He unlocks it, plays a recording, and I listen to everything.

/ flashback \

'SEUNGGIL'S P.O.V'

The sound of my best friend's name leaving one of the guys' mouth stops me from going out, and I remain still to listen and be quiet.

"Have you noticed that he's not skating anymore?" he chuckles, bringing this incident up and making me want to step out to punch him. "Yeah, he's too embarrassed now. He lost all his confidence."

"I should have unscrewed three of the wheels instead, at least I wouldn't have to see this arrogant bitch's face anymore," he exposes something y/n and Joonha both thought to be possible, and I gape, realizing what that means. I take my phone out and record this conversation.

"That girl Minsun has a crush on is there though, so that's the good side of it. If we had damaged his skateboard a little more, he wouldn't see her," he mentions someone who will make Joonha go insane once he hears this. "Yeah. He has a crush on her, but this pussy cannot make a fucking move. If I was him, I'd have fucked her already, and I'd make sure that bitch knows I fucked his girlfriend. Like, honestly, she's not my type, but the other day, she was wearing some really tight shorts with thigh highs, and I saw her bend over and sit astride her skateboard, but dude, that made me want to hit it so fucking hard," he dares to talk disgustingly about her, not respecting her or the fact she is taken. She must be nothing but meat to him.

"Bro, I remember that day, she was so fucking hot in them," he agrees, both having the same mindset, both lacking a brain. "That's what I'm saying. I'm gonna try to make Minsun bring her to us one day, and we'll play with her," he sneers, and I do my best not to step out and kill them both. Joonha will take care of doing so. "He told me he's coming in a few minutes because she's here though, you could try it today."

"I will, but since he's not skating, she's not either, so it's gonna be hard to get her away from him," he plans on doing, having no idea what will happen once Joonha knows about this. "Whatever, I gotta take a piss," he finally puts an end to it, so I stop recording.

/ end of flashback \

Seunggil moves his phone back towards him after the audio ends, and I unconsciously tongue my inner cheek. I am about to blow up and go find those fucking assholes to beat them up, but I need to control myself. Y/n will be worried if I get into a fight, and my reaction will only satisfy them both.

"She should stop talking to that dude. I'm pretty sure he's not any better than them. He acts cute and shy in front of her, but he wouldn't be friends with them if he wasn't like them," he states what I was thinking about, and I agree. "I'm gonna tell her about it," I pass both hands through my hair to pull it back, and I keep them behind my head and bend it back. "Bro," I close my eyes and heavily breathe out to free my lungs. "I shouldn't stay here. If I see one of their faces, I'm gonna lose it and beat them up," I drop my arms down and bite my lips.

"You should control yourself and only get your anger out on them when y/n's not around. My boyfriend is like you, he easily loses his temper and fights if some guys talk shit about me, so I know how painful it is to see the one you love get hurt, and that's exactly how y/n's gonna feel, so just make sure she stays away from Minsun from now on and doesn't talk to him anymore," he gives me good advices so that I do not let my wrath take the upper hand.

This is not the first time it happens, I already broke my hand after hitting a guy too hard because he was harassing him for having a boyfriend, so he knows how far my anger can make me go if it concerns someone I care about.

"It just makes me so fucking mad," I slide my hands back in my pockets and check up on y/n to make sure she is alone. "I know. I'm mad too, especially about the fact that those bastards are the ones who messed your skateboard up to make sure you'd fail."

"I don't care about that anymore, I moved on, but I can't stand to hear people talk that way about my fucking girlfriend, it makes me go insane," I fidget on my spot and fight against the desire to look for those guys. "You know that a lot of guys must think that type of stuff about her, so just ignore it and keep her away from them. We live in a world full of assholes, so we have to deal with them."

"Hm," I set my eyes on y/n again. "Let's go back to her, I wanna go back home," I tell him and turn around, and he follows me, so I walk back to my baby.

"Let's go home," I land my hand on her thigh in a delicate manner and grab my bag. "Already? Why?" she peeks up at me and expresses some disappointment. "We'll talk about it on the way home. Okay?"

"Okay. Did I do something wrong?" she blames herself for this early departure and stands up. "If this is about that Han thing, I—"

"It's not, baby," I smile and reassure her, and I take her hand in mine to be ready to leave. "Are you staying?" I ask Seunggil, and he nods. "Yeah, I'm gonna join Hyunjin and skate with him," he tells me, so I do not bother him. "Alright, see you then and let Hyunjin know about it," I warn him so that y/n's best friend is aware too. "I will, see you," he waves at her, and she does it back, in an adorable manner.

Now, I hold my bag on my shoulder and leave this place.

"Wait, I gotta tell Minsun I'm leaving because I told him I was here—"

"Don't," I stop her from doing so. "Stop talking to him. The problem is about him and his friends. They said some disgusting shit about you, and this guy has a fucking crush on you. You need to stop talking to him, baby."

"Where did you hear that?" she stops typing the text, to my greatest relief. "Seunggil recorded his two friends saying it in the restroom, and those guys are real assholes. You shouldn't trust Minsun."

She gazes at me with some unexplainable doubt and briefly glances away. "But...what did they say exactly?"

"I can't repeat. It's disgusting, and I don't want you to know about it," I cannot tell myself to let the words out of my mouth, not feeling capable of doing so. "I don't know what you heard them say about Minsun, but he already warned me about them. He told me I shouldn't spend time with them, so he cannot be like those guys..."

I keep walking forward without answering, listening to her but feeling like she does not get what I mean. "I'm not doubting you, Joonha. Okay? I believe you, but if he was like them, he wouldn't have told me to avoid them."

"It's not just about him being like them, it's about him having a crush on you," I clarify so that she finally understands why I am telling her to put an end to it, and I look at her, but she does not seem to see it the same way I do. "What about Iseul...? You never stopped talking to her."

I stare at her for a few seconds, realizing she has a point and that I am slightly wrong. "But it's not the same, y/n," I break eye contact. "Iseul and I were friends for long already when we both met. That guy met you when we were really close— I mean," a sigh slips out of my mouth, and I stop speaking to think more deeply about my words.

I do not want to be toxic or ask her to cut him off because he is a male friend and that it makes me jealous. I just cannot stand that guy at all.

"I don't know," I give up on trying to explain myself, fearing that I could say something wrong without meaning to. For a moment, she remains quiet as much as I do, making me worry and become anxious.

"I do not even talk to him that much anymore lately, and he's never crossed the line or tried anything inappropriate with me, but I'll talk about this with him. Is it alright?" she shows that she cares, nonetheless. "It is," I intertwine our fingers and hope for her to understand why I feel that way.

40 minutes later...

My game seeming more difficult than usual, I try to focus on it and win against the other team, hearing y/n play with Choco on my bed and using his noisy toy. No matter how much I try, I cannot be into my game, so I quit and leave it there.

I heave a sigh to feel less tense, and I take a peek at y/n but grab my phone. This has been a bit cold between us since earlier. I do not like it.

I avoid getting caught by her and run my hand under my hoodie to touch my abdomen, and I read the text Seunggil sent me.

< bro I shouldn't have told Hyunjin about it he fucking lost it and decked them so hard i couldn't do anything to stop him ]

[ really? Is he okay tho? I didn't expect him to do that. I hope he's not gonna get in trouble >

< I hope too cuz he went hard and didn't think twice before going for them two. They both ran away like pussies. I'm worried they might try to get revenge on him tho, they're not the type to let him go away with it ]

[ yeah. Its gonna make y/n worry way too much. He shouldn't have done that >

< I tried to stop him but he didn't listen. I'm gonna have to be with him all the time now ]

[ if you ever get hurt because of those bitches. I'm gonna go insane so don't fight >

< aw you're so cute ]

[ shut up >

< :3 how did y/n react tho? ]

[ she told me he already warned her about his friends and that she shouldn't avoid them. About the crush part tho, i don't think this is a good reason for her to stop talking to him, she's gonna talk to him about it but Idk >

< he's a fucking bitch who plays innocent and soft. He always waits for her to be alone to get close and be with her. This ain't fine at all. I know what he's doing ]

[ I know too but she brought iseul up and I kinda felt like a hypocrite >

< well... ]

< its different cuz she's your colleague so you can't avoid her. You work with her every day ]

[ yeah I know. I'm not sure it's right to ask her to stop talking to him just bcs of that tho. She told me he never tried anything inappropriate or crossed the line so idk >

< idk either cuz I wouldn't want to cut a friend off only bcs they have a crush on me, especially if they don't try anything but respect the fact I'm taken. Feelings can't be controlled but he's a bit too weird imo ]

[ I think the same way but whatever, let's not talk about it anymore for now >

< alright. Do you wanna play? ]

[ i stopped a few minutes ago. I don't feel in the mood rn >

< okay, what about y/n? ]

I raise my eyes up to her. "Do you wanna play with Seunggil?" I ask her instead of telling him to text her, and she brings her attention towards me. "I was going to eat something, so I'll play tonight if he still wants to."

"Alright," I type her answer to let him know.

[ she's gonna eat so maybe tonight >

< alright then I'll wait for her tonight ]

[ ok >

I leave the conversation but hear y/n move and get out of my bed. She comes up to me, to my greatest relief, and she bends over the side of my chair to grip the arm of it and looks into my eyes.

We both stare at each other without saying anything, and I feel all my muscles relax. She is able to soothe me without even telling a single word.

"Why are you making that face?" she points my expression out, this one I do not even control. "What face?"

She shows an adorable pout, claiming this is what she has in front of her. "This face," she tells me, and I smile, uncontrollably. "I'm not making this face."

"You are, you know I always look at you, so I know it more than you do," she gets me to laugh and glance away. "I'm not pouting. I'm just naturally cute."

"I agree with that, but still," she drops her eyes to my lips, the ring of it for sure, and I slide my hands into the front pocket of my hoodie, but she comes closer and presses a comforting kiss on my lips. "Are you upset?"

"I'm not," I answer, not completely certain of it. She does not show any trust in this, but our moment gets interrupted by Choco who jumped on my lap.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing, Sir?" she straightens her back and picks him up to free her favorite spot, and she sits down on my thighs. "Now it's mine," she puts him down on her lap and pets him, and I cannot even help but smile. "He's stealing one of my pillows now."

"You don't need it for now, so it's okay," she pampers him with love and attention, always giving more than she receives. I take one hand out to pet him as well.

"I'll stop talking to him if it makes you feel better and more comfortable," she puts this forth after keeping quiet about it, and I raise my eyes up to hers.

"You don't have to," I do not say the same as earlier. "I don't want you to do anything just because I'm being a bit immature, but just to make sure you stay away from bad people."

"I know, but you're not immature," she smiles, seeming unbothered. "Don't worry about it," she makes sure I feel reassured and not bad about my feelings, and I wrap my arms around her. I feel the need to cuddle so much.

— Next day —

Sunday, September 18th, 2022.

9 am.

'YOUR P.O.V'

The tiredness still controlling my body, I stay in bed and text Minsun while Joonha is still sleeping.