𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛 | 𝖼.𝗌 𝗑 𝗌.𝗆 𝗑 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

they had stitched up the injury and asked her if she wanted to press charges against the perpetrator - aka, her beloved mingi.

"urm, no... it was an accident"

"do you mind me asking who it was?" the doctor had asked.

"it... it was my boyfriend"

the doctor had looked at her seriously. "are you 100% sure you're not in immediate danger should you return to him?" she asked. "a few centimetres further down and he would have had your eye out"

she had lied again and told her she was safe, even though she felt far from it.

by the time she got a cab back home it was gone midnight. she was thankful it was dark so the driver couldn't see the extent of her injury and her pale shirt stained with blood.

upon arriving outside the house, she was met with the sight of her bedroom light on. she froze - mingi must have come home after fleeing earlier. there was no way she was going in there. at this point, she was truly terrified of him.

she didn't know what to do or where she could go. she looked over at her car, thinking it might be her only hope.

unlocking the door, she walked over to where she had decided she would have to sleep tonight. but not on the drive - she couldn't risk mingi finding her. so ignoring the doctor's advice that she absolutely shouldn't drive for twenty four hours, she pulled out of the drive and drove the car to a parking lot she knew near the cafe.

and there, she cried and cried until her eyes were too tired to stay open any longer.

9:30am

san had got to work early that morning. he barely slept all night, worrying about y/n. he'd woken up almost every hour wondering if she was okay.

he was tidying up behind the counter, trying to keep himself occupied, while hongjoong and seonghwa were having their morning coffee round one of the tables. they were laughing about something together. san wondered how they could possibly be laughing, but then they only knew half of what had happened.

after ten minutes had passed of listening to their loud conversation, they were interrupted by the sound of the door.

all three men looked up in unison, ready to tell the early customer that they weren't open yet. but their eyes met a very different sight.

y/n walked through the door, hair disheveled and matted with blood, shirt stained with the red liquid and a large bruise arising above her eye.

"y/n...?" hongjoong asked, dumbfounded. san dropped the cloth he was using and came round to the front of the counter. "y/n?" san repeated after hongjoong.

she turned to hongjoong. "I'm really sorry but... I don't think I can work today" she spoke, trying to suppress her tears. nobody spoke for a few moments, they just stared at her in disbelief.

"and also... I have nowhere to go"

at this, san ran over to her and wrapped her in his embrace. she buried her face in his neck before starting to cry.

hongjoong looked to seonghwa before he spoke, "did mingi do this?" he asked.

she looked up from san's shoulder, "yeah" she whispered. she then took a step back and lifted her face to show her neck in a better light. "and this". she proceeded to pull her blood-stained shirt up to show her stomach, "and this", she continued, swallowing her tears.

san was so angry at himself, he should have gone round last night, he shouldn't have taken her word for it. tears threatened to appear in his eyes as he looked at this beautiful girl, bloodied and beaten.

"when did this happen?" seongwha asked in disbelief. both he and hongjoong had risen to their feet when she had shown the rest of her injuries.

"last night... I went to the hospital to have it stitch-"

"you went to the hospital alone?!" san cried.

"yeah... and then I slept in my car just down the road"

"for goodness sake, san, take her back to yours so she can get washed up" hongjoong interjected.

"I'll cover you guys today" seongwha offered as he disappeared to the sink to fetch a clean cloth. he returned holding it out, "for your face, they really should have done it at the hospital" he pointed out.

san grabbed the cloth and put one hand on her shoulder. "do you want me to wipe it, y/n?" he asked gently. she nodded, and he touched the cloth to her face, carefully wiping the blood away. she looked up to see him, tears were brimming over in his eyes.

"don't cry, san"

"I should have done more" he whispered.

"it isn't your fault" she told him.

hongjoong moved forward, "would you like us to call the police, y/n?"

"NO" she quickly said. "urm, no" she corrected herself. "no, I don't want to think yet"

"okay, okay, you don't have to, y/n, I'm sorry" said hongjoong.

san finished wiping the last bit of dried blood from her face and handed the cloth back to seonghwa who stood attentively waiting.

"would you like to come back to mine?" he asked, removing his apron.

"yes please" she squeaked, "if you don't mind"

"hush, this is what I should have done days ago" he stated. "are you ready now?"

she nodded. hongjoong came forward and wrapped her in a gentle hug. "there's no rush to come back, you take your time. and we're here if you need anything - anything at all" he told her. seonghwa nodded in agreement.

"thank you, joong... seonghwa"

san smiled at her through his sadness. "let's get out of here" he said.

-----

during the car journey to san's house, he held her hand at any opportunity that he could drive one-handed and kept talking to her the whole way, just little things like;

"we're nearly there, y/n"

"are you feeling okay?"

"we'll get you cleaned up soon"

but she was thankful for his voice breaking the silence.

as soon as they got through the door, san was as attentive as ever, asking her if she wanted a drink, breakfast, some fresh clothes.

"can I go take a shower?" she asked, "and then some clothes that aren't bloodstained would be nice" she said grimly.

"of course" he replied. "bathroom is first door on the left"

she smiled and began climbing the stairs.

"y/n..." san called.

"yeah?" she asked wearily

"I'm gonna make everything okay again, I promise"