, the more the thoughts evade him, frustrating him. He can’t even begin to formulate a plan of action with Charity. He doesn’t know what to do or where to go or why he even feels it’s so urgent to do so, aside from the fact that he messed up their supposed fresh start.

Idly, he slides his phone from his pocket and is surprised to see a notification of a message from Hannah on the screen. He thumbs it open, noting it had arrived about an hour before, probably when he was deep into aerobic mopping.

HannahBanana799476: Mr. Kim Jong Kook! Thanks for taking me to your gym today, I had a great time! :) :) :)

He smiles despite his conflicted mood.

kjk76: You’re very welcome. Any time! Thanks for making lunch and sorry I had to run so quickly. I forgot something I had to do.

HannahBanana799476: It’s all right. Like I said, something came up for me, too. It’s totally fine!

kjk76: Is everything okay?

HannahBanana799476: Yep, totally fine. Just a little miscommunication. Or lack of communication, really.

kjk76: Was it Daniel? Did he try to make you go to the store for him or some crap? Because I will talk to him.

HannahBanana799476: Nope. Not Daniel. And just so you know, I can handle him on my own.

kjk76: I’m sure you can, but why should you have to?

HannahBanana799476: Haha! Because I’m an adult who takes care of herself!

HannahBanana799476: Did the thing you forgot work out okay?

kjk76: Not really, I was too late.

HannahBanana799476: :( :(

kjk76: Don’t worry about it. I’m going to try to work it out somehow. When do you want to go to the gym again?

HannahBanana799476: Tomorrow is my last free day before work and classes start. Are you free?

kjk76: I’m not, actually. The f