“Jonghyun?” Jinki followed the very familiar blonde-tipped hair in to the dark alley.

“Jonghyun!” Jinki exclaimed as he pushed Jonghyun against the wall, effectively trapping him.

“You shouldn’t be here Jinki, go back home.” Jonghyun said softly, his eyes darting here and there.

“This is the reason why you cancelled our date tonight? The reason why I can never get a hold of you in the evenings?” Jinki asked as his finger softly traced the small cut on Jonghyun’s jaw.

“Jinki…” Jonghyun whispered softly, his eyes finally meeting Jinki’s.

“No, don’t ‘Jinki’ me Jonghyun. And was that Haesuk? What is going on Jonghyun?” Jinki’s hold tightened around Jonghyun’s wrist. his fingers pressing in strongly, almost bruising.

Jonghyun let out a small sigh tinged with sadness. He knew Jinki would catch up to him, ask him those questions he could always see nowadays whenever their eyes met.
“I...I sort of work for Haesuk now.” he said softly.

He saw Jinki’s eyes widen at that, he felt the hold him loosen for a second only to come back in full force.

It didn’t take Jinki a lot of time to put two and two together. He let out an angry breath when he realised why the beatings, the curses, his things going missing had stopped so suddenly. He hated himself for being happy at that when he finally realised the real reason.
“No…” and he let go of Jonghyun’s hand, his hands now caressing Jonghyun’s cheeks.

“I had to.” Jonghyun let himself soften against the warmth he felt. “I couldn’t stand to see you go through that everyday.”

“Had I ever complained?” Jinki felt his anger rising, he took in a deep breath and continued, “Do you know this hurts me more than his bullying!”

“Jinki-”

“No! To protect me, you become like them, do what they did to me to others?” He could feel the anger travelling through his veins as his hurt heart kept pumping more and more of it with each passing second.

Jonghyun recoiled at Jinki’s words, he had realised this the instant that day when Haesuk had struck up a deal with him, to protect Jinki.

He had so much to say, but words deserted him as he knew Jinki was right. He saw Jinki move away from him, the initial warmth now replaced with a cold look, b with hurt and disappointment.

“Jonghyun, please don’t make me hate you.” Jinki said softly before he left.

Jonghyun slid down to the ground, allowing himself to drown in the cold he had seen in Jinki’s eyes, he knew he deserved it.

------

A/N:
Sorry?^^"