Jeongguk bowed his head to the three men after he served them their drinks and gathered their previous glasses. He shut the curtain and pivoted on his heel to head to the bar, but someone crashed into him. He gasped in terror when the tray flew out of his hand and the empty glasses shattered all over the place.

"I'm so sorry," he spluttered, panicked by the collision, but his alarm only skyrocketed when he glanced at the one he collided with. "I'm so, so sorry, V, are you okay?" He laid his quivery hands on his biceps, scoping his body for any sign of injury.

V smacked his hands away, a scowl adorning his features. "Clean this up," he snarled, not missing how terrified he seemed. "And I bumped into you. Sorry," he added under his breath and bundled off.

Jeongguk stood there for a spell, outright bewildered and taken aback by what happened.

"You okay? It seemed painful." Yeosang appeared with a broom and a dustpan in his hands to help him.

"I'm okay, thanks," Jeongguk uttered and attempted to take the broom out of his hands, but he pulled away with a smile.

"Your pager is going off," Yeosang pointed out since he seemed too agitated to hear it.

"Um, thanks, I owe you." Jeongguk gave him an uneasy smile and slipped the pager out of his pocket. He trod towards booth number twenty-four, drawing in calming gulps of air to mellow his still battering heart by the previous events. "Excuse me."

"Come in."

A woman's voice was heard, and he sighed in relief once he realized it wasn't her voice. He plastered a kind smile on his lips and glided the curtain aside. "Hello. What would you like?"

"Why don't you take a seat? Let's talk for a while," she said, voice mild and velvety, as she gestured him to sit.

"I'm assuming you know that you can use this service for only fifteen minutes."

"Yes, I know." She seemed strangely... normal to Jeongguk. "I'm Hwasa. What's your name?"

"Jeongguk."

"And why are you here, Jeongguk?"

His brows furrowed upon hearing her question. "What do you mean?"

She cracked a small smile as she reached for her drink. "I mean, you're young. You're what, twenty? Twenty-one?"

"I'm twenty-one."

"See? You shouldn't be here. You're too young for this shit." She sipped her whiskey and let out a satisfied sigh as she felt the bitter drink pleasantly burn her throat. "So tell me. What is a twenty-one-year-old doing here, working in the VIP section of V's club out of all people?"

Jeongguk could tell she had a strong personality and seemed quite confident with her words. It was kind of reassuring for some reason. "Should I tell you the whole truth? Should I tell you what no one knows except me and my two hyungs?" Maybe he asked that just for fun, but he was actually considering doing it.

Hwasa snorted in amusement as she kept her gaze on the glass in her hand, moving it in a circular motion. "Might as well do it, kiddo. We have thirteen minutes left."

"Nah, it's too dangerous. You'll reveal all my dirty secrets to V and I'll lose my job. I really need this job, Hwasa-ssi."

"I have no intention in doing that. It's your choice to be here, and I have no place to do something to take that away from you. I just want to know why you choose to be here. And I was getting a little bored, so why don't you let your dirty secrets out? Everything that will be said here will stay here as well." She set the glass on the table and focused her full attention on him. "I'm ready to hear a part of your story. Surprise me."

Jeongguk released a muted giggle at her last remark and stayed silent as he contemplated it. He shifted in his seat nervously, his eyes roaming around the room. "Can I sit next to you? I don't want to be heard."

"Of course."

He left a good amount of space between them and turned his upper body towards her. "I'm twenty, first of all." The words rolled off his tongue with ease for some reason.

"Ah, that's even worse then. You're wasting your life here. Why are you screwing up your life?" she asked, and Jeongguk could sense the bitterness in her tone.

"It's already wasted. And I'm not screwing up my life. I'm the screw-up myself, Hwasa-ssi."

Despite his words, she gave him a faint, affable smile. "Why do you say that?"

"I'm gay."

"So?"

Jeongguk shot his confused gaze at her. "Hwasa-ssi, I'm gay," he repeated, voice still small but tone sharper.

"I heard you." She chuckled softly at his astounded expression. "And I'm asking what's wrong with that? Does it make you a screw-up if you're gay?"

"Doesn't it?"

"No, Jeongguk. Of course it doesn't."

"But then... why did my father beat me up when he found out?" He discerned her smile freezing and gradually falling from her face, and he lowered his head in dejection. "Why did he call me a useless fag? Why did he throw me out of my house?" He thought that after six months, recalling these memories wouldn't hurt that much, but it was still awfully painful.

"Because he's a sick person who can't understand you, Jeonggukie. There's nothing wrong with being gay. And you think that in 2019, some things would have changed by now, but it's the same shit. And I'm afraid that it will be like this forever. You can't let that break you though. You should be proud of who you are even if others don't understand you. You should be proud. Don't ever forget that. You're not a screw-up. You're you. And whoever doesn't like it or understand it doesn't have a place in your life."

Jeongguk felt a whirl of tears sting his eyes, but he refused to cry. He dragged his head up and gazed at the soothing smile on her lips. "Why... Why are you telling me this? Why are you so nice? People here aren't nice."

"I know, sweetie, I know. That's why I don't understand why you're here."

"I need the money, Hwasa-ssi. I'm making very good money here."

"This place is not what you think. You should find something else. Before it's too late." A sigh escaped her mouth as she grabbed her drink.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Jeongguk asked as he searched for her eyes, but she kept her gaze away.

"The less you know, the better for you. Trust me on this. And you should leave because at one point, there's no turning back."

"How will I know that? How will I know if it's too late?"

"Why do you ask? Are you planning on leaving this job?" she snickered, and Jeongguk tossed his head down in response. "See? You're not. And I won't pressure you to do it. I told you, it's your choice to be here, but be careful. No one in here, and when I say no one, I mean it. No one should ever find out that you're gay."

"I'll be careful. Thank you for talking to me."

She broke into a smile and extended her hand insensibly to caress his shoulder but stopped halfway. "I forgot. We're not allowed to touch."

"I don't mind. For some reason, you don't seem like a threat," he uttered, raising a grin from her.

She skimmed his shoulder with a delicate hand and squeezed it. "I'm not. But you shouldn't trust people so easily."

The curtain was suddenly yanked to the side, and their smiles vanished in an instant as they snapped their heads at the one who entered.

"What the fuck are you doing?" V glowered at her hand that was still on his shoulder.

Jeongguk exploded out of his seat, his heart raging in his chest, and dropped his head as low as possible, not daring to meet his gaze.

"Ah, V. You shouldn't interrupt our talk."

"Your talk ended ten minutes ago."

Jeongguk's eyes grew unnaturally big at his statement, and he scrambled to get his phone to check the time. Fuck, he's right, fuck fuck—

"I never expected you would break the rules out of people, Hwasa. You're banned from coming here for twenty days."

"What? No!" Jeongguk raised his voice in panic. "I told her it's okay."

"You shouldn't have! I explained the rules clearly, Jeongguk."

"You're unbelievable," he spat out with a chuckle of sheer disbelief. "You're banning her for doing nothing wrong, but you allow that goddamn sickening hag to walk around in here freely and harass us!"

"You think I want that? Fuck, I hate her as much as you do, so shut the fuck up. I don't want to hear another word from you!"

"Why the hell aren't you doing anything then?"

"Boys, you're yelling," Hwasa said, still calm despite the situation. "It's not harassment if Jeongguk didn't have a problem with it. It was a simple touch on his shoulder, and you know I'm a lesbian anyway."

Jeongguk's forehead creased in thought at her last remark, confusion swirling in his narrowed eyes. "You said you don't associate with people who belong to the LGBT+ community." He ventured to glance at him, but V avoided his gaze.

"Ah, that's what he said? They just don't associate with men who are gay. For some reason, they don't have a problem with lesbians." She cast a knowing glance at V, and the corner of her lips tipped up into a smirk once he glared at her.

"Shut up. Both of you just... shut up," V breathed out as he massaged his temples to soothe an incoming headache.

Jeongguk felt fury stir his insides as he scowled at V, fingers digging into his palms. "You're just as disgusting as that bitch. That's why you keep her, right?" He didn't wait for an answer. He didn't need an answer. He stamped towards the exit, slamming his shoulder against him, and bolted out of there.

Hwasa detected how the muscles along his jaw bunched and his whole body tensed up in a matter of seconds. "V, no. Don't do anything—V!" she yelled, but it was too late.

V charged behind the younger with long-legged strides, blazing with outrage. It didn't take him long to locate him rushing towards the bar. He caught up with him midway and seized his hand in a bruising hold, dragging him to the storage room.

Baffled and worried looks were thrown their way until they disappeared from everyone's vision. V completely ignored his screams to let him go and shoved him into the storage room, banged the door closed, and pinned him against it.

Only quick, shaky breaths came out of Jeongguk's mouth as fear crawled into every crease on his forehead.

V drilled holes into him with his manic eyes, his one hand wrapped around his neck, and the other pressing his chest, keeping him restrained. "I had enough of you and your bullshit," he growled, his grasp around his neck tightening. "You know the job now. You know how it is. If you don't fucking want to be here, you're free to go wherever the hell you want."

Jeongguk screwed his eyes shut as he continuously hit his hand that was clutching his neck. Choked sounds erupted from his mouth as he fought to free himself.

He couldn't breathe.

At that moment, Namjoon's voice was heard, and a series of banging sounds followed. It was enough to rip V out of his frenzied condition and bring some sense into him. He released him in a hurry once the awakening of what he was doing thundered down on him and retreated at a glacial pace, his hands trembling.

Jeongguk collapsed onto his hands and knees as he gasped for air and coughed fiercely.

Namjoon stormed inside a second later and his mouth popped open in shock at the sight. He dropped to his knees in front of the younger boy who struggled to breathe, agonized. "You're okay, Jeongguk, you're okay," he said in a soft tone as he helped him sit properly. He instructed him to lean his upper body forward to help his breath return to normal faster. "That's it, you're doing great, you're okay." He offered palliative caresses on his back.

Jeongguk inhaled deep, slow breaths, although it was still hard to breathe since his heart was running riot in his chest. With a few more soothing words from Namjoon, he realized he wasn't in danger, and it didn't hurt that much to breathe anymore.

Namjoon glanced up at V with a furious look, but it softened upon observing him. His gaze was glazed and vacant, his body twitching, his fists contracted tautly. Another cough from Jeongguk earned his attention, and he set his gaze on him. "Are you okay now? Can you talk, Jeonggukie?"

"Yes. I'm okay now," he croaked out, wiping his tears with his shirt in vain.

"Let me drive you home," Namjoon suggested, and even if he wanted to protest, he didn't have any strength to do it. "Can you walk?"

"Yes, hyung, I'm okay," he reassured as Namjoon heaved him to his feet, tears still trickling down his cheeks. He didn't make another move, though; he stayed glued to his spot, eyes staring at the floor. "I quit." He shuffled towards the door and left without sparing another glance at the silver-haired boy.

"What the hell did you do?"

"I... I don't—"

"You almost choked him!" Namjoon jostled him, almost knocking him down since V's entire body felt numb. "Snap out of it and go meet the customers."

 
Namjoon waited for the younger to change his clothes and grab his things, and they went to his car soon enough. The ride was deadly silent as Jeongguk was shrunk in his seat, gazing out the window. But he could feel Namjoon's stare on his from time to time.

"I'm fine, really."

Namjoon sighed and chewed on his lower lip, stealing another glimpse of him. "V has some... anger management issues."

"That's not an excuse."

"I know. I'm not defending him. I'm just saying he didn't mean to hurt you."

"He almost choked me! If you hadn't come, he would have—"

"No, Jeongguk. He wouldn't have."

"You don't know that. You can't possibly know that."

"I do, Kook. I know him. Maybe he was raised badly, but he wouldn't hurt another person."

"How can I believe that?"

Namjoon could only sigh in response. Silence engulfed them once more until they arrived outside of his house. "Did you mean it? Will you quit?"

"I should, shouldn't I?" he asked with a bitter chuckle. "Everyone is telling me to quit. Even V himself. Shouldn't I then?"

"I heard him talking to Solji, just so you know. All I can tell you is that he stood up for you guys. For all of you. He had already talked to her numerous times, but it was the first time I heard him so decisive. I'm not telling you this to change your mind. I'm telling you this to make you understand that he's not as bad as he seems. He just has his moments."

Jeongguk was left staggered by everything he just heard. He couldn't believe that V tried to help them. Tried to help... him. He swallowed thickly, a surge of guilt for what he said to V rushing inside him, almost suffocating him. "Thanks for everything."

⚜✳⚜