while you were gone + yugyeom

one

1;

"what is your name? i am yugyeom." bella smiled at the trainee's broken english, and replied in korean. "my name is bella. it's nice to meet you, yugyeom."

three years later

bella sat in a circle with her closest friends, eating and playing on their phones while enjoying their break from dance practice.

the group was made up from nine of them, now eight due to the departure of the eldest, shownu. the rest of the boys were jackson, mark, jaebum, junior, youngjae, bambam and of course, yugyeom.

all seven of them were preparing to debut under the name of got7. bella's uncle jinyoung owned the company, so when she arrived to live with him there in seoul three years prior she fell into place with the trainees.

bella is caucasian, adopted as a child by jinyoung's sister somewhere in england. she was a single child, raised by a single mother so of course the two of them were as close as can be.

the first man to ever come into her life was simon, a strong muscly man who would soon turn their lives upside down.

bella's mom had fallen for this odd man and moved in with him the first chance she got, with no thought of bella's well-being.

of course bella would move with them, into the house she has now tried to erase from her mind. a lot of dreadful things happened to her in that house, and it got so bad that when she finally got her hands on a phone she contacted the police.

from then on, an investigation was launched into the mistreatment caused by bella's mother and simon. bella was to be swept up into the care system when her uncle jinyoung found out about what had happened and demanded to be given custody.

the next month she would fly out to seoul to start her new life with her uncle and begin the journey to forget her past.

so far it had worked. none of her friends knew the reason she lived there, but they treated bella as if they had known her their whole lives.

right now she was scrolling through her instagram feed whilst using yugyeom's thigh as a pillow.

"oppa, smile." he looked down and as soon as he saw the camera on him he threw up a peace sign.

look at this weirdo, my best friend.

bella posts it to instagram and smiles as she puts her phone down and looks up at the boy above her who was in hysterics over some impression jackson was doing.

she would never admit it, but she had always had a small crush on yugyeom. it was hard to explain but they clicked more than anyone else, like in some way they were supposed to be together whether it was in a relationship or as friends.

she was only twelve when she came to seoul, and yugyeom was the closest to her in age at fourteen so he approached her first and they became quick friends. 

yugyeom felt like she was his missing jigsaw peice that he had finally found. they laughed together, cried together and rebelled together. he always thought about her, he always wanted to be with her and protect her but he knows that soon, when he debuts, they wouldn't be able to be like they were now. they wouldnt be able to get ice cream at midnight, they wouldn't be able to hold hands in the street because it would all turn into some kind of scandal that the media would somehow find a way to make dirty.

they would manage , though. bella was always there at the company cheering everyone on, bringing water or chimek or anything to help. she was that person and everyone loves her.

he secretly gets jealous that she is friends with everybody. yugyeom wanted bella all to himself, to wrap her into a bubble of innocence so she can't see the bad in the world. he doesn't know she has already seen the worst of it.

"baby bella come play with me" mark whines in english from across the circle. "what do you wanna play?" she says as she shifts her way next to mark. yugyeom follows her with his eyes.

"i spy?" he giggles, continuing the game in english. yugyeom sighs in discontent at the uncodable language and watches bella. call him a stalker but he could watch her all day. the way she talks and smiles and all the little things.

"right, boys get warmed up again we're going to be running through the dance now " their choreographer walks into the room ,"ah bella! are you staying to watch?"

she shakes her head, "not today. i'm meeting with my uncle for coffee." bella bids her goodbyes and gives yugyeom a hug. "hey, be careful, bella. not everyone's as nice as we are so make sure you keep your eyes open."

"yugyeom-ah," she says, looking up at him and rolling her eyes "i'm not twelve anymore. it's not my first time walking around seoul."

once she pushes open the door to the coffee shop tucked away somewhere in seoul, bella spots her uncle sitting at one of the tables in the back corner. she hugs him from behind. "uncle jinyoung! i missed you."

he laughs, his eyes glistening at his neice. "bella we saw each other this morning when you were eating breakfast."

"does that mean i can't miss you, ahjussi?" she raises an eyebrow as she sets down her bags and looks at food on the table her uncle had already ordered.

"so, bells. i need to talk to you about something important." he tries to interrupt her devouring of a chocolate cake. "bells, this is about your mother." that gets her attention.

"what about that cow?" bella didn't like to call her 'mother'. it didn't seem to fit with her personality anymore. "bella, that cow is asking for custody of you. we knew that my custody was temporary, and i was going to apply for permanent custody when this term was over but now your mother wants you back it will be very hard."

the sound of her fork hitting the plate echoed throughout the half empty café. "but she can't , right? they won't let her have me again, after what she did to me.  it wouldn't be allowed."

jinyoung became teary eyed as he saw once again how frightened his sister made her own daughter. bella continued the denial, " we're not even blood related, so the tie doesn't count. she won't be able to have me."

reaching across the table, he holds her shaking hand. "since she was your guardian since birth, she holds the same amount of power and rights as a biological parent. the charges against her were dropped after it was declared that simon had made her do it, which means in two weeks when we would have renewed my custody she will be able to apply for one herself-"

"but she won't win right? you won't let her win!" jinyoung wanted to win custody more than anything. he loved her as a daughter, and he would fight his hardest against her mother. "i will win, bella. i will try my hardest. for you, for us."