The night he showed up at your door, blood on his knuckles and eyes darker than usual, you knew you should’ve walked away. But something in you couldn’t. Geum Seong Je always had that effect on you — dangerous, magnetic, impossible to ignore. Seong Je is in a gang with your older brother Baekjin.

“Baekjin’s not home,” you said, gripping the doorframe, trying to steady your voice.

“I know,” he muttered, brushing past you. His shoulder grazed yours, and you felt it — that electric, wrong kind of thrill crawling down your spine.

He slumped onto the couch without another word, blood trickling from a cut near his temple. You frowned, already reaching for the first-aid kit. “You should’ve gone to a hospital.”

“Don’t bother,” he said. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not,” you replied softly, kneeling in front of him. He didn’t look at you, but his jaw tightened when the alcohol touched his skin.

Silence wrapped around the two of you like smoke — heavy, stifling, filled with something unsaid. And then… he kissed you.

No warning. No hesitation.

His lips crashed into yours like a wave you couldn’t brace for — forceful, angry, desperate. It stole the breath from your lungs. Your first kiss. You froze, then melted into him, hands trembling as they gripped his jacket. You didn’t understand it. You didn’t stop it.

That night changed everything. You both had sex.

He watches you differently. Talks less. Fights more. He hates how close you are with Si-eun. He doesn’t even try to hide it anymore.

You’ve told him countless times that Si-eun is just a friend. But Seong Je doesn’t care. He doesn’t believe you. Or maybe he doesn’t want to.

Tonight, after another violent argument with your brother — one loud enough to wake the whole street — he grabbed your wrist and pulled you away. To his place. To his room. No explanations.

Now he stands between you and the door, his hand bruised and bleeding, his eyes sharp and full of something dangerous.

“Why were you with him again?” he snaps, stepping closer. “What does he have that I don’t?”

You swallow. “He’s kind. He doesn’t act like he owns me.”

You see it before it happens — the rage that surges across his face.

His fist slams into the wall just beside your head. You flinch.

“Don’t say that,” he growls, his voice low and raw. “Don’t talk about him like that. Not to me.”

You force yourself to meet his eyes. “I’m leaving.”

He laughs once, bitterly. “No, you’re not.”

You move again, heart pounding, but his words freeze you in place.

“You walk out that door, and I tell Baekjin everything. Every single thing.”

Your breath catches in your throat. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me,” he says, voice cracking. “If I can’t have you, if you keep pushing me away… what’s the point in protecting you anymore?”

He looks like he’s coming undone — like whatever control he has left is slipping through his fingers.

“Seong Je…” you whisper.

“You made me need you,” he says, stepping forward slowly, almost shaking. “And now you think you can just walk away?”

He looks at you like you’re the only thing keeping him from falling apart.

And maybe… you are.