monster | junmyeon

t e n

the intermingled smell of alcohol and sweat assaulted them. drunk and wasted people staggered on the dance floor, not even recognizing the person they were dancing with. 

the 20-year-old boy pushed his way through the crowd, the headache-inducing music causing him to frown and quicken his pace. as he swept his gaze, his eyes land on a petite girl sitting alone in the corner. a few guys, barely looking sober, surrounded her. 

"shit." junmyeon muttered before making a beeline for them. he shouldn't have taken the phonecall ; he shouldn't have left her there in the first place. 

as he got closer, more of emmeline's face came into view. she was frowning, no doubt, but junmyeon recognized the fear in her eyes. as one of the guys moved to caress her face, she slapped his filthy hand away. hard.

the guy's ears turned beet red and as he raised a hand to hit her, junmyeon grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. crying out in pain, the guy struggled to turn around but the furious boy held him in place and kicked him in the inside of his knees, forcing him to kneel. 

"who the fuck are you to touch her?" he spat close to the guy's ear.

before he could break his arm, emmeline pulled him back and together, they ran out of the backdoor. as soon as the cold air hit them, junmyeon halted and tugged at her hand, causing her to stop as well.

"em, are you okay?"

without replying, she encircled her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. her shoulders heave as she tried to catch her breath.

"em?"

"i-i'm okay. i'm fine."

instinctively, he raised one hand to support the small of her back and the other to pat her soft, tangled hair. "shh. it's okay. i'm here now, love."

as soon as the word left his mouth, emmeline glanced up in surprise.

flustered, junmyeon adverted his gaze. "wait, that's not what i meant—"

"that's what you meant, junmyeon. i heard that clearly—"

"no, i mean—" he stuttered. "i-i have someone that i like already, okay?"

he couldn't help but notice her crestfallen expression, her mouth open in an 'o' shape. his heart tightened and he wanted to take every single word back, but he knew he couldn't. he wouldn't.

he didn't want to lose someone he loves. not again.