Treat You Better - Park Jeongwoo

III

┌──═━┈━═──┐
chapter two
└──═━┈━═──┘

(tw: sexual assault)

He couldn't stop himself anymore. He walked towards them as he pushed them apart.

"Yeri. Do you really want this?" He asked.

"YOU BASTARD!" Haruto yelled before punching Jeongwoo in the stomach.
"You son of a bitch—" Jeongwoo said trying to throw a punch but Jihoon had managed to separate the two boys.

"What the fuck are you doing Jeongwoo?! He's my boyfriend!" Yeri yelled.

"Let's get out of here." Jihoon said, pulling Jeongwoo towards the garage.
"Hyung but Yeri..." Jeongwoo began before he saw Haruto grab Yeri and kiss her fiercely again.

Jeongwoo's body went limp, making Jihoon stop from the sudden lack of force from Jeongwoo's side.

"She's being sexually assaulted hyung." Jeongwoo said.
"What are you talking about Jeongwoo?" Jihoon asked pulling him out the house and into the garage, closing the door shut behind him.

"Let me go hyung! She needs me! We need to help her!!!" Jeongwoo yelled.

"Come back to your senses Jeongwoo." Jihoon said. "She asked you to leave herself. He's her boyfriend. How could he possibly sexually assault her?!"

"I don't know hyung maybe the—" scars on her body could tell you the answers were the exact words Jeongwoo wanted to tell his brother but he stopped himself from saying it, for Yeri's sake.

"You had too much to drink Jeongwoo. Let's just go home." Jihoon said.
Jeongwoo got into the car unwillingly.

He wanted to protect Yeri. This instinct inside him told him she wasn't safe but he let his brother drive him to their house.

***

The next two days, Jeongwoo didn't see Yeri anywhere at university. She came back in the third day, looking so dull as if she had not slept for days straight.

"Yeri?" Jeongwoo asked as Yeri paid him no attention, walking past him to the last seat.
Jeongwoo stopped himself from going to the last seat beside Yeri in the psychology class as he saw Haruto walk in.

Haruto seemed so wasted that night that he had no recollection of their little 'fight'. "Yo bro." He said as he said beside Jeongwoo.

Jeongwoo didn't answer, he simply nodded. He wanted to know what was wrong with Yeri and at the same time wanted to punch Haruto's guts out because he knew whatever had happened to Yeri was because of Haruto.

"What's wrong with her?" Jeongwoo asked Haruto. His curiosity got the best out of him.

"Nothing... that slut is just sad that I won't fuck her anymore." He cackled, making the blood in Jeongwoo's veins boil.

"You broke up?" Jeongwoo asked as Haruto nodded, still laughing.
Jeongwoo didn't find it funny. He wanted to punch all the pearly whites he'd been showing off.

"She looks miserable doesn't she?" Haruto asked.
Jeongwoo didn't answer.
"She's so desparate for me. No wonder she'd look like that without my dick. Too bad she can't have anyone else's dick either..." Haruto stopped, looking like he'd overshared.

"What do you mean?" Jeongwoo asked.
"Nothing." Haruto simply said.

Jeongwoo couldn't stop thinking about Yeri. She seemed off to him.

Jeongwoo couldn't find Yeri at the cafeteria but he kept running Haruto almost every hour. Jeongwoo finally asked Yedam if he'd seen Yeri.
"

No bro" Yedam simply said.

***

The next four days, Yeri didn't attend any of the classes she had with Jeongwoo. Jeongwoo was concerned at this point. He gathered all the courage he had left and decided to check in on Yeri at her dorm.

He bought chocolate, knowing that chocolate would clear any problems. He hesitated to ring the doorbell but after a long minute of trying, he finally did it.

Hewon, Yeri's roommate, opened the door. "Jeongwoo?" She asked, confused.
"Hi...Is Yeri there?"

"Yes...Hold on, let me call her." Hewon said, leaving Jeongwoo alone at the door.

After a minute, Yeri came out in the living room with braided hair. "Hi Yeri." Jeongwoo said.

He noticed that Yeri's health seemed much better than when he'd seen her last time.
"Hi Jeongwoo...Why are you here?" She asked, getting to the point.

"I was hoping we could talk." Jeongwoo said. "Do you have time?"
"Yeah sure, come inside." the shorter one said, inviting him inside.

She wasn't wearing long sleeves like before, Her dress showed fading purplish bruises on her arms and thighs.

"Are you okay?" The taller one asked.
"No." the brunette answered truthfully.

Jeongwoo was left speechless after such honestly, he had a speech prepared in his mind but now it just seemed to have, vanished.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Jeongwoo asked her.
She didn't answer. The truth is she wasn't ready but she wanted someone to stay by her side.

Hewon came out asking, "Yeri, I'm going to shop for some groceries. Do you need anything? Beer?"

"No I'm good." Yeri said.

"I don't know how to put it in words Jeongwoo. He broke up with me and..."

Jeongwoo didn't interrupt her.

"I still love him and..."

Jeongwoo's heart dropped.

"I'm carrying his child."

"You're what?!" The guy asked getting up. "Are you really... pregnant?!"

"I took a test just because I missed the day of my period and then it came back faintly positive... So I went to the doctor's and they told it was too early...I was barely two weeks along."

"Is that why he broke up with you?" Jeongwoo asked in a low voice.

Yeri nodded slowly, tears falling down her cheek.

"He doesn't want responsibility for the child... He doesn't want me either now... He has a new girlfriend." the brunette cried.

Jeongwoo put his arm around her to give her a shoulder to cry on. Yeri cried that day, the entirety of two hours. And Jeongwoo sat there patiently, letting Yeri know that he'd still support her, that he was still listening to be her, that he was not one bit like Haruto.

Yeri kept saying that she loved Haruto, and every single time she said that, Jeongwoo's heart would hurt.

This was a weird feeling for Jeongwoo's. As much he wanted to keep her safe and happy, he also had a dragon in his chest, roaring full of passion every single time he saw Yeri. He didn't want to admit it to himself  the reason he wanted to help  for he'd fallen in love with Yeri.