10pm

she had stayed there, curled up on the sofa, for around three hours. mingi had been upstairs for this whole time so she hadn't dared to head up to bed - not that she'd be able to sleep anyway.

she decided to go to the kitchen to get some water. as she reached for the glass, she noticed her hand still shaking and put her other hand over the top to try and still it.

"baby..."

she jumped at the sound of mingi's voice from the doorway - she hadn't even heard him come downstairs. but something was off about the way he said "baby".

"baby... do you want me to... if you want I can sleep on the sofa" he slurred. he had obviously been drinking. this made her terrified - last night he had proved he was capable of such acts while sober, so being drunk definitely wouldn't stop him from getting angry at her again.

he stumbled over to where she was stood, her back to him. she could still feel the heartbeat of dull pain in her stomach. a shiver came over her as she felt his strong arms snake around her waist.

"I need to hold you, y/n. are you okay? I'm going to hold you until you don't hurt anymore"

she said nothing.

"please talk to me, I'm sorry I got mad baby girl... you know... you know you're my whole world"

she could feel herself shaking under his touch. she knew it wasn't a good idea to ignore him for too long though, so she mustered all her bravery and turned to face him.

"there's my beautiful girl" he smiled, unable to stand straight.

"mingi... you hit me..."

the words escaped from her mouth before she had chance to pull them back.

his smile disappeared. before she knew it, he had got down on the floor and kneeled infront of her shaking form. he grabbed her hand with both of his and broke down. his sobs were even more dramatic in his current drunken state.

"I'm so sorry" he wailed. "I'm a fucking idiot. I never meant to hurt you" he continued,

"I'm so scared of losing you, y/n. I'm fucking terrified. you're the best thing that ever happened to me, you save my life everyday. you're the only reason I'm alive. I can't lose you"

"why do you think you're going to lose me all of a sudden?!" she asked, looking down at his shivering body.

"because you're beautiful and all these guys want your attention, y/n"

"but why now?"

he stood up and looked into her eyes. "you're getting bored of me..." he whispered through sobs.

"no I'm not... but baby, you need to stop this, you need help or something... you're gonna push me away"

"no!" he gasped.

"I don't want to be scared of you"

"baby, it won't happen again - I promise. I won't touch you ever again"

she sighed. they'd been here before just the other night.

"I promise, y/n! look, let's go to bed and I'll cuddle you better all night. let me get you a hot water bottle for your stomach... or just my hand... please... let me make it better"

and as much as she knew she shouldn't, she agreed.

monday 10am

y/n had spent the night in mingi's arms. after drinking almost half a bottle of vodka, mingi had fallen straight asleep, but y/n had stayed up half the night, no longer feeling safe in her boyfriend's embrace.

"hey, y/n!" san called. he was obviously feeling brighter than yesterday.

"oh, hey san!" she called back. she felt happy that san was a little bit more normal today.

san himself had been debating whether to message her last night, but decided it might be not be safe. he still had the message saved in his drafts;

you
hey y/n, sorry I was kinda off today. I was just tired. I just wanted you to know that it's never you, you could never do anything wrong. and I'm always here if you need me - any time of day x

but he'd decided it would be better to talk to her in person.

he watched her carefully as she washed some of the dirty mugs in the sink. she looked beautiful. she hadn't even made any special effort today... in fact she looked like she'd kinda rushed this morning - her hair was in a messy bun and she kept pushing back a loose strand that adorned her face. but she still looked so good. god, he was so whipped for her.

"san?"

"yeah?"

"I asked you if you enjoyed the party"

"oh, yeah, it was good. even if I spent the whole night hearing woo throw up in the next room"

"ewww" she laughed. he loved her laugh, he thought about it so often, it never failed to make him smile.

"do we have any more paper towels?" she asked, looking around.

"urm, yeah, top shelf" he answered.

she got up on the footstool but still had to stretch to reach the top shelf. her shirt rode up a little and san went to avert his eyes out of respect - but he did a double take. on the side of her stomach, he saw two large purple bruises. the blood had rose to the top in some places making a patchwork of darker red spots.

he felt sick. once was bad enough. he would have spoken to y/n in time, made sure she understood that it wasn't right and told her to come straight to him if it happened again. but now there were more than just the bruises on her neck. he silently crept into the back, afraid to say anything too rash, and mentally cursed the red-headed boy that could so easily hurt someone so pure and fragile.

5pm

the key turned in the lock as y/n closed the door after the last customer. she turned the 'open' sign to 'closed' and picked her cloth up to begin cleaning the tables. in honesty, she was going to take as long as possible with this task - she didn't want to go back to mingi. not yet, at least.

"I know what he does to you", came a voice.

y/n froze. she almost felt like there was no way he could be talking to her - but there was no one else in the room.

"y/n, I saw the bruises", san continued, filling the deathly silence.

it was like the world had stopped turning. she could no longer hear the people outside on the street, all she could hear was her heart beating.

"san..." she dropped the cloth but didn't turn around, "please don't do this"

"I'm sorry, y/n. I can't let this happen again. I stayed silent the first time and if I hadn't maybe you wouldn't have been hurt again"

"it wouldn't have made any difference" she argued as she pulled out a chair and sat down, resting her head in her palms.

"please leave, y/n. please leave him"

"I can't, san, you don't understand"

san walked over to where she was sat and crouched down infront of her.

"then explain" he gently spoke. he was surprised at how much he was keeping his cool.

"he needs me, san. he's obviously not well, he doesn't mean it..." she stopped for a second, "and if I did leave, I believe he would find me"

"so you have thought about it?"

"I don't know" she sighed.

he reached out his hands and cupped the one of hers that wasn't supporting her bowed head.

"please, let me help you" he whispered.

and at that exact moment, there was a knock at the door.