Neighborly [Seo Changbin + FemReader]

[4.2] Y/N

My stomach hit the floor. "Wait! That's Yu-Jin's father!" And no sooner had the words left my mouth, I regretted sounding protective of him. A flood of anger washed over me, and I stepped forward to nudge Changbin to move to the side. He gave me a questioning look, and I hope the one I sent back to him wasn't lost in translation.

He let go of Tae-Hyun's hand and took a short retreating step, but still within arm's length of my ex-husband. He crossed his arms across his broad chest, accentuating the intimidating warehouse of muscles there. It took everything in me not to squirrel and just stare at him. But, an evidently wasted Tae-Hyun was right in front of me, and I was livid.

"How dare you!" I let my anger comes through my voice but tried to keep the volume down for the sake of my neighbors. "I told you that if you didn't keep your word today that you are to never ask again. All your chances are up! And you have the audacity to show up drunk on our doorstep? No! You can leave the same way you came!"

Tae-Hyun straightened up and leaned closer to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Changbin restrain himself from stepping forward as well. Tae-Hyun's eyes were narrowing, but I couldn't tell if it was in anger or confusion. The moment he opened his mouth to speak, the smell of alcohol filled the space.

"Tell my son I want to see him." He fought to keep his words from being one long slur.

"No," I replied point blank and crossed my arms, standing resolute in front of him.

He took a deep breath, clearly offended by my lack of obedience, and shouted, "I want to see my son! Right now!"

It took every bit of self-control I had not to slap him across the face right then. I waited for a couple seconds and then answered, "I said no. Go sleep it off, Tae-Hyun. Goodbye." I was done with this and ready to call the police if he didn't leave. I uncrossed my arms and began to turn around to go back inside when I saw the way his eyes changed from anger to rage suddenly. A growl erupted from his throat, and he lunged for me.

A flash of movement flew by my periphery, a short melee of noise and scuffling, and the next thing I knew Tae-Hyun was on the ground a decent distance away from me. I could see him sprawled out, panting, as if he'd been power shoved, and that was when I realized that Changbin was standing between the two of us, a solid wall of protection. His hands were fisted by his sides. He slowly raised his right hand and pointed at Tae-Hyun.

"Go home. You're already embarrassed enough. Don't make it worse."

Tae-Hyun sat up with a groan and looked from Changbin to me, tears lining his eyes. Then he crawled onto his knees, stood up, and trudged defeatedly away toward the elevator. Changbin didn't move, nor did I, until we saw his retreating form disappear. Then, Changbin turned around to face me.

I didn't have the words to put my thoughts or emotions into any kind of coherent sentence, so I just took the few steps that separated us, brought my hands up to frame his face, and brought Changbin's lips down to mine. His shocked, sharp inhale of breath through his nose delighted me, but then he wrapped his arms around my sides and pulled me closer to him, tilting his head to kiss me harder. His lips were soft and full, but he used them firmly and with a possessive exploration. My mind was spinning, and I thought that I might drown in him when his tongue teased against the tip of mine, caressing it with purpose. I welcomed him in.

When my lungs burned because I was so entranced that I forgot to breathe, I gently pulled away, taking in deep, steady breaths, and willing my racing pulse to calm down. Whoa. That was intense. I blinked several times and let my eyes drift down to his parted, kiss-swollen lips. My insides melted. If I didn't look up, I'd let the lonely monster inside me make some decisions I might regret tomorrow.

"Thank you." I rasped, catching his eyes.

He released his hold on me and brought his hands up to take mine from his face. Catching me off guard, he turned his head and kissed each of my palms softly. He heard my ragged intake of breath and smiled. Not letting go of my hands, he brought them down to hang between us.

"Are you okay to go inside?"

I nodded. I knew Tae-Hyun wouldn't be back tonight after tucking his tail between his legs and slinking back off into the night. I was safe to go to sleep.

"Good. Make sure your door is locked. I'll have my phone on if you need me."

My heart swelled. Who is this guy and is he real? I giggled softly. "Where did you come from?" His face scrunched in confusion, and I laughed again. "I mean, are you real? I'm not dreaming this? You're a real person treating me this way and acting like this?"

I must have said something good, because he turned beet red and tried to hide his face from me. His tiny, "Yes," made me giggle again.

"Good, because I'm looking forward to having dinner with you tonight and it would be a shame if I show up and you were never here."

His grin was worth a million dollars. "I'll be there. 6:30 sound good?"

I nodded. "6:30 is good for us."

"Okay. See you then." He squeezed my hands gently in his and leaned forward to press a soft, sweet kiss to my lips. "Goodnight."

I know the words left my mouth, but I couldn't hear them over the pounding of my heart between my ears. "Goodnight." I felt my fingers slip from his and I watched him turn and leave to go back to his apartment. When I couldn't see him anymore, I spun quickly on my heel, stepped through my doorway, closed and locked the door, and then slid down the heavy metal to sit on the floor, on hand loosely covering my mouth in awe.

"Can it be 6:30 already?" I whispered to myself.