they both jumped at the sound of the knocking on the door and then froze when they saw that is was mingi. san still had both his hands clasped around one of hers and was kneeling in front of her. it didn't look good.

"he's going to kill me" y/n whispered. san had never seen fear written on someone's face so clearly.

"what do you want me to do, y/n?"

"you have to open the door or it's just gonna be worse" her voice faltered as she spoke.

"are you sure?" san asked, getting to his feet.

"we have to. you have to act normal, san - please"

he walked over to the door feigning a smile at mingi through the glass before he carefully unlocked the door.

"hey, mingi. what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I thought I'd walk y/n home" he replied brightly. he was acting normally, which was very strange.

"oh, great" san replied as mingi walked straight past him.

"let's go baby" he said, reaching for her hand to pull her up. she reluctantly got up, eye-ing san as she followed him towards the door.

"y/n..." san called. she turned around and give him a look of pure fear. his heart broke right there as he knew what he was releasing her to.

"see you tomorrow, san" she simply replied.

-----

"mingi, baby, is everything okay with us?" she began as they walked home, mingi holding her hand tightly.

"yes baby, why wouldn't it be?" he smiled. why did it feel like the calm before the storm?

"oh g-good" she stuttered. "cos, I just didn't feel well, so, urm, san was just making sure I was okay"

he stopped dead and turned to her, putting the back of his hand to her forehead. "hmm, you don't have a temperature, so that's good" he chimed.

"yeah, I just felt sick... but I feel better now you're here" she tried. she was rewarded with a soft kiss on her forehead.

as she kept walking she thought - or hoped - that it had just been a phase and that mingi had learnt his lesson, but all the while, she had a horrible feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach.

9pm

in the hopes that not being near him would mean he would forget about the scene he'd witnessed earlier with san, y/n had decided to clean out the kitchen cupboards. in her mind, if she was busy doing something, she couldn't be doing anything wrong. she had removed the contents; the cups, glasses and plates and left them on the dining table.

she saw her phone light up on the shelf beside her and picked it up to see 5 missed calls and several messages from san:

sannie☕ 19:24
y/n, is everything okay? I'm worried about you x

sannie☕ 19:45
please answer. is something wrong? I need to know you're safe

sannie☕ 20:13
y/n, please, just say something

sannie☕ 20:40
fuck y/n, if he touches you

"can we go to bed soon?" mingi's voice carried through the hall.

"in a sec baby, I'm just doing the last shelf" she answered. she hadn't even changed since she got home and should have known her top would ride up again when the stretched to reach the back of the shelf.

"is-is that from me?" mingi asked, his voice tinged with sadness. obviously it was.

she got down from the counter and looked at mingi. couldn't he just leave her alone? hadn't he done enough?

"well where else would they be from, mingi?" she spat. she didn't know what came over her.

his face hardened. "don't be like that" he said.

"how am I supposed to be when you punched me?" she replied with gritted teeth.

he paused. "san told you to say this, didn't he?!" he growled. he hadn't forgotten.

"what? no... no.. I'm just-"

"you didn't have this attitude before, is this what sannie was telling you to say when he was touching you today?!"

"no! he only touched my hand, mingi. stop this!"

"are you fucking him?!"

there was no turning back from this. the way he'd been earlier was all a performance, it was obvious now.

"what the fuck, mingi?"

"fucking answer me!" he screamed as he picked up one of the plates from the table.

"mingi, think about what you're doing" she warned, her hands up in surrender.

"what's the point?! is he better than me? is his dick bigger?!"

in his eyes were pure rage. he wasn't sorry, he can't have been. she had no idea what had happened to the perfect boyfriend she once knew.

she paused for a moment, and then spoke; "at least san would never hurt me like you do" she said, her voice monotone.

it was a huge mistake. he raised the plate above his head and threw it in y/n's direction with all his strength. she let out a blood-curdling scream as it made impact just above her eye and smashed onto the floor.

mingi gasped audibly as blood poured down her face and onto her shirt from the blunt trauma. she brought her hand up to stem the blood flow but the red liquid only seeped through her fingers. with the other hand she hung onto the counter to steady herself, her vision blurring.

mingi took a look at what he'd done. "I'm sorry" he said, "I'm so sorry". and then he was gone. she heard his footsteps running through the hall and the front door opening - leaving her alone to try and stay conscious as blood dripped onto the wooden floor.

she took her hand anyway and realised she would probably need stitches from the sheer amount of blood still coming from the gash. but there was no way she could drive in this state. she picked her phone up to call san but then changed her mind - she couldn't bother him with this, he didn't deserve it. it was her problem. instead she typed out the words,

you
everything is fine

and went to grab her phone to call a cab to take her to the hospital.