One of them used to be my co-worker. Yangcho.

We both make eye contact, and from the face he gives me, I can tell he recognized me too. "Let go of him, we're taking care of it," he orders me to do, but I do not agree. "He's going to leave. Handcuff him."

"We told you to—" he gets interrupted by my ex co-worker who raised his hand up before him. "Handcuff him," he trusts my words, and I feel a lot more comfortable. I move away from him once the officer comes closer with the handcuffs, and I watch Sookyung get trapped in them.

"What is your name, Sir?" Yangcho asks him. "No need to ask me questions, I won't answer you," he refuses to cooperate, and the other officer brings him back up on his feet. "Fine. Can you explain to me what was happening exactly?" he addresses me since he cannot get a word from Sookyung, but I asked for some distance to be put between us. "Can we talk over there?" I ask to be away from Sookyung, and he agrees but looks at his co-worker. "Keep an eye on him," he follows me, and we step away.

"Listen, this guy is an abuser, he impregnated his ex-girlfriend when she was sixteen, falsified their child birth certificate to not appear as the father, forced her into sex work, physically abused her, and neglected their child. I need you to open a case on him, this is serious—"

"Jungkook," he stops me. "You know I cannot do that. The victim needs to report him for that, I cannot do anything against him yet if she doesn't," he explains, and I understand. "I know...but she's been going through hell because of him. He's dangerous."

"She needs to report him, Jungkook," he repeats, following the rules to respect his duty. "I just need you to confirm something," I do not try again since I do not want him to get into trouble for me. "Tell me."

"If he refuses to take a DNA test, there is a way to allow me to bring some DNA samples taken from him, right?" I hope for him to answer with what I want to hear, no matter how doubtful I am. He shakes his head. "You can't. This is not allowed, but why would you need to do that?"

"On the birth certificate, the father's name is not his because he asked for a kid of her age to be there when the child was born so that this kid's name could be under the father's one," I explain the matter, appreciating the fact that he is still here for me. "Well, not having his name on the birth certificate is a big problem, so you might need a good lawyer for that, but you can still ask the kid to take a DNA test instead and prove that he's not the biological father. This could help. After that, if the court orders a test and that this asshole refuses to take it, he might face legal consequences like fines, jail, and child support payments."

"Yeah..." I sigh, feeling pretty relieved, despite the bad news he first gave me. "How old was she when he got her pregnant?" he asks, holding his belt. "Sixteen...He abused her a lot, never took care of the child, and made her go through hell."

"Is there any evidence? You know how important those are, so if she doesn't have any and that he finds a good lawyer, this is going to be difficult for her, Jungkook," he states what I knew would be said, and I nod, without much certainty. "I took some pictures of the bruises she had. With the data, they will find the day on which it was taken. There are many texts they can also use as evidence, and some witnesses too."

"And where is she right now?" he asks to see her, so I look in the direction of my vehicle. "She's in my car,  with her son."

"I need to talk to her," he moves back and heads towards it, so I follow him but avoid any eye contact with Sookyung. I was able to keep my composure and not hit him on repeat, so I need to do this until he leaves.

"Let me explain to her what is happening first," I warn him so that he does not frighten her, and he allows me to do so. He steps aside to wait, and I knock on the window to grasp y/n's attention. She unlocks the door, and I open it. "Sweetheart, an officer is here to listen to you."

She stares at me, holding Jun in her arms. "I know him, no need to be worried. He's one of those who helped me a lot when 'you know what' happened. You can trust him. He's a good person."

She glances at Jun and presses a kiss on his temple, and she comes closer to me, so I help her get out but notice Jun's arms tighten around her neck as if he was scared.

They both seem so lost.

"Baby, mommy is going to talk to the kind man over there, you can hug me until we wait for her," I rub my hand over his back, but Sookyung complicates everything. "Jun. Daddy is here. It's okay."

"Hey," Yangcho shouts at him. "You said you wouldn't speak, so you shut your mouth."

"Why are you disrespecting me, Sir? I'm talking to my stepson," he corrects the small mistake he made by calling himself daddy. This must be a game to him. He must find it amusing. "You should learn to be a little professional and target the right people. This guy right there kidnapped my girlfriend, and you think I'm gonna stay here and do nothing about—"

"Inho, get this asshole into the car. I don't wanna hear more of his bullshit," he takes him away from us, to my greatest relief, but Sookyung looks at y/n, who seems unable to not set her eyes on him. "Baby. I love you, don't let him manipulate you. He's just an alcoholic, he's going to hurt you—"

"I told you to shut your fucking mouth!" Yangcho raises his voice again, and I nibble on my inner cheek after hearing Sookyung's words. My body has suddenly been filled with so much shame and anger.

"You know how I feel without you!" he turns on the waterworks in front of her and drags the young officer with him to get closer to y/n, forcing Yangcho to do the job. "I'm gonna fucking kill myself if I can't see you both again, baby! I can't take it anymore!"

Sookyung gets pushed in the car by my ex co-worker, and I peek down at Jun to not hear the humiliating word echo in my head, and I comb his hair back. "Come in my arms, honey."

Y/n gazes up into my eyes and gives me her baby, and once I am holding him, I kiss his cheek but feel her fixed gaze on me.

She will not forget what he just said. I hate him so much.

"You should talk to the officer," I pretend to not be bothered by it, ignoring the look she gives me. "Check his criminal record," Yangcho talks to his co-worker, and y/n heads towards him. "If you ever find anything about him, tell him about it, then come up to me," he points at me so that he knows who to talk to, and this one obeys, so he focuses on y/n.

"Why is daddy mean with mommy?" Jun sobs in my arms and rests his face on my shoulder, never letting go of his plushie. Since I know that y/n would not want me to say the truth, I stay quiet and comfort him with physical affection. "I want mommy...I want to hug her..." he cries a bit more heavily, worsening the ache in my heart. "She's talking with the officer, so she cannot do it right now, but I promise that you'll be able to hug her a lot once she is back. She's staying near us anyway, so don't be scared. Mommy won't leave," I press a kiss on his forehead and cuddle him.

'YOUR P.O.V'

"You can tell me what happened some minutes ago, and why you felt the need to call the police so that I can make a report," he pulls a notepad out with a pen, so I describe what was going on. "I was shopping with Jun and Jungkook when I came across my ex-boyfriend, Sookyung," I go slowly so that he has time to write everything down. "Is he the child's biological father?" he questions me, and I nod. "He is. Jun will be four years old in December, Sookyung is thirty-one, and I am twenty."

"Alright," he does not take a break, but writes pretty fast. "He got physically violent with Jungkook and I, but we left the parking lot, and he followed us up here, but he can be very violent, so I was scared that he might cause an accident just in order to bring me back home."

"Bring you back home? Why would he do that?" he asks for more details about this part of my sentence, so I do what has to be done. "Because I left him in the middle of one night...And I walked up to Jungkook's principal house, but after that, Sookyung tried to look for me, so Jungkook had to drive us to his secondary house that no one knows about. We were safe until now..."

"Hm," he nods his head. "What do you think would have happened if the police weren't involved?" he looks up at me. "I don't know...he would have found a way to take me away from Jungkook," I give my honest opinion, and he does not write anymore. "And why do you think Sookyung has been looking for you so desperately? Is there a reason for him to do this?"

"I'm not sure..." I hug my body and drop my look to the ground. "He maybe doesn't want me to talk to the police...he's scared I might tell the truth...or he's very possessive..." I shrug. "Tell the truth? What do you mean by that?"

"Tell the police about our child, and...and our past relationship..." I keep quiet once I hear the other officer approach us. "I found his criminal record," he looks down at the tablet he has in his hands. "He's been charged with domestic violence on his ex-wife, sexual assault, and statutory rape multiple times between two-thousand and thirteen and two-thousand and sixteen. All of them were reported by minors between fifteen and seventeen years old," he swipes down and reads more horrifying stuff that I cannot listen to without feeling sick. "But all the charges were dropped from lack of evidence," those words create a deep wound inside of me, and I stare at him with disbelief. "Are you talking about Sookyung?" I have a hard time believing it. This cannot be.

"I am, Miss," he looks at me with some weird confusion. "Why?"

"I..." my eyes avoid his, and the embarrassment, the shame, engulf me. "Nothing..." I do not say anything more.

I was not the only one. He pretended to be a good man, but I was not the reason why he became this type of person, he was already like that before I even met him. This is horrible to acknowledge.

"Fine, thank you. Let me finish with her," he low-key chases him so that we can both be alone again to talk. "Are you surprised by those charges?"

I do not speak or move. I stare into space for short seconds. "I don't like to hear it...I didn't know about all that..."

"In most cases, there isn't only one victim, but given the shit he's done in his life, and if you give some evidence that cannot be brushed off, he will not get away this time, so stay strong until the end, alright?" he surprises me with some support that I would never have expected to get from an officer. Most of them disregard anything that happens to women and even mock or blame us. This is very heartening. "Thank you...I'll try."

"In my opinion, with Jungkook by your side, you'll definitely win the trial. Trust me, he doesn't give up," he describes him like I see him, and my lips curve up, loving whenever he is brought up. His name is enough to make me feel better. "Well, unfortunately, today, we cannot bring him to the police station or arrest him because there is no evidence at all, but what we can do is keep him here so that Jungkook can drive home safely with your child, and you come to the police station with us.

"I can't. I need to be with Jungkook, and my son cannot stay away from me. He's too scared,' I do not find this idea great at all, knowing how my baby will feel and react. "Ah, alright. Then, you can drive back home together while we interrogate your ex-boyfriend, then you come to the police station to make a report. Is that okay?"

I remain silent for a moment, thinking about it, about my child, about Jungkook.

With a movement of my head, I affirm that I do want to do so. "Good. You can all leave the place, we will make sure he cannot follow you anymore."

"Thank you, but what if he finds us again because he's free?" I cannot hold back from expecting the worst. "Call the police again, and this time record the events so that we have evidence and can bring him to the police station."

"Alright, thank you, officer," I show some gratitude, and he smiles at me. "No problem, stay safe," he allows me to leave, so I bow to him and make my way towards Jungkook, and my son.

"Let's go home..." I take Jun back in my arms, feeling on the verge of crying. Jungkook opens the door in the back for me, and I put Jun inside the car. I just want to sleep and forget all of this, I am so psychologically drained.

•••

12:50 pm.

After going to the police station for the report, we are finally back home. I unbuckle my seatbelt to be free, and I get out of the car and take care of Jun, who fell asleep.

"Let me do it, you need to take a nap," Jungkook comes closer, but I still do it myself. "I'm okay," I carry Jun in my arms and do not forget to grab his two plushies, but once I straighten my back, I feel Jungkook's hand warm one spot up, so I raise my head up to look at him.

Silently, we gaze into each other's eyes. He rubs my back. "You went through a lot today again, I want you to take care of yourself as much as you take care of Jun."

I lower my eyes to his chest. "I sometimes feel like giving up, Jungkook...It's like...I cannot see the end of it...It always comes back and hurts me again..."

"Don't say that," he skims his hand past the side of my face to hold it. "It is ending. I know how difficult it must be for you, I understand, but everything is coming to an end now that you made the hardest step. Show him that you've always been stronger than him and that you won't let him go away with what he's done to you. You're not alone in this, I'm here, and Jun is here too because I know how much energy and strength he gives you."

The tears run down my face, and the shame felt through my entire body obliges me to glance away. "I'm sorry," I leave and step towards the front door of the house. He has to deal with so many problems because of me, the only thing I am doing is making his life even more difficult, and I hate this feeling of being a burden, a heavy weight on his shoulders.

I wait for him to come and open the door, and I wipe my tears away. I rest my head on my baby's one, and I look down at Jungkook's hand once he is near and unlocks the door. He pushes it open to make me go first, and I step in.

I take my shoes off, my baby's ones off, and I walk upstairs to head towards the bedroom. I get in, quietly so that I do not wake him up, and I move to the bed to put him down on it.

I place both plushies on both sides of his body, and I peck his head, before leaving the room to let him sleep peacefully.

I go back downstairs to join Jungkook. I need to talk to him and ask him something very important.

I set my eyes on him as soon as I reach the lower floor, and I step towards him. At first, I stay quiet while he is getting the ingredient to cook lunch, and I inch a little closer to him, feeling some odd apprehension.

"Jungkook," I pronounce his name, holding my hands in front of my body, and he turns around. "What's wrong?" he opens the faucet of the sink to wash his hands after rolling his sleeves up. "I...The reason why your hands shake so much sometimes...Is it because of...alcohol?"