Yeosang observes Wooyoung as he's happily cooking in the kitchen, oblivious to the other watching him. His leg bounces nervously as he replays the events of yesterday, more specifically what happened in his office.

He honestly doesn't know what he was feeling when he felt soft lips on his cheek, but clearly the way it's replaying constantly in his head means that he definitely feels something.

This isn't good. He thinks. The pair had set up and agreement to fake date each other, and now Yeosang is confused about his feelings towards Wooyoung, he never thought he'd develop affection towards him.

But looking at him in his home, doing normal things even makes his heart flutter. From what he's experienced the last couple of months, Wooyoung is extremely caring. He may be loud and extroverted but he's very respectful and has a big heart- not only with Yeosang, he's seen how much he cares for his friends too, even being kind towards Seonghwa.

They were supposed to end this, as soon as Wooyoung found a job so he can move out. Plus, it's been long enough for their relationship to be exposed to his mother, if they broke up now, she would be annoyed, but leave him alone for about 6 months before she'd start pestering him again to find a new boyfriend. Now would have been a great time to fake break up and never see each other again. But somehow Yeosang hates the thought of that, he doesn't want to end whatever they are. This is the most happy he's been in a while.

I like Wooyoung.

He admits to himself. He wants to keep whatever they have going on right now.

Yeosang bites his lip nervously, wondering what if Wooyoung didn't feel the same way. No, he must do... he's the one that kissed his cheek, that must mean something.

Anyway, he needs to stop staring at Wooyoung before he turns around and catches him. He can sort out his little dilemma after they eat.

~

It's been a week of the competition and Hongjoong is still here. He had almost passed out of happiness after finding out that he had gone through the first round successfully. Now, he's sitting in the same hall he did a week ago when the competition first started, ready for his second welcome.

And like last time, Changho is next to him too. Fortunately, they both had passed the first round without being eliminated.

He feels a bit sad seeing the same big hall with less people, those when we're eliminated must be crushed. However, in a way, he feels relieved that he's not one of them but at the same time he fees selfish for feeling relieved. Anyway, he's feeling too many things right now so he seemed his eyes shut, trying to collect his thoughts.

He's interrupted when he hears Seonghwa's voice on the stage. Hongjoong smiles when he introduces himself again to the contestants and congratulates them.

"I hope he gives a tour to the contestants again- I really want to be in that group" Changho says, Hongjoong nods awkwardly, focusing on what Seonghwa is saying instead.

"Since half of the contestants are gone, you will each have your own room, for comfort and privacy- to prevent any cheating. They are written on your new ID cards. There is also an added benefit to this round- there will be a team of mentors to guide you if anyone needs help, you will be proved with a button you can press to call someone form our team. Of course, there are limits to this new benefit, you can only call once and we can't physically help with anything- only answer questions and provide feedback."

Everyone starts murmuring, intrigued by this new rule, its something they've never done before. The contestants are given half an hour to settle in their allocated room until the second half go the competitions begins. Hongjoong is in room 24 this time, separated from his new friend Changho. They big each other goodbyes and good lucks and went their separate ways for the time being.

~

It's been a day since the start of the second half of the competition, Hongjoong is stressed. Everything from the early mornings he has to take to travel all the way to the building until the late hours he comes back is stressing him. Especially with the fact that he hasn't started his project yet, losing one whole day due to his anxiety and today is going too fast. He glances at the clock, the hands moving abnormally fast.

He's measured and cut the pattern for the shirt but is still hesitant to sew it- they're allowed to make minor changes to their designs but nothing drastic since the original design is what got them through the first round onto the second.

Hongjoong decides to not panic and instead use this as an opportunity to ask for a mentor- maybe he just needs some outside opinions or even just some reassurance. He heads to the tablet they've been provided and swipes around, looking for the mentor call button. Once he finds it, with a shaking finger, he presses it then waits for someone to come.

It isn't long before someone knocks on his door, it's barely been five minutes. The person opens the door and a familiar head pokes in.

"Oh- Seonghwa! What are you doing here?"

The man walks in with a happy smile. "I heard you called for help? I was chosen to help you- complete coincidence" he winks.

Hongjoong tries hiding his reddening cheeks, a bit embarrassed that he had called for help so early and the fact that Seonghwa came, looking at him all pathetic with his unsewn fabric. Everyone was probably already way ahead of him.

"Ah are you part of the mentor team?" Hongjoong asks, he never mentioned it in the introductory speech so Hongjoong was surprised when Seonghwa was the one who walked through the door.

Seonghwa nods. "So why did you call? Do you need advice? Do you want me to take a look at what you've made so far?"

"Um actually I haven't made anything yet, I've been unusually stressed, I've only cut out the patterns. I'm sorry". Hongjoong can work fast- he's been under more pressure before but still has worked faster than this. He has no idea what's wrong with him.

"Don't worry we still have time! Everyone works at their own pace". Hongjoong leads him to his progress, which is spread out neatly on the floor. Seonghwa nods, humming in admiration. "Ok. So what has you hesitating from sewing the pieces together?"

Hongjoong glances at him, then back to the pieces of fabric on the floor. In all honesty he doesn't know why he hasn't started sewing yet, he just feels like something is missing. "I'm not too sure about this piece over here" he points at the left half of the shirt. "I originally designed this piece to be a green patterned material like you can see now but I think I want to change it to baroque fabric- can I still do that? I don't know if I saw it when I got the other materials, if not- I can make do with what I've got here o-"

Seonghwa tells Hongjoong to slow down. "It's totally fine to make changes if you're not 100% satisfied, don't worry Hongjoong." He offers a small smile as reassurance. "I can get it for you- you were right when you said you didn't see it in the material room, this is in another one of our warehouses, it might take around an hour so start on the other pieces and I'll have it ready for you in a bit".

Hongjoong hesitates, he didn't know it would be in another warehouse, that sounds far away. He would've told Seonghwa not to get it, not wanting to be a bother and an extra chore on his busy work schedule, but he's already gone.

Sighing, he gathers his work and prepares the sewing machine, but suddenly someone is knocking on the door. Hongjoong frowns, did Seonghwa forget something?

He's surprised when its not Seonghwa at the door, but Changho, walking in with a bright smile. "Hey Hongjoong! How are you doing?"

"Hi Changho, I'm ok, what brings you here?" Hongjoong gives a tight smile, only slightly annoyed that he's about to finally start being productive but not too annoyed because Changho is sweet.

"Just checking up, I'm just taking a break now, I hope I'm not interrupting anything? my room is all quiet without you " he pouts and Hongjoong laughs. "No you're good, I just haven't really got that much done".

Changho nods slowly. "Oh! I saw Mr Park leave your room, was he doing the same greetings as last time for all the contestants? He didn't come to my room?" He furrows his eyebrows in confusion, Hongjoong bites his lip nervously. He doesn't want him to get the wrong idea if he finds out that he knows Seonghwa (kind of) personally.

"Oh, I just called for a mentor because I was struggling and Seong- Mr Park came." He explains it in a way that makes it certain that they don't know each other. But for some reason Changho is still sceptical. "I didn't know he was part of the mentor team too..."

Hongjoong laughs worriedly. "Me too- he just showed up suddenly haha"

"Are you sure you didn't call him on purpose, why would he come when there's a whole team of people available?" He gets a little nervous when Changho starts walking towards him. "Maybe they were all busy?".

Now he's cornered against the wall, Hongjoong gulps, not knowing what to do and shocked that Changho is making a unnecessarily big deal out of this. "Liar! I know you're purposefully trying to get close to Mr Park so you can win this competition!" He growls at him. "Are you seducing him? Why would he come to your room where its only you!"

Hongjoong widens his eyes at the crazy accusation. "No! Why would you even say that? I told you I called for a mentor and my mentor turned out to be Seonghwa!"

Changho laughs, eyes sparkling a scary amount. "Oh so you two are on a first name basis now, Is that how you're going to win? By getting close to him... that a bit unfair don't you think"

He pokes Hongjoong's head harshly, making him hit it on the wall. "Seems easy doesn't it? What you you think Hongjoong, should I suck his dick too? Then let's see who he chooses at the winner"

Hongjoong clenches his teeth. "Watch you mouth" he tries being intimidating but it doesn't seem to work, only making the other laugh. "Or what? I knew you looked like the type to sleep your way to the top" he scoffs.

Grabbing his shirt, Hongjoong throws him to the ground, but Changho being taller and supposedly stronger than him, it's not long until he's thrown over, receiving a strong punch to the nose. Hongjoong groans loudly, coughing from the blow while tackling the man above him. "I don't care what it takes, IM winning this competition, I WILL have Kang Yeosang wear my piece, not anyone else".

Hongjoong falters, Yeosang? He thought Changho was obsessed with Seonghwa not Yeosang...

It was his mistake faltering even for a second because Changho grabs his neck. "This so the only way I can get him to notice me and no one is getting in the way, not even you Hongjoong" he tightens his hold, fingers pressing dangerously hard, causing Hongjoong to cough uncontrollably, grasping at the hands around him and struggling to remove his iron grip. He feels blood trickling down from his nose to his ear.

Tears unconsciously fall down, legs flailing and trying to kick the man off him. Hongjoong's vision starts to cloud and finally he's released and Changho walks away after kicking him. "I hope I've made myself clear".

Hongjoong glares at him with glassy eyes, not having enough energy to get up and chase after him. He's choking and gasping for air, taking in shuddering breaths. Grasping the table for support, he stands up shakily and cleans himself up, wiping the tears and blood from his face.

The chair squeaks as he falls onto it, angry that he's wasted more time. He feels like crying, with the stress of his project he just had to make a friend that backstabs and threatens him.

But he has no time to cry, he takes a couple of minutes recollect himself before he slowly starts to work, occasionally wincing in pain.

An hour has passed when Hongjoong looks at the time, having finished putting the pieces together and all he has to do is wait for the last piece to arrive.

As if on cue, Seonghwa knocks three times then slowly opens the door, smiling when he sees Hongjoong.

"I found what you wanted, sorry it took a while" Seonghwa walks in and hands him the fabric.

"Thanks Seonghwa" Hongjoong offers a small smile, nervous in case Changho saw Seonghwa go in his room again. Now he's scared to have him leave, what if he comes in again like last time. Hongjoong squeezes his eyes shut, scared to be alone.

Seonghwa notices his clear expression of discomfort and frowns. "Hongjoong are you ok?"

He quickly opens his eyes. He had forgotten Seonghwa is still here. "Yeah. Just fine. Thank you for going through the trouble of getting me this" he displays the fabric in his hand with a tight smile.

Seonghwa looks at his glassy eyes, knowing somethings wrong. He walks closer to him and reaches out, slowly to give time for Hongjoong to reject the hand on his shoulder. He just stands still, shaking.

Seonghwa's frowns when he sees marks on his neck, marks that look like painful bruises. He doesn't touch them but Hongjoong knows he's looking at them. "Did someone do this to you?" He looks into his eyes, they're filled with tears and fear. "No, I'm fine Seonghwa"

He watches as Hongjoong walks away avoiding his eyes, and sits down at his working station. He can see his pain by the way he flinches when he has to turn around to grab something. It hurts Seonghwa seeing Hongjoong like this, he wants to know what happened, did someone really do this?

"Hongjoong" he takes a seat opposite him. He'll try one more time to get an answer from Hongjoong but he'll respect him if he really doesn't want to tell. Seonghwa reaches out to cup his cheek, Hongjoong's lip quivers when his thumb strokes his cheek softly. "Who did this to you?"

He shakes his head "just someone..."

Seonghwa frowns. "Who, another contestant?" He questions but the other sighs. Hongjoong doesn't want to say who it is, he's not defending Changho, he just doesn't want to bother Seonghwa by making him more busy over a little fight.

"Hongjoong, if you're thinking that you don't want to bother me with my busy schedule, don't. This is serious and if it really is another contestant who did this to you, they need to be immediately expelled. We all know the rules".

Hongjoong bites his lip, frowning when Seonghwa removes the hand on his cheek and stands up. "I can just watch the security cameras, there's one in every room".

He starts to walk away but Hongjoong stops him. "Wait!" He grabs Seonghwa's hand. "You don't want to watch the security cameras" He says with a solemn look.

Seeing Hongjoong like this makes Seonghwa unbelievably sad, he looks down at their intwined hands, Hongjoong fiddling with them nervously. "Who... please tell me Hongjoong, so that you'll never have to see them again" Seonghwa says to him.

Hongjoong sniffles, then let's out a shaky breath. "Changho, the one that shared a studio with me for the first half of the competition".

Seonghwa listens intently as he carries on. "He saw you leaving this room and thought I was purposely trying to get close to you so I can win. He hit me, kicked me," Hongjoong's fingers trace his neck, still sore "I thought I was going to d...". Tears roll down his cheeks. "Then he said some things about Yeosang but I couldn't hear properly, all my surroundings were disappearing then ..."

He wipes Hongjoong's tears. "Thank you for telling me Hongjoong". Seonghwa is very concerned, this Changho guy is dangerous, for Hongjoong, other contestants he might see as a threat, even Yeosang. He'll let the board know and expel him immediately.

"Why didn't you go to someone straight away? What if he came to you again, were you planning to hide this?" Hongjoong gives a shakily smile, trying to appear unfazed. "No, I just already lost so much time I needed to start on my project".

Seonghwa sighs, he can see Hongjoong's trying to hide the fact that he needs comfort and is pretending to be strong, he's seen it a million times with Yeosang. But, he lets him be, if this was the way Hongjoong copes then he respects that. "Ok that's fine, I'll just go now and tell the higher ups about this okay?"

He heads for the door but Hongjoong stops him, grabbing his arm. "No! You can't!"

Surprised, Seonghwa freezes, Hongjoong sounds really desperate for him not to go, which makes him so come fussed as to why he wants nothing to happen regarding such a serious matter. "Hongjoong, we have to let them know if you want the-"

Suddenly, Hongjoong's arms wrap arms his waist, face buried in his chest. "It's not that, I'm..." his words are muffled so Seonghwa strains his ears to listen carefully. "Scared to be alone in this room".

His heart stops when he feels his shirt getting wet, realising that Hongjoong is crying. He feels furious at the man who caused him this much pain, but most of all, he feels sad. He's careful not to hurt him as he wraps his arms around his shoulders, stroking his head. "It's ok, let it out. You don't have to be strong all the time, cry as much as you want".

He whispers softly to comfort him, placing a gentle kiss on his temple. "You're safe here with me". Hongjoong grips his shirt and tightens the hug. "You'll never have to see him again, I'll protect you".