Chapter Text
The fiery April sun beat down onto Yeo Jun’s face as he lay in bed desperately trying to get at least five more minutes of sleep. He put his hand up absentmindedly, doing what he could to give his eyes some relief. While that little bit of warmth was very welcome, the brightness at such an early hour was not. He slowly turned over, pushing the covers out of his view to see his alarm clock. It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet and the sun had the nerve to wake him like that. After a quick mental note to buy some blackout curtains, he rolled back over and tried to get back to sleep, pulling the covers all the way up over his head.
“Don’t! It’s time to get up.” That sound. Oh, how sick he was of hearing that sound at such an early hour.
“Aw, hyung it’s not even seven yet!” Yeo Jun’s voice came through the comforter, muffled.
Soo Hyun couldn’t help but laugh. “You have a job, now. You can’t stay in bed all day anymore. Why not start the day early?”
“Hyung~” He groaned as he felt the covers melting off of him only to see Soo Hyun being the one pulling them away.
After a long ten minutes of nagging and lighthearted threatening, Soo Hyun was able to get Yeo Jun out of bed and dressed for work.
It was a simple office job, not much responsibility, low impact on the business but enough to give Yeo Jun something to do and allow him to make money like everyone else, especially since he was no longer receiving money from his parents.
After his father was sentenced to six years in prison both for the abuse of his family (and other crimes that came out during the police’s investigations), Yeo Jun’s mother ultimately decided to cut him off altogether. While it was expected, given how instrumental he was in his father’s downfall, it was still stressful on top of everyone finding out about his past and the media being so insistent on pursuing him for statements.
Regardless of the reasons for it, he was happy with his job and living like everyone else. He may not have been buying one million won wine anymore, but he was able to afford rent and other normal day-to-day expenses along with Soo Hyun without moving out of their apartment. He also had some money left over for fun things here and there like a night out with friends. He and Soo Hyun were fortunate that an old friend from university was hiring!
O|||||||O
“I’m glad we got to get lunch. It’s been so hard to match up our schedules these past couple of months,” So Bin poured some water into everyone’s glasses, making sure everyone had their glass full. “I guess that’s how it is when you get older.”
“We work and live together. It’s your schedule that won’t line up with ours.” Soo Hyun smarted off to her with a slight smirk.
“What matters is we’re here, now. I’m happier for it.” Yeo Jun downed the entirety of his glass of water and quietly stuck it out towards So Bin. She smiled as she filled it up once more. “Shouldn’t have done that. Now I need to go to the bathroom. Give me a second.” He laughed before jumping up from their table and walking away.
Soo Hyun and So Bin continued their usual catching up before she went quiet, staring at the TV with her eyes widened.
“What?” Soo Hyun waved his hand a few feet from her face. “What? What are you looking at?” He turned to see the source of her shock. Yeo Jun’s father was on TV once again, speaking about how he was a changed man, has paid his debt from his previous crimes and was looking forward to his appeal with the courts to be released earlier than originally sentenced. “Oh.”
“I’ll go distract him. You see if you can get the auntie to change the channel?” So Bin proposed. Without another word, the two were out of their chairs and onto their assigned tasks. She quickly went towards the restrooms to see Yeo Jun slowly making his way out. “Did you wash your hands?”
He stepped back quickly, gasping at her unexpected presence right in front of the door to the bathroom. “Geez you scared me. Yeah, I washed my hands.” Before he was able to take a step around her, she stopped him.
“I don’t believe you,” She teased. “Go back and wash your hands. For real this time.”
“But I did!” He showed her his hands, both still a little wet from the sub-par drying machine.
“Did you use soap? I don’t smell soap. Go use soap.”
He smiled and complied, “Fine. I’ll go wash them again if it’ll make you happy.” As instructed, he turned back into the bathroom to wash his hands once more. Relieved that she was able to distract him at least some, she turned to see the channel had been changed. Good. She gave a quick and grateful bow to the auntie in the kitchen before nodding to Soo Hyun. Not a moment later, Yeon Jun was back out of the bathroom and at So Bin’s side. “All clean. Again.”
“Good! I believe you this time.” She grabbed his arm and went back to the table with him.
“What’s gotten into you?” He laughed before graciously accepting more water from her.
“I guess I’m a bit out of it since I’m so hungry!” She dodged the question well, ultimately pushing the attention onto Soo Hyun and the three were able to have a good lunch without any issues with his dad coming up in conversation or on any more TVs.
O|||||||O
--
The three were able to meet up again a few weeks later, this time for coffee near the courthouse where So Bin was working for the day.
“Is your boss making you stay here all day?” Yeon Jun asked repeatedly.
“For the seventeenth time, Yeon Jun- yes! I have to stay here all day. I’m off at five, though. It’s really not that bad. We can meet again after.”
“Leave her alone, Yeon Jun. We’re getting lunch. Be happy with that.” Soo Hyun gave him a light push on the shoulder.
“I know I just-” His eyes widened as he sat frozen in place.
“Yeon Jun, what’s wrong?” So Bin grabbed his arm, doing her best to make eye contact.
“Yeon Jun,” Soo Hyun looked around the restaurant’s outdoor seating area where they sat and out towards the courthouse, “What’re you- oh. Hey, So Bin...”
“What?” As she spoke, she looked up to see the last thing any of the three wanted to see.
Yeon Jun’s father slowly made his way down the front steps of the courthouse, taking in all the attention of the press surrounding him. “I truly am a changed man. I have found my calling in the arts and have dedicated myself to charity work to continue paying for all of my wrongdoings even after my early release is finalized.”
“If you really were trying to pay, you’d stay for the remainder of your sentence,” Soo Hyun spoke under his breath. He turned to check on Yeon Jun. Seeing his friend’s terrified and frozen face, he looked to So Bin. “I thought his hearing was in a couple of days.” He couldn’t help but get frustrated as she shrugged.
-+-
Frozen, Yeon Jun sat there, staring at a man he once considered his father. Now the only thing connecting the two was blood. Tears silently streamed down his face as he shook, his breaths picking up speed. So Bin and Soo Hyun tried repeatedly to get his attention but failed every time. He was powerless to the thoughts flooding his mind and the fear growing inside of him. ‘What if he sees me?’ ‘What if the press see me?’ ‘He’ll be mad. How could he not be mad?’ Constant fear-fueled statements and questions filled his mind, paralyzing him. In a mere moment of mental clarity, he was able to collect himself enough to run to the back of the restaurant towards the bathrooms. As it happened so suddenly, Soo Hyun and So Bin were barely able to process what had just happened but were able to follow him. They watched as he desperately pulled at the locked back door, doing anything he could to get away from there as quickly as possible.
Once he realized there was no way he would get out that way, he turned to see his friend and girlfriend standing at the end of the short hallway, both staring at him. In that moment he could do nothing but fall to his knees. The two of them quickly came to his side, kneeling right with him as he shook and cried. As angry as they were, they held it in and stayed with him, comforting him as he needed it.
Through pained and uneven breaths, he spoke, “They can’t let him out. He’ll be mad at me. He’ll come for me again like he did when the article first came out.” His words were quick and mumbled, he struggled to speak. “He’ll kill me this time.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable concern. After the article came out, his father had come to his apartment many times to threaten him. He once came to the school but fortunately Yeon Jun wasn’t there. However, a week after that, right after he first got hired at his job, his father came up and attacked him. While that helped the case against him, it was still physically and emotionally traumatic for Yeon Jun. Those memories boiled inside of him in that small hallway.
His two loved ones looked at each other as he stared at the ground, tears falling, collecting into a puddle under him.
“I can’t do that again. He’s gonna ruin everything. Does hyung know? He knows where we live.” A string of consciousness came from his mouth. The two slowly were able to get him to stand.
“Go ask the owner if we can leave through the back door in the kitchen,” So Bin stayed with Yeon Jun while Soo Hyun did as she asked.
Thanks to the kindness of the restaurant owner, they were able to leave through the back door in the kitchen and get to the next road over to call a taxi. Yeon Jun subconsciously followed everything they told him to do, going back and forth between zoning out and coming back. So Bin quickly assured Soo Hyun that she would do what she could to leave work early or at the least be at their apartment as soon as possible after she got off at five. She closed the door to the taxi, allowing them to leave. Yeon Jun was zoned out once again, staring at the floor of the taxi. Soo Hyun told the driver where to go, then was able to fully attend to his friend.
Luckily Yeon Jun was falling asleep. Well, it would be lucky if it wasn’t from the physical and emotional toll seeing his father had just taken on him. Soo Hyun sighed. This was a huge setback for Yeon Jun’s healing process. He had been doing so much better! He had been having less nightmares and some of his old triggers were going away. If anything, Soo Hyun was scared this would not only cancel out all that progress but push him even further back. Unfortunately, only time would tell.
O|||||||O
“Please!”
Soo Hyun sat up in his bed, looking around for the sound that woke him up.
“Please! I’m sorry!”
Half asleep, he continued to listen, doing everything he could to open his eyes.
“I was wrong! I’m sorry! Don’t come closer!”
Yeon Jun! Soo Hyun threw the covers from himself, breaking into a dead sprint to Yeon Jun’s room to see him thrashing in bed, begging for someone to not come closer. He grabbed the covers and quickly pulled them away from the bed, hoping to get a hold of Yeon Jun. Slowly but surely, and not without a couple bruises, he got a grip and was able to restrain him “Wake up. Yeon Jun, wake up!”
Luckily for them, So Bin had moved in next door and was able to come quickly after hearing the commotion. “What’s going on?!” She ran through the door after her shaky hands punched the passcode into the door.
“He’s having a nightmare. I can’t wake him up!” Soo Hyun struggled to keep a good hold but stayed strong. “See if you can wake him up.”
“Please don’t! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I had to leave! Don’t come closer!” Yeon Jun screamed repeatedly. His throat became increasingly raw with every word, the pleading, begging ripping through his vocal cords like knives.
So Bin grabs his face, causing him to thrash even more, begging for them to let him go. Or rather, his nightmare-dad to let him go.
Hoping to get him to wake up, but gently, she quickly got to the bathroom and grabbed a towel. She ran it under some cold water, getting it damp before wringing out the excess liquid. In that moment, she was right back at his bedside, putting the towel over his face, wringing out the water above him. The droplets trickled down his forehead, down his cheeks and onto his shirt, leaving marks where they landed.
That backfired.
While he had woken up, he was still very disoriented, getting out of his bed and running towards the front door. The two chased him down the hall, desperately hoping to keep him from leaving like that. Before they knew it, he was struggling to find his shoes in his panicked state. He looked back at his loved ones with wide eyes full of fear. The moonlight shined on their faces, allowing him to take them in. It finally registered for him. He was safe. He was nowhere near his father. Just his friend and his girlfriend.
He broke down into tears once again, throwing the shoe he had managed to pick up in his fear-run rampage.
“I can’t get away from him,” He cried. “I’m still that little kid when it comes to him. He lives in my head every day. I’m still trapped.”
O|||||||O
The next couple of weeks were an unwelcome familiar feeling for Soo Hyun and So Bin. Yeon Jun had fallen into a depressive state, never leaving their apartment and sometimes never leaving his bed. The two tried giving him space at first but once he stopped eating and drinking altogether, they got scared.
“I need you to eat this cup ramen. I can’t leave until I see you eat it,” Soo Hyun hated to push him like that, but he hadn’t eaten in days and his concern outweighed his fear of pushing his friend. When Yeon Jun refused to move, he spoke again, “I won’t leave until you eat.” He set the cup ramen on the bedside table and sat in the chair in the corner of the room. After pulling his phone out, he watched Yeon Jun slowly sit up. The glare he got was not appreciated but understandable. He didn’t want to make Yeon Jun unhappy at a time like that, but he couldn’t help but feel the smallest amount of joy as he watched him eat.
As he finished the ramen, Soo Hyun grabbed the cup from him and left the room. It was a bittersweet feeling to see the empty cup. He was sure Yeon Jun was upset and simply wanted rest but at the end of the day, he needed to eat.
Soo Hyun threw away the cup and hesitantly made his way back to Yeon Jun’s room.
“I’m going to work. Call me or So Bin if you need anything,” He grabbed his bag off the floor next to the entrance to Yeon Jun’s room. “We have a package coming. All I ask is you grab it and sign for it when it gets here. You don’t have to do anything else. Please just sign for it. It was expensive so they won’t leave it without a signature.” Soon Soo Hyun was out the door, leaving Yeon Jun on his own for the first time in the past couple of weeks. It made him nervous, especially knowing nobody would be home to make sure he ate or drank anything else. ‘So Bin isn’t going to be here until after six, either. He won’t eat on his own. He’s not gonna eat anything until after six.’ He couldn’t help but stress over it but there was nothing he could do. Their boss was already gracious enough to allow Yeon Jun to take the time off, but they couldn’t allow both to.
-+-
A few hours had passed and Yeon Jun had been able to get himself out of bed and onto the couch. He sat, listening to the rain fall onto the balcony, the thunder booming after every flash of lightning.
Knowing Soo Hyun and So Bin would want him to drink something, he was able to get a glass of water. As he grabbed it, the doorbell rang. ‘Shit, why did they have to come now?’ He couldn’t help but get a bit irritated. Despite his desire to be left alone, he made his way to the door. If Soo Hyun was going to be so willing to look after him, signing for a package for a couple minutes was the least he could do to help his friend out. “Be right there.” He quickly opened the door, worried the delivery man might have left already in the time it took him to get there. “Package for Soo-” He froze up, seeing as it wasn’t the delivery man. He slowly backed away; eyes wide.
“My son.” Yeon Jun’s father stepped into the door, shoes tracking mud inside. The more Yeon Jun backed away, the more his father persisted. He dropped the glass of water, falling on his back. Glass shards scattered across the floor, some landing in the water, some crawling to other areas of the apartment. Yeon Jun backed away, using his hands and feet to crawl away while still facing his father. He couldn’t turn his back to him. “Why? Aren’t you happy my appeal got approved?” Tears streamed down his face as he backed away. Fear surged through his body like fire. His chest burned with his increasing heart rate. Adrenaline fueled his every move, making him shake.
“You- you can’t be here.” His voice shook. He wanted to stand up. He wanted to speak with confidence and authority, but he couldn’t. He was still that trapped little kid in his dad’s office. He watched as his dad continued to walk towards him. The sound of his shoes against the hardwood seemed so loud. The squishing of the mud under his feet made his stomach turn.
“I can go wherever I want, now. My appeal was approved. Why? You don’t want to see your father? Where’s your mom? Your brother?” He kept walking towards Yeon Jun.
Yeon Jun quickly got up, running to his phone at his bedside table. He dialed 112 as fast as he could. He told the operator his address and begged her to send the police as his father had broken in and he feared for his life. “The pol-police are on their w-way.” His voice shook even more, cracking at every other word.
“You would call the police on me? For what? I just wanted to see you. I just asked where your mother and hyung were! Why have you always wanted to ruin my life?! Even before the article and my arrest you spent your whole life trying to ruin me! Why?!” He stepped towards Yeon Jun, causing him to jump up onto the bed, running across it into the back corner of his room. The fear in his chest burned even hotter, feeling like a jet-fuel induced fire. His whole body shook with his increasing heart rate and breaths. He didn’t like the sound of it but jumping from his window may have been his only option. He started thinking of how he would try to get to the tree next to his window and climb down. He slowly put his phone in his pocket and inched towards the open window. He was suddenly grateful that So Bin insisted on it staying open.
“What? Would you really jump from a two-story tall window just to get away from me? You can’t be serious,” He quickly started walking towards Yeon Jun who made good on his original thoughts and jumped. He grabbed the tree as best he could, He grabbed onto the biggest branch on the tree before the branch snapped, sending him falling into the bushes below him. The bushes left him with cuts around his arms, sides, back and torso. They enveloped him, wholly. The branch fell onto his leg, sending a surge of pain through his nerves. He desperately hoped the cracking sound was the branch and not his leg, though. “Are you insane?” His father had been looking out the window but quickly dipped back indoors before running outside.
Yeon Jun watched as his father ran past him, getting into his car and speeding off, not wanting to be caught at the scene when the police arrived.
Slowly but surely, Yeon Jun was able to push the branch off his leg and get out from in between the rose bushes. He limped along, slowly getting to his door and into the apartment. All he wanted was to get to his bed. Noticing his phone ringing on the floor near the window, he realized it had fallen out as he had jumped, before. He decided to ignore it as he solely focused on getting to his bed.
O|||||||O
After receiving Yeon Jun’s call, letting him know his father had broken into their apartment, Soo Hyun broke into a dead sprint, doing everything he could to get home quickly. “Why did he call me and not the police?” Soo Hyun quickly called the police, asking for assistance at their apartment and an ambulance. He explained the situation as quickly and condensed as he could, begging for help.
When he got to their apartment, he swung the door open to see shards of glass from Yeon Jun’s attempt to drink water. His eyes traced the path the muddy footprints took, and he followed them. Was his father still there? It was oddly and scarily silent, though. He went past the kitchen and down the hallway to Yeon Jun’s room towards a sight that would make his heart drop and give him intense nausea. “Yeon Jun!”
Yeon Jun laid on his bed, unconscious. His white shirt was riddled with small, bloody holes and his blue sweatpants were a mess, covered in holes and dirt. “The police and the ambulance are on their way. Just hold on.” He tried to get Yeon Jun to sit up, desperate for a response from his friend. “Come on. Wake up! We need to get you to the hospital.” He immediately stopped moving once Yeon Jun cried out in pain. “Why? What happened?” He looked down to see Yeon Jun’s hands slowly and gently reaching for his right leg. Was it broken?
Not a moment later, the paramedics raced in, moving Soo Hyun out of the way to treat his friend. “I think his right leg is broken!” He called out in between the paramedics’ quick and calculated thought processes between each other.
They attended to him as much as they could in the moment and got him on a stretcher. Within moments, he was in the ambulance and on the way to the hospital. While in the ambulance, Soo Hyun made a quick call to So Bin. “He’s fine for right now. Just meet us there, okay?” After hanging up, he couldn’t help but notice the tears falling from Yeon Jun’s eyes as he slept.
It wasn’t right. None of what he was going through was right. Yeon Jun deserved better than what he had been through and it made Soo Hyun sick.