#nct timestamp

Johnny: It’s really muggy outside today….

Doyoung: If all of our mugs are out on the front porch when I step outside, I’m going to hurt you.

Johnny: *sips coffee from a bowl*

taeil: what did the water say to the bowl?

doyoung: water is an inanimate object which there for does not have the ability to talk, so in reality the water didn’t say anything to the bowl because it would be impossible for the water to talk.

taeil: …water you doing

in love with a monster | johnny | oneshot

pairing: boxer!johnny x nurse!reader

genre: latte, splashes of syrup with hints of americano, some drama on the side haha

bean count: 6.9k (yup it’s my longest fic so far)

warnings: violence, slight mentions of drugs, abuse, etc (bc of the topic). pls scroll down if it’s uncomfortable

a/n: agh i had this on my coffee shelf for ages i thought it was expired lol, i re-brewed it again recently so i added some final touches eheh enjoy your coffee my beans! ☕️━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

people told him to not react, told him to not make things into a big deal, even to the point of bringing unsaid words to a physical state. that was how messed up he was, that he’d put a fist in every petty situation.

it was humiliating to feel that. ten had to watch his best friend being sent to the hospital for countless of times to have his injuries taken care of. the nurses probably named him an ER regular due to the constant fighting. only a few people knew of his reckless breakouts, and his group of friends found it worrisome.

it became much worse when he signed up for boxing. his emotions slowly coming out him and conveyed to another person, resulting them in bruises or bloodied scratches.

yuta was one of the few people in the group to ever receive a punch to the face from the johnny suh. yes, the johnny suh. the people on campus emphasized on ‘the’ because of the fact he acted non-human like. his gaze fierce like it about to attack any second.

johnny knew of those assumptions about him, and he hated the fact that people talked as if they knew him so well. if only they knew what he’d been through, it’ll probably shed some light in his ‘supposed’ darkness that lingered within him.

johnny never saw himself as a person who was reckless. he never intended to be that until he was cornered by seniors in high school as freshman, offering him drugs and telling him to man up and act like one due to his tall figure. he was apparently ‘too soft’ for his tough appearance.

that in a weird sense ticked those seniors off when he rejected them that they started to beat him up five against one. johnny on the other hand, stood up and as if he were possessed by some martial art spirit, fought back violently and his doings resulted him sitting in front of a police officer’s desk.

his parents believed him and because he was still involved in a physical fight he had to be detained for while. johnny never felt so betrayed by the defense system of the city when he was merely defending himself. he was an emotional wreck that his fist fights became worse by time and no one knew when he’d stop. his anger and frustration laid out on someone else that no one knew who was able to tame him.

the only person other than his parents who ever understood his background and encouraged him to change was his coach- mr. jeon. a neighbor he grew up with and a friend of his dad’s. he was the owner of the young people boxing association for people around johnny’s age. he in contrary to all familiar faces johnny knew, saw his strength as a skill and gift (to use as defense as well), and wanted to coach these into a sport he never thought he’d do.

it took a lot of persuading on his parents’ side for him to participate in that, as it was something that’ll possibly trigger his reckless behavior. eventually they were on the same page as long as it was beneficial for him to do something he liked- sports. besides, johnny was passionate about this, so why not?

what his parents didn’t know was that he had secret fights outside of that circle. though it wasn’t frequent, however, it still occured. johnny tried his hardest to keep distance but he always end up tied in the knots, provoked actually. he kept his mouth shut about those encounters, or else the college star- him- of the club would be kicked out.

“hey john, we hanging at your boxing club today, fine with your coach?” jaehyun slung his duffel bag behind him, earning an approving nod from the asked person.

“yeah sure. he signed me up for preliminaries last month and i got in, so we’re preparing for the for quarterfinals that’s happening in two weeks.”

“that’s great, at least you’re not kicking butts outside of this boxing arena.” jaehyun innocently remarked, making johnny hit his head under the table as he retrieved a dropped towel. ironic.

they walked towards the small building sandwiched in between a pharmacy and a coffee shop, which were johnny’s go-to places if he needed a bandaid or a coffee break. mr. jeon’s eyes lit up as he saw johnny and his mates of 6 enter the once quiet ring and made the place livelier. “alright the guys are here! got some pizza, feel free to eat, y’all big rascals.”

johnny wrapped a band on both hands before wearing a mouthpiece and a pair of gloves. his training was about to start and he couldn’t afford to slack off with a slice of pizza. his physique was good enough to last him today’s practice.

“ok john, you ready?” mr. jeon asked, johnny standing in posture until another voice entered the room.

“mr. jeon i’ll leave the keys to the upper classroom here. the little kids just finished their class for today.”

a female voice, johnny thought. he looked to owner of it and never had he stopped to look at something or someone for more than three seconds. because.. in other times, those three seconds were filled with aftereffects of adrenaline from a punch or a knockout he gave to someone.

“ah, yes just leave it there!” he called out, and from his peripheral vision, he noticed johnny was in a daze. he smirked a bit and gestured to the boys to observe him tease the obvious starstricken lad. “y/n! come and meet the guys, also feel free to watch if you’d like.”

“oh yeah sure, i got some time.” you smiled and placed your bottle down before sitting next to a doe eyed guy. “i’m y/n, nice to meet you all.”

johnny looked away before you could even greet him. you didn’t mind though, you already knew who he was. you’ve both only shared a conversation or two at the university anyway.

he was a star pupil and the person who had mr. jeon’s attention since day one that he arrived, wasn’t hard to miss. scrolling through your phone, you decided to check your semester’s schedule.

johnny attempted to glance at you, while mr. jeon readied himself to train his student. had he met you before? did you both attend the same school? he didn’t remember, but you looked like someone he met before. he hopped a bit before facing his coach again, but he wasn’t himself.

he was obviously distracted.

mr. jeon noticed the small gesture he had for two minutes now, internally chuckling before giving johnny a soft nudge on the back of his head. “ey rule number one, always stay focused.”

“i am.” johnny immediately answered, his ears slowly turning crimson.

“clearly on something else.” he smirked, referring to you, “come on, quarterfinals ain’t coming at you that easy, john.”

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“you fancy her- y/n, don’t you?” taeyong chewed as he played with the straws of his bubble milk tea. “among all your practices, last month’s was the one i’d say you were… out of it.”

johnny tilted his head and the corners of his lips tugged up, “not ‘out of it’. it’s just that i haven’t seen her before.”

“are you sure about that? you’ve literally seen tons of girls in this association and at gyms. you must’ve at least encountered her before or just admit that you like her and ask her out already.” mark whined, finally grabbing the rare opportunity for him to tease the guy.

johnny laughed and raised a brow at them, “you’re telling me to ask her out?” he shook his head, “nah, there’s no way she’ll fall for ‘this’.”

“you just gestured to all yourself.” jaehyun mirroring his actions.

“exactly.” johnny chuckled, “with someone having such a reputation like involved in bad fights and bruises and hospital bills and whatnot, there’s no chance.”

“look at you being considerate.” mark giggled, earning himself a slap to the back of his head. “ow, sorry.”

the coffee shop opened and revealed a tired you, the boys turning their attention to johnny and read each others’ minds. “hey y/n! the seat next to johnny is vacant! you can come join us!”

johnny slightly jumped in his seat after hearing jaehyun’s offer, softly asking him to stop as his teeth gritted. “dude quit it!”

“johnny said he doesn’t mind!” jaehyun continued to call out, making johnny’s eyes grow wide.

you smiled and looked at them, “really? it’s okay?”

johnny could only fake a smile.

but his heart couldn’t.

after ordering a cup of maple latte, you walked towards their table and johnny noticed something was off. it was subtle and it only took someone with such experience to see it. johnny had those ‘such’.

you were limping that he stood up and blocked you with his full body. “you need to go to the hospital now.”

“way to go for a conversation starter.” yuta said softly as jaehyun and mark tried their hardest not to snicker, eyes closed shut and mouths either covered or pursed.

“it’s just a sprained ankle, big deal.” you quickly denied quite light heartedly and sat beside him but before your bottom could even rest on the wooden seat, your forearm was yanked upwards by johnny. “ow, what are you doing?”

“just a sprained ankle, huh?” johnny smirked, his eyes spotting a bruise or more on your arm. the boys noticed it too, were you involved in an accident or something? “you’ve done a good job in hiding it.”

your ears heated up and your cheeks slowly burned a little, he got you. “fine.”

johnny groaned while he found out that his friends ditched him at the the foot of the hospital. he placed his hat the other way around where he could see clearly. the area was busy, nurses jogging to get to their patients and doctors getting paged for more incoming patients. he didn’t know where you were taken, so it made sense he’d be lost.

now that he thought about it, him coming here very often must’ve annoyed the ER. speaking of the ER, doyoung’s older brother- gongmyung, approached him.

“when i heard fellow colleagues mentioning you i thought you got yourself into trouble again.” he took off the stethoscope and hung it around his neck. “your girlfriend reflects of you, her bruises were indeed from physical fights.” tilting his head to where you were examined behind a room.

johnny’s ears reddened and his eyebrows rose, looking away. “she’s not my girlfriend.”

“i know.” he chuckled, “i just wanted to see your reaction if i did say so.” he crossed his arms smirking at johnny’s now rosy cheeks, “from the looks of it, it seems like i got my answer. you can go check on her, i got a code blue to catch up on.

johnny could only scoff after the young doctor gave him a playful wink before he made his way to the said room. seeing you all dazed staring at the ceiling. “let me guess, dr. kim told you about reason behind my bruises?”

he pulled a chair close to you before sitting down. “not quite, just that it rooted down to physical fights? never knew you could be reckless.”

you puffed a breath and bit the insides of your mouth, “you could say that.”

“what do you mean?” he asked, and you could only chuckle at the innocent child-like question that came out the lips of a muscular young man.

“i know we see each other at the gym but we never really get the chance to talk if i recall.” you blinked brightly despite your body aching. “i don’t share stuff of my personal life to anyone.”

johnny scratched the back of his head, “sorry, i couldn’t help but notice the ‘subtle’ pain you were trying so hard to hide.”

you giggled and sighed, “alright i changed my mind, i’ll share it to you. you seem harmless in contrast to your looks.”

“i guess i’ll take that as a compliment?” he crossed his arms and waited for you to continue.

he couldn’t see your now changed expression due to his closed eyes- drained and tired from training, your eyes started to glisten as you tried to compose yourself before speaking.

“they’re from my ex-boyfriend.”

johnny’s eyes shot open and stared at you speechlessly.

“what?”

“yeah, he didn’t like that i broke it off with him three months ago so.. that’s that i guess?” johnny stayed quiet, watching you look out the window to wipe small tears that couldn’t wait a second to fall. he chose to be that way since you weren’t finished with your storytelling. and he swore he wished he changed the topic immediately.

“my ex-boyfriend was park seoham. his name ring a bell?”

ring a bell? of course it did. johnny’s lips pressed into a thin line, his jaw clenched and you could see the tensed demeanor he was having. he hadn’t heard that name in a while, let alone wanted to. the senior that tormented his freshmen years by getting him do to drugs and be involved in childish, unneccessary gang fights.

“too familiar,” johnny leaned forward, his elbows touching his knees as he saw your face change in horror that he knew who your ex was. before you could even say anything, he took his shirt into his hands and started to strip-

“hey whoa-” you covered your eyes, only to hear johnny chuckle from your reaction.

“chill, i’ll show you something.” johnny lifted his shirt halfway just by his abs. a scar that was about 3 inches long marked that area, and from the looks of it, it seemed permanent. “this- right here, was caused by him. park seoham was my senior in high school. used to be involved in a lot of things that i got dragged on.”

“sorry.” you sighed, “i guess we got our own fair share of disasters from him.”

there was an awkward silence between the two of you since the only mutual topic you’ve discussed on was about your ex-boyfriend. johnny didn’t know how to converse any further, because he was actually a wreck in front of you.

how can someone so fragile and decent fall in love with a monster like park seoham? from what he knew, only the feeble minded would hang out with the likes of him and his gang. who was he to judge anyway, it wasn’t like he knew you as much.

but because someone like you who was fragile and decent earned those unneccessary bruises sparked something in him that he wanted to protect you. he wanted to know you more.

at first, he didn’t know whether to pursue being friends with you while you had connections with the person he despised before (hesistation, really). though what role had you play with it back then when clearly you weren’t in the right condition at the moment. so guessed he wanted to give it a try.

“out of topic but..” you turned to look at him, “when this is all over, i mean when- you’re, out of here.. wanna hang out for coffee?”

you let out a giggle that made him slightly confused, “we would’ve earlier if you hadn’t brought me here. but yeah, i’d like that.”

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four months passed and it was funny how you and johnny grew closer by time. you’d meet him at the university during lunch breaks and have study sessions, even though you both have very different majors.

his parents liked how their son was happier than he was two years ago. somehow they thanked you for giving him a chance to find new friendship in a rather messed up version of him. you even find yourself staying late at night at his place to binge watch a lot of movie trilogies, just like how best friends act during the weekends.

sometimes, you both would go on a food trip out of the city. other times, schedules would clash so the timing had to be changed.

by this point, you’ve both taken a liking on each other. johnny felt like he found a long lost soulmate. he admired the fact that you compliment his wavelength and how he matched yours. as rumors about him in the past were worrisome to you and would like keep distant as much as possible, that was thrown under the bus by now because johnny was totally different.

he was a dork, the cute kind.

“that’s not how you throw a punch, sweetcakes.” johnny called out, clearly teasing at how you were so lazy and ‘not interested’ in boxing. “come on girl, you can do better than that!”

“what are you, my dad? so bossy.” you snickered, fixing the velcro straps on the gloves with your teeth to tighten the grip. screw big gloves, you thought, going back to the equipment room to get another pair.

jaehyun and yuta caught johnny’s reaction seeing you do that because apparently for him, it was… hot. and the fact that they caught it on video made them let out waves of laughter. “look at how tensed up johnny hyung is.”

“he’s so turned on.” yuta covered held his stomach from laughing too hard, “you think he’d survive one session?”

“what the heck, hyung?” jaehyun’s ears reddened at the implication, his low chuckles made him snort quite a bit.

“i meant if he could last-“

“shut up i can hear you guys!” johnny glared at the two, approaching them as jaehyun hid his phone in his pocket. “do your asses need a beat up?”

“dude, you’ve been distracted. we get ya bro, she’s really got you into her.” yuta wrapped his arms around the guy, squeezing his biceps to change his attention on you instead of them ratting his unsaid feelings. “so can you really last-“

“alright you asked for it.” johnny pushed him away, readying his arms to really give the boy an ass whooping of his life-

“ok my gloves are changed-” you called out as you exited the equipment room. “johnny?”

johnny held back when he heard your voice, and yuta and jaehyun could hear heralds of angels singing because you- a goddess, saved them both from disaster - no pun intended.

“are you sure you want me to throw you a punch?” you pursed your lips, “just because mr. jeon’s on paternity leave doesn’t mean i’m his subsitute. besides, aren’t the other guys more capable to be your boxing bag?”

“sshh, they’ll be heartbrokened if they hear you say that.” he held your head with his hands, “okay, now throw me some punches. you say you’re so strong.”

“you pushy.” you playfully punched his chest, johnny letting a groan out as you did so, seeing jaehyun and yuta jokingly pouting their lips at you before going into the eating area.

ten and mark entered the gym with food in their hands, keeping note that everyone called for a chinese take-out tonight. ten squinted his eyes at the ring, snickering at the sight of you and johnny practicing boxing. it was amusing because you didn’t look like the part who’d be throwing punches, until he remembered something.

“what’s y/n’s last name again?” he asked the younger boy, placing the styrofoam boxes on the table. “i can’t really remember.”

mark hummed, “i saw her name at a roster sheet by the student club recruitment board. ah- it’s.. it’s at the tip of my tongue. i just can’t put a finger around it.”

“it’s y/l/n.” taeyong came in with drinks after locking the car at the port outside. “you guys know the brazilian jiu-jitsu legendary fighter ‘lion fist’? she’s the granddaughter.”

the four boys looked at taeyong. “oh right-”

“what?!”

“really?!”

“ha!?”

“oi!!”

mark laughed in excitement before dropping everything. “dude- does johnny hyung- hahah oh my g- know? johnny hyung!”

ten looked at johnny, who responded to mark’s call “uh mark, i don’t think he knows-”

you used your leg to hit johnny’s ankle that it caught him off guard, making him fall to the ground while you landed on top of him, earning shocked reactions from the other boys. your legs straddled his upper body on a mount position while you put his hands into crosshold, while your right arm glided underneath his head as you lower your chest, pinning him down. this move- was one of the first offence attack your grandfather taught you as a child: the ezekiel choke.

“rule number one, always stay focused.” you smirked at him, receiving the same reaction from the boy.

johnny gave up by tapping out, immediately shocked by your attempt to give him an offence attack. “seriously? jiu-jitsu? i only do muay thai, you cheater.”

“you were distracted, johnny. had to shake you out of it somehow.” you winked at him as you took your gloves and bands of your hands. “let’s eat, shall we?”

as you excused yourself to the girls’ washroom, jaehyun and yuta held their laughs after many times today. it was so contagious that the other three knew what their gimmick was. yuta nudged the dimpled boy, “bro, did you get that on camera?”

“sure did, bro.” jaehyun shook his phone, giggling a low laugh.

yuta gave the boy a high five, “told you he wouldn’t last-“

“shut up you douchebags.” johnny squeezed the sides of the two younger ones while they whined with the stinging pain, panting after that shock of his life. “she did a killer move back there.”

yuta wrapped his arm around johnny again, “come on john, don’t tell me that didn’t turn you on? she was on t-”

“ah up up up!” johnny shushed yuta as he spotted you exiting the restroom, wiping excess sweat with a towel you borrowed. “hey.”

“thanks for lending me spare clothes, ten. tell your sister i owe her.” you said grabbing a lunch box before carrying your bag. “i’d love to stay but i have to go hit the sack. i’m beat.”

johnny pulled a face when you straight up ignored him and it wasn’t hard to miss that mark, yuta, and taeyong started laughing. then he noticed the two looking at one area of your body- a bruise. and johnny was quick enough to act and wrap his towel around you, making you become startled at his gesture.

“yeah looks like we have a marathon of movies to finish, don’t we?” johnny chuckled through gritted teeth, giving your arm a squeeze.

you put on a fake smile yet have no idea what this boy was up to. so you decided to play along, “oh right, we do. let’s go? i’ll get the car ready.”

yuta squinted his eyes at johnny, smirking once again. “johnny, was that a hickey-”

“i swear yuta, you’re such a pain in the-”

“okay okay! it isn’t. geez.” he chuckled as he chewed on his fried rice, giving up at teasing him.

the night was nearing and the sun was already setting. the drive to your place was quiet and by the time you got in front of your house. you took your bag onto the backseat of johnny’s car before turning to him. “okay what was that all about, draping me with your towel earlier..”

“you tell me,” he started, gulping water from his bottle.

“if it’s about me pulling you a jiu-jitsu move then i’m sorry i didn’t speak of it sooner.”

“well that.. and another thing.” he closed the cap but you took the bottle and drank from it as well. “that bruise.. seemed recent.”

“well duh, i had it from the punches received from the kids’ training.” you said, combing your hair back. “those little punks-“

johnny crossed his arms, “i know a fresh bruise when i see one.” he didn’t want to assume because he didn’t want for it to be real. but with the way that you were being all defensive, said otherwise. “you’ve been seeing him, haven’t you?”

you slightly choked on your water and thank heavens he didn’t notice it. “who? seoham? i haven’t seen him as of late.”

“really? why lie to me? we’ve been practicing together for fun and you haven’t got any bruise til now-“

“and what if it is? what will you do?” you spat. “can’t it just be a normal bruise i got from hitting myself accidentally by the corner from i don’t know- my drawer?”

“can it be true that that’s the case?” johnny rebutted, “or you’re planning to change and state the real reason?”

your face turned sour at the current conversation you were having with johnny. “what gives? i’m stating the truth that i haven’t been meeting him.”

“because if you’re the granddaughter of the legendary lion fist you’d be able to defend yourself months before we met.” he raised his voice, hurt by the fact that you hid something from him after months of being close friends, considering you as someone he cares a lot for. “or have you been meeting him since we crossed paths?”

you sighed, not understanding why johnny was acting up, “okay fine. you got me.” you raised your hands, “i’ve been seeing him, but not in the way you think.”

“then what was the past few month of us then?” johnny placed his hands on his hips. “did you guys somehow manage to patch up during the times we hung out? or were you just using me as rebound just to get back at him?”

“r-rebound?” your chest hurt at the accusation, “there’s no way i’d use you as rebound because if anything, what we did was real.”

“oh really now? like how you pretended not to know any martial arts or when you skipped our planned meetups so that i don’t know- you could meet up with him? were any of those part of your realness?”

you couldn’t believe what you were hearing. he was insanely getting into your nerves, so you raised your voice as well. “look i don’t know why you’re acting like this, this bruise is just a minor hit.”

“a minor hit? really? you had history with the guy!” johnny’s blood boiled and he was sure he popped a vessel.

“johnny, let’s just take a breather, shall we-” you covered your eyes with your arm as a passing vehicle drove by the both of you.

“even if it was a minor hit doesn’t change the fact that you got hurt.” johnny looked at you, even with all the tension between the two of you, you could still see the sincerity he felt in his eyes.

so you decided to tell him the truth.

you sighed as you rubbed your forehead, “okay. i wasn’t being complete honest with you, johnny.” you shifted your position to lean against a pole while he stood across from you, arms crossed as he mirrored your position by his car.

“when we first conversed at the hospital the day you got me admitted, i told you park seoham and i broke it off.” johnny nodded, waiting for you to continue. “we did, but i’ve been seeing him not because i wanted him back in my life but because right after our breakup, he got into a car accident and got hurt… big time. he didn’t want any other nurses but requested for me to get him through rehab.”

“sounds possessive.” johnny stretched, “he got hit real bad, huh?”

“so bad to the point that he only remembers my name.” you said, hearing it come out from your mouth left a bitter feeling. “guess it was just out of pity for me to help him, given that he ended up like that. this bruise happened because it was a muscle memory for him to do defense and somehow he doesn’t remember any of the bad things he did.”

now johnny wanted to gag after hearing that, “must be good on him, but for the people he victimized for his thrill and fun in the past? don’t think so.”

you walked closer to him, patting his shoulder. “he’s changing for the better.”

johnny’s brows met, change? as if. “he left a scar on me that made me hospitalized for three months that i almost didn’t graduate high school. how’s that for a change?”

“i know it must be hard to take this all in.” you sighed as your lips quivered, “i didn’t say anything before because of all the trauma you had with him. i also wanted to get over him and start anew but the hospital won’t shut up about him, so i had to go back. you have to trust me on this johnny.”

johnny held your hand and gripped it, you let out a sigh of relief knowing that he understood, until he let go slowly. “trust you? y/n, i don’t know whether to trust you anymore after this. i trusted you enough before but all these unsaid info.. it’s too much. call me petty but as i said earlier, it doesn’t change the fact that you got hurt.”

he stood up and straightened his posture, “you have to trust me when i say this though. i reacted because i care so much about you, so much that i wanted to protect you from harm, to the point that it was almost obssessive then i realized it was actually love. but a lot of things were revealed to me tonight and something dawned on me.”

you gulped nervously as tears welled, this isn’t good.

“i wasted my time and effort on you.” he sadly revealed, “here i was thinking i could be the hero who needed to save the girl he befriended and eventually loved. only to see that she can courageously handle herself, i’ll applaud you, really. the world needs more girls like that. i’m probably just being hopeful that i ended up looking like a idiot who’d never get that chance.”

before you could even say anything, he started the engine and drove off.

your chest hurted so much, just how stupid and messed up could you get? you covered your mouth to stop it from quivering but damn were you too late for that. tears fell at the guilt you felt and the dishonesty you did towards johnny was plain selfish, you only cared about yourself. if anything came out of that conversation,

was that you were the monster that hurted him.

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johnny hadn’t heard from you since that night. now that mr. jeon’s back from paternity leave, he’d rather focus on practice for the semi-finals and make a name for himself. like boxing, you were just another round he had to go through.

“you sure about that?” johnny was shaken from his thoughts as held the punching bag from swinging back at him. ten approached his best friend with a bottle of water in hand. “you really should keep your thoughts to yourself, this gym’s pretty quiet, y’know?”

johnny rolled his eyes at the suggestion, “trust me the last time i kept my thoughts intact with my brain i got my heart broken.”

“how you coping up though? we haven’t seen y/n come by recently after your quote on quote fight.” he held up his fingers, only to see johnny punch the bag harder. “guess i shouldn’t have asked?”

“it’s cool, it’s been a month now actually.” johnny hopped around the bag to get new punches out. “i’m all good.”

“really? ‘cause you’ve been throwing punches at the bag for a bloody month.” ten shrugged, taking a seat at the corner of the ring. “even mr. jeon couldn’t get you to snap out of it.”

“what do you mean? coach jeon and i have been training since then.”

“agh i mean the guys miss y/n! especially yuta and jaehyun!“ ten waved his arms exaggeratedly.

“you mean they miss me and y/n having the so-called tension?” johnny clicked his tongue, “they should keep their fantasies to themselves, geez.”

ten threw a towel at him, “i know semi-finals is in a few days and finals in a month. if you’re so busy fighting matches why not fight for your love life? you miss y/n more than anyone.”

johnny curled his tongue as he held a punch, “she’s a distraction.”

“sigh for a buff and strong guy like you, you’re still too soft.” ten groaned, “i’m done playing cupid!! you can cry your remaining days being loveless.”

johnny took a break, drinking the remaining water from the bottle when he spotted text message from mr. jeon:

coach jeon: “john, your rival’s been decided. check your email, please.”

as you worked at the university hospital, one of the few sophomores who actually had an opportunity to do so. you were actually quite happy you’ve kept yourself busy, well, your thoughts really. in all honesty though, you still pondered about johnny and he was up to.

you even thought about making up with him, but it was too awkward to show up at the gym after a month as if nothing had happened between you two. you shook your head to get out of overthinking. time will tell, y/n. you told yourself.

flicking your hands after washing them, you tore a piece of tissue paper before entering the rehab center. the corner of your mouth raised a little after seeing seoham waving at you walking with crutches. “nurse y/n! my favorite!”

in a panic, you jogged up to and slightly hit his shoulder. “quiet, your voice’s too loud. besides, i’m like the only nurse you know.”

he giggled with a snort as he adjusted his ankle wrap, “well true.. anyway dr. kim just stopped by earlier and said that i’m gonna be discharged tomorrow.”

“oh really?” you asked, checking his records, “good on you, eight months of rehab did something.”

he smiled a toothy grin and blushed a little, walking towards his room. “yeah, because of you.” not noticing you almost dropped the papers. “so when this all ends, i mean when i’m out of here… wanna grab coffee?”

your head never whipped so fast at the unncanny offer the young man just made, looking away. “i- uh.”

“or you’d rather hang out and have coffee with johnny suh?” your eyes widened as cold chills creeped up your spine. this voice.. was the old seoham. “think i wouldn’t notice?

“whatever you mean?” you feigned innocence, but that’s too late for now, wasn’t it?

“you’re not the only person i remember so clearly, y/n.” his facial aura changed, and just like before, he scared you. “johnny suh, seems like you know him. maybe even got tangled with him somehow? romantically? or have you guys even-”

“what do you want, seoham?” you gripped your board, staring at him firmly so that he wouldn’t see you give in so easily.

he clicked his tongue, “eh well, nothing really. felt like i had some unfinished business with him. not because you and him have been meeting up. no no.” you pressed your lips together, “his mere existence is a threat to me. so i have been doing research on your days off.”

“stay away from him,” your voice shook, breath hitching a little.

“how could i when you lead me straight right to him?” he leaned forward towards you. “i noticed all your little moves, sweet y/n. your little chats on the phone when i was ‘sleeping’? or what was the most recent one?” he tapped his chin, “the heated argument you guys had that night a month ago?”

you looked at him with widened eyes, trying to recall how he managed to know about that. then it came to you:

the car that drove by with the flashing headlights.

“no..”

“finally caught on, haven’t we.. sweetcakes?”

you flinched at the nickname, only johnny called you that. what right-

“dr. shin, my personal PT- said i’m all good for boxing. i could even start as early as tomorrow perhaps. given that the semi-finals is in a few days.” he chuckled before showing you an email he received.

“young people boxing association semi-finals: university division: park seoham vs. johnny suh.”

what?

“you can’t join that!” you gasped, “you’re still in rehab and can’t engage in any physical activities.”

seoham laughed in a low tone, “you underestimate me, y/n. before johnny suh came along beating everyone’s asses it was me who’s undefeatable.” he held your chin, “i should be thanking you, making our paths cross again.”

“you’re such a jerk, seoham. you always were a monster.” you said bitterly, holding your tears.

“but you fell in love with this monster.” he gave you a chaste kiss on the forehead as you pushed him away. “aw, was that you and johnny boy’s form of love action? sorry to barge in.”

“you should’ve stayed dead-”

“oh but i’m alive more than ever! you’re my angel.”

you opened the door and rushed out, wiping your tears. going to the locker room, you changed into your clothes and sent a text to taeyong that you’d be stopping by the gym.

“hey look y/n just texted, said that she’ll be stopping over.” taeyong announced and immediately looked for johnny. “where’s john?”

“he just left!” mark replied while playing with ten on ps5.

you cursed to yourself and ran as fast as you could so that you could catch up with johnny. this was all your fault, just how could you face him when you’ve hurted him and now it was seoham who was going to hurt him to extreme?

you search in every nook and cranny of the city for him, “where is he?” you stopped running, panting so much that gasped for air. johnny where are you? you ran again to look for him until you spotted a tall guy with a figure you so recognized… and missed.

“johnny?” you called out, and how your chest squeezed at the sight of him.

he turned around, quite shocked seeing you all tired. “y/n?”

“don’t go to the semi finals!” you cried, “seoham is going to be there.”

“so?” he sounded bitter and you didn’t blame him, “probably another park seoham, you know there’s a lot people with same names. we’re not in a small world, y/n.”

“no, it’s the park seoham. my ex, the person you hated, he- you gotta believe me!”

“i don’t know.” he shrugged, “one person can’t recover from a fatal car crash and recover less than a year.”

“not seoham, he’s different. please you have to forfeit the match.” you said as johnny gave you sour face.

“why should i listen to you?”

“because i don’t want you- the man i love to be hurt anymore!” you finally confessed and groaned as you wiped your face. “i don’t want things to change because of what i did and i’m sorry if i hurted you.”

“she finally got the hint now, john?” you turned to see seoham in crutches, smiling at johnny and you weren’t believing what you were seeing.

“yeah, thanks to you. can’t believed it worked.” johnny let out a sigh of relief.

your mouth went agape and you were frustrated right now. “what the- what the hell?”

johnny chuckled, took your wrist and pulled you close to him, wrapping you in a hug. “scared, sweetcakes?”

you patted his chest repeatedly until he let go, “again, what the hell?”

johnny looked at seoham and shrugged, “guess i was being dishonest. after our argument, i went to visit seoham just to see if he really did change for the better as you stated and to make peace with him.” holding his laugh seeing your startled expression, “he did. it took some convincing on my part but yeah, i guess we’re okay.”

seoham scratched his head in embarrassment, “i don’t know what history we had but he seemed to know you when he stopped by at the hospital. and we just.. talked. then i found out you guys were having a lover’s quarrel, so i talked to him about pranking you a bit. my idea. plus, lover boy here is a coward.”

you squinted your eyes at them, shaking your head. you must be dreaming. “wh- what about the email?”

“fake copy.” johnny showed you the legit one. “my real opponent’s matthew kim. from seoul national.”

you blinked, “then how did you-” pointing at seoham, know about the argument?”

“johnny told me.” he blinked back at you, his face showing no signs of deceit.

you tilted your head, whispering to yourself, “then it wasn’t the blinding lights?”

johnny chuckled, “sorry, must be a lot to take in.” making you scowl at the enunciation he made, then you realized something.

“ah, haha.” you combed your hair back again with your hands. “is this about getting even, johnny?”

he just smirked at you for an answer.

“that’s so low!” you threw a punch at his chest, him holding your hand before you even did so and hugged you once again. “that was so real, what the hell…”

“sorry,” he laughed and seoham signaled him his exit. he nodded at the forgiven person before nuzzling his face on your neck. “didn’t i tell you? my major is acting.”

you pushed yourself away from him, “oh my gosh john- you’re the worst! i’m leaving!”

johnny pulled you to him once again before kissing you on the lips, “don’t. you still owe me movie trilogies to watch.”

you puffed your cheeks, “fine. let’s go.”

johnny turned around, looking for certain people. “guys, you got that on video?

yuta and jaehyun gave him a thumbs up, snickering at their little boys’ play.

“sure did!”

“yup!”

johnny looked at you after hearing his name call from your lips before jogging up to you.

“she’ll never hear the end of it.”