Pandora's Hope

One Night Angel

"He thinks it's cute."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can make sure it doesn't happen again tonight, but you need to tell her to go straight to bed when she gets home and don't answer any calls."

"What?" None of this is making any sense to Hoseok and this guy is only raising more questions than he's answering.

"I'll save her tonight. When you see her tomorrow, then you'll trust me."

"Wha-" the man walks off without giving Hoseok a chance to say anything else.

What does he mean ask her what happened? Who does he know that can help? And why is he trying to gain his trust to tell him?

Hoseok goes back inside unsure of what to think. He sits back down and watches Nari laugh and joke with a large group of guys that have been there almost all night and have been very monetarily gracious of her service. She can always tell who will give her the best tips. She wears short shorts or skirts with low cut tops so she can flirt as much money as she can out of these guys. Although today she's wearing a light pink turtleneck that nearly reaches the bottom hem of her ripped jean shorts.

Hoseok waits what seems like an eternity until the bar closes and Sunni leaves Nari to clean up. He's unsure of how to even explain his encounter with the man outside to her, but he knows he has to say something.

"Come here," he says softly inviting her to come from behind the bar to where he sits on the barstool. She wraps her arms around his neck and peppers his lips with soft kisses.

"Thanks for helping that guy get to the car earlier," she says with a smile.

"No problem," he says. "I want you to tell me something."

"What's that?" She asks trying to get a read on whether this is about to be good or bad.

"Saturday night is your biggest night of the week. You always talk about flirting out the best tips on Saturday. It's also October, and I know the weather is getting cooler, but I wouldn't say it's that cold out. So...tell me why you chose to wear a turtleneck of all things?"

"Oh..." she whispers breaking her eye contact with him.

"Show me."

She doesn't try to resist when he reaches for the collar of her shirt and begins to pull it down. Just above her collarbone is a bruise that he can tell came from a hand on her neck. A hand that wasn't his and definitely wasn't done during a moment of pleasure.

"What happened?" He asks calmly.

"He got mad," she says looking at the floor. "You know, the usual shit. He said I took too long to get home last night."

"Did you think I wouldn't notice because you threw a turtleneck over it?" Although, Hoseok has the mystery man to thank because he never would have taken a second thought to make sense of her fashion choice if he hadn't been sitting there for 2 hours wondering why he should ask her what happened last night.

"I wasn't trying to hide it from you," she says still maintaining eye contact with the floor. "I just wanted to cover up while I was working."

"Would you have told me if I didn't ask?"

"Yeah," she says unconvincingly.

"You're so full of shit," he huffs.

"I'm sorry. I just get scared because I know how you get."

"You seem to think I wouldn't be able to take him on if I had to."

"It's not that, babe," she says finally looking up at him and kissing his lips. "It's you versus him AND his friends. It's not a fair fight and I can't have anything happen to you."