THE MOMENT Taeyong wakes up, he tries to remember what happened last night and how he ended up back to his dorm. He's aware that everytime he gets drunk, he's always found lying inside a pub beaten up and unconscious. But this time, he's lying on his bed without a single bruise.

Still dizzy, he forces himself to get up in bed, racking his brain. What happened last night? He's still in the process of gaining his memory, when the bathroom door opens, revealing a guy younger than him. "Oh, blud, you're up?" The younger guy asks, drying his wet hair with the towel.

"Yeah. Just..." he pauses, when he feels a burning sensation in his gut.

"Hangover again?" the younger guy continues. "You should really stop going to pubs and drinking alcohol. It's not doing you any good."

He nods. His brother, Mark is younger than him, but everytime he talks, it's as if he's the older one. "Did you pick me up at the local?"

Mark shakes his head. "No, blud. The cab driver sent you here. It's strange, by the way. How did you manage to take a cab?"

"I don't know either." He rises up from bed and proceeds to the washroom to throw up. He enjoys drinking, but he hates this the most. Hangover is the worst part of it all.

"I've prepared a soup for you," Mark shouts from behind the door. "But don't expect too much."

When he finishes washing his face, he thanks his brother and proceeds to the table to eat the soup. Even though it wasn't that tasty, he still appreciates what his brother did for him. He feels guilty for not being a good model to him, but going to the pub is his only way of de-stressing.

Growing up without a mother and an abusive father, his direction in life is a mess. He doesn't know where he's headed in the future, or if he'd still be alive by then. Right now, his only goal is to guide and protect his brother, who is the only person he considers his family.

"What are you doing today, blud?" Mark asks him.

He turns to him with a shrug. "Maybe I'll meet up with Yuta and Sol at the gym. Just to clear my mind off. Wanna come?"

Mark pauses, then shakes his head. "I'll just do an advance reading for the next semester."

"Summer's about to end. You need to relax even for the day," he advises.

But the younger one just smiles. "Make sure to come home early today, alright? I'm not gonna make you another soup again."

After eating, he goes out of their dorm and proceeds to where his motorbike is parked. They have a car and he owns two of them, but he rarely goes home and it's more convenient for him to use his bike. Apart from that, he doesn't want to deal with his father so he chose to stay at Eton and brought Mark along with him.

The gym where he usually hangs out is owned by one of his friends, Yuta Nakamoto whose father is a wealthy CEO of NH Prime Malls, the largest chain of malls in the country. He used to hate Asian people because of his own father's origin, but ended up being friends with Yuta and Hansol, who both came from East Asia.

When he reaches the gym, he immediately sees his friends' motorbikes outside so he knows they're already there. As he walks inside, he finds his friends sparring at the boxing ring. He goes to the edge and watches them closely. Yuta gives Hansol an uppercut, causing the latter to fall on the floor. "Your treat tonight!" Yuta announces, helping his friend get up. Then, they see their friend watching them from below. "TY!"

Taeyong climbs up the ring and grabs the gloves from Hansol's. "I need a punch," he says to Yuta.

Yuta creases his brows in confusion, but lurches forward to attack Taeyong. The other quickly moves to the side and avoids the punch. "What happened to you last night, mate?"

"Yeah. After that rumble, you just disappeared," Hansol adds, watching the two from the corner of the ring.

"I had to cool off," Taeyong answers, hitting Yuta on the side of his face.

Yuta recovers quickly and fakes an uppercut to which Taeyong responds with another punch on his face. "Aahh!" Yuta flinches in pain.

"Hey you two! That's enough sparring for today." Hansol comes in between them, helping Yuta.

"I think you need to treat us tonight," Yuta tells him.

Taeyong nods. "No problem. Treat's on me tonight. See you later at the local!" He tosses the gloves back to Hansol and goes out of the gym. Maybe going to the gym isn't a good idea.

He starts his bike again and drives to the nearest music store – one of his safe havens. The first thing he looks for is the aisle of vinyl records. He enjoys listening to old music and this is the only place where he can truly feel it. He picks up a vinyl of The Smiths, one of his favourite bands from the '80s and listens to "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," which explains exactly what he's feeling most of the time.

In my life, why do I give valuable time to people who don't care if I live or die?

Why do I smile at people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?

While listening to the music, he notices a girl on the corner counting her money. He has dealt with all sorts of girls before and he can say that this girl is the plainest one he has ever seen. With her lousy white shirt, ragged jeans and dirty red trainers, she sure looks like one of those girls you won't want to date. Lesbo, he mutters to himself.

His eyes follow her, as she goes around and stares at the guitars displayed on the side. She looks at each of the guitar with so much adoration. He is no psychic but he can clearly see that she wants to have one.

When she finishes eyeing the guitars, she proceeds to the rack of vinyl records and picks up a Blondie. She goes to the turntable next to him, places the record on the platter and listens to the music. After a while, she stops and turns to him.

"Are you done with The Smiths?" the girl suddenly asks.

He gets startled for a moment, then realizes she's talking about the vinyl he's listening to. He glares at her and shakes his head. "No."

"Can I borrow it when you're done?" she asks again.

But he answers back with another piercing glare. "No."

The girl stares at him for a moment. "Beast," she mutters.

Taeyong hears her, but he just pretends to be immersed into the music on his ears. The girl leaves after that, glancing at one of the guitars on the corner before stepping outside the store. He doesn't know why, but he feels like he's already seen that girl before. He just can't remember where and when.

****

THE DAY passes by again and Taeyong hasn't done anything productive yet. He's sure his brother has finished a book already back at their dorm. When evening comes, he drives to the new pub they just found days ago, where he usually hangs out with Yuta and Sol. Our meeting place tonight.

As soon as he enters, heaps of smoke fills in his lungs. He proceeds to the counter and orders a beer, while waiting for his friends. Loud music blasts on all corners of the room. He watches the people dancing at the middle of the dance floor, as he drinks his beer.

Just then, Taeyong notices a guy pulling a girl's arm from the corner. The girl seems like a server at the pub because of her uniform. What happens next causes him to pause and hesitate to move for a moment. The guy corners the girl on the wall and forces himself to kiss her. He often sees these kinds of situation at a pub and normally, he doesn't do anything but watch.

But this time, Taeyong recognizes the girl's face. The plain girl at the music store. He doesn't know what has gotten into him, but he suddenly gets up and walks towards them. Without much thinking, he grabs the guy's neck and punches him hard on the face, causing him to fall on the floor. He cranes his neck on the side and glances at the girl, who just stares at him. He's now sure she recognizes him as well.

"TY!" He hears his name being called from behind, and when he turns around, he sees Yuta and Hansol already making their way towards him.

"What happened here?" Yuta asks him.

He shakes his head. "Just had to deal with something."

"Hey, you!" The guy on the floor shouts at him, standing up. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Did you cause a ruckus here again?" Hansol asks him, but he just smirks.

"Let's get out of here!" Taeyong says, turning his back and exiting the pub.

But before he can reach his bike outside, someone calls out to him. "Hey!" It's a girl voice.

He stops walking and turns around, seeing the girl from the pub. He just looks at her, waiting for her to speak again.

"Thank you for what you did back there," she continues, flashing a hesitant smile.

At that moment, he doesn't respond. He just turns his back again, proceeding to his bike. "Who's that girl?" Yuta asks beside him.

He puts on his helmet, shrugging. "I don't know either." And I wouldn't wanna know.

A/N: And that's Taeyong ladies and gents! Hope you like his sorta POV. I'll be using 3rd POV in this story since there are lots of characters and I think it'd be great to explore and show you guys what everyone's thinking (in a way)... Again, this is set in a make-believe country called New Humpshire (I based it on the real US state called New Hampshire) and this is in the present time, not past or future so don't get confused. Okay?

I hope you'll start liking this fic somehow. I'll try my best to update soon again and write better chaps. Please do support me on this by voting and commenting. I'll appreciate that so much! <3

~neoluv