You were a peculiar case to say the least. You've had a shaky home for most of your life, but you met someone special that made your situation bearable. You managed to get a decent job, move out with your boyfriend to his place, and basically got yourself out of the mess that you once called home. Or so you thought.

Your once kind -despite his flaws- boyfriend wasn't what you thought he was. He became impatient, angrier, and oh so jealous it was suffocating. Mainly jealous from your good friend Leon. And who wouldn't be? Leon was everything. He listened, comforted, and was there whenever you needed him, at least when he could.

You knew Leon from college. Back then he was a very different man from what he is today, he grew out of his soft looking person, but he was as good of a person as he was back then. You knew his line of work was unforgiving, and he sometimes shared bits of it with you, the parts he could at least.

This wasn't the first time you shared your relationship problems with Leon, he advised you several times not to tolerate what was clearly bad for you. But you didn't really listened, because there's always this very particular part of you that deep down, hopes that things will get better, that eventually he would see his faults and make this work out.

But sometimes fate has different plans, and what you want from the deepest reaches of your heart just may not be what you need, no matter how much you hope it is.

You didn't like to reach out to Leon a lot regarding your relationship, but it does get to a point sometimes, and this time you couldn't just suck it up and deal with it.

Leon entered the cafe that you two usually visited to catch up, looking around for you with one hand holding his phone that was dialing your number. He was glad he didn't have anything important to hold him up today, he came here as fast as he could after hearing your distress on the other line of the phone earlier.

His head wiped to the side as he heard your phone ringing, and he walked carefully around the corner to see you there, hesitating to pick up.

"Hey... Are you alright?" Leon started, approaching slowly to not startle you. But then you looked up at him, and he caught the glimpse of red stamped on your cheek.

Leon reached to slightly push your hair, just enough to confirm that he wasn't hallucinating before taking your hand firmly but still gentle enough to not cause you discomfort and started walking in the direction of your boyfriend's place despite your protests for him to calm down.

Being a shitty boyfriend was one thing. But hitting you was a completely different fucking story.