Her hair was in a dishevelled mess and her face sticky from the tears that had dried as fresh ones ran over it repeatedly. The shirt she wore on her outing with the boys were torn at her shoulder and some buttons busted at the fronts as it hung off her bony frame. She had a hand desperately clenching on the front of her shirt to prevent herself from exposing, the other smoothing her own hair as though in a comforting manner but her mind was obviously out of place.

Cautiously, he hurried to follow behind, worried of what might have become of her. “Yoon HaYeon?” He started soft, not trying to startle the girl who already seemed like she was frightened enough for the day. “Yoon HaYeon?” He tried again, this time, slightly louder. Alarmed, she stopped abruptly as she contemplated if she should turn. As usual, she brought a finger in as she bit nervously while looking warily over her shoulder. Finally, she spun herself around too quickly she almost lost her balance as she held her hands out in a defensive manner, distancing herself from TaeHyung.

Not looking at him, she quickly mumbled with a finger still in . “Go away, Go away.”

“Yoon HaYeon. It’s me, TaeHyung.” He tried to coo in a reassuring tone as he took one step towards her. As expected she took one step back, shaking her head violently.

“No. You are not TaeHyung. You are here to hurt me again.”

“Look.” TaeHyung attempted again firmly this time, noticing how she was backing away too quickly towards the main road. “Look at me, Yoon Ha Yeon. I am TaeHyung. And I’m not here to hurt you.” But she could not hear a thing. Instead, she held her hands over her ears, her eyes darting left and right as though the surrounding houses were caving in on her as she continued to take baby steps backwards heading for the road.

TaeHyung contemplated if he should extend his hands out and pull her towards him to make her realize or if he should let her be unless she was in danger. The girl did not seem to bother, as all she thought about was to run away.

From the guy before her, from everything.

Turning around, she made a sudden mad dash for the road and without even waiting for the crossing lights to turn green, had already set foot on the main road. Without even time to think, TaeHyung was left astounded by her sudden action. He found his legs sprinting towards HaYeon and pulled her in by her arm.

She was hurled in where she crashed hard against TaeHyung’s chest, pushing the both of them back with the impact. On reflex, TaeHyung tightened both arms over the girl to prevent both of them from falling backwards as he extended his legs out to regain balance.

Before they could even regain their balance properly, HaYeon shoved herself out of the grip and screamed. TaeHyung met the ground with a thud, but he could not care less. His mind was focused on ensuring that she does not rush out to the road again. Pushing himself off the cold floor, he took careful steps towards HaYeon who seemed out of control.

“Yoon Ha Yeon,” he started cautiously again. “I’m TaeHyung.” He gulped nervously as he inched towards her again. His mind was blank and he was not even sure himself of what he was going to do or what he was even doing. Well, apart from repeating that he was TaeHyung and that he was not going to hurt her. Helplessness overcame him as he scanned her pockets for any possible medications that she could be carrying around. He contemplated calling Jimin but he was not sure if HaYeon wanted anyone as a matter of fact to see her in this state. Pushing his phone back into his pocket, he waited patiently, slightly calmer as he noticed HaYeon crouched in a squat a good 2 metres away from him. He tried his best not to look at her and only checked on her once every minute to make sure she was still there.

All of a sudden, the piercing screaming seized.

Feeling relieved, TaeHyung heaved a sigh as he turned to look at HaYeon, glad that it was finally over. To his dismay, her thin body laid motionlessly on the cold cement pavement, her eyes fall shut and her cheeks scratched from the impact.

Dashing over to her side, he quickly stooped down into a squat and carefully shook her body. “Yoon… HaYeon? Yah! How can you sleep over here!” he started, afraid that she may just pounce up again and start her screaming frenzy all over again. However, she did not even budge.

Unsure of what to do, he looked around the vicinity for a clinic when he recalled that there was a hospital just around the corner. Instantly, he stripped off his hoodie, his cold body clothed in just a thin shirt, and covered HaYeon’s exposed body with it. In a swift motion, he slipped his hands under her body and lifted her off the ground. Hastening his pace, he moved as quickly as he could towards the clinic with HaYeon in his arms. His breathing became heavier and he felt his body getting tired from all the running away he did previously but he did not allow himself to let go just then. Instead, he pressed on and when he finally barged through the doors of the clinic he could not h