Chaos

"Get the hell away from her."

I turn in shock to see Taeyoung glaring at the man. His voice is cold as ice and strained against his clenched teeth. I've never seen him look so angry before. His ears are practically purple.

"What did he say?" The guy turns to ask his friends.

"I think he said he wants to join," one says.

"No, he said go away," another adds.

Taeyoung switches to Korean, "I said get the hell away from her." He moves so that he is in front of me now, his eyes glaring down at the guy.

"Woah, friend, take it easy. We can all share—"

Taeyoung grabs the collar of his shirt and pulls him to his feet. The chair falls back behind him. There's fear in the guy's eyes now as Taeyoung's face is pushed towards his.

His friends just sit silently. Cowards.

"Woah, buddy, what's wrong?" He starts to hold his arms out in defeat, the collar of his shirt still held by Taeyoung.

"You, it's assholes like you that are wrong."

He laughs nervously, looking at his friends for help. They stay seated.

"It's just a waitress, you can calm down. It's not like I've done anything to her yet—"

The sound of bone hitting flesh fills the air. The contact of Taeyoung's fist with his cheek causes it to immediately turn red. Now his friends get up, trying to take Taeyoung's hand off of his shirt.

"Say something again, I dare you." Taeyoung's deep voice, dripping with anger, fights through his clenched teeth. His eyes are open wide, the whites around his irises glowing. I finally wake up from my daze and kick into action by putting a gentle hand on his arm; his muscular and twitching bicep. It felt like it was ready to strike again at any moment.

"Oppa, just let him go," I say softly, knowing that he'll react to me calling him oppa. The tenseness of his bicep relaxes a bit and he's about to turn to me.

"Oppa?" The other guy says exasperatedly. "She's your chick? I should have known." Taeyoung shakes his collar in a threatening manner.

I hear commotion come from the kitchen. Oh god no, please stay in the kitchen.

And then everything happens all at once:

The guy says, "Is she as good in bed as she looks?"

Seulgi's mom asks, "Sohee, what's going on?"

My father walks in behind her.

And Seulgi walks through the restaurant door, finished with cram school.

Right after all of this, the guy gets punched so hard that he falls back onto the hard floor, head bouncing off of the tile. I feel everything slow down drastically. I notice every movement that everyone in the room makes, and I swear I can hear each gasp, each pair of lips parting in shock.

He's on the floor now, not moving. His eyes are still wide open, his mouth doing the same, but he doesn't move. I grab onto Taeyoung in fear, which is strange because he is the one who punched him.

Taeyoung finally wakes up from his trance and turns to me, his eyes full of vulnerability.

The guy's friends come around the injured man, all crouching on the floor. My father and his wife run up to him, asking if he's okay and needs the ambulance.

There's a whole scene taking place in front of me, but Taeyoung and I seem to be off in our own private scene. We stare at each other, my hands around his jaw forcing him to face me. He looks a bit scared, but not because of what he's done. He was scared for me.

"Oppa, you shouldn't have done that," I say this cautiously, aware that he's still tense.

"I had to, I couldn't stand hearing it anymore." He sounds like an innocent child now, his voice cracking a bit.

"You don't have to fight for me, I can do that myself." I stroke his hair. In the background, I can hear the guy groan as he sits up. Thank god he's conscious.

"I'm sorry," Taeyoung's lower lip hangs down in sorrow. He looks like a guilty puppy. I can't be mad at him. He pulls me into a hug, his head burying into the crook of my neck.

"I love you Sohee."

My breaths halt in my chest. I can feel every atom of my being freeze indefinitely. What did he say?

He pulls apart from me to look at my expression. His eyes search through both of mine, back and forth.

"I love you. That's why I did it. That's why I'll always try to fight your battles for you. It's because I love you." His hands hold onto my stricken face.

The guy yells at us from behind. It sounds as if his lip is busted since his words come out sloppily. I hear the door open and the three guys leave.

My heart feels like its going to be projected out of my throat. There's too much happening right now, there's too much happening right now.

"I love you too," I say. My brain is a mess of chaos.

Before I can comprehend the situation he pulls me in for a kiss.

What is this bizarre moment? I never imagined he'd tell me he loves me like this, after knocking someone out.

I pull away and nervously turn around. I close my eyes shut once I see the whole family looking at me in shock.

"Okay," Seulgi is the first to speak up, "Someone please tell me what the hell is going on."

Her mother softly scolds her for her language. I open my eyes.

I'm so humiliated, I want to die. They're going to fire me.

"Um." I don't know where to start.

"There was a table of guys harassing Sohee. One was threatening to sexually harass her. I'm sorry, I couldn't take it anymore."

The three of them stare at Taeyoung in wonder.

"And who—?" My dad begins to ask as recognition flashes in Seulgi's eyes.

"You!" She walks over to us excitedly. "This is your boyfriend?" She points at him while looking at me, an unbelievable expression on her face. I nod. "This? You were able to snatch this guy?"

Taeyoung chuckles and I turn red. "Seulgi—"

"And did he just knock that guy out?" Her eyes are bigger than I've ever seen them; so round and full of excitement. She steps back in awe, "Well I never..."

"Nice to meet you Seulgi," Taeyoung smiles at her and she obnoxiously fans herself.

"You've outdone yourself Sohee."

I roll my eyes at her.

"Actually, it's the other way around," Taeyoung looks down at me briefly as Seulgi guffaws in the background. Her mom bows and introduces herself.

"I'm so sorry that this had to be how we meet," Taeyoung says to her.

I can tell by the look on Seulgi's mom's face that she could care less that a customer was assaulted in her restaurant. She is in awe, eyes not leaving his handsome face for a second.

My father, on the other hand, is a different story. He doesn't introduce himself, just stands to stare at him, judging him.

"Do you realize that you've put our restaurant in jeopardy?"

Taeyoung's smile drops into an apologetic grimace. "Yes sir, I'm sorry about that, I'll take responsibility—"

"And the customers did not pay the bill, which is a big one, because of what happened."

Taeyoung begins frantically fidgeting with the wallet in his pocket. "Yes sir, I can pay for it. I'll pay for any damages too—"

"Honey, leave him be. He was just standing up for Sohee," his wife tugs at his arm, but his accusing gaze doesn't leave Taeyoung's face.

"I understand and thank you but please leave. That could have been handled in a much more mature way. I don't tolerate violence of any kind." My father's words are sharp.

"What? This is Taeyoung—" I begin to say. Granted, I only briefly brought up his name to my dad before, but he does seem to recognize the name.

"I don't care Summer. What am I supposed to think, seeing your boyfriend knock someone down?"

The room is silent, his wife looking apologetic but powerless, Seulgi staring at us with wide eyes.

After this pause, I hastily charge towards the front counter and grab my purse which is tucked away behind, then I grab Taeyoung's hand and leave. Seulgi and her mom call out after me, but my dad doesn't say a word.

Who does that asshole think he is, my father? You don't just come back into my life after 18 years and expect to take that role back so easily.

. . .

A/N:

Yes that last sentence is supposed to be ironic, she isn't stupid. She's referring to the fact that he did not raise her past two years old and yet is acting like he's been in her life the whole time.

But, please don't hate too much on her dad. Most protective dads are not going to appreciate seeing their daughter's boyfriend knock someone out as an introduction. I sure know my dad would assume he's a criminal or something. Yeah he was still being an idiot, but a justifiably overwhelmed one.

xx Sooaura