One of the numerous reasons why Eunha didn't like going out at night was that she was paranoid. The darkness, the empty streets, the silence, it all made her senses stir up, perhaps even more than necessary. She was a massive fan of horror and enjoyed watching serial killer documentaries, but when all of those videos replayed in her mind as she walked alone in an empty street at midnight, she didn't enjoy it much. It felt like a backlash of all that thrill she liked feeling from viewing paranormal activities on her screen, inside the safety of her home.

Even though it was the new year, there wasn't much hustle and bustle in the streets. It was quite peaceful, Eunha assumed, probably because she lived in a slightly isolated area so there were fewer houses around. Therefore, fewer people.

Her warm breath formed a little misty cloud in front of her face as she breathed out. Every little sound irked her, even the faintest of them, as she walked down a deserted-looking street. She wasn't a stranger to the route. This street was just like any other normal street in Seoul that she'd walked through many times, but at night, everything seemed a bit different, a bit more grim and scary.

Eunha felt vulnerable even though there was no danger in sight. She couldn't stop gulping hard or glancing around. The convenience store is just around the corner, she told herself, as she pulled on the edge of her mint-colored scarf, anxiously.

After a moment or two, she heard something rustle behind her and snapped her neck around to analyze her surroundings immediately. Luckily, there was no stray dog or serial killer following her. Eunha sighed in relief and wished Taehyung had come with her. At least she wouldn't feel this paranoid if he was here.

So much for being a man! Eunha mentally snickered, how useless. Who lets a girl go out at this time of the night all alone? And yet here she was, going to buy ice cream, at midnight, for a grown-up man who should possibly know that it's dangerous for a woman to be out late. Eunha clicked her tongue, feeling stupid for leaving alone. She felt that she should have forced Taehyung to go with her.

In an attempt to distract her mind from all the worst-case scenarios that were forming in her mind at the moment, the brunette tried measuring the distance between her current location and the convenience store. Twenty-five more steps, perhaps? She thought. No, twenty-three, twenty-two now. She mentally counted.

Twenty-one more steps.

Twenty more steps.

Nineteen more steps.

Her pace quickened with every step that she took and a feeling of relaxation came over her, knowing that she was so close to reaching her destination.

"Son of a whore!"

Eunha came to a sudden halt.

Thud.

What was that? She wondered as she turned around, carefully, to look behind her, but there was nobody in sight. Not in the front, not at her back. There was no person except her in the street, not even an animal.

Then what was that sound? And who had cussed? Eunha wondered, and as if on cue, she heard the sound again. The sound of someone kicking something or dropping something heavy to the ground. The thud was followed by a gruff male voice spitting profanities while another male voice, which sounded younger than the first voice, was moaning, as if in sheer pain.

As the cursing and kicking continued, Eunha realized where the noise was coming from. It was coming from inside the alley she had just rushed past while counting her steps.

"You thought you'd get away with that, you fucking dimwit!" The gruff voice shouted, and Eunha unknowingly flinched.

She knew she should have just walked away and minded her own business instead of sneaking-peeking and raising her chances of getting into unnecessary trouble, but her curiosity did not let her move. Some part of her was partially concerned for whoever was groaning in pain. If somebody was assaulting someone, they could end up getting murdered, and Eunha didn't want anyone to die that way.

Drawing in a sharp breath, she braced herself for whatever she was about to witness, as she pressed herself against the gray wall and carefully peaked from a corner, making sure she was hidden from whoever was inside the alley. At first, Eunha couldn't see anything because of how dark it was, since there were no streetlights inside the alley, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could make out three male figures.

Eunha couldn't see their details very well but she noticed that the man with the gruff voice, who was still cursing, seemed to be in his late 20s. Another man stood next to him, snickering, who seemed to be the same age and was chewing on, what Eunha supposed was, bubblegum. Both of these men were muscular and tall and seemed like the type of men you wouldn't want to get in hot water with.

The third male, who seemed to be around Eunha's age, was on the ground, curled up in a ball and moaning in pain. Eunha noticed that he appeared severely beaten up and figured he'd been getting hit for a while now. The snickering man stomped on the boy's hand and he screeched. Eunha's breath hitched and she wanted to run away as fast as possible, but the saint's urge to help the beaten-up boy nagged Eunha to stay there, to do something.

She looked around frantically, searching for somebody who could help, but the street was deserted. Her second thought was Taehyung, but she figured calling him would be pointless since he wouldn't care anyway, and would probably scold her for sticking her nose in other's business. But this wasn't just others' business, this was assault, and she had to do something for the sake of the humanity in her.

Of course, calling the police was the best choice. She pulled out her phone from her pocket, slowly, so that the rustling of her clothes wasn't noticed by anyone. Before she had typed in the password and unlocked her phone, the older man kicked the boy again. She heard a crack and sincerely hoped it wasn't his ribs.

"Watch your mouth next time, loser." The man hissed at the younger boy and motioned for the other male to follow him, as he turned around to leave. Amidst the panic dialing and keeping an eye on the men, the phone slipped from Eunha's hands and fell to the ground.

Clack.

Alarms went off in Eunha's mind as the two men halted in their steps immediately. Eunha retreated her figure and pressed herself fully against the wall, hiding, just before any of them could turn around and notice her head peering inside the alley.

"What was that?" The man chewing on the bubblegum said, looking around.

"Whatever it was, fuck it. Let's leave." The gruff man stated, seeming unconcerned, as he cast a last irritated glance at the poor boy on the ground before turning his back to him again.

"Alright," The second male responded. "what a fantastic way to start the year though! Wanna get laid now?" He added with a filthy grin, and the other man let out a nasty chuckle, as they walked away together.

If Eunha wasn't so busy grabbing her phone off the ground and steadying her breath, she would have cringed more. She waited behind the wall until both of the disgusting men were out of sight and long gone before she peeked inside the alley again to see only the mewling boy on the ground.

"Assholes." She heard the boy mumble, as he struggled to sit up straight. Once he had managed to lift his back off the ground, he pressed himself against the wall, hissing out in pain. His face was covered in bruises and his lip was bleeding. In addition to that, his body ached because of being kicked around like a ragdoll. Eunha double-checked that the men were gone before she entered the alley and ran up to the boy and sat down before him.

"Are you okay?" It was an idiotic question but she asked it anyway. The boy's eyes widened slightly when he noticed her presence. He frowned as if he was wondering what a petite little girl like Eunha was doing out so late.

"Do I look?" The boy deadpanned, glancing around to check if there was anybody else with the stranger girl.

"I'm sorry, you don't. I'll call an ambulance right now-" Eunha responded, panicking over his injured condition.

"Woah, don't. I'm not that hurt. I just need a first-aid kit. If you have one, get me that." He cut her off immediately, making Eunha pause before she could even turn on her phone. Eunha frowned. Why would he choose to get a first-aid kit over going to a hospital when he's in this state?

"I have one...but it's at my house. Can you walk?" Eunha asked, putting the phone back in her pocket.

"Probably, since my legs aren't broken." He replied, bitterly, as he attempted to stand up and groaned when he felt a splitting pain in his gut. His hand went to his stomach and he bent down as a reflex of his body.

"Let me help you," Eunha suggested, as she bent down to give him a hand, but he slapped it away.

"No thanks." He glared at her.

Rude.

For a split moment, Eunha wanted to change her mind and leave the boy right there all by himself for glaring at her when she was trying to help him, but she swallowed her anger and assumed that he must be acting like this because he was in pain. She patiently stood by him and waited until he had finally stood up straight. He kept moaning and hissing, concerning Eunha even more.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call an ambulance?" She eyed him, worry evident in her gaze.

"Yes." The stubborn boy replied, his hand still placed on his gut.

She sighed. "Fine. Follow me."

Eunha wondered if it was safe to bring a stranger to her home, as she started walking with the unknown boy following behind her. If he was getting beat up by street thugs then he was the troublemaker type. Eunha eyed him from head to toe, trying to see if he had any kind of weapon on him, but the more she looked at him, the more he seemed harmless. Aside from that, she knew she had Taehyung at home so if this boy tried anything weird, she was confident Taehyung could take care of the situation.

This wasn't how Eunha had expected to begin her new year. She hadn't bought ice cream and was bringing home a beaten-up suspicious boy instead. Taehyung was not going to like it. She decided she should get some basic information about this boy at least so that if he seems dangerous, she could change her mind about helping him.

"So what's your name?" She started with the simplest question, but the boy didn't seem pleased with the idea of conversing.

"None of your concern." He muttered while rubbing his arms. Eunha noticed that he wasn't wearing enough clothes so he must be cold. She was trying to be as nice as possible with him, but his tone was starting to put Eunha off. She stopped and turned her head to look in his direction.

"Then your injuries are none of my concern either, you know. Good luck suffering. Bye-"

"Jeon Jungkook." The boy answered, cutting her off.

"What?" She glared at him.

"My name is Jeon Jungkook." He told her, avoiding eye contact. Eunha contemplated whether to say something sarcastic or introduce herself.

"I'm Lee Eunha." She chose the latter.

The boy, Jungkook, nodded and they continued walking side-by-side. As they passed from under a streetlight, Eunha side glanced at him to see what he looked like. Since it was dark back in the alley, she hadn't been able to distinguish his features very well.

Jungkook had a round face with an equally round nose and a noticeable jawline. He had fair skin with dark brown hair and adorable doe eyes. Under his small chin, Eunha noticed, how his upper lip was thinner than the lower one and there was a very tiny mole right below his pink lips. Eunha found him extremely cute, but she knew that looks can be deceiving so she decided not to fall for his appearance and keep up her guard.

"How old are you?" She continued her interrogation.

"20,"

"We're the same age." Eunha displayed a friendly smile, but Jungkook did not reciprocate the energy. He only hummed in response, keeping his eyes ahead. Although, when she looked away from him, Eunha could sense his eyes on her, watching her curiously. She decided to be quiet for the rest of the walk since Jungkook was not willing to talk. Eunha figured nobody would like to be investigated while every inch of their being was aching.

Before Eunha could finally make up her mind about whether she wanted to help Jungkook or not, they had already reached her house. Taehyung was still sitting under the porch light with an unlit cigarette between his fingers. Eunha figured that he was done with his cigarette, and was contemplating whether to smoke another one or not before she returned.

"We're here." She briefly informed Jungkook, who had also noticed Taehyung on the porch.

"Who's that?" He asked, his gaze fixed on Taehyung.

"He's my friend, Taehyung." She told him.

"I see." Jungkook nodded. His eyes lingered on Taehyung's attire, and Eunha knew what he was thinking.

He's probably rich.

Eunha sighed, as she mentally replied. Nah, my dude, he's broke as heck and only has money for cigarettes.

When they had stepped close enough, Taehyung noticed Eunha and his face lit up "Oh, you're back." He smiled, putting the cigarette in his hand back inside its pack, though his expression faded when his eyes landed on Jungkook.

"Who the hell are you?" Taehyung scowled, analyzing Jungkook's jet-black leather clothing from head to toe.

"Jeon Jungkook," Jungkook replied, poking his inner cheek with his tongue, as he wiped his bleeding lip with the sleeve of his jacket.

"Who the hell is he, Eunha?" Taehyung's annoyed gaze shifted back to Eunha. "And what about my ice cream?" He added when he realized that Eunha's hands were empty. She let out a sigh. Of course, the first thought that came to his mind after seeing a hurt person was where his ice cream was. Classic Taehyung.

"We can have the ice cream later, Tae. Jungkook needed help so I brought him here." She said.

"Well, if he was able to walk here he could have just walked to a hospital or called an ambulance, so why follow you here instead?" Taehyung countered, eyeing Jungkook suspiciously. Jungkook stood slightly bent over, indicating that he was still in pain.

"I can't go to the hospital," Jungkook phrased.

"Why?"

"I have my reasons." He rubbed the nape of his neck, sighing.

"Very suspicious." Taehyung raised an eyebrow.

"Taehyung, please. He's bleeding." Eunha interrupted. Taehyung stared at her for a moment, then huffed and stood up. He clicked his tongue and glared at Jungkook before he spoke.

"Fine. Come in, but before you think of trying anything funny, don't forget whose house you're in." He warned and moved to open the door for Eunha and Jungkook to enter.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on getting into more trouble tonight," Jungkook responded, and followed Eunha inside the house, hoping he could get some rest.

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A/N: Jungkook has entered the chat :D