Dance With Me (Kim Yugyeom FF)

CHAPTER 23 - FACING TROUBLE

YUGYEOM

When I first arrived at her place, my heart dropped at the scene of the trashed place. Broken vase, broken picture frames, broken plates and cups, littered all over the floor. I saw that she had tried to clean up the broken pieces before. When I stepped into the place, her roommate was there. She introduced me to Hana, her roommate, who appeared to know about us. Luckily, she was okay and knew that she couldn't say anything about the situation. I offered to drop her at her friend's place and was glad that she was okay despite the trashed place. However, I kept thinking about noona. I was worried that the thugs might come back while I was away. Unfortunately, when I got back there, I was the one that startled her that she cut herself.

Without thinking twice, I grabbed her hand and washed it under running water. When I saw her from the side of my eyes, I could see her wince when the pain hit her. Then I realized how close we were. Suddenly I was aware of her closeness, how her arm would brush against mine and how my heart started to beat faster. I felt blush creeped up to my cheeks, but she didn't seem affected nor noticing it. I tried to control myself quickly and continued tending her wound.

"Do you get hurt a lot? How come you're so skillful with the kit?" she inquired.

"Yeah, we did. When we practiced dancing a lot, our feet bled sometimes so we used to patch up ourselves," I got up to put the kit back to its original place when I saw her trying to get up from the couch. "No, no no," I stopped her, "You're not going anywhere. Sit back down and I'll clean up the rest," I glared at her when she tried to protest. Luckily, I was much taller than her so she obliged and sat back.

I picked up the broom and started sweeping. I let the silence fill the room as I knew she was tired but she put up a strong front. She always did that, which annoyed me sometimes. I figured she would fall asleep if I didn't strike up a conversation, and I was right. Soon, I saw her slump on the couch, eyes shut tight and jaw slackened. I smiled at the sight, you're one stubborn noona. I tried to work as quietly as possible so she could keep sleeping and once everything was packed inside the trash bag and thrown out, I crouched beside the couch and watched her sleep. Somehow I got this urge to sweep back the hair that covered her eyes, tucked it behind her ear and caressed her hair. But I stopped myself just in time when she opened her eyes. She blinked once.. Twice..

KAYLA

I couldn't believe I fell asleep. I was impressed that Yugyeom managed to clear out all the trash while keeping it quiet at the same time. When I opened my eyes, his face was right in front of mine. I blinked.. Once.. Twice.. And then I saw him smiling.

"Wake up noona," he kept smiling. "I've finished cleaning up. Let's go..," he extended his hand and I took it. He pulled me up and before I could grab my suitcase, he already grabbed it and dragged it with him. "Come on, you're tired already. You can carry your suitcase any other day," he knew what I was about to say so I closed my mouth back.

"How come you're the one that comes here?" I asked once he sat in the driver's seat.

"Easy," he smirked. "The hyungs don't want to get their hands dirty so they always order the maknaes. Between the maknaes, Bambam can't drive. And Youngjae can't learn the choreography as fast as I do, so they choose me," he pointed to himself while smiling widely.

I scoffed. Deep inside, somehow I felt relieved that it was Yugyeom that came here. I didn't know why. Probably because he had seen me in a worse state? Or because he had accompanied me confronting my mother before?

"Noona," he broke my train of thoughts. "What's your plan? Do you have another place to stay after tonight?"

"Not yet," I answered. "Don't worry, I'll find a place."

"I won't worry, because if you haven't found any place yet, you can stay at Youngjae sister's," he continued.

"Youngjae sister's place?" I raised my eyebrow.

He nodded, "Yeah. When Jaebeom hyung heard about it, he asked around and Youngjae's sister has a vacant room, so you can stay there for the time being. Just until everything is settled."

"Gyeommieeee..," I whined. The boys really did it again. "There's a reason why I didn't go to you guys yesterday when I found out about it. And this is exactly why. You guys go a long way to help me and I feel bad about it."

"Why? We just want to help, that's all. You don't need to feel bad about it. Anyway, do you need me to accompany you to your mother's? I heard from your team leader that you're going to see her after dropping your stuff at the company."

I fiddled with the strap of my bag since I didn't know what to say. Sure I wanted him to be with me when I confronted my mother. It felt good to have someone else backing me up, but I was asking too much from him. He already helped me clean up and picked me up from my place, even went behind my back coordinating with Jaebeom oppa to find me a place to stay, how could I ask him to accompany me? What if this time, the thugs were there? What if something went wrong when we met my mother?"

"Noonaaa," he gently touched my hand to bring back my attention to him. "Don't feel bad for needing some help. Anyway, if you want, we can go to legal first so you can get some insights about where your stand against your mother is. I've told them about the stuff that I told you last time, about filing the files for refusing to pay for your mother debt?" he reminded me and I nodded, "They said that it's possible to do it, so do you want to see them to arrange for it?"

I nodded, "Yeah sure. Let's just cover our grounds first before seeing my mother," I decided. It was better to prepare something against my mother instead of just barking threatening words again. Last time we believed that it worked, but we were wrong. He guided me to the legal's floor and accompanied me throughout the meeting. Since this was personal, the legal team recommended some of their colleagues to take my case if I wanted to proceed with it, but basically they said that it could be done. Though they weren't sure about the current debt. It might work to avoid the next occurrence, but I probably had to deal with the current debt myself.

"How much will it cost?" I couldn't help but ask. I could see the legal representatives eyeing Yugyeom and me back and forth before answering.

"Just give my card to my colleague and he will give you a discount," he answered at last, clearly avoiding stating a certain number.

"Don't worry," once again, Yugyeom's hand squeezed mine after the person from the legal department left. "Let's just process it for now. Don't worry about the cost." I wanted to argue that I couldn't ask him to pay for my case but he didn't even spare me a glance, as his way to say that this was undebatable. Later that night, he dropped me off at Minji's place and told me that he would accompany me to my mother's tomorrow.

I got another half day off work the next day so I could see my mother. Yugyeom was right in front of Minji's place right on time so I had no choice but to slide into his car. I didn't miss the questioning stare that Minji shot me when he saw Yugyeom's car in front of her place. I said nothing as I didn't know what to say. I just hoped that his action wouldn't spark the same rumours at the company as it once did in the dance center. We drove to my mother's in silence. Aside from exchanging greetings, we barely spoke. I felt nervous as we drove closer to my mother's. I didn't realize that he had stopped the car until I felt his hand on mine again, stopping my own hand from crushing the other one.

"We're here. Do you need a minute?" he asked softly.

I didn't know what happened, but once my eyes fell into his, I felt better. "No," I shook my head. "Let's get this over with. Again," I huffed.

He gave me a small smile and walked around the car to open my door. He extended a hand, "Come on. We've faced her once, we can do it again now."