< I'm going back home with y/n so don't look for us ]

[ What? You're staying here, why would you leave? You're not going by foot when we have a car >

Feeling some worry about this sudden situation, I stare at my phone to wait for him to answer but hear Harin speak. "I'm not sure this would look good on my body...I have too much fat..."

"You're beautiful the way you are, Harin. Don't say that," I compliment her, not standing to hear a woman judge herself instead of loving the way she does. Joonha is not answering, I am so nervous right now, I cannot stay here. "I gotta call my son, I'm coming back," I leave her for a minute and dial his phone number, not understanding what is happening.

For a few seconds, I cannot do anything but keep on waiting, then he eventually picks up. "Joonha," I immediately talk. "What the hell are you saying? You come here with y/n—"

"Dad, I'm gonna lose my composure if I see this woman just one more time today, so y/n and—"

"You explain to me why you suddenly decided to leave when nothing happened at all. Did y/n tell you anything?" I require an answer, not appreciating what they are doing. "Stop giving her your attention and giving her what she wants."

"Joonha, we're not going through that again. You're with y/n all the time these days, so you're not—"

"I'm hanging up," he dares to interrupt me and does it. He knows how mad this can make me go if he does that, he is going to regret this once I am home.

•••

6:50 pm.

I step inside the house after coming back with Harin and take my shoes off, make my way to the kitchen to drop the food I bought, and I do not wait before heading upstairs, still feeling upset and pretty pissed about what Joonha did earlier.

I walk up the stairs at a fast pace, but without knocking on the door, I burst into his bedroom but catch sight of them both on the bed. "We need to talk, right now," I speak in a low voice since y/n seems to be sleeping, but he has enough audacity to not listen or care. "There's nothing to talk ab—"

"You get out of the room and stop behaving like that. I'm not joking, Joonha. I'm pissed off after what you did for no damn good reason," I do not keep my anger to myself so that he can see what he caused, but we both look at y/n who moved to turn her head towards us. "You woke her up, are you happy?"

I stare at him without even saying anything. I am speechless. I cannot believe he is actually acting that way with me when I have been doing all of this for him and y/n.

"Are you being serious right now?" I do not glance away or blink, feeling on the verge of losing it. "Yes, I am. Why are you bothered anyway? This bitch matters so much more to you—"

"Stop talking like that!" I yell at him and slam the door, not controlling myself anymore. "I told you to stop saying that word already, so now you stop acting like a kid, and you tell me why the hell you both left out of the blue!"

"You're shouting at me now?" he remains calm while I cannot even do as I always tell him to. "Yes, I am! You're trying my patience, you go as far as you can when you know how damn much this makes me lose my composure!"

"I'm acting like that because of you!" he raises his voice as well. "Because of me? And what have I done for you to do this? Uh?"

"Are you gonna keep on acting like you don't know just to fucking ignore the problem?" he goes over the boundaries and swears when addressing me, and that is where I thoughtlessly let out some words to get rid of the tension that can no longer remain inside. "You know what? I'm not trying anymore. Keep being so immature. Do not talk it out, keep it to yourself and act like a freaking kid just to piss me off," I open the door to get out and not have to stand his childish behavior for longer. I cannot do this anymore.

I asked him to explain to me what happened for them to suddenly leave like that, but he obviously does not want to act like an adult, so I will not waste more time on this.

'YOUR P.O.V'

The fright running through my veins after witnessing something I would never have expected to see happening, I nibble on my inner cheek but feel some tears grow in my eyes.

My heart still pounding hard, I take a look at Joonha but unexpectedly make eye contact. "Are you okay?" he stares at me as if he could see the panic in my eyes, but the glisten I can perceive through his big ones hurts me even more than I already am. I tell a lie and nod, but he does not glance away. "You got scared?"

I break the eye contact and wipe my tears away as soon as he asks this question. "Hey..." he drops his phone on the sheets and puts his arms around me, causing me to break down into tears. "It's okay. There's no need to be scared, it's just one of the things that makes him go insane. Once he'll have calmed down, he will regret and apologize," he pats my head and runs his fingers through my hair. "I'm sorry for causing this..."

"What are you talking about? That's not your fault. There are things you don't want to talk about, and there's nothing wrong about that, so don't put the blame on yourself. The one at fault is the bitch who's causing trouble between everyone, alright?" his thumb skims my cheek, and I do my best to not think otherwise, but if I did not cry and tell him about what was wrong earlier, none of that would have happened between them.

/ flashback\

I walk away from Mister Jeon at a faster pace now that he did not hear me, and I make sure he will not be able to see me if he turns around.

The anger and sort of sadness weakening me again, I try to fight against the pain it makes me feel and walk without knowing where I am going.

This is so hurtful to see him give her attention, care about her, and treat her like she is a good person when she is the total opposite. If he knew what she did to me just last night, the physical pain she makes me go through and worsens every time she loses her mind, he would understand why I want to be away from her.

At the feeling of my phone vibrating in my pocket, I take it out to check what it is.

< I asked you to stay with me, why did you leave without saying anything? I want you near me ]

No matter how difficult it is, I ignore him. Why would that matter anyway? He does not understand. He is blinded by her fakeness.

"Where are you going?" Joonha's voice stops me when I was not expecting to come across him, so I clear my throat but only give a brief glance at him. "I don't know. I wanna go home."

"What? Where did my dad go? Weren't you with him?" he does not get it since he left, and I shake my head. "He absolutely wanted to go back to her to not leave her alone."

He does not say anything but grabs my arm, and he steps right before me to make eye contact. "Are you crying?" he asks, and I cannot hold my tears back anymore. "I'm not," I deny the truth and try to escape, but he blocks the way and makes me bump into him. "Tell me what put you in this state, y/n. Please, do not lie or I'm not gonna be able to stay calm and not go beat the shit out of this bitch."

"I don't want to talk about it, I'm fucking dumb," I snivel and avoid his gaze out of shame. "You're not dumb. Stop saying that. I know you're feeling like that for a good reason, so I want you to tell me. I won't leave you alone unless you tell me what made you cry."

I refuse to let it out, feeling completely stupid and too sensitive. I wipe my tears away to erase the wetness from my skin, but he heaves a sigh and brings his phone up to text someone.

"Is this because my dad left you for her or because she said something to you?" he asks the right question, and I look down at my damp sleeves. "It seemed like he cared more about her..." my voice trembles in a ridiculous manner. "He's doing exactly what I feared him to do..."

"What did you fear?" he lowers his phone to focus on me, and he brushes his fingers over my cheek, the tears never stopping their flow down my face. "That he would give her what she wants. She doesn't deserve it...she's a horrible person..."

"Why?" he tries to make me expose her, but despite the will and need to do it, I cannot. My father matters more than me. "Because..."

"Alright, let's go home," he grabs my hand to take me with him and let me go far away from my stepmother, and he calls someone at the same time.

20 minutes later...

"So..." Joonha breaks the silence that was remaining in the room, both spending time on his bed so that I can try to clear my head while he is busy on his phone. "You still don't want to tell me...?"

"Tell you what?" I peek up at him, lying down right by his side when he is resting his back on the pillow. "Why did it make you cry? Something deeper than what you said must have been the cause for this reaction. Am I wrong?" he sets his blue eyes on me, and I feel my blood run faster through my veins. I glance down, thinking whether I should say it or keep it to myself.

"Do you like my dad?" he does not beat around the bush. "But by 'like' I mean 'have a crush' or 'being into' him."

I stay quiet for long seconds but eventually emit a humming sound. "Why do you ask me that?" I avoid giving him a clear answer. "Because I know you're hiding it from me. You know, I won't hate you or be mad at you if you tell me you're attracted to my dad and have a crush. I've noticed it long ago already."

"And what tells you that I do?" I feel less stressed about this topic after hearing those words, and once he smiles, my body relaxes even more. "Everything you do and say. You're a little brat with me, but you become a cute little blushing baby when he's around."

"That's not true..." I deny it, and he turns his head to stare at me. "Not only you're a liar, but you're a bad one."

"I'm not," I do not give up on lying, but he does not glance away and makes it hard to not own up to my own feelings. "You know I won't tell him about it, right? I like teasing you about how shy you get when he's here, but I'll never tell him something you wanna keep secret."

"How can I be sure of that?" I doubt his honesty. "Because I'm a jerk but not an asshole. If you have feelings for him, you're the one doing the job and confessing. I won't say or do anything unless you want me to."

I do trust him this time but look down. "What would this change if I tell you anyway...?"

"I'd want to hear it from you. That's all, and I wanna make sure I'm not wrong," he does a good job at convincing me, and I remain quiet for a few seconds, wondering whether I should tell him the truth or keep hiding it. I trust him, and I believe that he will not say anything if I ask him not to.

"I maybe...do have a big crush..." I mumble but hear him chuckle. "So, that means your biggest wish is to not become my girl but mommy, right?"

"Why are you making it weird?" I give him a rude look, even if he is not wrong. "I'm not making it weird, I'm making it real."

"Yeah, but still," I do have anything else to say against this, so I shut up and fiddle with the sheets. "My dream's finally gonna come true."

"Your dream?" I frown at this sentence, and he looks at me. "Yeah. I'm gonna be able to call you mommy without you telling me I'm a sub," he dares to turn this into something wrong. "It's weird again."

"I know, but at least you're smiling and not crying anymore," he reveals the reason for him to say such dumb stuff, and I cannot even hold back from feeling soft.

/ end of flashback \

"Come on, don't make me kiss you. You wouldn't want my dirty lips full of my dna on your face, would you?" he wipes my tears away but manages to make me smile. "That's what I want to see," he kisses my temple but takes hold of his phone. "I'm gonna make a call for a minute, okay?" he peeks at me to make sure I am alright, and I nod to him, so he leaves the bed to get on his gaming chair while calling someone.

Now feeling a little calmer because of him, I lie down and try not to think about what Mister Jeon did.

"Hey, are you busy?" Joonha speaks, using his computer at the same time to open Google. "No, it's just that I fought with my dad because of the bitch, and you know, I just wanna know if you'd be alright if I come sleepover at your house for a few days," his words get me to dart my eyes towards him, not liking what I heard. "You sure you're fine with this? I don't wanna bother you."

Not standing what he is thinking about, I stand up to get within his vision field, and he notices me. "Alright, thanks. I'll call you later to warn you. Is it okay?" he asks him, but I shake my head and gesture him to hang up. "Good, see you later then," he ends it with these last words, and once he puts the phone down, he gazes up at me. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Are you kidding me? What were you talking about?" I stress out about it, not understanding why he is doing that. "Y/n...I can't stand to be here anymore. If I see that bitch's face one more time I'm gonna smack her in the throat, so I'm gonna go to Seunggil's house for a few days, but you can come with me. He won't mind."

"No, you can't leave your dad alone with her, and on top of that, I stayed here just for you, so in no way you're leaving," I do not accept this, remembering the whole scene he made to keep me here. "I know...but I need a break. My dad and I never fight, but it keeps on happening since she started to get closer to him, and the way he reacted just earlier hurt me, so I don't want to face him after that or have to go through worse again. I hate to fight with him, and this won't get better if I stay here and see her."

Not knowing how to change his mind since I would feel the same way if I was in his shoes, I hurry to get out of the room and walk down the stairs to look for Mister Jeon, and when I see him with my stepmother in the kitchen, I head towards then and step right in front of him. "Mister Jeon, I'm the one who wanted to go back home earlier because I acted in a childish manner, but Joonha—"

"Y/n, stop, there's no need to do that," the one I mentioned cuts me off as I could read some surprise in Mister Jeon's eyes, but I do not listen to him. "Yes, there is. I'm not gonna let that happen," my sensitive ass causes me to tear up again, and I look up at Mister Jeon, no matter how dumb I feel. "Don't be mad at him, alright? He just wanted to be with me and not leave me alone. He didn't do anything wrong. I'm the one at fault, so please, if you want to be mad at someone, then be mad at me, but not Joonha who just wanted to be there for me..."

No words coming out of his mouth, his eyes stare into mine with much more calmness than earlier, and he unconsciously expresses some deep emotions. "Y/n, stop saying it's your fault," Joonha defends me when my childish behavior is what led to this fight between them both. If I did not cry and complain like a kid, nothing of that would have happened.

Mister Jeon breathes out in a heavy way, and he puts down what he has in his hand. "Can we talk in your room?"

"I just want you to apologize to Joonha—"

"No," he barely allows me to finish any of my sentences, and his father sets his eyes on him, making him look as well. "The only one I want him to apologize to is you because he made you cry."

That would have been better if he avoided that.

As expected from Mister Jeon, he looks back at me, but he sighs and walks away. "Come with me," he tells me to do, so I follow, and he leads us both to my bedroom. Once the door is open, he makes me go in first then closes it.