| Chapter Twenty-One |

TW: The following chapter will contain rape and violence, so if that makes anyone uncomfortable, please don't read the last section.

"I've tried calling him at least a thousand times, Dae, but he's not answering," Seunghyun said in distressed and worried manner as he paced back and forth.

"Well, no shit, Sherlock," Daesung replied coldly. "You lied to him, so no wonder he isn't picking up your call. I warned you about this like a week ago."

"God," Seunghyun groaned, lowering his head as he ran his fingers through his slightly disheveled black locks. "This is why I didn't want to tell him."

"This is why you should have told him," Daesung said, causing Seunghyun to look at him. "I mean, think about it, had you told him from the beginning, yeah he would have been upset, but I doubt he would have left. Why? Because he would have already known the truth, and then he could have still fallen in love with you, but under the right circumstances."

"I know." Seunghyun sighed. "I know."

"Then why didn't you listen to me before?" Daesung said. "I may have been intoxicated when I gave you that advice, but as you can see, I wasn't wrong."

"Because I was scared, I guess, I don't know," Seunghyun replied. "I think I fell so hard for him that I ended up hurting him."

"No shit," Daesung said, rolling his eyes a little as he sighed.

"I know I fucked up but could you at least be a little bit supportive of me?" Seunghyun said, his eyes now on Daesung. "You only met him once so how can you only be understanding of him?"

"Because I know how it feels to have your heart broken," Daesung said as if Seunghyun was supposed to know that. Seunghyun just kept his gaze on Daesung as he let out a gust of air, clearly upset by something. "Look, having someone you thought you could trust break your heart sucks majorly. Besides, it's not as if there are even sides to this. This isn't a war, Seunghyun. I hate to break it to you so harshly, but this is your fault. You fucked this up for yourself by lying to him. That's just the truth."

This was one of those times when Seunghyun really hated when Daesung was right. Seunghyun knew this was the result of his own stupidity, he just couldn't seem to cope with it.

"Lies hurt, man," Daesung added. "But if you really care about him, you'll still let him know. Right now, he's questioning every moment you two shared, but if you reach out to him and apologize then give him some space and time to make up his mind, you might just get a second chance."

Seunghyun took his best friend's words into his heart and held them there hopefully. He believed in them. He just hoped Jiyong did, too.

~~~~~~~~~

Jiyong had finally stopped crying as he strolled the lonely evening streets of the city. Each of his steps were drunken and crooked, his body trying to process all the alcohol he had downed in the past three hours. Jiyong always thought alcohol wasn't a very original cure to sorrow, that there had to be some other method to make yourself forget. But then again, he thought a lot of things, and lately all those thoughts were broken.

Maybe it was because of his tainted view on love. Maybe it was because of his bad experience with Minzy. Jiyong didn't know, nor could he think of, any other logical reasons of why Seunghyun would lie to him. Despite their short time together, Jiyong had opened himself to Seunghyun. Seunghyun told him he loved him and that he would never hurt him or let him down. He promised him so many things.

So why would he lie to him and break his heart?

Jiyong walked until he couldn't anymore, and at that point he stopped to sit down on the nearest bench he could spot from where he was, which just happened to be a bus stop bench. He was tired and sad and lonely, but he didn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't go back to where Hanbin was, and if he did, he would only get told to shrug it off and get back to work by Dongguk. And he most definitely couldn't go back to Seunghyun.

But at the same time, his heart was screaming at him to just forgive him and look past his lie. It was telling him that Seunghyun really did love him and only lied to protect him. Some shitty way of protection it was. Jiyong knew he should listen to his heart and not his head. He just couldn't, though--no matter how much it yearned for Seunghyun.

He hadn't been sitting there for very long when Jiyong heard someone come and sit beside him. He didn't look at the person, but he hoped that it wasn't Seunghyun. He had seen plenty of romance movies to know the methods people used to get the ones they loved to forgive them.

"Where are you headed?" the person asked in a deep voice that definitely didn't belong to Seunghyun. "Anywhere in particular?"

"No," Jiyong mumbled lowly, still not making eye contact with the man.

"You look like you've had a rough day," he said. Jiyong only nodded his head, too tired to even give a proper answer. "Then what you say we go somewhere and, you know, unwind?" The man's fingers were now creeping up Jiyong's thighs and Jiyong chortled at the sight. Was it that obvious that he slept with people for a living? Although, on this particular night, he didn't feel like going to bed with anyone, not if it wasn't Seunghyun. 

He shook his head in distress. No, his head told him sternly. You can't think like that. He lied to you. He doesn't love you. He never did.

"Sure," Jiyong said in a slightly groggy voice, finally turning his head and making his eyes meet the man's face. "Why not." The man smiled a satisfied smile and then took hold of Jiyong's hand before leading him away.

~~~~~~~~

"Make yourself at home," he said as he opened the door for Jiyong, standing against the door so Jiyong could pass by. Jiyong did just that and walked in, taking his shoes off at the door before looking around. "What do you think? I just recently moved here, so I haven't been able to get much decorating done."

"No, it's nice," Jiyong said, nodding his head a little. "At least there's color. Color is better than black and white."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," the man said as he chuckled. "So, how much do you usually ask for?" he asked as he took his coat off and laid it on the couch.

"I'm usually pretty flexible on the price," Jiyong answered, giving the man a blank look. "Depends on what you want to happen. The more extreme it is, the higher the price."

"Is that so? I would have thought you'd have a set price," the man said as he slowly started walking towards Jiyong. "Especially for a pretty boy like you. They usually go for high prices these days."

"Well, then I guess you're in luck," Jiyong said sarcastically, causing the man to let out another laugh. Truthfully, Dongguk's rates were kind of high, but Jiyong was feeling particularly valuable that night. He then raised his arm up and began to run his fingers lightly down Jiyong's exposed arm, sending a shameful shiver trickling down his spine.

"You know, I really hope you're a person who keeps their word," he said, his eyes roaming over Jiyong's figure.

"Why?" questioned Jiyong. "What does that have to with anything?"

"Nothing really, I was just saying," the man said. "I've had a lot of encounters like these and let's just say some haven't been as honest as they appeared to be." Jiyong just kind of looked at the man in confusion as to what the point of him talking about this was. "In fact, one happened not too long ago. Not long ago actually. I spent the night with a boy, expecting to get one price, but when I woke up the next day I was robbed clean. Turns out the kid decided to wake up early and take all my money."

Jiyong nodded his head and was just about to apologize for his misfortune when it hit him. That boy was him. As fogged as his memory and head was, Jiyong had a terrible tendency to remember all the bad things he had done in his life. Stealing more money than he should have from a customer was one of those bad things.

"Oh shit," Jiyong said, fear slowly taking over his body. "It's you. I remember you. You were at that party and now you're here."

"Good to see you've finally realized," the man said, taking a step or two back from Jiyong. "It took a lot of work to find you, let me tell you that. That Seunghyun character had you on pretty tight lockdown."

"How do you know him?" Jiyong asked in a shaky voice, his eyes glistening with tears.

"I don't, but then again, I suppose when you're a private investigator you know everyone," he said, earning a small, barely audible gasp from Jiyong. "You see, your friend Dongguk came to me and told me that he had filed a missing person's report on you, but the police weren't much help. So, I agreed to take over the investigation, for a fair price of course. It's amazing what a little digging on the internet can get you."

"So, what do you want from me?" Jiyong said. "You want me to apologize or give you back your money? 'Cause I don't have it."

"No, no." The man chortled as he walked back over to Jiyong, stopping once he was just inches away from his face. "But at the same time, it's not enough to say you're sorry. You have to be given the proper punishment, so you can learn from your mistakes." If Jiyong wasn't scared before, he sure as hell was now. He had some bad experiences in the past, but none of them ever made them feel as fearful as he did at that moment. "So tonight, as your punishment, you're going to let me fuck you in any way I please or else."

"P-Please," Jiyong stuttered, suddenly feeling himself sober up. "You don't have to do this. I'm sorry I took your money...I just didn't know how much to take and I didn't want to wake you up and ask."

"Bullshit," the man said in a more angered tone as he raised his hand in the air and smacked Jiyong across the face. Jiyong's face stung as his cheek turned a bright red. "You knew exactly what you were doing, but you were too stupid to use your mind and think. But what else can I expect from a person like you? A person who sells their ass for a living." 

Jiyong couldn't muster up the courage to speak anymore, as he feared he would get hit again. He had never been physically abused in his life, not even by his parents and not even in all the years he had been in this line of business. But he did know that he didn't want to experience it again.

However, there wasn't much he could do to stop it when the man dragged him to his bedroom and pushed him on the bed roughly. Before Jiyong could prop himself up and fight back, the man was already on top of him and ripping his clothes off piece by piece, not stopping until he was left completely exposed.

"Ah...you're still as beautiful as last time," he said in a voice that made Jiyong cringe.

"Please," Jiyong said as his breath hitched, his eyes quickly filling with scared tears. "P-Please don't do this..."

"Oh, but you see, all actions come with consequences, sweetie," the man said after having laughed maliciously. "This is what you get for screwing me over." Jiyong knew the consequences of his actions, but he was smart enough to know that this was taking it too far.

Jiyong tried so hard to fight back, but the man was much stronger than him and his weak limbs. He hit Jiyong at least five times after the first blow in an effort to wear him down, but Jiyong fought through it. He refused to let this happen.

Jiyong had given up on controlling his sobs a long time after the man had started ramming into him from the back. He was thankful that he had the softness of the pillow to catch his tears as they poured from his eyes like rain drops.

It felt as if he was being stabbed with a different knife every time the man shoved his penis inside of him, each time telling Jiyong what a useless slut he was. The words seemed to hurt a lot more now that they were accompanied with physical pain.

Fifteen minutes of nothing but pure torture ticked by for Jiyong before the man finally reached his climax and pulled out of him.

"I want you out by the time I get back," he said once he finished getting dressed. "If you aren't then I can assume you plan on sticking around for another round." Then, the man exited the apartment with a loud slam of the door, leaving a scared Jiyong alone on the bed.

His face was still pressed against the pillow; he couldn't move. All he could do was sob even more into the pillow, his cries getting louder with each passing minute. He curled himself up in a ball at some point and just let himself cry until his heart's content when all he really wanted to do was curl up in a hole and die.

He just wanted to be safe again. He just wanted to be with Seunghyun.