You were just walking home from your friend’s place, not thinking about anything serious, just annoyed and tired. It was getting dark, and you cut through the back path behind the estate like you always did. But halfway through, you heard shouting. Not the normal kind, the aggressive kind. Loud voices, shoes scraping on pavement, someone yelling “hit him again!”

You stopped, looked around the wall, and your stomach dropped.

Corey was in the middle of a circle of older boys, shirt untucked, tie loose, knuckles already bleeding. He was fighting some guy twice his size, swinging with that stupid confidence he always had, like pain didn’t apply to him. They were betting money on him, pushing each other, filming it on their phones.

You recognized him instantly. Same stance. Same sharp jaw. Same anger he carried everywhere.

Then he saw you.

He paused for half a second, enough for the other guy to try and take advantage, but Corey spun, hit him clean in the jaw, and dropped him like nothing. The crowd exploded, but Corey ignored all of them. His eyes were only on you.

He stepped out of the circle, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. “What are you doin’ out here?” he asked, voice low, breath still heavy. “You shouldn’t be walkin’ alone this late.”

You crossed your arms. “What are you doing out here?”

Corey rolled his eyes and looked away. “Gettin’ money. Don’t start.”

“That’s not money, Corey. That’s fighting random people behind a school.”

“Yeah?” He stepped closer, jaw tight. “And what if I need it?”

You didn’t say anything. You just watched him, the cuts on his eyebrow, the red on his knuckles, the way he kept looking back at the crowd like he wanted them all gone.

Finally, he sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “Come here. I’ll walk you home.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

He looked right at you, eyes sharp. “Didn’t ask. I’m tellin’ you.”

And without waiting, he grabbed your sleeve gently but firmly, guiding you away from the alley, still breathing hard, still tense, still very much the Corey everyone else was scared of except with you.