wednesday, 8am

the next morning, y/n woke up as the bright sun shone through the blinds. she was laid facing away from san but he had his arm firmly around her, as though, even in sleep, he was protecting her from any harm.

then a thought occured to her. "sannie... wake up... are you working at the cafe today?" she turned her body to face him.

"shit" he cursed, still only half awake. "yeah I am... do you want me to call hongjoong?"

"no, no. don't do that - you need the money"

"I don't care, you're more important"

"I'm not, san. you need to go to work"

he sighed, defeated. "fine, but I'll be back as soon as I can, I'll ask joong if I can finish earlier" he offered.

she smiled in reply but then her face hardened as she continued, "san, I need to go home and get some stuff... if.. if you don't mind me staying here"

"no, of course I don't mind. but, y/n, I'm not letting you go there alone - will you let me come with you? or if you think that's a bad idea, I can ask joong to take you, he won't mind"

"will you wait in the car? I want you to take me but I don't think you should come inside"

"okay, we'll go when I finish work, yeah?" san smiled. "are you sure you're gonna be okay on your own?" he asked, but her answer was interrupted by the ringing of san's phone. he sighed, but he didn't reach over for it.

"aren't you gonna get that?" y/n asked.

"no. turn around, I wanna hold you for a few more minutes before I have to get ready"

-----

san arrived at work wishing that he was still cuddling y/n in bed. he also increasingly worried if leaving her alone was a good idea.

"san, you're here!" hongjoong said. "I didn't know if you'd come today. how is y/n?"

"not great at the moment" san replied.

"I just can't believe this has happened, san. I feel like such a bad friend for not noticing sooner"

"it literally only started a week ago" san replied as he went to put away his belongings. "just all of a sudden..."

hongjoong sighed. "what are we gonna do?"

"I'm not even a violent person but I wish I could just give him a taste of his own medicine" san said through gritted teeth. "he's such a dick"

"is she staying at yours?" hongjoong asked, concerned.

"yeah she is"

"you can't let her go back to him, san. he won't change. I know this has only recently happened but didn't you say he'd always been possessive? maybe it was a long time coming" hongjoong warned.

"I won't let her go back, joong"

-----

san's neighbourhood was quiet in the day. y/n sat in the lounge staring at the clock, hoping it was soon time for san to return. she didn't move from her seat in the lounge, partly because this wasn't her house and she felt awkward, but mostly because she had no desire to do anything.

after sitting quietly for a few hours, scrolling through her phone and watching the odd video on there, the silence was interrupted by a knock at the door.

y/n froze. she panicked. had mingi found out where she was staying? frozen by fear she waited and hoped whoever it was would soon give up and go away. but they didn't. there was a knock, and then another knock, and then a voice came through the letterbox.

"bro, are you in there?"

it was wooyoung. she sighed a deep sigh of relief. she was still unsure whether or not she should open the door but he didn't seem like he was likely to give up any time soon. so she walked to the door and slowly opened it, revealing wooyoung's surprised face.

"y/n?! oh my god, did you guys finally fuck?!"

y/n sighed. this boy was an idiot.

"what did you do to your face?" he continued when she didn't answer the first question. "and your ne..." he trailed off.

he hesitated for a moment as y/n looked to the floor. "y/n, why are you here at san's?"

she still didn't reply and continued looking down to the floor in embarrassment.

"who did this?!". wooyoung pressed for answers. "it was mingi, wasn't it?" he guessed by her silence. "fuck, y/n"

she looked up at this and gave a feigned smile. he looked disgusted.

"can I come in?" he enquired.

she nodded and stepped back to let him in. before she knew what was happening, she had his arms round her neck.

"I'm so sorry, y/n. I had no idea" he apologized as he broke away from the hug. she smiled.

"let's go and sit down"

-----

"it's all my fault" wooyoung said after she had re-lived her experiences to him. "I can be a dick sometimes, especially when I'm drunk. but I had no idea he would react this way. no man should hurt a woman..." he continued.

"it's no one's fault" she replied.

"you're not going back are you? you're gonna stay here with san, right?"

"yeah I'm planning to stay with san"

"good" wooyoung replied, "san will take care of you. he'd do anything for you"

y/n thought for a second. at that moment, she remembered what wooyoung had whispered to her at the party.

"woo?"

"yeah?"

"what you said at the party... did you mean that?"

"was it about san liking you?" he tried to recall.

"well, yeah"

"god yeah, you have no idea. he talks about you all the damn time, it's kinda annoying"

"how long has he felt that way?" she asked, surprised.

"well, how long have you worked at the cafe?" came his answer.

"...really?"

"yeah"

there was a short silence.

"he would never have wanted this though. he wouldn't have wanted you to separate from mingi if it was going to cause you pain, he told me so. he just wants you to be happy" wooyoung told her.

she couldn't believe one person could care about her so much. she was kind of in disbelief at wooyoung's words.

"he'd never do anything to hurt you, y/n. I'm not telling you what to do, of course, but... well you'd be much better off with a guy like san than a guy like mingi... fuck I could kill that bastard" he went off on a tangent.

was her best friend actually in love with her? no, love was too strong of a word. he couldn't love her. shit, mingi didn't even love her. he can't have loved her if he could do something like this.

"y/n? are you okay?" wooyoung's voice interrupted her thoughts. "I can hang out here until san gets home if you like?"

"actually, would you be able to take me home to pick up some stuff?" she asked. subconsciously, she was worried it would get violent if she went home and she couldn't stand the thought of san getting hurt. he was far too soft. wooyoung could probably stand up for himself.

"urm, sure. will mingi be there though?"

"yeah, probably. but you can wait in the car"

"if he even says anything to you, I swear to fucking god" wooyoung threatened, anger rising at the thought of seeing mingi.

"I'll be in and out as quick as I can, okay?"